New theatre director unveiled
● Jackie Wylie becomes the third artistic director in company’s ten-year history
The National Theatre of Scotland unveiled its new artistic director as Jackie Wylie yesterday.
Ms Wylie spent seven years at the Glasgow venue The Arches before it was forced to close after a police crackdown.
The former artistic director of The Arches, the long-running Glasgow venue forced to close after a police crackdown, has been hired by the National Theatre of Scotland to be its new figurehead.
Jackie Wylie, who spent seven years at the helm of The Arches before its demise last summer, will become its third artistic director when she takes up her post in the spring.
Ms Wylie, who is widelyrespected in the Scottish cultural scene, replaces Laurie Samson, who resigned in April after speaking out over the impact of cuts imposed by the Scottish Government. He warned NTS was having to “rethink” its future after being hit with a three per cent cut ahead of its tenth anniversary.
Mr Samson had been just three years in the post since succeeding inaugural artistic director Vicky Featherstone, who was credited with instigating NTS’S “theatre without walls” ethos, which has seen it stage shows around Scotland.
NTS insisted Ms Wylie was appointed to “build on the National Theatre of Scotland’s reputation and loyal audiences, whilst further extending its work to new partners, new audiences, new forms of theatre and new talent”.
Ms Wylie insisted that while NTS would have to live within its means in future, it would not be scaling back its ambitions or changing its remit.
Ms Wylie, described by NTS today as one of the UK’S “leading creative producers,” has been credited with helping nurture leading young theatre-makers like Kieran Hurley, Rob Drummond, Cora Bissett and Nic Green.
She will take up the post after launching Take Me Somewhere, a new festival to be staged across Glasgow in February and March to “build on the legacy” of The Arches.
She said: “It was such a thrilling prospect to be able to take on an organisation that is so loved across Scotland and has achieved so much. It was an amazing opportunity to build on that success and its existing connections.
“It goes without saying that I’ll be bringing in new voices and new approaches to theatre-making and new ways of connecting with audiences.
“We’re in a really confident position, having achieved so much, to be able to make very bold artistic choices and really consider what future definitions of theatre might be.
“Those founding principles of being a theatre without walls and a theatre for everyone will remain at the core of our work. Artistic planning goes hand in hand with business planning. Both of those things are equally important. There will always be an eye to living within the organisation’s means. But that doesn’t meant there will be any less ambition or shift in our remit.”