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...
SOLT and UK Theatre have released an updated version of their 10 Principles for creating safe and inclusive working spaces in the theatre industry, to prevent and challenge bullying, harassment and discrimination. We at SDUK along with 20 other leading industry trade bodies, membership organisations, unions...
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...
Stage Directors UK is inviting proposals for new leadership to work alongside Thomas Hescott to create a new transformative vision for the future of SDUK and for theatre and opera directors in the UK. You might be an arts administrator or a producer. You could be...
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'...
We are delighted to announce that the SDUK board have appointed Matthew Dunster and Pooja Ghai as Co-Chairs, taking over from Kate Saxon as outgoing Chair Pooja and Matthew’s collective experience as directors, their knowledge and links to partner organisations, and their ambitions for SDUK mean that...
[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][/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 delighted to be publishing our Forever Emerging report looking at the current landscape for theatre directors in Wales. The report was commissioned by SDUK and Arts Council Wales, and...
[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] COVID-19: Routes to recovery - an evidence-based study of the freelance theatre workforce This report was created by an unaffiliated group of analysts and theatre freelancers. It includes data gathered by SDUK, Freelancers Make Theatre Work and Curtain Call through the...
Over the past couple of months SDUK has been working to ensure that the freelance workforce is protected, and represented. As part of our work we are releasing some research into the importance of the freelance workforce in the creative sector, and also into a variety...
As the Executive Director of Stage Directors UK I am dismayed that the Chancellor's plans to offer economic support to the nation through the current worldwide crisis offer little protection for the self employed. There is a stark contrast between the governments plan to protect 80%...
[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]The international outbreak of Covid-19 (Novel Coronavirus) will undoubtedly affect the lives of working directors and their creative colleagues. It's business as usual for SDUK, as we work remotely and can...
[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...
In October last year, a revival of Arinze Kene’s Little Baby Jesus opened at Orange Tree Theatre to rave reviews. Four stars from Time Out and The Arts Desk. Five stars from The Stage. Five stars from The Guardian. The director showered with such praise...
SDUK wholeheartedly welcomes the formation of the Jewish Artists' Collective and the vital discussions their recent statements have provoked (see HERE for coverage in The Stage). We acknowledge the statistics quoted in the original open letter stating that Jews form a minority in the UK. We...
We were saddened to hear of the recent passing of Ivor Benjamin. Ivor was not only a well-respected director of theatre, but a tireless campaigner for directors’ rights, supporter and member of SDUK, and was heavily involved in the work of both the Directors Guild of Great...
We are delighted to announce that the training and career study, commissioned by the National Theatre, RADA, The Old Vic and SDUK has now been published. You can find the full report here. Thomas Hescott - the author of the report and the exec director of...
We're really happy to announce something that we know a lot of you have been waiting for: SDUK'S 2019 MENTORING SCHEME!! The scheme has been generously supported by the Directors Charitable Foundation, the Noel Coward Foundation and the Garrick Charitable Trust. Who is it for? The SDUK mentoring scheme is open...
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...
Stage Directors UK recognises that the recent open letter by forty playwrights to the Chair of National Theatre Wales has opened up an important point of discussion. We welcome the offer NTW has made to engage with the signatories of the letter and at a later stage,...
Equity, working alongside SDUK, has succeeded in bringing a series of negotiations to a successful conclusion with UK Theatre and West End Managers achieving brand new robust Agreements for Directors commencing from 1st of August 2018. Over a period of three years and 8 months minimum...
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 5 Minute Chat is with Stage Director's New Executive Director Thomas Hescott And on Tuesday May 2nd Thomas will be in conversation with his Agent Dan Uztan from UNited Agents at Century Club. Want to know more about the Director/ Agent Relationship? Want to...
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...
This week it is our formidable administrator Liz Holmes, who keeps us all organised, engaged and simply makes the stuff we need happen, happen. From your Administrator: There’s the parapet. There’s my big old ginger head peeping out above it. Saying “Hiiiiii, I know I’m part of the problem!” For you...
Piers Haggard, Chief Executive of Stage Directors UK and Directors UK board member, has been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Years Honours List for services to Film, Television and Theatre. Piers is an accomplished, award winning (Pennies From Heaven BAFTA 1978) director of television,...
Production company Bill Kenwright Ltd has apologised to SDUK member Matthew Dunster after using press quotations of Dunster’s production of After the Party at the Almeida Theatre to publicise a new production of Rodney Ackland's play. Read the full article from The Stage here....