Beloved Theatre Company is a Community Interest Company founded in 2019 by best friends Latifaha Ireland and Lia Deans.

During our final year at Goldsmiths University, we made history by founding their first all-Black theatre company. Trained in devised theatre, we learned to create from the ground up across various scenographic elements including writing, directing, producing and performing collaboratively. Our final performance, a verbatim play exploring the perception of mental health within the Black community, confirmed everything we had hoped theatre could be — a space for truth, reflection and real human connection.

Graduating university, we quickly discovered that talent alone was not enough. The path from training to working professionally was far from clear, and for those of us from underrepresented backgrounds, the barriers were even greater. We had to carve our own way and Beloved was born from that journey. If we had to build the door ourselves, we were determined to leave it open for others.

We exist at the intersection of art and social change, united by a single vision - a world where talent is never held back by a lack of opportunity. We create productions that place underrepresented voices at the heart of theatre, deliver workshops and programmes that build real life skills, and actively bridge the gap between training and a sustainable creative career.