By: Ibukun Keyamo

Over 17.1 million people attended a West End show in 2024, an 11 percent rise above pre-pandemic levels that outpaced nearly every other sector of live entertainment. Into that charged atmosphere steps Jack Yearsley, a Hawaii-born actor and director who has just completed his MA at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and launched his own production company in London. His eyes, however, are already fixed on Los Angeles.​

Yearsley founded Lion & Swan Productions in early 2026 as the production and performance vehicle for a career he has been building across two continents. The company’s scope covers theatrical production, professional acting for stage and screen, and advanced-level performance education. It is a structure designed not just for London but for the international market Yearsley is actively preparing to enter.

From the Pacific to RADA

Yearsley grew up in Hawaii before making the journey that shapes every serious theatre artist’s ambitions: training at one of the world’s most demanding institutions. RADA’s MA Theatre Lab is a four-term postgraduate program that trains performers as devising artists and creative leaders, combining studio-based methodology, voice and movement work, and full public productions. It is not a program for the uncommitted. The course demands rigorous engagement with both established performance approaches and original work, culminating in public-facing productions assessed by industry professionals.​

“Our training at RADA provided a foundation robust enough to build anything upon,” Yearsley said. “Classical text, devised work, screen performance. The discipline is the same, even when the form changes completely.”

His performance credits reflect that versatility. Yearsley has worked in Shakespeare, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and in newly devised pieces that challenge the relationship between performer and audience. That range, classical weight on one side and experimental openness on the other, is precisely what makes him an appealing prospect for a film and television industry that increasingly demands both technical command and creative adaptability.

The Lion & Swan Model

Lion & Swan Productions is structured around three pillars. The first is production, mounting theatrical works that draw on Yearsley’s combined classical and contemporary training. The second is performance, offering his skills as an actor, director, and voiceover artist to casting directors and producers seeking a performer with elite institutional credentials. The third is education, where Yearsley is developing a pedagogical approach that he describes as psychophysical, focused on the individual dynamics of each actor rather than imposing a single universal method.

“I am developing a training model rooted in neuro-somatic anchoring, which centers on the actor’s ability to meet the present moment as they are,” he said. “By all means study technique, but what makes an actor an artist is the personal touch embedded within the individual’s body and mind.“

That development work positions him not only as a working performer but also as an emerging voice in performance education, a combination that considerably strengthens his profile for the US market.

Setting Sights on Los Angeles

Yearsley has never stayed in one place for long. Hawaii gave him his roots. London gave him his training. Now the plan is to take both west.

Lion & Swan Productions will begin targeting New York and Los Angeles over the next 12 months, extending the company’s reach into the two American markets that matter most for screen careers. For Yearsley, the move is less a leap than a logical progression. He already has the institutional credibility that most actors spend years chasing. What he is building now is the body of work to match it.

“The goal is always to do the work at the highest level possible,” Yearsley said. “Whether that is performing in London, taping in Los Angeles, or offering intensive training for serious students across the globe, the standard does not change.“