For some students, getting that vital first hand experience with a dream career can seem miles out of reach. What do you want to be? A West End director? A Polar Bear conservationist? A hot air balloon designer? With a little hard work, commitment and enthusiasm, at least one of those career paths isn’t that far fetched.
Most of us don’t have a complete plan, or if we do, it’s just a case of blind luck, a – hit-swing-and-a-miss-lets-hope-for-the-best – kind of setup. Or at least, that’s what it’s like for me.
In the case of this piece the situation is slightly different, if only ever so slightly, still it’s worth a shot.
Molly Burdett is a first year English student at the University of York and aspiring director, someone that I’ve known for the better part of a decade. And she ALWAYS has a plan. That is, without fail.
If you knew her like I do, the fact that she has already been able to direct two plays and work on half-a-dozen others over a short 30 months or so, well, lets agree that it would just make sense.
So it is of no surprise to me that ever since seeing a production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time while at a University College London summer school, Molly has been working towards that goal with just about every bit of spare time she has had.
During the phone call where I interviewed her about her time so far in the theatre world, she brightly informs me that she was hooked by:
“the spectacle, work and team effort that [clearly] goes into creating [a play].”
The spark in her voice is unmistakable, the calm and collectiveness (as she mulls through responses to my ill-planned questioning) not quite covering the drive to one-day find her way up to a similar level as her hero, Greg Doran, who holds the position of artistic director for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
This “really cool guy” (not mulled over in terms of phraseology I suppose) with “[great] lectures and interesting directing techniques” has provided a great deal of inspiration for Molly, who really enjoys his work.
Doran has held the position since 2012 and has directed dozens of successful plays since becoming a director in 1992. Including productions of Hamlet (Shakespeare), Macbeth (Shakespeare) and The Tempest (you guessed it, Shakespeare).
Working towards this dream career began for Molly back in Grimsby (the grotty port from which we both hail) helping out on amateur productions as a lighting operator at Caxton’s Theatre on Cleethorpes Road.
This first rung on the ladder is the baseline of everything Molly uses now at directing workshops and in her drama society:
“[It helped] build up a general knowledge of theatre, like proper terminology, back stage work and the process in general.”
Having seen both of the plays that she has directed over the last six months, I can safely vouch for the worth of the late evenings in the middle of the week spent down by Grimsby Docks.
The banter about there being “no drama” on an inclusive project between molly and another colleague who had also wanted to direct (happily, they were also an actor) her first play, The Story of Echo and Narcissus, is enough to remind me to ask about the difference in the process between that and her most recent play: A Parisian Escape.
As she had a mere seven days between a finalised script, actors being selected and A Parisian Escape being shown. I feel it’s nothing short of a miracle that it came together so excellently.
Feedback showed the one thing that she had expected to go slightly wrong (understandably so, with a brand new script finished a week before the show):
“I was the director and I didn’t quite understand the script, so I wasn’t sure how the audience was going to perfectly well either.”
Based on how well it was received in every other aspect, Molly is hoping to get a full weekend show during her next academic year. I for one, highly expect this to be the case and look forward to attending.
There you are then, the least you can have is a mild plan for the future, even if you don’t end up doing it, fill your time with things you enjoy. In Molly’s case, theatre, how about yours?
Notes:
732 words
For a student publication.
Written based on mixed telephone and email interview.