THE “evasive and contrived” owner of the world-renowned Cambridge Shakespeare Festival can no longer hire performers on a weekly volunteer rate of £50, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Judge Louise Brown said Dr David Crilly’s “high degree of control” of performers who worked “extremely long” hours six days a week meant that they are entitled to worker rights such as the national minimum wage.

The case at the Cambridge Employment Tribunal was brought by Equity union members Kit McGuire and Elizabeth Graham who in 2022 performed in the festival’s 35th season.