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Blackpool Grand Theatre | Erica Whyman RSC Dpty Artistic Director speaking our Artists’ Network

204 views · Published 16 November 2017 · 1:13:30 · Indexed 30 September 2026

Channel: The Blackpool Grand Theatre · 2017 · Entertainment

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Erica Whyman, Deputy Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), captivated a room full of theatre fans, and Shakespeare ambassadors, practitioners and academics at last night’s Grand Theatre Artists’ Network.

Erica joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in January 2013. She works closely with Artistic Director Gregory Doran on all aspects of artistic strategy, taking a particular lead on the development of new work.

Erica joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in January 2013. She works closely with Artistic Director Gregory Doran on all aspects of artistic strategy, taking a particular lead on the development of new work, the contemporary relevance of the repertoire and the national ambitions of the company. Erica led the team which reopened The Other Place in March 2016, a creative hub dedicated to daring theatrical exploration. Erica takes a lead on extending access, equality and diversity across all RSC activities and is passionate about participation in theatre-making.

As part of the season celebrating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death she directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, a production involving 18 professional actors, 14 amateur theatre groups (84 amateur actors) and 580 school children from across the country, which toured the UK from March to June 2016. Her 2018 production of Romeo and Juliet in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the Barbican and on a national tour incorporated 60 young people from RSC partner schools into its prologue.

Erica was Chief Executive of Northern Stage in Newcastle Upon Tyne from 2005 to 2012. She oversaw the opening of a completely redesigned new building, introduced a notably collaborative organisational culture and attracted local and national acclaim for the company's repertoire of work. In 2012 she won the TMA Award for Theatre Manager of the Year.

Under her stewardship Northern Stage became known for ambitious international partnerships (Northern Stage co-produced Lipsynch by Robert Lepage, which opened in Newcastle in 2007), the development of experimental new work especially by young theatre makers and for bold interpretations of modern classics (for example Close the Coalhouse Door, directed by Samuel West in a new version by Lee Hall).

Erica is a theatre director with many years' experience all over the UK. For the RSC: The Ant and the Cicada; Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. (The Other Place); The Christmas Truce (Royal Shakespeare Theatre); Hecuba (Swan Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation (Royal Shakespeare Theatre and UK Tour “Blissfully funny”, “Dusted with magic” Guardian); The Seven Acts of Mercy (Swan Theatre “A compassionate work of political theatre” ); The Earthworks (The Other Place); Romeo and Juliet (Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Barbican and UK Tour “Fresh, Fleet, Blade-Sharp” Telegraph, “Wonderfully fresh...a national hit” Evening Standard), Miss Littlewood (Swan Theatre “Pulsatingly entertaining. Magnificent” The Times), A Museum in Baghdad (Swan Theatre and The Kiln “dreamlike flourishes” The Times). In 2020 she will direct The Winter’s Tale in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

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