George Perrin and James Grieve to step down from Paines Plough

George Perrin and James Grieve, artistic directors of Paines Plough, have announced they will be stepping down from the company.

The duo have staged 45 world premieres since 2010 by writers including Mike Bartlett, Penelope Skinner, James Graham, Sabrina Mahfouz and Vinay Patel to audiences across the UK.

In 2014 Perrin and Grieve opened the pop-up theatre Roundabout which toured across the country to communities least engaged with the arts.

They said: "We are honoured to have been the custodians of this essential organisation and are proud to now pass it on to a new generation of artists and producers. It's been a joy to travel the country and traverse the globe bringing the best new British plays to the doorsteps of our audiences. We'll leave as we arrived: die-hard fans of the best new writing touring company in the world."

The news comes ahead of the 2019 announcement later this week. Grieve and Perrin will continue as artistic directors until the summer of this year, before heading off to pursue new projects.