As Dundee Rep prepares for its new play, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Jennifer Cosgrove meets associate director Jemima Levick to talk about life, work, and feeling at home in Dundee.
Jemima might tell you she has managed to become one of the most talented young theatre directors working in Scotland because of sheer good fortune, but it’s clear that hard graft and dedication have also been responsible for her getting to where she is at the age of only 33.
Since graduating from university, she has been nominated for a number of theatre awards and won a best director Critics’ Award for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) for her work on the 2009 Rep production of The Elephant Man.
“Some would say it’s to do with talent but, for me, so much of it was to do with being given a break by people at just the right time,” she says. “It is hard. You have to work really, really hard then you have to work a bit harder. I meet lots of young directors who are looking to break into the industry and a lot of it is being in the right place at the right time or meeting the right people.”
Originally from north London, Jemima moved to Bristol aged 10 and then to Edinburgh aged 20 to study drama and theatre arts at Queen Margaret University, where she specialised in directing. She hadn’t always known she wanted to be on the “other side” of the stage, but it became apparent while she was auditioning for drama schools after finishing her A-Levels.
“I took two years out between A-Level and university and, when I first left school, I auditioned for a lot of drama schools but I sat in the auditions thinking ‘this is not really what I want to do’. The year after, I decided to look about a bit more and I knew Queen Margaret did a course where you could choose to specialise in something like directing.
“Suddenly, it all slotted into place and made sense to me. I had always wanted to get into theatre, but I didn’t necessarily want to concentrate on one aspect of the work I wanted to look at the actors, the lighting, the sound, the set, storytelling.”
For the last few months, Jemima and the Rep Ensemble have been working on a production of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, written by Jim Cartwright. Best known as a 1998 film adaptation starring Jane Horrocks, Brenda Blethyn, Ewan McGregor and Michael Caine, it was originally produced for The National Theatre in 1992.
Little Voice (played by Rep Ensemble graduate Helen Darbyshire) obsessively listens to her late father’s extensive record collection and when the music stops, her voice continues impersonating each star to perfection. But, when her brazen mother, Mari (Irene MacDougall) and her latest conquest Ray Say (Robert Paterson) try to cash in on her talent and turn her into a star, they turn Little Voice’s life of quiet solitude upside down.
Jemima says the best part of being a director is the period of rehearsals when you go through a creative process with the actors. She admits many have been incredibly helpful over the years, especially when she was directing in her 20s.
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Jemima has now been with The Rep since the summer of 2009, and is feeling fairly settled, having recently bought a flat. On first coming to Dundee to take up her position as associate director, she moved into a flat owned by Dominic Hill who, incidentally, left The Rep in 2007 to become artistic director of the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. This has become a bit of a running theme, as the current Rep artistic director James Brining bought the home of his predecessor, Hamish Glen, when he left for the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry in 2003.
“I lived in Dominic’s flat for a year and a half but, towards the end of last year, it occurred to me that I lived in Dundee, and there were some really lovely flats around. So I started looking around for a flat and have now moved although it’s still chaos. I had seen a flat on the market and then in October I just decided to go for it. I was midway through directing A Doll’s House and I thought ‘this is madness’, but it was never going to be the right time!”
And the next lot of ‘madness’ is just round the corner, with The Rise and Fall of Little Voice opening on Monday.
“It’s a play with music in it not a musical,” Jemima says. “Little Voice does sing, but in a very particular context.”
Portraying the shy and reclusive Little Voice is a big role for Helen Darbyshire, who joined The Rep last year as part of a year-long graduate scheme.
“It’s a big challenge for Helen the biggest challenge is the singing. She is a beautiful singer, but the part involves doing impersonations. The goal is not to be a great singer, but a good impersonator,” Jemima explains. “It’s a huge responsibility in that it’s a title role, but she is more than capable of performing the part. She has been working extremely hard at it.”
Jemima says the beauty of the play is, although it is set against a bleak and depressing backdrop of poverty and hardship, the playwright Jim Cartwright succeeds in making it both moving and funny.
“This is what’s amazing about his writing and really refreshing. It’s been a joy to work on.”The Rise and Fall of Little Voice runs at the Dundee Rep Theatre from February 28 to March 19. More info at www.dundeereptheatre.co.ukEdinburgh is a great place to be a theatre student, and part of Jemima’s course was to go and see at least one show every week.
“I saw musicals, Shakespeare, new writing, amateur dramatics and a little bit of everything and it was the best thing for me because it really opened my eyes.”
She did all the things theatre students should, like putting on shows during the Festival fringe “on a wing and a prayer” and building and painting sets in the kitchen of her flat.
“While I was still at college, I did a placement at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and, after I graduated, I phoned up to ask if there were any positions. I was offered an opportunity to work in the office on a voluntary basis when Roxana Silbert was literary director and I was also able to assist on the show.
“I worked there for six months for ‘free’ but it meant I got to read all the scripts, attend the artistic planning meetings and write script reports, so I started to do the work and also got to meet lots of people.”
Jemima’s hard work also resulted in a bursary now, sadly, a very scarce thing to work with the Royal Lyceum Theatre and Stellar Quines Theatre Company in Edinburgh, which she describes as a “total gift”. This allowed her to make contacts in the theatre world and get valuable experience while setting herself up as a freelance director.
Then, the Lyceum artistic director Mark Thomson took a “gamble” on her in late 2005, asking her to direct their festive show, A Christmas Carol.
“I look back now and I meet young directors and I can’t believe I was given a Christmas show to direct at that age,” Jemima says. “Some of the best advice I ever got was ‘don’t expect to do anything before you are 30’ but, at 27, I was incredibly lucky.”
She admits that working with people a lot older and more experienced than her was terrifying, but the actors in the lead roles of Scrooge and Jacob Marley were both generous and kind throughout the process.
“You have to remember you are working with people who have had 40 years in the business, and there is a certain amount of respect that has to come with that.”
Continued…
Jemima has now been with The Rep since the summer of 2009, and is feeling fairly settled, having recently bought a flat. On first coming to Dundee to take up her position as associate director, she moved into a flat owned by Dominic Hill who, incidentally, left The Rep in 2007 to become artistic director of the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. This has become a bit of a running theme, as the current Rep artistic director James Brining bought the home of his predecessor, Hamish Glen, when he left for the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry in 2003.
“I lived in Dominic’s flat for a year and a half but, towards the end of last year, it occurred to me that I lived in Dundee, and there were some really lovely flats around. So I started looking around for a flat and have now moved although it’s still chaos. I had seen a flat on the market and then in October I just decided to go for it. I was midway through directing A Doll’s House and I thought ‘this is madness’, but it was never going to be the right time!”
And the next lot of ‘madness’ is just round the corner, with The Rise and Fall of Little Voice opening on Monday.
“It’s a play with music in it not a musical,” Jemima says. “Little Voice does sing, but in a very particular context.”
Portraying the shy and reclusive Little Voice is a big role for Helen Darbyshire, who joined The Rep last year as part of a year-long graduate scheme.
“It’s a big challenge for Helen the biggest challenge is the singing. She is a beautiful singer, but the part involves doing impersonations. The goal is not to be a great singer, but a good impersonator,” Jemima explains. “It’s a huge responsibility in that it’s a title role, but she is more than capable of performing the part. She has been working extremely hard at it.”
Jemima says the beauty of the play is, although it is set against a bleak and depressing backdrop of poverty and hardship, the playwright Jim Cartwright succeeds in making it both moving and funny.
“This is what’s amazing about his writing and really refreshing. It’s been a joy to work on.”The Rise and Fall of Little Voice runs at the Dundee Rep Theatre from February 28 to March 19. More info at www.dundeereptheatre.co.ukEdinburgh is a great place to be a theatre student, and part of Jemima’s course was to go and see at least one show every week.
“I saw musicals, Shakespeare, new writing, amateur dramatics and a little bit of everything and it was the best thing for me because it really opened my eyes.”
She did all the things theatre students should, like putting on shows during the Festival fringe “on a wing and a prayer” and building and painting sets in the kitchen of her flat.
“While I was still at college, I did a placement at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and, after I graduated, I phoned up to ask if there were any positions. I was offered an opportunity to work in the office on a voluntary basis when Roxana Silbert was literary director and I was also able to assist on the show.
“I worked there for six months for ‘free’ but it meant I got to read all the scripts, attend the artistic planning meetings and write script reports, so I started to do the work and also got to meet lots of people.”
Jemima’s hard work also resulted in a bursary now, sadly, a very scarce thing to work with the Royal Lyceum Theatre and Stellar Quines Theatre Company in Edinburgh, which she describes as a “total gift”. This allowed her to make contacts in the theatre world and get valuable experience while setting herself up as a freelance director.
Then, the Lyceum artistic director Mark Thomson took a “gamble” on her in late 2005, asking her to direct their festive show, A Christmas Carol.
“I look back now and I meet young directors and I can’t believe I was given a Christmas show to direct at that age,” Jemima says. “Some of the best advice I ever got was ‘don’t expect to do anything before you are 30’ but, at 27, I was incredibly lucky.”
She admits that working with people a lot older and more experienced than her was terrifying, but the actors in the lead roles of Scrooge and Jacob Marley were both generous and kind throughout the process.
“You have to remember you are working with people who have had 40 years in the business, and there is a certain amount of respect that has to come with that.”
Continued…