Credited to Mark Hamilton
Vicky Featherstone
1967-
Theatre Director, Artistic Director, Commissioner of Dramatic Writing
Vicky Featherstone is a theatre and artistic director with her career being characterised by significant involvement with new writing.
Featherstone was born in Surrey but moved to Scotland at 6 weeks old, where she lived in Clackmannanshire until the age of 7, when her father's work took her around the world. Featherstone studied Drama at Manchester University and also did an MA in Directing at the University, in association with Manchester's Contact Theatre.
Featherstone's first work in professional theatre followed, as an assistant director at the Royal Court in 1990 on Martin Crimp's No One Sees the Video. She gained a place on the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme, under which she spent two years from 1992-94, first as Assistant Director and then Associate Director, based at West Yorkshire Playhouse, then under the artistic directorship of Jude Kelly. She then became Resident Director at the Octagon Theatre Bolton from 1994-96 and worked at Northern Stage, then became Literary Associate for the Bush Theatre from 1996-97.
In the mid-1990s, Featherstone returned to TV script editing and programme development, having worked for a time as a script editor for Central TV immediately after University.
Featherstone was Artistic Director of Paines Plough, a theatre company based in the UK that specialises in new plays and touring, from 1997 to 2004. Under Featherstone the company was noted for its commitment to theatrical activity outside London in the UK regions, and willingness to experiment and collaborate with other theatre companies such as Frantic Assembly and Graeae.
The job of Director of the NTS, to combine the roles of director, chief executive and artistic director, was advertised in May 2004. Findlay announced Featherstone's appointment on 29 July 2004 at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Following eight years on that position, Featherstone was appointed as Artistic Director of the Royal Court and she took over in April 2013.
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