5 SEPTEMBER 2024
Women make up over 65% of British theatre-goers, yet 69% of directors and 74% of writers are men. Enter award-winning director Rebecca Frecknall, best known for directing the 2021 West End revival of Cabaret. ‘It’s a very competitive industry,’ says Frecknall. ‘I didn’t have a plan B, so I had to make it work. I wrote to lots of people, went to loads of shows, applied for schemes and awards.’ Her first job was at the Young Vic, and in 2018 she made her directorial debut at the Almeida with Summer And Smoke. Since then, she’s directed two runs of Cabaret, as well as Romeo And Juliet (also at the Almeida) and
has been nominated for best director at the Olivier Awards three times (winning once for Cabaret). ‘It proves that it’s about sticking with it.’ Frecknall has definitely felt the weight of being a woman in a leadership role, noting that some men have ‘complicated feelings’ about being directed by a woman. Class is also an issue. ‘Some people feel that the theatre is not open to them. I grew up in a place where there wasn’t any theatre and I was just lucky that my parents took me. We need to protect our regional theatres for that reason – they have such potential to attract people from different backgrounds.’