Monique Touko

Monique Touko is a London/ Manchester based multidisciplinary artist- director and producer. Her directing training includes Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme at Royal Exchange Manchester. At the Young Vic, her training has involved the Intro to Directing course led by Sacha Weres, Boris Karloff Trainee Assistant Directors Programme and the Jerwood Assistant Director Scheme. In 2022, Monique was selected to take part in the National Theatre’s annual Directing Course. She is the recipient of the 2022 Stage Debut Award for Best Director. Upcoming shows include: Jaja's African Hair Braiding (Lyric Hammersmith) and Marie and Rosetta (@sohoplace West End Transfer).

Past Rose Theatre credits include: Marie and Rosetta (with Chichester Festival Theatre) and The Boy at the Back of the Class (with Children’s Theatre Partnership).

Directing credits include: Liberation (Royal Exchange); G (Royal Court/Jerwood Theatre Upstairs); Wedding Band: A Love Hate Story in Black and White and School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Lyric Hammersmith); We Need New Names (National Tour); Gone Too Far! (Theatre Royal Stratford East); The Clinic (Almeida Theatre); Fair Play (Bush Theatre); and Malindadzimu (Hampstead Theatre).

Her assisting credits include: Wishlist (Royal Exchange Manchester/Royal Court); Yellowman and Lorca’s Blood Wedding (Young Vic); On the Exhale (Traverse Theatre); Cock (Chichester Festival Theatre); Richard II (Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre); and Rosmersholm (Duke of York Theatre). 

She is also part of The Ubunifu Space - A definitive guide to music and culture from the youth of Africa and the diaspora - the Ubunifu way. Monique is project manager for the Space and regular member of the UK reaction team on the youtube channel which has a global following of 320K+ subscribers and over 50 million views.