The Art of the Artistic Director ― Conversations With Leading Practitioners

Every theatre is different – its programming particular, its space idiosyncratic and its place in the market distinctive.

Thus the demands for the management of any theatre will be unique to that building's practical and artistic needs. The artistic director is at the helm of this delicate balancing act, weighing up the commercial and creative imperatives in a constant effort to maintain a successful producing house. The job can't be taught, necessarily, but there is a lot to be learned from those working in that role at some of the world's most important theatres.

In The Art of the Artistic Director, Christopher Haydon (Artistic Director of the Gate, “London's most relentlessly ambitious theatre” – Time Out) compiles a unique set of interviews to get to the heart of what it is to occupy this most unique of roles. Providing short contextual essays outlining the importance and ambitions of each interviewee, the author interviews 20 of the most prominent and successful artistic directors in the US and UK including Oskar Eustis (Public Theater, New York), Diane Pulus (American Repertory Theatre, Boston), Rufus Norris (National Theatre, London) and Vicky Featherstone (Royal Court Theatre, London), uncovering the essential skills and talents that go into making an accomplished artistic director.

The only book of its kind available, The Art of the Artistic Director includes a foreword by Michael Grandage, former Artistic Director of the Sheffield Crucible and the Donmar Warehouse in London.

Christopher Haydon was artistic director of the Gate Theatre, London, from 2012-17. Prior to that, he was an associate director at the Bush Theatre, London. He studied at Cambridge University and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, the National Theatre Studio and with Cicely Berry at the RSC. In 2007 he received both the inaugural Chichester Festival Theatre Heller Fellowship and the Channel Four Theatre Director's Bursary at the Salisbury Playhouse. Directing credits include: Twelve Angry Men (Birmingham Rep and West End); The Christians (Gate Theatre/Traverse Theatre, Winner of a Fringe First Award); Grounded (Gate Theatre/Traverse Theatre, Winner of a Fringe First Award); Image of an Unknown Young Woman, The Edge of our Bodies, The Trojan Women, The Prophet, Wittenberg (Gate Theatre); Sixty Six Books, In The Beginning (Bush Theatre/Westminster Abbey); A Safe Harbour for Elizabeth Bishop (Southbank Centre); Pressure Drop, starring Billy Bragg and his band (Wellcome Collection); Deep Cut (Sherman Cymru/National Tour); Monsters (Arcola Theatre); A Number (Salisbury Playhouse); Grace (British Council/On Theatre, Theatre Du Poche, Brussels, Belgium); Notes from Underground (Arcola Theatre).