Rourke was the first person in the history of her school to attend Cambridge University, where she studied English at New Hall, now Murray Edwards College. She began directing for theatre at Cambridge and, amongst other credits, was the first woman ever to direct the Footlights Pantomime, which was co-written by Footlights president and vice president Richard Ayoade and John Oliver.[2]
Following her twelve months at the Donmar, Sam Mendes asked her to direct Frame 312 (2002) on its stage,[6] and Michael Grandage invited Rourke to Sheffield to direct Kick for Touch (2002) as part of the Peter Gill Festival at Sheffield Theatres.[7] While preparing those productions, Rourke assisted Peter Gill on his own play, The York Realist (2001),[8] and John Osborne's Luther (2001) on the Olivier stage of the National Theatre.[9]
Early directing career
For the next five years, Rourke freelanced at a number of theatres, while being resident at the Royal Court in London and Associate Director of Sheffield Theatres.[10]
While resident at the Royal Court Theatre, under Artistic Director Ian Rickson, she programmed readings, developed new work and directed Crazyblackmuthafuckin'self (2003)[11] in the Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court and Loyal Women (2003) in the Theatre Downstairs.[12] Her productions for Sheffield Theatres during this time were on the Lyceum, Crucible and Studio stages and included Much Ado About Nothing (2005) and Willis Hall's The Long and the Short and the Tall (2006).[13] Her production of Steve Waters' play World Music (2003) transferred from Sheffield to the Donmar stage.[14] During this period, Rourke was also the UK tour director of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues (2003).[15]
Shortly after she was appointed, the Bush Theatre was the target of a proposed cut[21] in funding by Arts Council England. Rourke made a Freedom of Information Act request which established that the proposed cut had been made using flawed evidence and data.[22] The Arts Council reinstated the theatre's funding but gave Rourke three years in which to find a new home for the Bush Theatre. In 2011, the Bush Theatre opened in new premises in a former library building, winning Theatre of the Year.[23]
The new home for The Bush opened with Sixty-Six Books (2011), a 24-hour performance cycle with 66 writers and 144 actors that Rourke co-directed with a dozen of her peers. The cycle went on to be performed overnight in Westminster Abbey.[24]
In 2011, Rourke was appointed Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse,[28] the first woman to hold the role and the first female theatre director to be appointed the artistic director of a major London theatre.[29]
As artistic director, she was responsible for programming the work of, amongst other directors: Phyllida Lloyd, who directed her all-female Shakespeare Trilogy at the Donmar;[30]Kwame Kwei-Armah; Lyndsey Turner, whose celebrated revivals of Brian Friel's work have been a significant part of the Donmar's programme; Polly Findlay; Blanche McIntyre; John Crowley; Joe Wright and Robert Hastie.[citation needed]
A number of Rourke's productions, including Coriolanus, Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Saint Joan, were broadcast in cinemas in the UK and internationally as part of the National Theatre Live programme.[44][45]
In early 2019, it was first announced that she would direct Catherine Tate's feature film, The Nan Movie, about her popular old-lady character from the BBC sketch series The Catherine Tate Show.[49] In September, Rourke made an Instagram post, saying, "I think I speak for loads of us when I say that my Gran's spirit lives in Catherine Tate's immortal Nan. I have loved working with Catherine over the years on stage, and it is a massive treat to put her Nan on film."[50] After initial filming, the film was substantially retooled.[51] It largely took place in 1940s London, but those scenes were reportedly scaled back and new footage, greatly expanding the modern-day road trip sections, was filmed without Rourke at a low cost, with animation sequences used to fill any gaps.[51] The film was scheduled to be released in June 2020,[52] but was indefinitely postponed due to cinemas being closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[53]The Nan Movie was eventually released on 18 March 2022, with Rourke receiving an executive producer credit and no director credited.[54][55]
From 2012 to 2018, Rourke served as a non-executive director of public service broadcaster Channel 4.[58][59] Since November 2019, Rourke has been a vice-president of the London Library,[60] having a particular focus on developing the Library's support for emerging playwrights as part of its wider Emerging Writers Program.[61]
A 15-minute monologue, written by a man serving a life sentence in a UK prison. It was developed as part of Voices from Within, a writing project at HMP Grendon in conjunction with the Royal Court Young Writers Programme, and played after the evening's performance of Rona Munro's Iron in the Jerwood Theatre downstairs at the Royal Court.[88]
A dramatic piece based on a Carlton TV television show of the same name. Stories from the streets about London's homeless were dramatised for the stage[88]
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