Dacre to step down from Royal & Derngate

JAMES DACRE has announced he will step down as Artistic Director at Royal & Derngate after a decade in the role.

He is due to leave the theatre at the completion of the 2022/23 season next year.

During his years in the role, he produced more than 120 shows, premiering some of the company’s most critically acclaimed work. He radically diversified the theatre’s repertoire and furthered its development as a creative and educational force.

“As I reach my tenth year, the culmination of several major strategic projects, the successful completion of our current funding term and the launch of our most far-reaching season yet, it seems like the right time to embark upon a new chapter in my career,” Dacre said.

“Leaving next spring also provides plenty of time to begin the careful process of handing the artistic reins of these very special theatres to a new Artistic Director.”

He added that it had been a privilege to create work for the theatre’s three stages “but also for Northampton’s civic spaces, from football stadiums, cathedrals and high streets to car parks, castles and waterways”.

Dacre is set to launch a new production company, Living Theatre Productions, next year and plans to direct and produce new theatre, opera, film and music projects across the UK.

Recruitment for new artistic leadership at Royal & Derngate is set to begin later this month.