14 Aug A Sense of Direction – Sean Foley

Sean Foley has taken an unusual route to becoming one of the country’s most influential directors. Born in 1964 in Cleethorpes, he moved around a lot as a child, and eventually got involved with drama while studying at Oxford University – not through the austere and exclusive student clubs, but through a company called Oxford Youth Theatre that operated at Oxford’s Pegasus Theatre.

There, Foley did workshops with theatre company Complicite, which inspired him to travel to Paris to train with the legendary clown Philippe Gaulier. In France, he met Hamish McColl, with whom he formed double-act The Right Size, under the aegis of which Foley made shows throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, including the Olivier Award-winning comedies Do You Come Here Often? and The Play What I Wrote. That success led to more directing work for Foley – 2012’s The Ladykillers, 2016’s The Painkiller, 2017’s The Miser – and he was appointed artistic director of Birmingham Rep in 2019.

How did you become a director?

Looking back, those early shows Hamish and I made were good training to be a director because we worked everything out ourselves. We self-directed. I found it difficult to just be an actor afterwards. I would sit there watching a director and think: ‘This isn’t going to work the way you are doing it.’

I never deliberately went looking for directing jobs, though. I directed a couple of things – a magic show with an Italian artist called Arturo Brachetti and a collection of Pinter sketches – then I acted and co-directed Sheridan’s The Critic at Chichester Festival Theatre with Jonathan Church. I really enjoyed it. It went well, and I was asked to direct The Ladykillers in the West End afterwards. That was my first big, proper show as a director. After that, the path into directing just seemed natural.

Who or what was the biggest help along the way?

I will always be grateful to Jonathan Church for The Critic at Chichester, and Ed Snape and Fiery Angel for The Ladykillers, because those were my big breaks that got me into directing.

What work are you most proud of?

I don’t think you ever really think you’ve nailed a job. There is that phrase about films: you never finish them, you just have to abandon them. That said, I think Jeeves and Wooster was a really complete show that worked as a piece of theatre. There have been lots of things that might not have quite worked or quite got the credit they deserved or whatever, but that I still enjoyed working on, too. I really loved doing The Painkiller with Ken Branagh and Rob Brydon, for example. That was fun.

What work are you least proud of?

Sometimes things just don’t work. I Can’t Sing was a huge new musical at the Palladium. It was actually pretty well reviewed but it didn’t work commercially for some reason. Stuff like that ends up as a cross against your name, but it happens to everyone, especially in the commercial sector.

Who – or what – is your biggest theatrical influence?

In the early days, it was Complicite, back when they were working out of the back of a van. I’m also inspired by film comedians of the silent era, Buster Keaton being my very favourite. I like Billy Wilder, too. I like Morecambe and Wise because of their professionalism and their ability to make something incredibly rehearsed look off the cuff.

And I am inspired by people that can make mainstream work that is actually really good, because those things can and do exist at the same time. I’ve worked with Ken Branagh a few times, too – I’ve directed him, he’s directed me – and he inspires me because he just gets things done.

Is there a show that you really want to stage?

I would love to do some Shakespearean comedy. I’ve not done any yet. A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night are definitely in his top five plays. I’d like to do one of them.

What is your financial situation?

I’ve been lucky enough to have some success, so I am okay now. I wasn’t initially, though. There was period after 2005, when we did our last show Ducktastic as The Right Size, when I did a bit of everything. I did a bit acting in plays, a bit of acting in TV, a few little writing projects, some one-off directing jobs. It was very mix-and-match then. I’ve been lucky, though. I’ve been able to keep going.

What do you enjoy most about directing?

I like working at a high level with creative people on new things. I like doing new stuff, too, whether that is a new play or a new translation or a new adaptation. I have done very few productions of existing texts because I like forming the show from the beginning with the actors and creative team.

What are your frustrations with directing?

My least favourite thing is the relentless time-management. On day one of rehearsal, I am thinking about day one of tech. On day one of tech, I am thinking about the first preview. On the first preview, I am thinking about opening night. You are always looking ahead, rather than living in the moment. I am getting better at that, though. I have an internal clock that lets me be in the moment, but still bring the show in on time.

What fills you with dread about the future of theatre?

I worry there is an unhelpful atmosphere around that limits the essence of creativity, which is playfulness. There are a lot of agendas around, which I am totally behind, but sometimes they leak over into telling people what they can and can’t do, and that is not what art is about. Art does not have any boundaries. You have to be free to make stuff up and see if people go for it.

Take Spitting Image Live. There were a lot of people who were very, very worried that people would find it really offensive. As it turned out, though, they just laughed their heads off.

What gives you hope for the future of theatre?

It is always younger people making stuff and doing shit and getting enthusiastic about it. I saw Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of) not that long ago, and loved it. I felt very connected to it. I felt like I understood where it came from, and the people that made it.

What are you working on at the moment?

I have directed The Crown Jewels, which is in the West End until September 16, then touring the UK. It is a comedy, written by Simon Nye, based on the real story of Colonel Blood, who stole the crown jewels in 1671. So many of the details are completely barking. It is like a cross between a modern farce and a Restoration comedy, and it has got a fabulous cast.

That is the first bit of freelance work I’ve done in three-and-a-half years. There is quite a bit of juggling to do with the day job at Birmingham Rep, but a lot of that involves curating and producing shows, as well as directing them. Our next big show is Sinatra The Musical. We are working with Frank Sinatra’s family on it, and we are delighted to have three-time Tony Award-winner Kathleen Marshall directing it.

ENDS

Fergus Morgan is SDUKs resident blogger.