Ruth Carney on Sheffield Theatres and Lord of the Rings
March 10, 2009
“I said to Matthew (Warchus) that one of the most fantastic things about Lord of the Rings, for me, is that I will never fear any space, whatever size, again,” Ruth Carney enthuses. “It’s meant that I can go into rehearsals with confidence about large-scale pieces of theatre.”
Carney, who became Sheffield Theatres creative associate on 19 January, was associate director to Yorkshire-born, thrice Tony-nominated Warchus on the gargantuan project. She opines that there could scarcely have been a better way for her to have honed her directorial talents: “It’s the biggest show that’s ever been done. To manage 70 people on a daily basis for 18 months was a huge challenge. My dad described it as me getting my PhD in Theatre because I just learned so much about not only the artistic aspects of directing, but also the managerial side.”
She speaks of Warchus with a mixture of affection and reverence. “He’s an amazing director and a very good friend since we worked together on Lord of the Rings,” she says. “There wasn’t really a time when I would have done that role for anybody else. As far as I’m concerned, he is one of the best directors in the world, never mind this country.”
In addition to this precious experience, Carney’s familiarity with Sheffield Theatres and its home city renders her yet more suited to her new position. She studied for her BA at Sheffield University and, after this, worked for three months as a marketing assistant to the group on a placement ahead of her MA in Theatre Directing at the Russian Theatre Academy. “I think that everybody knows that, when it’s your first time away from home in those years that are so formative and you’re having such a fantastic time away, that has an impact on you,” she reasons. “When I was offered the position it was definitely a huge factor.” Moreover, she notes that her passion for directing emerged at university.
Carney’s role is not one that lends itself to straightforward description or definition. She will direct some pieces – indeed, she immediately began rehearsals for a new play entitled Suitcase City by local playwright Richard Hurford with the Sheffield Theatres Trust Creative Development Department, which is now touring, upon arriving. However, she will also advise directors on the use of the stages and arrange and promote the use of all parts of the group’s buildings, rather than just the traditional stage areas, for artistic purposes. “One of my main roles is to animate the spaces – not just the main stages, but ensuring that the foyers and bars are also artistic environments,” she tells me. Endeavouring to “create a link between the official artistic policy and creative development – to see how those things can be brought together” is another integral component.
Having emphasised her belief in the centrality of work with local communities to her vision for Sheffield Theatres, Carney goes on to explain how this will be implemented. “We’re hoping to get lots of young, exciting companies interested in the spaces. We want to encourage them to come and do all sorts of one-off events. A good example of what we’re aiming for is the Young Vic in London. I would go and socialise in its bar without going to the theatre. It’s a case of how to get people into the building – thinking about what the people of Sheffield want. For example, there’s a huge stand-up community here and a big audience for it, so we’re incorporating that. We’re also using the space for rehearsal readings, play readings, presentations and other pieces of work. We want to use the space in exciting ways, whether that’s a piece of sculpture or a pottery class. We’re aiming to create a space that’s completely cultural across the board, and hopefully to interest people who wouldn’t necessarily think of going to the main auditoria.”
Although the schedule for The Crucible’s re-opening following its £15.3m refurbishment has not yet been confirmed, Carney is confident that the process of re-establishing relations with audiences will begin soon. “We’ve got three test events,” she points out. “One, on 19 March, is for the staff, because the staff has to get used to being back in it as well as the audiences. Then, on 21 March, we’re holding a sort of open day that celebrates the Journeys to the City project, with two performances of Suitcase City on the main stage. That will be a day when the community will be able to engage with the space and the main stage. We then have our public test event on the evening of 26 March, which anybody can come to as we test out the space. Then, obviously, we’ll have the snooker. In between November and January there will be a series of events and evenings which will engage different audiences and hopefully excite people back into the auditorium.”
-Ruth Carney was talking to Simon Walker
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