Two time WhatsOnStage Award and multi Offie Award nominee David Shopland has been working professionally as a writer, director and producer for 15 years; having founded two successful theatre companies that have taken him across the breadth of the UK, as well as New York, Vancouver, Sarajevo, Paris, Belfast, Beijing and more. Shopland has directed productions in a variety of theatres in London, including AN IDLE WORLD at Trafalgar Studios (West End), LOGIN ERROR at Southwark Playhouse, CINDERELLA: THE ANTI-PANTO at Leicester Square Theatre, THE LITTLE MERMAID at Riverside Studios,  and MACBETH at Stockwell Playhouse.

As Artistic Director of Fake Escape, he has overseen many successful productions at venues across the UK such as Soho Theatre, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Chapter Arts, Lichfield Garrick, The Barbican and Exeter Phoenix. Since 2016, Shopland and Fake Escape have been regular participants of the world’s largest arts festival; the Edinburgh Fringe. Productions there include GOD IS DEAD AND I KILLED HIM, MY FATHER THE TANTRIC MASSEUR, THIRST, HOW CAN I HELP YOU?, A DREAM OF DYING, DID YOU MEAN TO FALL LIKE THAT? and his own one person show RAISING KANE. Shopland is probably best known as the writer and director of the WhatsOnStage Award nominated international smash hit SAVING BRITNEY, co-devised with Shereen Roushbaiani, that reopened the Old Red Lion Theatre in Islington after 425 days post-pandemic, before embarking on a sellout UK tour and eventually transferring Off Broadway, where it played at the SoHo Playhouse in New York City. Shopland is also the writer, director and producer of the critically acclaimed CUL-DE-SAC, which premiered at the Omibus Theatre in 2025 and subsequently earned Shopland his 2nd WhatsOnStage Award nomination.

In 2013, Shopland co-founded immersive new writing festival 20:20 VISION with Lewis Oatley and Matthew Grace, which he continues to curate in partnership with Bath Fringe Festival. As a playwright and lyricist, Shopland's work has been performed in London, New York and Paris, as well as ecclectic venues as diverse as The Downstage Theatre in Texas (COFFEE & JOHN), The Lunchbox Theatre in Aberdeen (A SILENT MOUTH) and The National Theatre of China in Beijing (LESSONS LEARNED). Shopland frequently collaborates with Cul-de-Sac cast member Callum Patrick Hughes, with their 2018 musical LIVING OUT LOUD being live-streamed to a global audience of over 250,000 people. As a songwriting team, they have also written pop songs for former Only Men Aloud vocalist Ross Leadbeater and were commissioned to co-write the official anthem for a 2017 international trade conference.

Shopland holds a First Class BA Honours degree from Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, went on to study Dramaturgy and Writing for Performance at Goldsmiths University and was awarded a prestigious Stage One bursary in 2024 and again in 2025. Shopland has lectured in theatre, producing and business studies related to the Performing Arts at Bath Spa University, Brighton Institute of Contemporary Theatre, City of Bath College, New Hall and Luckley School.

He is also a huge fan of professional wrestling, but don’t tell anyone...