U3A Takapuna

In just four years, Pop-up Globe has exploded from a tiny NZ start-up with 2 staff and a budget of $10,000 to become an international phenomenon, winning fifteen awards in NZ and Australia, employing hundreds of NZ actors and creatives, and selling a staggering 700,000 tickets to its seasons in Auckland, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.

Miles is the founder of the multi-award-winning Pop-up Globe, and its first artistic director. In this talk, illustrated with images from behind the scenes, he discusses the challenges and excitement of creating one of the world’s most successful theatre companies.

Born in Wellington, Miles attended King's College, Auckland, before reading for his BA in Modern History at Durham University, UK. Miles also holds a PhD in Shakespeare in Performance from Bristol University and a Master of Fine Arts in Staging Shakespeare

from Exeter University. At 24, he was one of the youngest directors in London's West End, staging Hamlet and Twelfth Night at the Westminster Theatre in 2002. He has since directed some 30 professional productions, mainly of Shakespeare, in the UK and internationally. He was formerly founding artistic director of the Bristol Shakespeare Festival and the British Touring Shakespeare Company, before spending three years as Artistic Director and CEO of The Maltings Theatre, Berwick-upon-Tweed, UK. He returned to NZ with his family in 2012 and founded Pop-up Globe in 2015. For his work with Pop-up Globe he has been awarded a Sir Peter Blake Leader Award. He lives with his wife Barbara and their four young children in Whangaparaoa, Auckland.