isthedirectordead

Sunday, 25 September 2011

Ian McGlynn

Ian McGlynn is a playwright and director. He has been the appointed Theatre Director for the Rondo Theatre, in Bath UK, since 2007. Ian is also founder and Artistic Director of Provocation, a theatre company devoted to new writing. He is the writer and director of Life and Soul, playing at the Rondo from Wed Sept 28^th- Sat Oct 1^st.

Tickets for Life and Soul, please visit the Rondo website.

Monday, 12 September 2011

Alison Farina

Alison Farina is originally from Poughkeepsie, NY and currently resides in Bath. She is a director, writer, producer and actor. She has spent the last 14 years living and working in the UK, spanning the country from London to the Isle of Man. Her current production of Love Letters by A.R. Gurney will be playing at the Rondo Theatre in Bath, on Thurs September 15^th and Friday September 16th.

Tickets for Love Letters, please visit the Rondo Theatre website.

For more info on Alison

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Butterfly-Psyche-Theatre/171687882891600

Twitter accounts

@btterflypsyche - only Butterfly Psyche stuff

@alisonfarina - Me being me, follow at your peril/boredom/annoyance/offence/etc...

Alison Farina

Thursday Sept 9^th 2011 12PM

Sam’s Kitchen, Bath UK

What are you working on at the moment?

I am working on a few things. Currently I am producing and appearing in Love Letters by A. R. Gurney with my theatre company, Butterfly Psyche Theatre. Love Letters tells the story of Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III through their letters to each other. From 1937 to the late 1980s, they discuss the hopes, ambitions, dreams, disappointments, victories and defeats that have passed between them throughout their separated lives. It’s a funny and very touching piece and we are lucky enough to have Derek Fowlds (Yes, Minister, Yes Prime Minister, Affairs of the Heart, Heartbeat and Basil Brush!) on board as Director.

I am also in the process of writing something for summer 2012 called Fertility Objects, and it’s about fertility and how it defines or doesn’t define women. How it affects relationships and what things represent fertility objects in modern times. Instead of Phallic symbols, gods and goddesses, we now have ovulation thermometers, pregnancy kits and reflexologists! The story will follow 3 couples who have broken down on the road to parenthood and how they move forward. Also on the back burner are a historical drama about Henry Edmund Goodridge (builder of Beckford’s Tower) and a site-specific community project based on a German folktale.

What is your earliest theatrical memory?

I was an only child so I had to entertain myself, and making up stories is what I did. I used myself, friends and stuffed animals to play the parts. My mom always said she could hear me chatting away to myself and the stuffed crew as I would make up stories until I fell asleep.

Who or what inspires you?

I’m really inspired by stories, mythology and relationships. A lot of my work is based on mythology, folktales, traditions and histories. As far as people that inspire me… I'm a little bit all over the place, I like doing everything, so I really admire people who are disciplined and can stick to one thing to perfect it. As for general theatre inspiration, I have huge respect for people like Augusto Boal, Keith Johnstone and Michael Chekov and theatre companies like Miracle Theatre, Kneehigh and Improbable.

What are the challenges of running your own company for new writing in 2011?

Money and time! ButterflyPsyche only started in September 2010, so we are just about 1 year old. This (Love Letters) will be our third production. As a company our main focus is on new writing, which is really exciting, but it takes a lot of work to promote an unknown show and writer. A new writing audience is very different to that of the ‘average’ theatre-going audience, and it can be hard to get those people to see things they are unfamiliar with. Although this is a challenge it is also the best thing about new writing. There is nothing that has come before that will influence opinion or the production, so everything is created without outside influence (consciously or unconsciously). Also with new writing there is a real sense of ‘ownership’ for everyone involved, whereas established or better known work can creatively hold you back without even realizing it.

The biggest challenge is funding. There are so many established companies doing really wonderful stuff and the ‘pot’ is only so big. The challenge is finding other ways of getting money and making sure that what you do, gives the people who are doing it, even if its profit share, something out of it. That is something really important to me. With most profit-share productions, once all the expenses are paid, actors and the team are very lucky to make any money at all. I try to use the show as a ‘networking’ event for everyone involved. That way, industry people get to see a great show and the team have the opportunity to show off their work and speak to industry people. But, fingers crossed, the Arts Council Funding applications will work out!

What is your directing style?

I am not sure I have one. Winging it…probably!? I suppose I like to see where people go with things, make observations and tweaks and then go from there, really.

What differences, if any, have you found working in the American theatre vs. the British theatre?

Well, it’s been a long time since I worked in the US, but I do think there is a difference in attitude and approach. This is a huge generalization by the way, but Americans tend be more like ‘Yup, whatever no problem’ without really questioning very much.

Gung ho?

Yes, I think ‘gung ho’ is an intrinsic, American characteristic, which can be drawback as well as an asset. But at the same time, Americans can tend to be a bit more delicate. I think that is an artist’s tendency anyway. We are all asked to’ put ourselves out there’ so that opens you up for criticism. It is natural to need reassurance. We wouldn’t be artists if we didn’t have that vulnerability. Yet British actors, again, a TOTAL generalization, don’t have that ‘gung ho’ thing. Actors here seem to consider things and tend to question choices more. Performance is taught very differently in the UK to the US, the US being very film/TV oriented, so this may have something to do with it. I don’t know…

Dream projects?

My Dream Project would be Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The Metamorphoses is an epic poem that tells the history of the world from Creation to Julius Caesar and focuses on transformation tales. For me, life is one big transformation tale and The Metamorphoses combines archetypal mythology, relationships and love. The things that inspire me most! I would love to work on such an epic, and maybe include a ‘research’ trip to the Mediterranean? I mean, if you’re going to dream…!

Final question. Is the director dead?

No, although the director who dictates should be, and pretty much is, aside from the few I have encountered. I feel that directing is like teaching a kid how to ride a bike. Once you take those training wheels off, your job is to follow them and make sure they don’t fall off. At least that’s what I hope to do.

Thanks Alison for sharing your thoughts!

" A good director's not sure when he gets on the set what he's going to do."

Elia Kazan

Tuesday, 16 August 2011

Jonathan Weber

It’s been a while readers, but due to travels, injuries and etc, I’ve been a bit distracted from posting! I’ve got great interviews coming up, starting with the awesome Jon Weber who I caught up with in good ol’ NY!

Jonathan Weber is Administrative Director of Theater for the New City and lives in Brooklyn, NY. He is a member of the planning committees for the Lower East Side Festival of the Arts and the Love N' Courage Benefit. He graduated from Binghamton University and is a HUGE Mets fan. His current project, TNC’s Summer Street Theater is running until September 16^th, if you’re in the NYC area, def check it out!

http://www.theaterforthenewcity.net/

Jonathan Weber

Wed. July 27^th 2011

New York, NY 12pm

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m working on Theater for the New City’s Street Theater tour. It an original, musical comedy, directed by Crystal Field, our executive director. I’m her first assistant director for this project. It’s a really unique project, a huge cast of actors, crew and a five-piece band. Almost like a guerilla theatre piece, we play outdoors in parks and playgrounds all over the city.

What is the play about?

It’s a state of the world, state of the city kind of play. It incorporates a lot of current events. We follow the main character and the journey he takes and how he becomes active in trying to bring about change. One particular issue is fracking in upstate NY. I know of a lot of people that don’t know about it or that it's even going on and it’s becoming a real big issue. There are people in Pennsylvania that are lighting their tap water on fire or the water getting contaminated in the Catskills and with the process of nature, possibly contaminating the water in NYC. Cuts in funding to the arts, education, astronomical rents in the city, lack of a middle class, an increasing dependence on Nuclear Power and how it may affect us. Those are a few of the issues that were dealing with in the street theater.

What would you say is your directing style?

Ummmmm. I don’t know if I have one. I think if there is one style, which is more prevalent in my directing, it’s probably Meisner. But I don’t like to tie myself to one thing, so I try to take a different approach to each show that I direct. For example, last show I directed was a play called Age Out, which was basically set in real time, in a restaurant. The entire play was these four guys sitting around a table drinking. Basically, little to no action. So the focus was on the dialogue and making sure the dialogue is delivered in such a way that there is a pace to it. And also working in, they’re all drinking and over the course of the play, 33 beers are consumed, which is a challenge for any hardy drinker! I tried to work in a specific pattern and rhythm to each drink, almost like choreography.

Who or what inspires you?

I take my inspiration from…everyone. I like things that are focused in realism, humanity, and the way people really speak to each other. What inspires me is the reality of the world, the reality of life.

What are some of the challenges you face as a theatre maker in 2011 NYC?

Funding, funding, funding.

What are you doing at the moment to combat that?

Funding is a major challenge for any Non-profit Theater company, which is what many of the Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway theaters in NYC are (TNC is one as well). We rely on grants from Foundations and Individuals quite a bit, but also on grants that we get from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and the NY State Council on the Arts. But these agencies are, especially in the current economic climate, constantly being threatened by budget cuts, and the grant money that we do get is in danger of being significantly reduced. Though our Government grants are not large, they are important. We, and I know many other companies and individual productions are as well, have been moving towards a much more Grassroots method of fund raising, reaching out to individuals through places like Kickstarter, holding benefit parties, or even through the tried and true method of direct mail. It may seem Byzantine in the 2000s, but people will still respond to getting an appeal letter in the mail and writing out a check. Every little bit helps!

Dream projects?

When I was in college I always wanted to direct Hurly Burly. Working here, because we only do new plays here, that’s all I’ve done. New work. So I’ve actually gotten away from thinking of plays that have already been done. Hurly burly at this point seems a little cliché, as its been done to death. I don’t know if I can name one play, but a play with a 50,000 budget. Just to see what I can do with a play with a real budget. That I think, is a dream project.

Final question. Is the director dead?

No, the director is not dead. Especially working in a place like this, with Crystal my boss and watching her direct, whose methods are sometimes unorthodox but watching her direct or act it’s a clinic in how to put a play together. One of my colleagues here Mark, told me a long time ago, when you are the director, you are the god of the show. I stress most as a director, more so than a style, is the need to make sure that your actors know whose driving the bus. If you can come in and say this is what we’re going to do, i'm in charge and I know what i'm doing your actors will listen to you and trust you and you will be able to work with them forever. In my time here a director i've been able to establish a strong group of actors that I like to work with and possibly for the several years.

Thanks Jon for sharing your thoughts!

"The seed to the craft of acting is the reality of doing." Sanford Meisner

Tuesday, 7 June 2011

David Blumfield

David Blumfield teaches drama at the University of Aberystwyth. He works with the community theatre at the Arts Centre and has run Castaways for almost 20 years. I met up with David at the RAFA Club in Aberystwyth, after his production of Mapping the Soul by Lucy Gough.

More on David http://www.castawaytheatre.com/

David Blumfield

Saturday, May 28^th 9pm

Aberystwyth, Wales

Can you tell us a bit about Castaways and your current production?

Castaways is the alternative community theatre. There are two community theatres in the [Aberystwyth] Arts Centre. One group tends to do more the musicals and comedies, we tend to do more… the off the boards kind of stuff! In 1999 the community company was thriving. We commissioned Lucy [Gough] to write a play for us. Most directors can only have small casts and most writers have to write for small casts because there just isn’t the budget to cover a cast of 25. She thought it would be a brilliant idea to write a community play and it was staged this time in 2001 at the Arts Centre. It was very successful, so the 20^th anniversary of Castaway came around this year and I thought it the most fitting play to do. It’s a fascinating play. Its rather like a trifle, you have a taste off the top and think, hmm that’s interesting, and then you go a bit deeper and its something else, then a bit deeper and the play tends to go like that and takes you to extremes. It’s a fairy tale for grownups, its got all these wild and wonderful characters and all of a sudden be completely contemporary, like with the mobile phone and texting from the grave. It’s definitely a director’s play.

What is the philosophy or ethos behind Castaways as a community theatre group?

The ethos of Castaways first of all is inclusivity. The class is run at the Arts Centre, they are not auditioned. It’s inclusive, regardless of experience or ability. That’s the main ethos behind Castaways. It’s right across the board, we have students and trained actors as well. The other part of the ethos is for a community company to do work that most community theatres would avoid. We’ve done work by Caryl Churchill, Harold Pinter, Sarah Kane… for a community group to do plays like that, the difficult, challenging plays?!

Who or what inspires you?

Rock and roll! I take a lot of inspiration from music. Hence the use of the band in the play, the whole time, I was encouraging them, ‘go metal-er, metal-er. Alice Cooper, Rush, a lot of guitar based rock. We did the Ubu Plays, by the French absurdist and set it to a background of heavy metal and rock. You’re unlikely to see a show I’ve directed that doesn’t have any music.

Dream projects?

I am a very keen football fan, my club is in the West Midlands, near Birmingham, and I’m a bit obsessed with them. Dream project would be set in their grounds, probably something about football and Alice Cooper. Anything about football or rock and roll that includes my club would be a dream project.

Is the director dead?

Noooooo…. Noooooo. Directing is a bit like cooking, you keep adding new ingredients, herbs, seasonings and it might be too much so you reduce the sauce. The director is not dead. Actors need leadership. However a director is not a dictator. The actor has got enough to worry about. If you’re playing Hamlet, you’ve got a lot to think about! It needs someone to worry about everything else, it needs the vision, the images to be in someone else’s head to create the picture.

Monday, 16 May 2011

Nancy Baker

Nancy Baker is originally from San Francisco, California. She is a theatre director and lives in Los Angeles. She doesn’t own a TV or a microwave. It’s not so much that she’s an earth avenger, technology just escapes her.

I caught up with Nancy on Skype.

Nancy Baker

Friday, May 13 2011

Los Angeles 3pm

Bristol 11pm

What are you working on at the moment?

I was approached by a medical organization to have actors put on scenarios. They’ve asked me to put that together and its… all a bit experimental in the corporate world. Theatrically, I’m looking at places out of a LA, to do this play, sending out proposals and such. It’s a play I’ve done before so just working on finding space and money. We’re always looking for money.

What’s the play?

It’s called Dear Mrs Baker, and oddly enough, its about my mom. About the guys in Vietnam who wrote her letters, there were more than 50 of them. The play takes their writing and creates this dual world, of this San Francisco house with Vietnam surroundings.

Why were the soldiers writing to your mom?

She is an interesting women. She’s pretty conservative. She didn’t like all the protesters and thought that was very disloyal. She met my dad at a USO dance, so what does that tell you?! There was a man in 1965 that wrote an Op -Ed piece to the local paper saying,

Soldier: While you guys are protesting, we are dying for the right to protest.

My mom was so embarrassed by the protesters that she wrote him a letter saying,

Mom: Not all of us feel this way. I don’t really have much to offer you. Here are some cookies.

He shared the cookies. Those guys sent thank you notes and then it snowballed from there. She wrote to these guys for five years. And when they came home, they’d go through San Francisco and my dad would collect them from their base and my mom would throw a big welcome home party. The Vietnam Memorial Wall’s 30^th anniversary is in two years. Were trying to get the play up in other places, so that it will easily go to DC.

What would you say is your directing style?

Hmmm…laughing. Outcome specialist. I was an actor for 30 years and I definitely have an acting/Meisner approach. I like it to be a very collective process, in a way, but I also believe in steering a ship and have it reach an ultimate, visual conclusion. I don’t tend to be too autocratic but the vision is the vision. Stubbornly chill.

What is it like being a theatre director in Los Angeles, the land of film and tv?

Lonely. Its interesting because you’ll be at a theatre event and someone asks what you’ve done, you tell them, and they turn around and say,

Someone: Well darling, you haven’t really don’t anything have you?!

Nancy: Hmm. I thought the Kennedy Center was pretty impressive!

It’s a funky dynamic of doing theatre in a non- theatre town. What’s particurlarly frustrating for me is, theatre actors have tread boards, versus on camera where its all very minor, small and intimate. The camera does so much for you. That doesn’t play to the 50^th row of a theatre where you have to be big, without losing that intimacy. A lot of actors in LA aren’t theatre trained and have more difficulty with that.

Who or what inspires you?

What, would be fear. I’m really inspired by people working and struggling and the moment right before they make it. It makes me want to keep doing it. It makes me curious to the work being the most important thing. The people who are really still hungry. I'm inspired by people’s hunger and motivated by fear. There you go!

What type of theatre are you drawn to?

Original theatre, the classics, fluff, social commentaries. Any art that makes someone think and feel is successful. As a director, if I’m reading a play and half way through it hasn’t made me care, I move on.

What are the challenging aspects of making theatre during our current economic times?

Theatre is expensive. The devil is in the details. Space is expensive, electricity is expensive, printing. It makes theatre owners less willing to risk and makes theatre companies have to struggle so much more to get stuff made. There are funds but you have a lot of people competing for those. A lot of film actors try and throw together a show because they want to be seen, an agent wont show up, but they want to say they’ve been in something, because at least they’re working. That has value. That's WHY they look for those funds. You have to get creative about how you are going to fund something.

Dream projects?

It would be at the Gate Theatre in Dublin with Anthony Hopkins, Marcia Gay Harden and Daniel Day Lewis.

Final question. Is the director dead?

Every symphony needs a conductor. Every ship needs someone steering it. Theatre is ultimately a lovely, visual piece and in order to do that I think you have to step outside and have someone minding the vision. Actors, if they’re doing their job properly are to close to see, so for me, it’s not possible to do a successful piece without a director.

Thanks Nancy for sharing your thoughts!

"I will say nothing to an actor that cannot be translated into action." Elia Kazan

"The essence of the stage is concentration and penetration. Of the screen action, movement, sweep." Elia Kazan

Sunday, 8 May 2011

Sam Ellis

Sam Ellis, is originally from Vancouver, Canada and lives in Bristol, England. He is a film and theatre director who has had a few different lives, traveling the globe from Vancouver Island, to Germany, and Scotland. He is an alum of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Sam Ellis

Saturday, May 7^th 2011

Clifton, Bristol 1:30pm

What are you working on at the moment?

I am working with the Bristol Acting Academy, and directing their showcase. It’s a bit teaching and directing. I’m really enjoying enthusing people, seeing new talent, and encouraging that talent. Because I have a family, having a steady income is more of what I’ve been focusing on.

How did you get into directing?

I was a policeman for three years, before going to drama school. I started doing corporate role-plays as a police officer and working with a corporate company, when the director of that company left. I said I’d fill in until they found a proper director. I was still there after four years making films for the Crown Prosecution Service and Lord Chancellor's Department, dealing with crews and big budgets. I became a director by default. I found it very fulfilling, to get actors together and tell a story.

What do you look for in an actor?

Courage. Courage, to be open and honest. To give it a go and not worry too much if they succeed or fail. Integrity. I certainly wouldn’t be looking for ego. An actor’s ego gets in the way of the work. Generosity is very important when working in a team. The ability, to tell a beautiful lie, truthfully.

How does your work as a director and actor inform you as a teacher of acting students?

I encourage and help them feel safe, so that they’re in a safe place to explore. I’m not necessarily out for results. I’m after a sense of ownership from the actor, because ultimately, from there, comes a sense of truth. I feel that theatre really is an actor’s medium, I think you’re there to help the actor find the truth in the scene. That truth is what's important to an audience rather than any obvious director's input. Good theatre direction should almost go unnoticed.

Who or what inspires you?

Frank Capra. It’s a Wonderful Life, for it's story telling. I love anything by the Cohen Brothers, Tim Burton. People that have a quirky take on things. Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman. [Steven] Spielberg, who I’ve been lucky to work with on Saving Private Ryan. I was inspired being on the film set, and as the actor thinking ‘oh I’ve got three hours before I shoot this thing’ and then looking at the director whose thinking ‘I’ve got three hours to solve this thing’ It’s a lot of troubleshooting, problem solving, as opposed to the actor who is trying to conserve his energy for the scene. So watching that, and watching him work very closely with his crew, was hugely inspiring. There was no ego. He was completely open to the expertise of his team. That made me realise, that what you do as a director, is you facilitate a creative team. To bring out the best in each of those members of the team, that’s what the job is!

Dream Projects?

I was an actor for 20 years and have been a director for 9. My aspiration really, is to continue making money doing what I love. As a kid, I had this fantasy novel, that if I had the money, I’d like to make it into a film. I always hope when I read a script or screenplay that it will excite and inspire me. So I hope I keep getting inspired.

Final question. Is the director dead?

Theatre is an actor’s medium and it should be an actor’s medium. A good actor has the ability to almost self-direct, an innate ability to understand what’s needed and get up and do it. But if you have a group of actors, trying to direct by committee, then that’s doomed really. You need someone to facilitate the process and to buffer the actor from the theatre management. Free the actor to be creative. Film is very much a director’s and editor’s medium. A director is very well alive and kicking in film. I’ve seen performances created in the editing room. The shots, what you are getting the audience to look at, that’s all from the director’s point of view. Without a director, film wouldn’t happen. I think the director is most definitely not dead, they are needed in both fields but for different reasons.

Thanks Sam for sharing your thoughts!

“Conscious preparation leads to unconscious inspiration”. Stanislavsky.

Sunday, 1 May 2011

The Fantastic Four- BOVTS Graduating Directors

This week I had the pleasure of meeting up with the graduating students of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School Directing Course. It is an excellent program, that offers four special and talented individuals the opportunity to develop and hone their craft. Their final projects, called Directors’ Cuts opens this Tuesday 3^rd May and runs to 28^th of May at the Alma Tavern in Clifton, Bristol.

For more info on their shows and how to get tickets please visit;

http://www.almataverntheatre.co.uk/theatreWhatsOn.php

The Fantastic Four

Anna Girvan from Newcastle, UK


Matt Grinter from Bristol, UK

Ed Stambollouian from Kent, UK

Emel Yilmaz from Istanbul, Turkey

You can follow all the directors and their news on twitter@BOVTSDirectors

The Fantastic Four Interview: Anna Girvan, Matt Grinter, Edward Stambollouian, Emel Yilmaz

Thursday, April 28^th 2011

The Arts House Café, 4pm

Stokes Croft, Bristol

You are all currently preparing for your final projects, what plays have you chosen to do and why?

Matt: I’ve chosen Orphans, a play by Dennis Kelly. It came after a lot of frantic reading over weekends. I ended up at Ed’s house crying I haven’t got a play! and he gave me this one to read. It was just so engrossing, captivating and drew me in ‘till the end and I just thought this is the one I want to do.

Emel: I am directing Country Music by Simon Stephens. One of the big reasons why I am doing this play is because I love the story. I read loads of plays and I think the story of Jamie Carris, who is the main character in the play, is much closer to my heart, my kind of approach and style in theatre.

Ed: I am directing The Aliens by Annie Baker, which is a new American play and had its premiere at the Bush Theatre in London. This is going to be its first UK revival. Like Emel, I read a lot of plays before choosing our Alma’s. This was the first play that made me, laugh a lot and made me cry… a little.

Roar of laughter.

Anna: Come on big man!

Ed: Man tears, man tears! It just made me smile and smile and the minute I put it down I wanted to read it again.

Anna: I’m directing Contractions by Mike Bartlett. When choosing for the Alma, which is quite a small space you have to think in terms of time restraints and small cast. I came across Mike’s work, first done at the Royal Court, and like any good book you don’t want to put it down. It made me laugh and I like the sort of dark, surreal twist of things.

What are the positives and negatives about being a student during our current economic climate?

Matt: The positive is that you’re a student! The negatives are to go into a world that’s unsure at the best of times and at the moment, is terrifying. The good thing about being a student is you really get to figure out your game plan. Its tough for everyone and being at the being of your career, its always going to be tough.

Ed: Training as young directors at the start of our career, more than anything, its given us the confidence in our own practice to go out and make work in the real world. For me, I think this year has given me the confidence to walk into a rehearsal room and say I’m the director, I know what I’m doing, here we go! Yes, it’s a difficult time to be a student, but it’s important to have that confidence in yourself and your own ability and that’s what Bristol has given me.

Anna: And I think as a director its quite interesting listening to talks from Peter Hall, who just kind of fell into it, before directors were even a big thing. It was just through friends of friends in Cambridge, hey want to work on something by some guy Samuel Beckett and it just doesn’t seem to happen anymore, through these circles of friends. Hopefully this is what this helps to do as well, create these networks that are oh so important nowadays. It’s not necessarily like you’ve got the one step ahead for having training but it does give you that confidence. Its give you the experience of working on tours, small scale, large scale, you may have not gotten otherwise.

Matt: Yeah, I think that’s it. If you can create something that people want to see, you’ll always get an audience. Its not about going and finding jobs necessarily, its about creating something, you can create from, like we have with Edible [Theatre] in Bristol and like the group we have here.

Emel: Previously I was doing theatre and drama much more like facillating workshops and I was never able to specifically identify myself as a director. Now I can quite confidently email a playwright and say I’m a director can I work with you! That type of confidence and seeing yourself in your occupation… has been brilliant. I just love being a student as well.

Anna: I just can’t stop being a student!

My next question was going be about what you will take from the BOVTS directing course into your professional career and it sounds like confidence has been key for all of you. What else will you take away from it?

Matt: It’s definitely people as well. When auditioning for these shows, we said to everyone, come an audition even if you don’t think you are right for the part. These are auditions for our next 5 shows! These are the people we are going to be working with in the future. And… friends for life.

All: Awww!

You all seem to really connect as a group. What are some of the dynamics between you? I hear you’re taking your shows to London together?

Matt: Yeah, we do seem to work quite well together.

Ed: Sometimes!

Emel: Always love and hate relationship between me and Ed. But we love each other.

Knowing smiles all around.

Ed: It’s been a bit different for us this year, because one of our directors called Selma, who was from Iceland, had family issues and had to go back. So Anna, who did the course last year, has come back for the Alma season. It’s been the three of us for a while and we bonded quite well. Now its nice having Anna here from the viewpoint of a year outside drama school. We’ve worked quite well together. You mentioned our London run, I don’t think it’s something the directors have done before together or at least not for some time. Because of our relationship, we decided to do it together.

Murmurs of agreement from all.

Emel: Using this time, rather then competing but supporting each other as directors, is quite refreshing and I think everyone is enjoying that.

Matt: Yeah, even you two. Gestures towards Emel and Ed.

Ed: It’s nice to hear you say that!

Emel: As I said, love and hate!

Ed: It’s not a competition.

Emel: Jokingly. It will be!

Matt: We're all pitching for one spot in the Brewery in September and we’ve all gone up for things at the same time, it’s always been a friendly banter.

Ed: There are so many people out there going for the same job, the same work, there is no point in us competing with each other. If one of us were to get something, it’s FANTASTIC.

Anna: Half my jobs I’ve gotten because the directors had dropped out! If you couldn’t do something, with your contacts, you can say hey, I know this director that would be perfect for it and you know they’ll do the same for you. We’re all in it together. The more connections we can make, the more theatre we can make.

Matt: Definitely, definitely. I don’t think we would’ve been able to get to Trafalgar Studios, if it wasn’t for the four of us.

Who inspires you?

Matt: Ed.

Laughter.

Ed’s the big man here!

Emel: The one to watch!

Ed: Awesome. That’s the end of the interview.

Matt: Who inspires you Ed?

Ed: One of the reasons I first got into theatre was because of my father. He is actually, not in theatre at all, but he is hands down, the best storyteller you will ever meet. He’s Armenian, so he comes from that tradition of storytelling and he just tells a brilliant story. All through my childhood, I heard these fantastic stories and thats what got me into it. In terms of professional inspiration, it comes from a wide range of different artists.

Emel: It is hard to pinpoint one thing or person, there are so many.

Matt: For me it’s Antonin Geller. He has the career I would love to have. I’d love to do what he did within film and theatre. He was one of the most inspirational people I’ve ever met. Very, very in touch, particularly in film, that makes the art form, seem like the secretary in the job. He was able to stay true to what it was and made some of the most beautiful films and wrote the most beautiful plays of recent years.

Anna: Companies that try and do theatre in different places other than the theatre. That excites me. Storytelling in an unexpected way, people that want to push the boundaries. People like Katie Mitchell, who really made a female name for directors. It was all your Peter Halls and Pinters and now Josie Rourke is taking over the Donmar [Warehouse]! You’ve got female directors taking over huge spaces. Also, people who aren’t afraid of being the most unpopular person and be very much in their niche and say that's my style, I’m not trying to please everyone just to get a job. Those types of people are very inspiring.

Emel: Going back to my background, I did community theatre and worked with Augosto Boal. He inspires me a lot, in terms of storytelling, characters and how important characters are to storytelling. He spent all his life using theatre as a tool for change.

Dream projects?

Matt: There is a book that I have adapted, called The Otherwise Girl and I am hoping to make it into a feature length film. I would love to work with my theatre company Edible Theatre and take shows from Bristol and successfully transfer them to the London fringe scene. My greater goals are projects rather than venues or jobs, but really, I just want to make a decent living doing all this stuff.

Ed: I’d like to work at creating a new theatre space, don’t know where that would be, but that’s something that excites me a lot. Programming new work and creating a space for artists as well as making my own work and directing. Since I was eleven, I’ve had a dream of doing Titus Andronicus in a huge tent at Glastonbury. Beirut are going to do the soundtrack, circus performers and loads of fake blood! A multi-million pound project!

Anna: I agree with Matt that I'd like to just be able to make a stable living off directing theatre alone! I have always wanted to go back to Newcastle and set up a green theatre, in an old library on the edge of Heaton Park. It would be a hub for local arts and be very eco friendly (i.e. no touring companies from miles away, no/only disabled car park, bike racks, recycled sets, energy saving lighting, solar powered, recycled paper programmes and leaflets, only local bar snacks and drinks etc. I'd love to direct a version if The Highwayman, a poem by Alfed Noyes, which I loved as a child. I'd love to take it around the country to schools and towns in an old gypsy wagon with a troupe of talented actor-musicians bringing this poem to life through creating the sounds, smells, textures and images that it stirs in my mind when I read it.

Emel: My doable dream project would be producing and directing my own writing and improving that way. I would quite like to translate new writing from England into Turkish and produce it in Turkey. There are so many good playwrights in England, that need to be celebrated more widely. My big, big, dream job would be to be artistic director of the National Theatre. As a woman and as a Turkish woman it would bring a different quality to it. I really want to direct a play at the National Theatre!

Final question. Is the director dead?

Ed: I don't think the director is dead or dying but the role of director is evolving. Collaborative and company based work is starting to take more of a place in the mainstream. I think the hierarchy of director as god is a dead concept and the most exciting work for me is created when a director challenges the actors to lead the creative process.

Anna: The director is quite a new addition to the theatre and it has been changing its identity and definition ever since. There are so many more of us now and a lot more theatre happening as a result. We use the fact that we all have different approaches to theatre to our benefit and work together with other directors to create all sorts of different theatre and learn from one another. The director now is not just a young man educated at Cambridge that happens to know people who work at Stratford, though there are those lucky few, we now need CVs and references and 'internships' 'work experience' and 'placements' to prove that we are willing to work our guts out for nothing to make us a good director. We have more pressure in that respect but I think that so long the directors of today realise this and realise that the most important part of making theatre is to enjoy it, then the director will keep on thriving and evolving, as the theatre scene does itself.

Matt: The director is not dead! Theatre is the new rock and roll and although the roll of the director is developing and evolving it will always be an essential part of the creation process.