PA Arts profiles Rachel O’Riordan, the new artistic director at Perth Theatre

Apr 22 2011 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

RACHEL O’Riordan is all-set for the curtain to rise on her role as the new artistic director for theatre at Horsecross Arts.

The dynamic young Irish woman – her family roots are in Cork but Belfast has been her base in recent years – is looking forward to welcoming her Perth audience to join her on this journey of new beginnings as the Edwardian theatre moves into a new chapter.

And the combination of Rachel’s successful track record, endorsed by no less than Sir Peter Hall, and her ambition for the future – an ambition shared by the Horsecross team – are reason to relish the prospect of a spring-like blossoming of new ideas, productions and projects.

Rachel explained why Irish eyes smiled on the prospect of her career change: “I was ready for a new challenge.

“I had been running an independent theatre company in Belfast and freelancing.

“When I saw the Horsecross job advertised it struck me as very interesting and very clear in its vision. That appealed to me because in my own life I am ambitious.

“Then when I came to Perth and saw the theatre and met the Horsecross team I realised that what they want to do here is something I really, really want to be part of.”

Before looking to the future, Rachel gave a brief resume of her career in theatre so far, which began as a dancer and choreographer and then took off in amazing fashion when her debut as a professional director caught the attention of Sir Peter Hall.

That debut was in 2002 with Ransom, the theatre company she founded in Belfast. The production was Hurricane, by her actor husband Richard Dormer, about Irish snooker star Alex Higgins. This went on to become a big hit at the Edinburgh Fringe and also ran in London.

“Peter Hall came to see it in London and about two months later I had a letter asking to meet him,” said Rachel. “He asked me to direct Miss Julie at the Theatre Royal in Bath as part of the Peter Hall season, which was a huge boost for me.”

Various award nominations have since peppered her CV, including for Best Director in the TMA Awards for Much Ado About Nothing and The Absence of Women (both Lyric, Belfast), and in 2010 Rachel took Best Director award for Absolution in the First Irish Theatre Awards in New York.

Co-productions have formed a large part of Rachel’s back catalogue, and she plans these for her future with Perth Theatre.

So prepare to welcome the National Theatre of Scotland (NTS), which has thus far by-passed Perth with its productions for adult audiences.

“Co-productions are a big part of my plans here,” explained Rachel. “In the current climate that is the way to go to maximise potential of productions and broaden the experience for the audience.”

So what will Rachel deliver for her first season?

The opener is a shrewd choice. Go for something which should appeal to a traditional Perth Theatre audience while at the same time let them see what Rachel can deliver as a director.

So waiting in the wings is Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

“It’s been a while since Shakespeare has been done here, and Twelfth Night is one of the gems of the canon. It’s heart-breaking, funny, brilliantly written and an exciting, driven piece of writing: it’s almost the perfect script!”

Rachel promises a “really exciting production” with a team which includes composer Conor Mitchell, a designer from Catalonia and “the best actors for the job”. She adds: “I intend for Twelfth Night to have a large Scottish cast and I shall be auditioning in Perth and London.”

NTS’s new production of Ena Lamont Stewart’s ground-breaker of 1947, Men Should Weep, comes to Perth Theatre as part of Rachel’s scheme for programming co-productions.

She’s maintaining the theatre’s traditional pantomime, and is bringing in Andrew Paton to direct Jack and the Beanstalk. Andrew made his directing debut at Perth Theatre in 2004 with the hugely successful The Yellow on the Broom.

Into the start of 2012 and Rachel directs an Irish play: Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me – Frank McGuinness’s dramatisation of Brian Keenan’s four-year hostage ordeal in Beirut.

The season’s final production is in a lighter vein – it’s the Scottish premiere of Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson and loosely based on Gone With The Wind.

Rachel’s quest, she asserted, was to “raise the bar” at Perth Theatre.

“The days of Perth Rep have gone and I have no intention of repeating the past. Yes, I will honour it but I will also build on it.

“I am sure there is the appetite in Perth, and in Scotland, for this.

“I hope the upcoming season will build on the Perth Theatre audience. We need to widen that audience and excite them, especially young people, but without driving away the core. It’s not easy!”

Cue the feisty side of Rachel’s nature: “I feel it’s incumbent upon the people of a city to support their theatre if they want it to survive.

“We will try and provide for them material which does not just entertain but engages them all on all kinds of levels.”

And Rachel is convinced the ambitious redevelopment plans for Perth Theatre will be a huge boost for a audience broadening aspirations.

“The redevelopment plans were a huge part of me wanting the job.

“I think every theatre needs space where risks can be taken, and the proposed studio space is really going to open up our ability to experiment and support young artists and new writing.

“Horsecross Arts is a cultural development agency and I’m excited to be part of it.”

And this writer, for one, is excited at the prospect of the Rachel O’Riordan effect bursting on to the Perth Theatre stage.