When Toby Connell-Cooke saw the National Theatre’s production of Amadeus beamed into Lancaster’s Dukes Cinema in 2016, he couldn’t have foreseen his future at the National, just five years later.

“It was never my plan to move to London, but working for such a prestigious organisation as the National Theatre was a big deal and it’s been such a brilliant, welcoming place for me.”

Theatre and cinema have been Toby’s workplace since he took the opportunity of an internship at The Dukes, paid for by Lancaster University in 2018.

His placement coincided with the theatre’s summer promenade production of The Three Musketeers in Williamson Park. “It was an amazing opportunity from the university and got my foot in the door of the world of work.”

During his placement at The Dukes, Toby became a member of the marketing team, specialising in social media and the website and he made such an impression that he was kept on as a part-time marketing and development assistant where skills he learned stood him in good stead for his future career.Towards the end of his time at The Dukes, Toby, 27, also worked part-time as a communications assistant at the Bolton Octagon.

“I am ahead of where someone my age could be because of those first few years I spent developing my skills at The Dukes and Octagon.”

Although now enjoying a marketing career, Toby decided to study sociology when he arrived at Lancaster in 2016, but his final dissertation – a critique of cinema and capitalism – was a pointer towards his later career.

The Stockport-born graduate chose Lancaster because he liked the college system and the sense of community which can be lacking in big city universities.

“I loved my time at university. It was such a nice community and it always felt that the University cared.”

His writing skills were brought to the fore in his second year when he joined Scan as online editor, later becoming Deputy Editor of the magazine, co-ordinating a team of section editors covering the arts, culture ,cinema, music, lifestyle and fashion alongside learning design, website and photoshop skills which have proved useful in working life.

“Getting into a society while at university is not always on a student’s radar but it’s really important and helps to develop skills.

Lots of jobs require prior experience and getting that first step is the hardest,so I would advise any student to try as many opportunities as possible while at university including internships or shadowing someone.”

It certainly worked for Toby whose first full-time job was as a marketing executive at The Lowry in Salford where he promoted the family and comedy shows.

Unfortunately, that role ended when the Covid pandemic struck, but Toby used that time to freelance for start-up business Cook + Thief, a luxury delivery service in London.

And when the National Theatre was preparing to re-launch its NT Live productions post-Covid, Toby became a marketing officer there.

NT Live is a branch of the National Theatre’s work which gives people nationwide, the chance to watch top class productions at their local cinemas.

Now NT Live’s Senior Marketing Manager, Toby has led on numerous marketing campaigns including those for high-grossing releases including Vanya starring Andrew Scott, GOOD with David Tennant and Nye with Michael Sheen.

He also enjoyed working on Dear England starring Joseph Fiennes as former England men’s football manager, Gareth Southgate, as it appealed to audiences, including dads and their sons, who might not normally be theatregoers.

Toby is passionate about bringing NT Live to the regions too and last year organised an event in Manchester’s Arndale Centre, where a big screen showed a rehearsal at the National Theatre in which members of the public could participate by reading the script alongside some famous actors.

Another side of his work of which Toby is particularly proud is devising and implementing the National Theatre’s first influencer strategy which involved launching a network of brand ambassadors nationwide.

Toby’s impact at the National has been such that he was nominated as an Industry Rising Star at the Big Screen Awards in 2023.

It has been a meteoric rise to marketing success for Toby, though he still finds time for an annual reunion with his university friends back in Lancaster, the place where it all began.