Kully Thiarai

Last updated

Kully Thiarai
FRSA
Creative Director and CEO of Leeds 2023 Kully Thiarai in the County Arcade. LEEDS 2023 (cropped).jpg
CitizenshipBritish
Alma materBradford University
OccupationTheatre director
Known forCreative Director of LEEDS 2023

Kully Thiarai FRSA is a British artistic and creative director whose career began in theatre. With her appointment at National Theatre Wales in 2016, she became the first Asian person, and only second woman, to lead a national theatre company in Britain. She has held multiple artistic directorships, including, from 2020 to 2024, the role of creative director for LEEDS 2023 – the city's independent year of culture.

Contents

Early life

Thiarai grew up in Smethwick in the West Midlands, where her father was employed as a labourer in the steelworks. [1] [2] She initially studied social work at Bradford University. [3] [2] At Theatre in the Mill, then run by Ruth Mackenzie, [4] Thiarai was introduced to performances by companies such as Gay Sweatshop and Phoenix Dance which influenced a future career in theatre. [5]

Career

Thiarai's first job in theatre was with Red Ladder Theatre Company. A subsequent role there enabled Thiarai to support the development of new South Asian work like Bhangra Girls. [6] In 1994 she was appointed artistic director of Red Ladder Theatre Company, a role she held until 1998. [7] [8] [3] [9] During this time she commissioned a variety of new shows, including: Kaahini by Maya Chowdhry, [10] End of Season by Noel Greig, [11] Sleeping Dogs by Philip Osment, and Crush by Rosy Fordham. [10] She also founded the Asian Theatre School; [6] [12] this ultimately became Freedom Studios, led by Madani Younis. [13]

Contact Theatre, 2009 ContactTheatre-ManchesterUniversity.JPG
Contact Theatre, 2009

In 1998 she began a new role at Contact Theatre in Manchester, re-imagining the theatre as a centre for young people with a renewed "artistic vision and operational model" for the organisation. [3] [8] [7] [14] Whilst there she also worked with Noel Greig to create Contacting the World, which was part of the Commonwealth Games' cultural programme. [6] She was left Contact Theatre holding the role of artistic director. [15]

At Leicester Haymarket Theatre Thiarai was co-artistic director with Paul Kerryson. [8] [14] Productions during her tenure included: Death of a Salesman with Joseph Marcell playing Willie Loman, [16] Master Harold and the Boys by Athol Fugard, [17] Bollywood Jane by Amanda Whittington, [18] Fortune Club by Dolly Dhingra, [19] and Bones by Kay Adshead. [20]

In 2010 Thiarai worked for National Theatre Wales on The Soul Exchange, a play about Teddy Boys in Butetown, where audiences travelled in taxis as part of the performance. [21] [22] In 2012 she directed Mandala, an outdoor dance work in Birmingham and Nottingham with Sampad arts organisation, as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. [23] [24] She also worked as artistic director of the Theatre Writing Partnership, based in Nottingham. [25]

In 2013 she became the founding director of CAST in Doncaster, a new £22 million venue, [8] [26] where she worked to make CAST a "living room" for the town and its people. [2] [27] [28] She has used the term 'porous' to describe how to integrate communities practices with more traditional forms of theatre. [29] One noted production was an adaptation of Kes by Philip Osment, [30] [31] another was the opening show The Glee Club by Richard Cameron, a playwright from Doncaster. [32] Thiarai left Cast in May 2016 to join National Theatre Wales (NTW) as artistic director and CEO. [33] [34] [35] [2] [8]

At National Theatre Wales (NTW) she was the first Asian person, and only second woman, to lead one of the national theatre companies in the United Kingdom. [5] [36] Notable productions during her time there included We're Still Here, about the Tata Steelworks. [2] During her tenure, NTW was criticised for not doing enough to support Welsh artists, claims Thiarai rebuffed stating during the "history of the company is that almost 80% of all of its work has been led by Welsh artists". [1] Thiarai moved in 2019 to work as creative cirector of LEEDS 2023, beginning her role in 2020. [37] On her departure, critic Gary Raymond wrote: [38]

For every criticism aimed at Thiarai from a white middle class theatre practitioner in Wales, she was adored by those she worked with from minority backgrounds, and inspired countless people to work in theatre in Wales who otherwise would never have considered a UK national theatre a space in which to express themselves.

— Gary Raymond, Kully Thiarai departure from NTW | Failure of Wales?, Wales Arts Review
Barnraisers including Kully Thiarai during The WOW Barn build, Cinder Moor. LEEDS 2023 Barnraisers including Kully Thiarai during The WOW Barn build, Cinder Moor. LEEDS 2023.jpg
Barnraisers including Kully Thiarai during The WOW Barn build, Cinder Moor. LEEDS 2023

From January 2020 Thiarai was the Creative Director and CEO of LEEDS 2023. [6] Initially proposed as a bid to the host city for European Capital of Culture, post-Brexit exclusion from European Union initiatives meant that Leeds could no longer complete. [39] [40] This resulted in Leeds City Council and partners deciding to run an independent year of culture in 2023. [41] Thiarai stated in December 2023 that through complex programming and community-engaged practice, the year had "put Leeds on the cultural map, nationally and internationally – and I think we can certainly say that that's happened in the way people talk about the city". [42]

In March 2023 she was appointed as the next chair of Paines Plough. [43] In November 2023 she joined the Board of National Theatre of Scotland. [44]

Awards and recognition

Related Research Articles

Graeae Theatre Company, often abbreviated to Graeae, is a British organisation composed of deaf and disabled artists and theatre makers. As well as producing theatre which it tours nationally and internationally to traditional theatres and outdoor spaces, Graeae run a large and varied Creative Learning and training programme for emerging, young and mid-career deaf and disabled artists.

Antonia Jane Bird, FRSA was an English producer and director of television drama and feature films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rufus Norris</span> British theatre and film director (born 1965)

Rufus Norris is a British theatre and film director, who is currently the artistic director and chief executive of the National Theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Herrin</span> English theatre director

Jeremy Herrin is an English theatre director. He is a Founding Director of Second Half Productions with Alan Stacey and Rob O’Rahilly. He was previously Artistic Director of the British touring theatre company; Headlong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Theatre Wales</span> English-language national theatre company of Wales

National Theatre Wales (NTW) is a charity and theatre company based in Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indhu Rubasingham</span> British stage director (born 1970)

Indhu Rubasingham,, is a British theatre director and the current artistic director of the Kiln Theatre in Kilburn, London. In December 2023, it was announced she would take over as Artistic Director of the National Theatre in 2025 from Rufus Norris.

Sam Yates is a British director. Yates grew up in Stockport and attended Poynton High School. He was selected as a Screen International Star of Tomorrow, named a rising star in The Observer, and featured in GQ Magazine's "Men of the next 25 years". Yates has been described as "a major talent" in The Guardian, and "a director of unusual flair" in The Observer. He studied Education with English at Homerton College, Cambridge.

Emma Juliet Rice is a British actor, director and writer. Hailed as a fearless director, Rice's work includes theatrical adaptations of Brief Encounter, The Red Shoes and Wise Children. In 2022, Rice was named in the Sky Arts Top 50 most influential British artists. Rice worked with Kneehigh Theatre in Cornwall for twenty years as an actor, director, then artistic director with co-artistic director, Mike Shepherd. She was the Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe from 2016 to 2018, before founding her own touring theatre company Wise Children.

John Edward McGrath is a British artistic director and chief executive of Manchester International Festival.

Morfydd Clark is a Welsh actress. Her appearances include Love & Friendship (2016), Interlude in Prague (2017), and The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019). Also on television, she played Mina Harker in Dracula (2020) and Sister Clara in His Dark Materials (2019).

Jackie Wylie is a Scottish cultural event organizer. She has been the artistic director and chief executive of the National Theatre of Scotland since 2017. She founded the Glasgow-based international performance festival Take Me Somewhere, and was artistic director of The Arches from 2008 to 2015.

Kaite O'Reilly FRSL is UK-based playwright, author and dramaturge of Irish descent. She has won multiple awards for her work, including the Ted Hughes Award (2011) for her version of Aeschylus's tragedy The Persians. O'Reilly's plays have been performed at venues across the UK and at the Edinburgh Festival. Her work has also been shown internationally including in Europe Australia, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. O'Reilly openly identifies as a disabled artist and has spoken of the importance of "identifying socially and politically as disabled" to her work. In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Chris Goode was a British playwright, theatre director, performer, and poet. He was the artistic director of Camden People's Theatre from 2001 to 2004, and led the ensemble Chris Goode and Company until its closure in 2021.

Abigail Morris is a British arts administrator and the ex-chief executive of the Jewish Museum London. She is the former artistic director and chief executive of Soho Theatre.

Oily Cart is a London-based national and international touring theatre company founded in 1981. The company specialises in creating original, immersive, multi-sensory productions for babies and very young children under 5, and for children and young people who have profound and multiple learning disabilities, are on the autism spectrum, or are deafblind/multi-sensory impaired. The emergence of Theatre for Early Years (TEY) has been credited to Oily Cart and Theatre Kit. The company is a registered charity.

Selina Cartmell is a British theatre director based in Dublin, Ireland. She is currently director at the Gate Theatre.

Alice Birch is a British playwright and screenwriter. Birch has written several plays, including Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. for which she was awarded the George Devine Award for Most Promising New Playwright, and Anatomy of a Suicide for which she won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Birch was also the screenwriter for the film Lady Macbeth and has written for such television shows as Succession, Normal People, and the Peabody Award-winning miniseries Dead Ringers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Yard Theatre</span> Theatre in London, England

The Yard Theatre, opened in 2011, is a theatre in a converted warehouse in Hackney Wick in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It programmes theatre and performance, nightlife, and works with young people and its local community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leeds 2023</span> 2023 festival in Leeds

Leeds 2023, stylized as LEEDS 2023, was a designated year of culture taking place in Leeds, West Yorkshire, during 2023. Years of culture are specific years where a city or region dedicates significant resources to investing in cultural initiatives. Initially proposed as a bid to be the host city for European Capital of Culture, post-Brexit exclusion from European Union initiatives meant that Leeds could no longer bid. This resulted in Leeds City Council and partners deciding to run an independent year of culture in 2023.

Tamara Harvey is a British-based theatre director.

References

  1. 1 2 Morris, Steven (10 December 2018). "National Theatre Wales to showcase homegrown talent after backlash". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Gardner, Lyn (1 May 2017). "From Tata to the NHS: how Kully Thiarai is making theatre for Wales". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Haydon, Christopher (21 February 2019). The Art of the Artistic Director: Conversations with Leading Practitioners. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 156. ISBN   978-1-350-01693-4.
  4. ↑ "Leeds 2023 will display the city's ambition and culture to the world - Ruth Mackenzie". 19 March 2024. Archived from the original on 19 March 2024. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  5. 1 2 Carter, Imogen; Bromwich, Kathryn (28 August 2016). "What inspires Hans Ulrich Obrist and seven other cultural tastemakers". The Observer. ISSN   0029-7712 . Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Arts supremo Kully Thiarai: 'Break the rules! They need breaking'". The Guardian. 4 October 2021. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  7. 1 2 "History". Red Ladder Theatre Company. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Kully Thiarai". Centre for Cultural Value. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  9. ↑ Ahad, Nick (18 December 2023). "'Red Ladder shares a lot of my DNA': radical Yorkshire theatre company's new leader Cheryl Martin". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  10. 1 2 "The Changing Shapes of Red Ladder." (Red Ladder Theatre, 2015). Source automatically downloads here
  11. ↑ "Noel Greig Topics List – Unfinished Histories" . Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  12. ↑ "Headingley Stadium - stands and stage - to be packed with artistic talents of all Leeds people for spectacular LEEDS 2023 opening event". Conference Leeds. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  13. ↑ O'Connor, Chris (23 January 2023). "Dermot's Blog: Look Backwards, Move Forwards - Freedom Studios". Freedom Studios - Freedom Studios is a theatre company dedicated to working with new artists to create innovative drama that challenges conventional form. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  14. 1 2 Brown, Mark (6 January 2016). "National Theatre Wales names Kully Thiarai as new artistic director". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  15. ↑ "Kully Thiarai appointed new artistic director at National Theatre Wales". 6 January 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  16. ↑ Web, UK Theatre. "Tour archive for Death of a Salesman (Play). 5th October 2001-27th October 2001 [T01552918441]". UK Theatre Web. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  17. ↑ Web, UK Theatre. "Master Harold..And the Boys (Play) archive [PLAY]". UK Theatre Web. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  18. ↑ Gardner, Lyn (14 May 2003). "Bollywood Jane". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  19. ↑ Marlowe, Sam (19 March 2024). "The Fortune Club". The Times. ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  20. ↑ Adshead, Kay (3 October 2006). Bones. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN   978-1-84943-884-1.
  21. ↑ Waldram, Hannah (7 December 2010). "Butetown story told from a taxi". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  22. ↑ Waldram, Hannah (28 January 2011). "The Soul Exchange – review". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  23. ↑ "Mandala". Sampad. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  24. ↑ "Dance's new dimension with Mandala". Birmingham Live. 6 September 2012. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  25. ↑ Winter, Bianca (27 June 2012). "Theatre Writing Partnership" . Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  26. ↑ "Doncaster signals its cultural aspirations with new £22m Cast arts". The Independent. 6 September 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  27. ↑ Gardner, Lyn (6 January 2016). "With Kully Thiarai, National Theatre Wales will remain radical and relevant". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  28. ↑ "Doncaster theatre to celebrate a decade of curtain rises". BBC News. 6 September 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  29. ↑ Trencsényi, Katalin; Cochrane, Bernadette (24 April 2014). New Dramaturgy: International Perspectives on Theory and Practice. A&C Black. p. 200. ISBN   978-1-4081-7710-5.
  30. ↑ Gardner, Lyn (5 September 2014). "Kes – the right show in the right place?". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  31. ↑ Gardner, Lyn (10 September 2014). "Kes review – a bustling production that speaks directly to its audience". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  32. ↑ Brown, Mark (1 January 2014). "Doncaster stages a bold revival of the arts with 'cultural living room'". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  33. ↑ "New role for Doncaster's Cast theatre boss". 16 January 2024. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  34. ↑ "Theatre boss: 'Something has gone awry'". BBC News. 1 November 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  35. ↑ Price, Karen (6 January 2016). "7 promises new National Theatre Wales boss Kully Thiarai will keep". Wales Online. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  36. ↑ Ledger, Adam J. (2 April 2019). The Director and Directing: Craft, Process and Aesthetic in Contemporary Theatre. Springer. p. 9. ISBN   978-1-137-40767-2.
  37. ↑ Review, Wales Arts (14 June 2019). "Kully Thiarai Resigns as Artistic Director of NTW - Wales Arts Review". www.walesartsreview.org. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  38. ↑ Raymond, Gary (14 June 2019). "Kully Thiarai Departure from NTW | Failure of Wales? – Wales Arts Review". www.walesartsreview.org. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  39. ↑ "Leeds submits 2023 Capital of Culture bid". BBC News. 27 October 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
  40. ↑ "Leeds plans own 'Year of Culture' after European let-down". ArtsProfessional. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
  41. ↑ "Homebuyers feel the lure of Leeds, Yorkshire's unofficial 'city of culture'". www.ft.com. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
  42. ↑ "LEEDS 2023 creative director Kully Thiarai on the challenges, highlights and legacy of the Year of Culture". 2 January 2024. Archived from the original on 2 January 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  43. ↑ "Kully Thiarai appointed chair of Paines Plough". The Stage. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  44. ↑ "Welcome to two new Board members". National Theatre of Scotland. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  45. 1 2 "Graduates and Honorary Fellows feature on 'The Stage 100' list". The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. 4 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  46. ↑ "BBC World Service – BBC World Drama – Judges". BBC. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  47. ↑ "Northern Asian Powerlist 2020 winners – Kully Thiarai | TheBusinessDesk.com". North West. 19 October 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  48. ↑ Kathy (19 March 2018). "Tonic Awards 2018 – Tonic Awards – Tonic – For greater equality, diversity and inclusion in the arts". Tonic. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.