Associate Artists

Ben is an actor, author, and creative producer.

He is an Associate Artist with the Shakespeare North Playhouse, and a creative
consultant with theatre companies around the world.

For the last 15 years he has developed the “quick-raise” process – creating professional productions of Shakespeare’s plays in 2-3 days, inspired by Shakespeare’s actors’ theatrical practice, fused with modern practices.

He wrote the Springboard Shakespeare series – a quartet for Arden Shakespeare / Bloomsbury (2013), and his first solo book, Shakespeare on Toast – Getting a Taste for the Bard (Icon 2008) was shortlisted for the 2010 Educational Writer of the Year Award.

With his father, David Crystal, he is the co-author of Shakespeare’s Words (Penguin 2002), The Shakespeare Miscellany (Penguin 2005), An Illustrated Dictionary of Shakespeare (OUP 2015, shortlisted for the 2016 Educational Writer of the Year Award), and Everyday Shakespeare (Chambers 2023).

Ben curated the British Library’s CD of Shakespeare’s Original Pronunciation, and played the title role in the contemporary world premieres in OP of Hamlet, Macbeth, Henry V, and Richard II.

He founded the Passion in Practice Shakespeare Ensemble and over 2014-2016 was invited to explore modern original practices at the newly finished Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe.

His 2015-16 production of Pericles: Recomposed was raised in three days, underscored by Max Richter’s Four Seasons: Recomposed, and was played live by the Trondheim Soloists with violinist Daniel Hope in Stockholm, and at the
Savannah Music Festival.

He founded theShakespeareEnsemble.com, an international ensemble who
explore a fusion of Elizabethan rehearsal methods and modern physical theatre
techniques. They toured Japan with three world premieres in 2019.

He gave the English Council Lecture at the British Council on Speaking the bright
and beautiful English of Shakespeare. His TEDx talk was called Original Practices:
Shakespeare’s Craft.

He lives online at www.bencrystal.com and on Instagram: Shakespeare_on_Toast

CSSF is an award-winning cultural education charity that gives young people across the UK the confidence to succeed in life. The world’s largest youth drama festival lies at the heart of their transformative process and provides a creative platform for children to shine across the UK.  

Visit CSSF’s website

Graeae are an acclaimed and award-winning theatre company, existing to cultivate and champion the best in Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent talent nationally and internationally.

In addition to productions, Graeae also runs an extensive programme of training, learning, and creative professional development programmes. Graeae were also consultants on the capital build.  

Visit Graeae’s website

Not Too Tame are award-winning, ‘great night out’ specialists producing high-octane, heart-on-sleeve stories that are steeped in working-class culture and made by working-class artists.

Their work celebrates regional identity, champions community and feels like a gig. They craft exhilarating night’s out that highlight to audiences that theatre IS for them, both as a form of entertainment and as a potential career path.  

Image by Patch Dolan

Visit Not Too Tame’s website

Shakespeare’s Globe is a world-renowned theatre, education centre, and cultural landmark on the bank of the River Thames in London. The Globe Theatre is a unique full-scale replica of Shakespeare’s original 1599 Elizabethan open-air theatre, and the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is an archetype of an indoor Jacobean theatre.

Inspired and informed by the unique historic playing conditions of two beautiful iconic theatres, their diverse programme of work harnesses the power of performance, cultivates intellectual curiosity and excites learning to make Shakespeare accessible for all. 

Visit Shakespeare’s Globe’s website