Resonating with the world: how theatre director's work examines human behaviour

I had been directing at school and at the University of Cambridge, and I knew I wanted to pursue a career in theatre and arts.  

During my time at university, I was the student assistant director on a production of Henry V at the Cambridge Arts Theatre, directed by professional West End director Lisa Blair. She had done the MFA in Theatre Directing at Birkbeck and said I should do the course.  When I left university, I was the press assistant at the National Theatre and I met director Lyndsey Turner. She had been in the second cohort and also said I should think about applying. 

The thing that particularly appealed to me was that it was a really professional course. It included practical training in theatre directing, including a year-long placement at a working theatre. I spent mine at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.  

A year after graduating, you received the The Stage Debut Award for your production of Hobson’s Choice at the Royal Exchange Theatre. What did it mean to you? 

I did the placement at the Royal Exchange with director Sarah Frankcom. I assisted her on two shows and I developed a very close relationship with her and the building. When I graduated from Birkbeck, I stayed on in Manchester for a year and carried on working at the theatre in a freelance capacity. When the original director of Hobson’s Choice had to withdraw due to personal reasons, they asked me whether I wanted to direct it. 

It was a real baptism of fire but a wonderful project to work on. It was wild to have your first main stage show at 25. I wouldn’t have been able to do it if I wasn’t well-integrated into the theatre thanks to Birkbeck. 

I was given the award six months before Covid hit. It meant that I had that recognition in the industry, so my career was (to some extent) safeguarded from the pandemic. 

How did you manage to work during Covid when theatres closed? 

I was offered a show called Harm at the Bush Theatre. When the show got cancelled as a result of another Covid wave, we made it into a film for the BBC: it ended up being seen by over 85,000 people. When we eventually managed to stage the production in 2021, it was one of the first plays to open in London post-pandemic.  

It took quite a lot of resilience during Covid, because there was such despair for theatres. Nobody knew if they were going to open again. When the theatres shut, it felt like the apocalypse.  Aside from Harm, I managed to make the best out of Covid by teaching at drama schools and working on digital theatre projects, and some more general advocacy for the industry. 

What is the favourite show you have directed? 

One of my favourite bits of directing I am proudest of was SHED: EXPLODED VIEW, also at the Royal Exchange Theatre. It’s a new play about domestic violence and an extremely powerful piece of writing. With difficult subject matter, it’s important to create an open, honest and supportive space in the rehearsal room, as the actors have to relive it night after night. I am proud of how we handled that.  

You have recently finished a production of John Osborne’s 1956 play Look Back in Anger. Why did that play appeal to you?   

It was radical in the 50s – a gritty drama filled with social realism the likes of which audiences at the time hadn’t seen before. It was really shocking, and it is still shocking, because Jimmy is so abusive to his wife. I am drawn to plays that are quite extreme, because I think theatre is a helpful tool when it comes to exploring the extremities in how human beings operate with one another. 

It was important to me to represent this play honestly. One of the jobs of theatre is to be empathetic to one of the darkest elements of human behaviour and to examine it, so that we might be able to break patterns of behaviour in the future. 

I will always be drawn to things like that, resonating with what is going on in the world. 

Why do you have such a passion for theatre directing? 

You have to work with other people, drawing on the energies, hearts and minds of other people around you. As a director, you are the spearhead but you have to work with people to achieve that in a collaborative, empathetic way. That’s really powerful and beautiful. 

I love the experience in front of an audience when they are hearing a story for the first time. There’s electricity. It’s an amazing feeling to hear people gasp, or cry, or laugh. It never gets old. 

What’s next for you?  

One of my ultimate ambitions is to be an artistic director and run a theatre. When you run a theatre, you are fulfilling a civic duty, presenting an offer to the theatre’s local community; not just in the shows put on stage, but also in the participation programmes, for example, or even just by the offer of a space in the bar to hang out and have a cup of tea.