When Tom Hescott, outgoing executive director first heard about the founding of a new professional trade organisation for stage directors several years ago, he thought it was a terrible plan. “Yeah, I thought it was a really bad idea,” Hescott laughs. “I didn’t see a need...
Assistant director. Associate director. Resident director. These job titles are familiar to anyone working in the performing arts industry. They have appeared in productions and programmes for decades and provided entry points into the industry for generations of emerging artists. Despite this, though, there is scant...
Five years ago, few people had heard of intimacy co-ordination, or intimacy direction. Ten years ago, the job did not even exist – and when you think about it, says Louise Kempton, that is quite astonishing. “You would never have a fight on stage and not...
When it comes to staging plays, there are four different types of director, says Anthony Clark: the deferential director, the daring director, the deviant director, and the director’s director. Each has their particular passion, and each has their particular professional approach. “Deferential directors will try and...
As a child, Harold Finley played with chess sets. He would position the pieces on the board. He would observe the angles and interactions between them. He would act out stories with them. Looking back, the incoming executive director of SDUK says, it seems obvious...
How do you get a job? In most industries, the answer is obvious. You see a vacancy, you send in an application, you go for an interview, and you cross your fingers. In the performing arts, though, things are rarely that simple: it is usually...
Kane Husbands, artistic director of award-winning physical theatre company ThePappyShow, likes to play. A rehearsal day run by him usually starts with an hour long “check-in”, during which the whole ensemble contributes to a group discussion on a relevant topic. Then, he explains, there is...
We are thrilled to announce that Harold Finley has been appointed as SDUK’s new Executive Director. Harold and Thomas Hescott will work together for the rest of 2021 to ensure a smooth handover. Thomas will step away at the end of the year, and comments,...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] Kate Waters – AKA Kombat Kate – has had dozens of actors killed. She has had them shot. She has had them stabbed. She has had one drowned in a fish...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text] As an Artistic Director, you often feel you have to be indestructible. As a person with a certain amount of power, you should hold yourself to a high standard. Just occasionally, though, things get tough, and the pressure...
Since 2017, Wales has been my home, initially working here as an Associate Director within a building, and then afterwards remaining here as a freelancer. Due to this I have an insight into both sides of the process for theatre directors, and as we now...
Hello, Firstly I want to say thank you to all the members for voting me onto the board – and in turn I would like to thank Tom for reaching out and asking me to be co-chair alongside Matthew Dunster. The proposition was too good to...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text]Hello I feel very privileged to be writing to you all as the new co-chair of SDUK, alongside the brilliant Pooja Ghai. Pooja will write and say 'hi' next month. SDUK membership has...
We're thrilled to offer up some festive cheer with this month's SDUK Podcast - a chat with Director Zoe Waterman on all things Panto! [buzzsprout episode='6999469' player='true']...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text]We've just published the second episode of the SDUK Podcast! This episode features Artistic Director of the Orange Tree Theatre, Paul Miller, in conversation with SDUK's Executive Director Thomas Hescott. [buzzsprout episode='6342355'...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text]We are VERY excited to launch the SDUK Podcast! We want to reach directors across the UK, which, pandemic aside, is difficult to do meaningfully. We have hosted many events in...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text]As theatre makers, our reality was turned upside down in March. The questions we are now grappling with are overwhelming: what can we do to survive the pandemic, keep audiences engaged, artists working...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Among an array of disappointing findings from Arts Council England’s latest diversity report, one statistic stood out as particularly shocking: the percentage of disabled workers in National Portfolio Organisations is 6%, compared with 21% in the national working-age...
Kate Guelke was recipient of an SDUK Mentoring Bursary in 2019: I’m going to be honest. I can count on my hand how many times – as a director – I have actually spoken to a designer. The scale of the productions I do mean that...
This blog is reposted with permission from The Equity Magazine. Check out the original post here I am in awe of the skill of actors, but being a director is what I have always wanted to do. From a young age, I found the whole world...
This week's blog is from SDUK Member Robert Awosusi on the challenges of working as both writer and director. Think about the amount of work you do as a director: formulating the vision, casting, planning rehearsals, liaisons with the creative team, the dramaturgy, those endless, endless strings of emails...
Following the twitter response to our Welsh Director's Survey, here is the full report written by Board Member and Director Simon Harris REPORT FROM THE SDUK WELSH DIRECTORS’ SURVEY – SUMMER 2017 Introduction SDUK thought it would be useful to share with you some of the results taken...
This week's blog is from Greg Eldridge, an Australian director, now based in London, who works primarily in opera and is a member of the SDUK Opera Committee. Greg's experience below is one of the many reasons why Stage Directors UK has taken up the mantle...
This week's blog is from our Wales representative board member, Simon Harris. There was a moment in the SDUK meeting in Cardiff a fortnight ago when a young director spoke about his frustration at feeling like he was “forever emerging.” What was interesting was that four...