Mckellen: intimacy directors get in the way

SIR IAN MCKELLEN has questioned the need for intimacy directors in the theatre, saying that in his day such things would have “taken care of themselves”.

In decades past, the actor said, a director would be responsible for all aspects of a production, including intimate scenes between the actors. Now, the number of technical roles involved in putting on a play could outnumber the actors performing in it, Sir Ian said.

The 83-year-old was reflecting on the changes he has seen in the industry since beginning his career in repertory theatre more than 60 years ago. In an interview with Simon Armitage, the Poet Laureate, he said: “There have been many changes, not always for the better.”

“Look at the back of a theatre programme now and see that the director has got an assistant director and an associate director and something called a ‘dramaturg’. I don’t know what dramaturgs actually do; I’ve asked many of them what they do and they’re not too clear themselves. However, they exist.

“The latest is the intimacy coordinator. I can imagine there are situations when you have to be careful and people find it difficult to be intimate, and therefore a coordinator is just the thing. Why can’t it be the director who does that?

Why has it got to be somebody who’s been trained in how to do it?

“This has been a huge change and it’s a little bit of beef for me, because with all these names of people doing all these jobs that would previously seem to have taken care of themselves, you won’t see any actors other than those you see in the play that night because they’re not permanently employed,” said Sir Ian.

Yarit Dor, an intimacy director, suggested that if Sir Ian “has a chance to do a play with an intimacy director he might see the benefits”, adding that the role was welcomed by actors and directors. “They find it freeing to have these scenes handled by someone whose sole role is to look at the actors’ comfort.”