Monday, March 2, 2020
I’ve been auditioning lately. Or rather, I’ve been on the panel in auditions, rather than auditioning for a role myself. It never
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMMonday, January 6, 2020
Last week’s edition of The Stage included many fascinating lists. While some of them caused consternation (particularly the gender and race imbalances
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 03:00AMMonday, October 21, 2019
For most theatres today, the holy grail is new audiences. In the honourable name of inclusivity and democracy, we’re all aiming to
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMMonday, September 23, 2019
Channel 4 is clever. Have you seen its new ‘Complaints Welcome’ film? Google it. It has taken real-life complaints about presenters, actors
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMMonday, August 26, 2019
I’ve never been particularly fond of Halloween. Dressing up in ghoulish gear and blackmailing neighbours on their doorsteps for sweets always embarrassed
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMTuesday, July 30, 2019
In the past, I’ve commented in this column that a transfer to London is not always the holy grail for regional theatres
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMTuesday, July 2, 2019
Recruitment is an essential but complex process for any organisation, and the theatre is no exception. The process, which has been made
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMMonday, June 3, 2019
Nowadays, we’re ever more keen to ensure that the voices of the young are heard – in politics, as much as in
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMMonday, May 6, 2019
I happen to believe that no actor, however brilliant, can truly and completely efface themselves in performance. That is, despite all attempts
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMMonday, April 8, 2019
It was fascinating to hear Mark Zuckerberg calling for governments and regulators to clamp down on harmful content on social media and
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMMonday, March 11, 2019
I’m not a great fan of surprises, generally. Secret birthday parties, unannounced guests and computer viruses are not my cup of tea.
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 03:00AMMonday, February 11, 2019
Theatrical performing rights can be the bane of a producer’s life. One can come up with a seemingly genius idea only to
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMMonday, January 14, 2019
In this column, I’ve sometimes bemoaned the lack of time I have to read. However, the Christmas period brought some respite. Like
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMMonday, November 26, 2018
You may not know it, but for nearly 10 years, those of us who lead organisations that receive Arts Council England funding
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMMonday, October 29, 2018
It’s fascinating to see the kind of work that is currently thriving in the West End. There seems to be an increasing
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 03:00AMMonday, October 1, 2018
In 2012, when cuts to local government budgets were biting hard, Nicholas Hytner – then director of the National Theatre – held
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMMonday, September 3, 2018
From the moment I entered the foyer of the National Theatre one evening last month, I could tell something was new. The
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMMonday, August 6, 2018
In discussion with a writer recently, it was fascinating to hear their puzzlement at how someone could direct work while developing new
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMMonday, July 9, 2018
I was startled by the recent report stating that theatres outside of London had seen a decrease in the number of tickets
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMTuesday, June 12, 2018
Recently at Chichester Festival Theatre, we produced a double-bill of plays by the poet-playwright Debbie Tucker Green. The first was the astonishing
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMTuesday, May 15, 2018
In this column I try to offer an insight into the challenges of being an artistic director of a UK theatre building.
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMTuesday, April 17, 2018
Here’s a question I ask myself from time to time: is there actually just one audience? Are the people with whom we
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMTuesday, March 20, 2018
If one of the greatest pleasures of working in theatre is getting the opportunity to collaborate with living writers, then it’s doubly
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 03:00AMMonday, February 19, 2018
We’ve just announced our new season: 12 productions in two theatre spaces taking place over nine months. I was reminded what a
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMWednesday, January 24, 2018
Around 10 years ago, I was in New York and an American actor mentioned how fortunate it was that I could be
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMTuesday, December 5, 2017
I’ve proselytised many times in these pages about the value of the Clore Leadership Programme, where leaders from across the cultural sector
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMWednesday, November 8, 2017
Being an artistic director has its challenges, of course. But none occurs more frequently than the challenge of having to turn people
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMWednesday, October 11, 2017
These days, not a week goes by without a comment on the size, shape, capacity, modernity and aptness of our theatre buildings
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMWednesday, September 13, 2017
An acquaintance recently shared with me some misgivings. He deemed it inappropriate for a highly respected theatre director to appear on BBC
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AMThursday, August 17, 2017
Let’s face it, summer’s over. We’ve become accustomed to a scorching fortnight in June, a mild July, a wet August, then, if
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 10:00AMThursday, July 27, 2017
One of the great privileges of being an artistic director is the opportunity to give jobs to other people. I derive as
SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AM 
