Return on investment

I started directing at school when I was 16. Now, eight years later I am Assistant Director at the Octagon Theatre Bolton. I know how fortunate I am to have a brilliant job, but it hasn’t been easy. There are so few opportunities for young directors to train, let alone get a full time job.

I chose to go to drama school, completing a BA (Hons) in Directing at Rose Bruford, although I know many of my contemporaries have taken different routes. But we all eventually ended up on the same path, having to take free or low paid assisting jobs whilst still having to support ourselves by other means. I worked around this by teaching, working with young people and even turning my hand to being a financial advisor and legal secretary.

However, it was important not to lose sight of my primary objective: being a director. I was so afraid of not being given opportunities to direct plays I set up Shared Property Theatre Company. It was partly due to this work that my next opportunity came, from Ellie Jones at Southwark Playhouse. She came to know my work and asked me to cover for her in 2009. It was this experience, along with assistant directing, working as a casting director and building a body of directorial work, that earned me a place on the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme.

If I had to give advice to a young woman or man looking to break into the field, I’d say make it your mission to inspire people to invest in you and your life’s work. I was placed at the Octagon to learn from David Thacker. He came to believe I was worth investing in, and he asked me to stay. Davie sought out external funding to create a position for me. People invest in people. So you must make it your objective to be a person who is worth investing in.