Lorne Campbell tells us who has inspired him most on his journey to Northern Stage.
Esiaba Irobi
As an undergraduate drama student at Liverpool John Moores University I was incredibly fortunate to be taught by Esiaba. A devotee of Wole Soyinka, Poet, Playwright, Radical, political exile and self-professed ‘dangerous African man’, Esi took our scared and conservative young minds and blew them into a million pieces, with a wealth of big ideas and a bottomless well of intellectual excitement. Ranging from Artaud to Rustom Bharucha via Jan Kott, Eugenio Barba and a hundred other points of non-British reference, Esi taught not only the importance of politic and passion but of the vital need to be not ashamed of the scale or eccentricity of your ambition. He died of cancer far too young and I miss his enthusiasm dearly and mourn for the generations of students he should be laughing at, terrifying, confusing, inspiring and changing today.
Philip Howard
My first proper boss. I was very fortunate as a young director to win a place on the regional theatre young director’s scheme, which placed me at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, coincidentally the theatre I had attended first as a child. Philip was then Artistic Director (he is now Co-Artistic Director of Dundee Rep). A true director of New-Writing needs a marvellous blend of skill, patience, generosity and stubbornness. New-Writing, as practised by the Traverse then, undoubtedly followed the ideal of the writer as the principal artist and founding author of the production. Many directors flounder in the space of either pushing their own authorship too hard in conflict with the text or yielding too completely to the writer’s vision, failing to provide sufficient dramaturgical testing and rigour to the process of playmaking. Philip trod this narrow path with exceptional skill and taught me an inordinate amount about balancing patience and stubbornness in my own work. He challenged me when I was right and supported me when I was wrong and for that I am profoundly grateful.
Professor Ros Steen
The head of the centre for voice at the Royal Conservatoire Scotland, Ros is a genuine innovator in the process and application of voice in performance. Building on the work of Nadine George and Roy Hart, Ros has made a profound impact on the nature of acting, rehearsal and performance in Scotland. At least three generations of actors have made meaningful contact with her work and it has become a Lingua Franca across the Scottish theatrical community. Based in ideas of vocal, physical and emotional release Ros’ work is removed from traditional technique focused voice work and functions as one of the cornerstones of my practice. I am always trying to move away from an intellectualised or logical conceptualisation of theatrical experience and through working with Ros and bringing her work into my own practice I have found a constant resource for moving away from the head and into the body of performer and audience alike.
Erica Whyman, OBE
My predecessor at Northern Stage Erica (now Deputy Artistic Director of the RSC) is that rare combination of brilliant artistic director and brilliant director. Organisations, particularly theatres, form themselves very quickly in the image of their leaders. I am enormously privileged to have inherited an organisation that is fundamentally kind, generous and utterly unafraid of change. This ethos is a huge testament to the way in which Erica led, and enormous inspiration for how I am trying to lead. Erica gave huge support to Greyscale, my former company, when we were starting out. The journey from meeting Erica to receiving this support was incredibly short and as I now look at the risks she took on us from this side of the programming prism I fully appreciate how generous and courageous on our behalf she was. The RSC is incredibly lucky to have her and I can’t wait to see what outrageous risks she will calmly talk them into taking.
Lorne Campbell is Artistic Director of Newcastle’s Northern Stage and his first show in post ‘Dark Woods, Deep Snow. A Grimm Tale for Christmas’ opens on 2 December.
Before moving to Newcastle upon Tyne Lorne was Co-Artistic Director at Greyscale, course leader of the BA Directing programme at Drama Centre, Central St Martin’s and a freelance director and theatre-maker working with The Gate, London, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, Birmingham Rep and Oran Mor among others. He is a graduate of the Channel 4 Young Theatre Director’s Scheme and a former Associate Director at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh.