Yahoo News Shakespeare's Globe advertises for new director with passion for its past after row over modern lighting
Shakespeare’s Globe is advertising for a new artistic director who will appreciate its historic roots, after a “lively debate” over its maverick director accused of turning the theatre into a “sixth form disco”.
The Globe has published a job advert asking for applicants who are passionate about the theatre’s past, with a genuine “knowledge and love of the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries”.
It comes as Emma Rice, the current director, finishes another year at the theatre before leaving by mutual agreement.
Though widely admired by creatives, she ran into insurmountable difficulties at the Globe over a dispute about artificial lighting and amplification, horrifying long-term supporters of the theatre by appearing to flout its tradition of working as close to Elizabethan conditions as possible.
When she joined the company, she cheerfully admitted having limited experience directing Shakespeare, confiding reading it made her “very sleepy and then suddenly I want to listen to The Archers”.
One critic likened her production of Midsummer Night’s Dream to a "sixth form disco", while another accused her of "a cynical betrayal of Sam Wanamaker’s work, showing no understanding of the point of the place".
The announcement of her departure, which will fall after two years of working there, was said to be no surprise to insiders, one of whom called it a mistake to have employed someone who "did not appear to like Shakespeare”.
The debacle, the Globe admitted, had led them to “review the dynamics of the current executive and senior management leadership structure".
The job advert states: “A cross-organisational review is currently underway to ensure our mission, vision and values are better articulated and reflect more effectively our commitment to the unique architecture of the Globe.”
Rice’s successor will now require a knowledge and love of the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as well as a “genuine passion, commitment and care to the past and present story”.
In a frank acknowledgment of its recent difficulties, the application pack spells out: “The recent technological installations in the Globe Theatre, and the Board’s subsequent decision to stage work beyond the 2017 season without any amplification and designed light, generated a lively debate and has clearly demonstrated that the Globe is held in a position of great national import.”
Applications for the next artistic director are open until April 24, with a first round of interviews due to take place in May.
