MEET THE QUEENS OF CULTURE

Theatre, opera, fashion… these three leaders know how to put on a show that gets people excited. Cyan Turan and Jackie Brown find out what inspires them

Female leaders in the worlds of theatre, opera and fashion

‘Being an actor and writing plays is all-consuming’

Lolita Chakrabarti is an award-winning actor and playwright. She lives in London with her husband, actor Adrian Lester, and their two teenage daughters.

‘GI write whenever and wherever I can

rowing up in Birmingham in the 1980s was fantastic; it was a vibrant and diverse place. The first time I went to the theatre was on a school trip, aged 13, to see a play at The Midlands Arts Centre. Little did I know then, but my future husband was in it! We realised years later, and the thought always makes me smile.

After school, I spent three years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) before going into theatre. I performed in A Midsummer Night’s

Dream at the National Theatre two years after leaving college. Six years later, my agent put me forward for TV work, and eventually I got a small part in a BBC drama, before moving to

The Bill. I’d never performed in front of a camera, but I loved it. Now, I split my time between TV and theatre.

I started writing five years after I left RADA. I’d get bored between jobs and would attend pottery and poetry classes. Eventually, I began writing short stories. I’d also been researching American actor Ira Aldridge’s story while writing the play of his life, Red Velvet. It was rejected initially, but it showed at London’s Tricycle Theatre in 2012, with Adrian playing Ira. It was a bumpy ride, but it was a story I needed to tell. It got a West End transfer and toured the US; I was elated. I realised writing could become a part of my career, and I look back on that time as the highlight of my working life.

My husband and I have been married for 30 years and have worked together lots. I even did a scene with him on Hustle, which was surreal. Working in the same industry is a blessing, mostly! It’s intense and all-consuming, and being married to someone who understands that is brilliant. Our discussions about how we can improve are very open!

I’m particular when choosing writing projects because I want time for acting, too. This summer, I’m bringing two productions to stage: one is an adaptation of Life Of Pi by Yann Martel. Yann said, ‘Throw the book out the window if you want to,’ which gave me creative freedom. The second is Invisible Cities, another adaptation, a magical show, which is being performed as part of the Manchester International Festival.

I’d love to write from 9am until 5pm, but I have kids, meetings and auditions, so things are hectic. I write whenever, wherever I can: between scenes on an acting job, at the airport, in my dressing room. In 2017, I played Gertrude in

Hamlet, directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh. I would write for two hours, then do the show. I plan with military precision and I have scheduling down to a fine art. Now, I’m working on a film of Red Velvet.

In 2012, I wrote an article saying theatre was a bit of a gentlemen’s club. It has shifted since then. It felt hierarchical and male-orientated, but there are more female writers in entertainment now. Men, too, are writing for women, but there’s still a way to go.

Audiences are half of the equation. What I write might be marvellous, but if nobody cares, there will be no response. You also need a brilliant team. In television, there is a director, a producer and actors, but if the runner is off, it falls apart. Everyone needs to come together.’

Life Of Pi runs at Sheffield Theatres from 28 June to 20 July (sheffieldtheatres.co.uk). Invisible Cities runs from 2 to 4 July at Mayfield (mif.co.uk/whats-on/invisible-cities)

Quickfire

Book or boxset? Book.

Moët or Martini? Moët, for sure!

Dawn chorus or night owl?

I’m a morning person.

Wedges or wellies?

That’s not a great choice!

I prefer flats.

Marathon or meditation? Meditation! I don’t get marathons at all.

Green & Black’s or green juice?

Green juice.

Vacation or staycation?

I’ve just returned from South Africa, so vacation.

My summer culture highlight is…

The openings of my plays! They are all I can think about.

Running an opera venue has many challenges

‘My expertise and passion collided’

Sarah Hopwood is managing director of Glyndebourne Opera House. She lives in East Sussex with her husband. They have a son, 22, and a daughter, 18.

‘ When I was 13, I joined my dad’s opera group. I’m sure I was terrible, but they loved the fact that someone so young wanted to sing opera, so they let me in! I enjoyed singing in a crowd and the excitement of a production coming together. The fact that I ended up running an opera house is almost fate.

I started my career as an accountant and did a stint in Hong Kong. After five years, I transferred back to the UK. I had a baby by then and was thinking about

a lifestyle change when my husband saw an advert for a finance director at Glyndebourne. I applied, got the job, and we moved to Sussex. He was working in London with a long commute and, one morning, he wrote off a car. We realised our setup wasn’t sustainable. By then we had two children, so he went freelance to keep the show on the road. I had the perfect job; my expertise and passion collided. I was made chief operating officer and became managing director in 2018. I run Glyndebourne with our artistic director, Stephen Langridge. Starting the next chapter of my career journey has been re-energising.

Glyndebourne works in an annual cycle; the highlight is our summer festival, which runs from May to August. Preparation begins in January, in the costume, prop and wig departments. Then rehearsals start and music reverberates around the grounds. There’s a strong sense of family; our chair, Gus Christie, whose grandfather founded Glyndebourne, lives on site. My children and husband have even performed in shows.

Running an opera venue has many challenges. On the one hand, people are preferring to spend on experiences than things, which is positive for us, but there’s also so much other culture to consume, such as podcasts and Netflix. So many factors fill my mind: how much should our tickets be? How do we develop new audiences? How can we bring in young people? How can we make digital technology work for us? We can’t sit in an ivory tower. Opera is an event, but it’s not cheap: people take days off, plan outfits, book babysitters. Each decision is carefully weighed: we subsidise tickets for under 30s, but loyal members could reasonably ask why we don’t discount tickets for them.

Leaders in the arts work in a different environment to those running FTSE 100 companies, where it’s about shareholder return. Here, we’re looking to keep the show on the road! In some ways, opera is a terrible business model because we plan five years ahead, which means committing to costs before you’ve sold a single ticket. It’s a risk, so you need confidence and financial discipline to deliver on your promises. I get anxious about the weight of responsibility, but the lessons I learned in Hong Kong have helped. There were moments when I thought, “I’m here by mistake and they haven’t realised,” but with my experience, I know I can do it.

After work, I relax by going horse riding. That time is important to me. Now the children have left home, my husband is pursuing a career in acting, which is such a joy to me. It feels like life, and work, have come full circle.’

The Glyndebourne Festival runs from 18 May to 25 August (glyndebourne.com)

Quickfire

Book or boxset? Book. I’m in a book club, so I read a lot.

Möet or Martini?

Sussex sparkling.

Dawn chorus or night owl?

Dawn chorus.

Wedges or wellies? Wellies.

Marathon or meditation? My horse!

Green & Black’s or green juice?

Green & Black’s.

Vacation or staycation? Staycation. We normally have a week somewhere, such as Cornwall, after the festival finishes but before school starts.

My summer culture highlight is…

The Proms.

Creating a new show can be pretty intense; you don’t switch off

‘Mary Quant’s brand was more than fashion; it was about an attitude to life’

London’s V&A is famous for its fashion exhibitions. Jenny Lister is co-curator of the Mary Quant retrospective. She lives in Norfolk with her partner and two daughters.

‘ Ihave always been interested in clothes. Even as a baby, I was throwing off things that I didn’t want to wear. I remember being given one of Mary Quant’s famous Daisy dressing-up dolls when I was about five, which I adored.

After school, I did an English and history of art degree, followed by an MA in history of dress at the Courtauld Institute of Art. Back then, it was the only place where you could study the history of fashion. There were eight places every two years, so I felt very lucky to get in.

My first job was working on dress collections at Kensington Palace; we did a lot of exhibitions around Princess Diana. I was an assistant curator at the Museum of London for two years, before joining the V&A as a curator in 2003.

Researching 1960s fashion for my first exhibition made me realise there was a massive gap in knowledge about that era; there was much more to it than just the mini skirt! Mary Quant was among the first to tap into the “youthquake”, as it became known; the dominance of youth in music and the arts.

I’ve met Mary a few times. She is very unassuming and quite shy. She is also very determined and clearly had this amazing drive and vision for her work. It was all about developing the brand; all three Mary Quant shops closed in 1969 so the company could focus on business diversification and licensing. Mary was so good at marketing her brand. She had the face and looks and the attitude to go with it.

I worked on the Princess Grace exhibition in 2010, which was a wonderful experience, and we got the go-ahead for Mary Quant two years ago. At that point, I dropped everything else

I was working on and focused on it, along with co-curator Stephanie Wood. There is a set process: we wrote a design brief to follow early on, and I wrote the official book to go with the exhibition.

I was able to do a lot of the writing at home in Norfolk. I used to work full time, but two years ago I went part time so I get to be with my daughters, who are eight and 11. I leave them with their dad and come to London for a couple of days. In some ways, it works well to have that separation as work can be all-consuming; you don’t switch off. Now the exhibition is open it is quieter, but it can be pretty intense.

Putting on an exhibition is about working in a team; we work on different aspects of the show, and then it takes about two weeks for the physical installation. Mary Quant’s family came to the opening; Mary is 89 now and too frail to visit herself, but we have shown her pictures and films and she is delighted.

What has been great is hearing visitors say, “I had one of those,” when they are looking at the exhibits. We have been able to create a really strong connection with the brand. It was about more than fashion; it was about an attitude to life.

We currently have an average of 2,000 visitors daily, which we are delighted about. The exhibitions at the V&A have got bigger and bigger, and the fashion ones are the most popular. I am now working on my next proposal and I feel very lucky to be working in this boom time of fashion exhibitions.’

• Mary Quant, sponsored by King’s Road, is at the V&A until 16 February 2020, vam.ac.uk/maryquant

Quickfire

Book or boxset? Both.

Möet or martini? Möet.

Dawn chorus or night owl? Both, sometimes.

Wedges or wellies? Wellies.

Marathon or meditation? Neither at the moment, unfortunately.

Green & Black’s or green juice?

Definitely Green & Black’s.

Vacation or staycation? Vacation, ideally.

My summer culture highlight is…

actually not doing too much culture! I’ll be attempting to keep the children happy, but maybe visiting some gardens and houses, or going to the Voewood Festival in North Norfolk.