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Katie Mitchell

January 01, 1970

This article is about the theatre director. For the animated character, see The Mitchells vs. the Machines.

Katrina Jane Mitchell OBE (born 23 September 1964) is an English theatre director.

Katie Mitchell
OBE
Katie Mitchell in 2016
Born
Katrina Jane Mitchell

(1964-09-23) 23 September 1964 (age 59)
Reading, Berkshire, England
Alma materMagdalen College, Oxford
OccupationTheatre director

Life and career edit

Mitchell was born in Reading, Berkshire,[1] raised in Hermitage, Berkshire, and educated at Oakham School. Upon leaving Oakham, she went up to Magdalen College, Oxford, to read English.

She began her career behind the scenes at the King's Head Theatre in London before taking on work as an assistant director at theatre companies including Paines Plough (1987) and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) (1988 - 1989).[2] Early in her career in the 1990s, she directed five early productions under the umbrella of her company Classics On A Shoestring,[3] including Women of Troy for which she won a Time Out Award.

In 1989, she was awarded a Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship to study director’s training in Russian, Georgia, Lithuania and Poland and the work she saw there, including productions by Lev Dodin, Eimuntas Nekrosius and Anatoly Vasiliev, influenced her own practice for the next twenty years.

In 1996, Mitchell started directing operas at Welsh National Opera where she directed four productions, including Handel's Jephtha and Jancek's Jenůfa. Since then, she has directed operas at houses, including the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glyndebourne, the Salzburg Festival, Berlin State Opera, the Royal Danish Opera, Opéra-Comique (Paris), Geneva Opera and the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

Mitchell was an Associate Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1996 and 1998. In 1997, Mitchell became responsible for programming at The Other Place, the RSC's former black box theatre. While at the RSC she directed nine productions, including The Phoenician Women which won her the Evening Standard Award for Best Director in 1996. Between 2000 and 2003 she was an Associate Director at the Royal Court Theatre and between 2003 and 2011 she was an Associate of the Royal National Theatre.[4]

She has directed thirteen productions for the Royal Court, including Ten Billion (2012) and 2071(2014) about the climate emergency, an issue she is passionate about. Recent productions at the Royal Court include her ongoing collaboration with the writer Alice Birch on Ophelia’s Zimmer (Ophelia's Room) and Anatomy of a Suicide.

At the National Theatre, she has directed eighteen productions, the most innovative being an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel, The Waves, where she combined theatre making with the use of live video, creating a form later called ‘live cinema’.

The live cinema work was subsequently developed in Germany and France. She has directed more than 15 live cinema productions in the UK, Austria, Germany and France, at theatres like the Schaubühne Theatre (Berlin) and the Schauspielhaus in Cologne, and these pieces have toured the world including Greece, Russia, China, Portugal and Brazil.

Whilst at the National Theatre, Mitchell pioneered children’s theatre for primary school age theatre goers, including an adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat. Her interest in this age group also led her to initiate English National Opera’s first ever opera commission for a primary school audience - an adaptation of Oliver Jeffers' book, The Way Back Home.

From 2008, Mitchell started working regularly on mainland Europe in Germany, Holland, France, Denmark and Austria. Her first production for the Cologne Schauspielhaus, Wunschkonzert, earned her a place at the Theatertreffen in Berlin and since then she has directed four productions for the Cologne Schauspielhaus, seven for the Schaubühne Theatre, Berlin, and six for the Hamburg Schauspielhaus. She has also worked at the Toneelgroep, Amsterdam, and twice at the Bouffes du Nord, Paris. She is a resident director at the Schaubühne Theatre, Berlin, the Hamburg Schauspielhaus and had a seven-year artist-in-residency at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. In 2015 the Stadsschouwburg theatre in Amsterdam held a retrospective of her opera and theatre work, presenting eight productions from across Europe.

In 2009, Mitchell published The Director’s Craft: A Handbook for the Theatre (Routledge), her practical manual to help emerging directors learn how to direct. She also published two books based on her live cinema productions – …some trace of her and Waves, both in 2008.[5]

Mitchell has also directed installations, including Five Truths at the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 2011 The Department of Theatre and Performance at the V&A invited Mitchell and Leo Warner of 59 Productions to conceive and produce a video installation exploring the nature of 'truth in performance'.[6] Taking as its inspiration 5 of the most influential European theatre directors of the last century, the project examines how each of the practitioners would direct the actress playing Ophelia in the 'mad' scenes in Shakespeare's Hamlet. This multiscreen video installation, launched at the Chantiers Europe festival at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris on 4 June, and opened at the V&A on 12 July 2011.[7]

In a career spanning thirty years, Mitchell has directed over 100 shows - over 70 theatre productions and nearly 30 operas. She is currently a Professor of Theatre Directing at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she teaches on an MA in directing. Other academic positions include:

  • Cultural Fellow at King’s College, London 2015 –Present
  • Honorary Fellow at Rose Bruford College, London 2014
  • Visiting Fellow at Central St Martins, London 2016 – 2018
  • Visiting Professor of Opera at Oxford University 2017

Reputation edit

Mitchell has been described as "a director who polarises audiences like no other" and "the closest thing the British theatre has to an auteur".[8] In 2007, the artistic director of the NT accused the British press of affording Mitchell's productions "misogynistic reviews, where everything they say is predicated on her sex".[9]

Her productions have been described as "distinguished by the intensity of the emotions, the realism of the acting, and the creation of a very distinctive world"[10] and accused of "a willful disregard for classic texts",[2] but Mitchell suggests that while "there's a signature in every director's work",[10] it is not her intent to work to a "strong personal signature".[8]

At the beginning of her career, Mitchell's process involved long and intensive rehearsal periods[11] and use of Stanislavski's system.[12] She regularly involves psychiatry in looking at characters, and in 2004 directed a series of workshops on Stanislavski and neuroscience at the NT studio.[13] Since her 2006 play Waves, she has also experimented with video projections in a number of productions.[2]

In 2016 Mitchell was described as ‘British theatre’s Queen in exile’ and a director who ‘provokes strong reactions.’ Some see her ‘as a vandal, ripping apart classic texts and distorting them to her own dubious purpose’ and others ‘consider her to be the most important British director of theatre and opera at work today – indeed, among the greatest in the world.’ (The Guardian, 14 January 2016)

Personal life edit

She has a daughter Edie, born 2005.[14]

Honours edit

Mitchell was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours for services to drama.[15]

In 2011, she was awarded the Europe Prize Theatrical Realities, in Saint Petersburg.[16][17]

In September 2017, she was awarded the President's Medal of the British Academy "for her work to enhance the presentation of classic and contemporary theatre and opera through innovative new production".[18]

Selected directing credits edit

Awards edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ "Gemeinsame Normdatei". dnb.de. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Higgins, Charlotte (24 November 2007). "The cutting edge". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  3. ^ Katie Mitchell
  4. ^ Heather Neill (June 2004). "NT Associates". Go Backstage: Department Profiles. National Theatre. Archived from the original (Web) on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 25 April 2008.
  5. ^ Higgins, Charlotte (14 January 2016). "Katie Mitchell, British theatre's queen in exile | Charlotte Higgins". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  6. ^ "Five Truths – 59 Productions". Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  7. ^ . vam.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 1 August 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Katie Mitchell: 'I'd hate to hang around making theatre when they're tired of it'". The Independent. London. 17 April 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  9. ^ Hoyle, Ben (14 May 2007). "Dead white men in the critics chair scorning work of women directors". The Times. London. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  10. ^ a b "Time Out interviews Katie Mitchell, Director of 'Women of Troy' at the National Theatre". Time Out London. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  11. ^ Cavendish, Dominic (30 October 2006). . The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 27 May 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  12. ^ Higgins, Charlotte (14 January 2016). "Katie Mitchell, British theatre's queen in exile". theguardian.com. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  13. ^ http://unitedagents.co.uk/film/directors/bijan-shebani/ [permanent dead link]
  14. ^ Durrant, Sabine (27 November 2010). . theguardian.com. Archived from the original on 28 October 2019. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  15. ^ "No. 58929". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2008. p. 11.
  16. ^ a b "XIV EDIZIONE". Premio Europa per il Teatro (in Italian). Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  17. ^ "Catalogue XIV edition - Europe Theatre Prize" (PDF). premioeuropa.org. pp. 29, 47–48.
  18. ^ "From Wikipedia to Roman coins: British Academy recognises excellence in the humanities and social sciences". The British Academy. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  19. ^ The Seagull review by Michael Billington, The Guardian, 28 June 2006
  20. ^ "Little Scratch".

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Katie Mitchell.
  • Katie Mitchell at IMDb
  • "Katie Mitchell" search results at the Royal National Theatre
  • "Dans The Forbidden Zone Katie Mitchell conjugue brillamment théâtre et cinéma" by Jean-Luc Lebreton, unidivers.fr (in French)
  • Katie Mitchell Operabase
  • Les Archives du Spectacle

January 01, 1970
katie, mitchell, this, article, about, theatre, director, animated, character, mitchells, machines, katrina, jane, mitchell, born, september, 1964, english, theatre, director, 2016bornkatrina, jane, mitchell, 1964, september, 1964, reading, berkshire, englanda. This article is about the theatre director For the animated character see The Mitchells vs the Machines Katrina Jane Mitchell OBE born 23 September 1964 is an English theatre director Katie MitchellOBEKatie Mitchell in 2016BornKatrina Jane Mitchell 1964 09 23 23 September 1964 age 59 Reading Berkshire EnglandAlma materMagdalen College OxfordOccupationTheatre director Contents 1 Life and career 2 Reputation 3 Personal life 4 Honours 5 Selected directing credits 6 Awards 7 Notes 8 External linksLife and career editMitchell was born in Reading Berkshire 1 raised in Hermitage Berkshire and educated at Oakham School Upon leaving Oakham she went up to Magdalen College Oxford to read English She began her career behind the scenes at the King s Head Theatre in London before taking on work as an assistant director at theatre companies including Paines Plough 1987 and the Royal Shakespeare Company RSC 1988 1989 2 Early in her career in the 1990s she directed five early productions under the umbrella of her company Classics On A Shoestring 3 including Women of Troy for which she won a Time Out Award In 1989 she was awarded a Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship to study director s training in Russian Georgia Lithuania and Poland and the work she saw there including productions by Lev Dodin Eimuntas Nekrosius and Anatoly Vasiliev influenced her own practice for the next twenty years In 1996 Mitchell started directing operas at Welsh National Opera where she directed four productions including Handel s Jephtha and Jancek s Jenufa Since then she has directed operas at houses including the Royal Opera House English National Opera Glyndebourne the Salzburg Festival Berlin State Opera the Royal Danish Opera Opera Comique Paris Geneva Opera and the Aix en Provence Festival Mitchell was an Associate Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1996 and 1998 In 1997 Mitchell became responsible for programming at The Other Place the RSC s former black box theatre While at the RSC she directed nine productions including The Phoenician Women which won her the Evening Standard Award for Best Director in 1996 Between 2000 and 2003 she was an Associate Director at the Royal Court Theatre and between 2003 and 2011 she was an Associate of the Royal National Theatre 4 She has directed thirteen productions for the Royal Court including Ten Billion 2012 and 2071 2014 about the climate emergency an issue she is passionate about Recent productions at the Royal Court include her ongoing collaboration with the writer Alice Birch on Ophelia s Zimmer Ophelia s Room and Anatomy of a Suicide At the National Theatre she has directed eighteen productions the most innovative being an adaptation of Virginia Woolf s novel The Waves where she combined theatre making with the use of live video creating a form later called live cinema The live cinema work was subsequently developed in Germany and France She has directed more than 15 live cinema productions in the UK Austria Germany and France at theatres like the Schaubuhne Theatre Berlin and the Schauspielhaus in Cologne and these pieces have toured the world including Greece Russia China Portugal and Brazil Whilst at the National Theatre Mitchell pioneered children s theatre for primary school age theatre goers including an adaptation of Dr Seuss s Cat in the Hat Her interest in this age group also led her to initiate English National Opera s first ever opera commission for a primary school audience an adaptation of Oliver Jeffers book The Way Back Home From 2008 Mitchell started working regularly on mainland Europe in Germany Holland France Denmark and Austria Her first production for the Cologne Schauspielhaus Wunschkonzert earned her a place at the Theatertreffen in Berlin and since then she has directed four productions for the Cologne Schauspielhaus seven for the Schaubuhne Theatre Berlin and six for the Hamburg Schauspielhaus She has also worked at the Toneelgroep Amsterdam and twice at the Bouffes du Nord Paris She is a resident director at the Schaubuhne Theatre Berlin the Hamburg Schauspielhaus and had a seven year artist in residency at the Aix en Provence Festival In 2015 the Stadsschouwburg theatre in Amsterdam held a retrospective of her opera and theatre work presenting eight productions from across Europe In 2009 Mitchell published The Director s Craft A Handbook for the Theatre Routledge her practical manual to help emerging directors learn how to direct She also published two books based on her live cinema productions some trace of her and Waves both in 2008 5 Mitchell has also directed installations including Five Truths at the Victoria and Albert Museum In 2011 The Department of Theatre and Performance at the V amp A invited Mitchell and Leo Warner of 59 Productions to conceive and produce a video installation exploring the nature of truth in performance 6 Taking as its inspiration 5 of the most influential European theatre directors of the last century the project examines how each of the practitioners would direct the actress playing Ophelia in the mad scenes in Shakespeare s Hamlet This multiscreen video installation launched at the Chantiers Europe festival at the Theatre de la Ville in Paris on 4 June and opened at the V amp A on 12 July 2011 7 In a career spanning thirty years Mitchell has directed over 100 shows over 70 theatre productions and nearly 30 operas She is currently a Professor of Theatre Directing at Royal Holloway University of London where she teaches on an MA in directing Other academic positions include Cultural Fellow at King s College London 2015 Present Honorary Fellow at Rose Bruford College London 2014 Visiting Fellow at Central St Martins London 2016 2018 Visiting Professor of Opera at Oxford University 2017Reputation editMitchell has been described as a director who polarises audiences like no other and the closest thing the British theatre has to an auteur 8 In 2007 the artistic director of the NT accused the British press of affording Mitchell s productions misogynistic reviews where everything they say is predicated on her sex 9 Her productions have been described as distinguished by the intensity of the emotions the realism of the acting and the creation of a very distinctive world 10 and accused of a willful disregard for classic texts 2 but Mitchell suggests that while there s a signature in every director s work 10 it is not her intent to work to a strong personal signature 8 At the beginning of her career Mitchell s process involved long and intensive rehearsal periods 11 and use of Stanislavski s system 12 She regularly involves psychiatry in looking at characters and in 2004 directed a series of workshops on Stanislavski and neuroscience at the NT studio 13 Since her 2006 play Waves she has also experimented with video projections in a number of productions 2 In 2016 Mitchell was described as British theatre s Queen in exile and a director who provokes strong reactions Some see her as a vandal ripping apart classic texts and distorting them to her own dubious purpose and others consider her to be the most important British director of theatre and opera at work today indeed among the greatest in the world The Guardian 14 January 2016 Personal life editShe has a daughter Edie born 2005 14 Honours editMitchell was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire OBE in the 2009 New Year Honours for services to drama 15 In 2011 she was awarded the Europe Prize Theatrical Realities in Saint Petersburg 16 17 In September 2017 she was awarded the President s Medal of the British Academy for her work to enhance the presentation of classic and contemporary theatre and opera through innovative new production 18 Selected directing credits edit1994 Rutherford and Son by Githa Sowerby 1995 The Machine Wreckers Die Maschinensturmer by Ernst Toller 1996 The Phoenician Women by Euripides 1996 Don Giovanni by Mozart 1998 Jenufa an opera by Janacek 1998 Uncle Vanya a version by David Lan of Anton Chekhov s play 2000 The Oresteia a version by Ted Hughes from Aeschylus 2000 The Country by Martin Crimp 2001 Kata Kabanova an opera by Janacek 2002 Ivanov by Chekhov 2003 Jephtha an oratorio by Handel 2003 Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov 2004 The Turn of the Screw film opera by Britten 2004 Iphigenia in Aulis by Euripides 2005 A Dream Play by Strindberg 2006 The Seagull a version by Martin Crimp of Anton Chekhov s play 19 2006 Waves based on Virginia Woolf s novel The Waves 2007 Attempts on Her Life by Martin Crimp 2007 Women of Troy by Euripides 2008 The City by Martin Crimp 2008 Some Trace of Her inspired based on The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 2008 The Maids by Genet Sweden 2009 Wunschkonzert by Franz Xaver Kroetz Schauspiel Koln Cologne Germany 2009 After Dido based on Dido and Aeneas by Purcell for English National Opera at the Young Vic 2009 Pains of Youth a version by Martin Crimp of Ferdinand Bruckner s play Krankheit der Jugend de at the National Theatre 2009 Parthenogenesis an opera by James MacMillan and Michael Symmons Roberts at the Royal Opera House 2009 The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss at the National Theatre and at the Young Vic 2010 Idomeneo by Mozart at English National Opera 2010 Fraulein Julie after Strindberg at the Schaubuhne Berlin Germany 2010 Beauty And The Beast by Lucy Kirkwood at the National Theatre 2011 Clemency an opera by James MacMillan and Michael Symmons Roberts at the Royal Opera House 2011 Die Wellen based on Virginia Woolf s The Waves at Schauspiel Koln Cologne 2011 Wastwater by Simon Stephens at the Royal Court Theatre London 2011 A Woman Killed With Kindness by Thomas Heywood at the National Theatre London 2012 The Trial of Ubu Roi by Simon Stephens at the Hampstead Theatre London 2012 Written on Skin by George Benjamin libretto by Martin Crimp at the Grand Theatre de Provence during the Aix en Provence Festival 2012 Die Ringe des Saturn by W G Sebald at the Avignon Festival 2012 Ten Billion by Katie Mitchell and Stephen Emmott at the Avignon Festival 2012 Reise Durch Die Nacht by Friederike Mayrocker at Schauspiel Koln Cologne 2013 Le Vin herbe by Frank Martin at Berlin State Opera 2013 The House Taken Over by Vasco Mendonca at the Aix en Provence Festival 2013 Alles Weitere Kennen Sie aus dem Kino a version by Martin Crimp of Euripides The Phoenician Women at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg 2013 Die gelbe Tapete by Charlotte Perkins Gilman at the Schaubuhne Berlin 2013 Atmen by Duncan Macmillan at Schaubuhne Berlin 2014 Wunschloses Ungluck by Handke at Burgtheater Vienna 2014 The Forbidden Zone by Duncan Macmillan Salzburg Festival 2015 Gluckliche Tage by Beckett at Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg 2015 Alcina by Handel at Festival d Aix en Provence Streaming Live Blu ray DVD released in 2016 2015 Reisende auf einem Bein by Herta Muller at Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg 2016 Cleansed by Sarah Kane at the Royal National Theatre London 2016 Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti at Royal Opera House 2016 Neither by Morton Feldman at Berlin State Opera 2016 Schatten Eurydice sagt by Elfriede Jelinek at Schaubuhne Berlin 2016 Pelleas et Melisande by Debussy at Festival d Aix en Provence Streaming Live 2017 Anatomy of a Suicide by Alice Birch at Royal Court Theatre 2019 Orlando by Virginia Woolf with the Schaubuhne Berlin 2021 little scratch by Rebecca Watson adapted by Miriam Battye at Hampstead Theatre 20 Awards editChurchill fellowship 1989 citation needed Time Out Award 1991 for Arden of Faversham and Women of Troy UK Evening Standard Best Director Award 1996 UK The Theatertreffen Prize 2008 Germany The Theatertreffen Prize 2009 Germany An OBIE Best Production Award in 2009 USA Europe Theatre Prize Europe Prize Theatrical Realities 2011 Europe 16 Golden Mask Award for Best Foreign Production for Fraulein Julie in 2011 Russia The Best Production Reumert Prize for The Seagull in 2012 Denmark The Best Director Nestroy Prize for Reise durch die Nacht in 2013 Austria The Stanislavsky International Prize 2014 Russia British Academy President s Medal in 2017 for her work to enhance the presentation of classic and contemporary theatre and opera through innovative new productions UK The Tonic Award in 2018 for her representations of women and nurture of female talent in UK Golden Mask Award for Best Opera Director for her production of Alcina in 2019 Russia Best Director 2019 for International Opera Awards UK Notes edit Gemeinsame Normdatei dnb de Retrieved 21 November 2019 a b c Higgins Charlotte 24 November 2007 The cutting edge The Guardian London Retrieved 7 May 2010 Katie Mitchell Heather Neill June 2004 NT Associates Go Backstage Department Profiles National Theatre Archived from the original Web on 13 June 2007 Retrieved 25 April 2008 Higgins Charlotte 14 January 2016 Katie Mitchell British theatre s queen in exile Charlotte Higgins The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 18 March 2020 Five Truths 59 Productions Retrieved 7 May 2018 Five Truths vam ac uk Archived from the original on 1 August 2011 Retrieved 21 November 2019 a b Katie Mitchell I d hate to hang around making theatre when they re tired of it The Independent London 17 April 2008 Retrieved 7 May 2010 Hoyle Ben 14 May 2007 Dead white men in the critics chair scorning work of women directors The Times London Retrieved 7 May 2010 a b Time Out interviews Katie Mitchell Director of Women of Troy at the National Theatre Time Out London Retrieved 7 May 2018 Cavendish Dominic 30 October 2006 From heroine to villainess The Daily Telegraph London Archived from the original on 27 May 2008 Retrieved 7 May 2010 Higgins Charlotte 14 January 2016 Katie Mitchell British theatre s queen in exile theguardian com Retrieved 21 November 2019 http unitedagents co uk film directors bijan shebani permanent dead link Durrant Sabine 27 November 2010 On the children s menu theguardian com Archived from the original on 28 October 2019 Retrieved 21 November 2019 No 58929 The London Gazette Supplement 31 December 2008 p 11 a b XIV EDIZIONE Premio Europa per il Teatro in Italian Retrieved 8 January 2023 Catalogue XIV edition Europe Theatre Prize PDF premioeuropa org pp 29 47 48 From Wikipedia to Roman coins British Academy recognises excellence in the humanities and social sciences The British Academy Retrieved 5 October 2017 The Seagull review by Michael Billington The Guardian 28 June 2006 Little Scratch External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Katie Mitchell Katie Mitchell at IMDb Katie Mitchell search results at the Royal National Theatre Dans The Forbidden Zone Katie Mitchell conjugue brillamment theatre et cinema by Jean Luc Lebreton unidivers fr in French Katie Mitchell Operabase Les Archives du Spectacle Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Katie Mitchell amp oldid 1216872342, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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