Josie Rourke

Rourke was born in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester,[1] to Vivienne and Sean Rourke. She has one brother, Damian. She attended St Mary’s RC Primary School, Swinton, St Gilbert’s RC Primary School, Winton, St Patrick’s RC Secondary School, Eccles, and Eccles College of Further Education.

She was the first person in the history of her school to attend Cambridge University, where she studied English at New Hall, now Murray Edwards College. She began directing for theatre at Cambridge and amongst other credits, was the first woman in history to direct the Footlights Pantomime, which was co-written by Footlights President and Vice President Richard Ayoade and John Oliver.

Upon graduating from Cambridge in 1998, she worked for Cambridge Arts Theatre, co-ordinating the BT National Connections project around East Anglia. She then moved to London, where she worked nights as a secretary for a mergers and acquisitions bank,[2] pursuing theatre projects during the days, including assisting Laurie Sansom on a production of J.B. Priestley’s Dangerous Corner at Watford Palace Theatre. After nine months of living and working in London, she was appointed Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar Warehouse.[3] Sam Mendes was then the Artistic Director. Over her year-long traineeship, she assisted Michael Grandage on Peter Nichols’ Passion Play and Merrily We Roll Along, Nicholas Hytner on Orpheus Descending starring Helen Mirren, Sam Mendes on Nick Whitby’s To The Green Fields Beyond and Phyllida Lloyd on David Mamet’s Boston Marriage, starring Zoe Wanamaker.

Following her twelve months at the Donmar, Sam Mendes asked her to direct Frame 312 on its stage,[4] and Michael Grandage invited Rourke to Sheffield to direct Kick for Touch as part of The Peter Gill Festival at Sheffield Theatres. While preparing those productions, Rourke assisted Peter Gill on his own play, The York Realist[5] and John Osborne’s Luther on the Olivier stage of the National Theatre.

For the next five years, Rourke freelanced at a number of theatres, while being resident at The Royal Court in London and Associate Director of Sheffield Theatres.[6]

While resident at The Royal Court theatre, under Artistic Director Ian Rickson, she programmed readings, developed new work and directed Crazyblackmuthafuckin’self[7] in the Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court and Loyal Women in the Theatre Downstairs.[8] Her productions for Sheffield Theatres during this time were on the Lyceum, Crucible and Studio stages and included Much Ado About Nothing and Willis Hall’s The Long and The Short and The Tall.[9] Her production of Steve Waters’ play World Music transferred from Sheffield to the Donmar stage.[10] She also directed for The Royal Shakespeare Company in the Gunpowder Season, Believe What You Will by Massinger[11] and as part of the Complete Works Festival, King John by Shakespeare, with Richard McCabe, Joseph Millson and Tamsin Greig.[12] She returned to the Donmar to direct a production of David Mamet’s The Cryptogram at the Donmar starred Kim Cattrall and Douglas Henshall.[13] During this period, Rourke was UK tour director of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues.[14]

In 2008, Rourke was appointed Artistic Director of The Bush Theatre, one of the country’s key venues for new plays and playwrights.[15] During her time at The Bush, she programmed the first plays and early work of, amongst other writers: James Graham, Nancy Harris, Lucy Kirkwood, Nick Payne, Penelope Skinner, Jack Thorne, Steve Waters, Anthony Weigh and Tom Wells. Shortly after she was appointed, The Bush Theatre was the target of a proposed cut[16] in funding by Arts Council England. Josie made a Freedom of Information Act request which established that the proposed cut had been made using flawed evidence and data.[17] The Arts Council reinstated the theatre’s funding but gave Josie three years in which to find a new home for The Bush Theatre. In 2011, The Bush Theatre opened in new premises in a former library building, winning Theatre of the Year.[18] The new home for The Bush opened with Sixty-Six Books, a twenty-four hour performance cycle with 66 writers and 144 actors that Josie co-directed with a dozen of her peers. The cycle went on to be performed overnight in Westminster Abbey.[19]

During her time at The Bush, Rourke continued to work as a freelance director. Her projects included Twelfth Night and The Taming of The Shrew for Chicago Shakespeare Company.[20] Much Ado About Nothing for Sonia Friedman Productions at The Wyndhams Theatre with David Tennant and Catherine Tate[21] and Men Should Weep by Ena Lamont Stewart at the National Theatre.[22]

The Donmar Warehouse in London

In 2011, Rourke was appointed Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse,[23] the first woman to hold the role and the first female theatre director to be appointed the artistic director of a major London theatre.[24]

As Artistic Director, she was responsible for programming the work of, amongst other directors: Phyllida Lloyd, who directed her all-female Shakespeare Trilogy at the Donmar;[25] Kwame Kwei-Armah; Lyndsey Turner, whose celebrated revivals of Brian Friel’s work have been a significant part of the Donmar’s programme; Polly Findlay; Blanche McIntyre; John Crowley; Joe Wright and Robert Hastie.

Her first production at the Donmar was The Recruiting Officer,[26] beginning a working relationship with actor and writer Mark Gatiss, who would go on to star in Coriolanus[27] and The Vote at the Donmar. Other notable productions at the Donmar include: Coriolanus with Tom Hiddleston; Saint Joan with Gemma Arterton;[28] Berenice with Anne-Marie Duff;[29] Conor McPherson’s The Weir; which transferred to the West-End;[30] Nick Payne’s new play Elegy, starring Zoe Wanamaker, Barbara Flynn and Nina Sosanya;[31] the innovative and campaigning Privacy (play), by James Graham (playwright);[32] The Machine by Matt Charman;[33] the musical City of Angels by Cy Coleman, Larry Gelbart and David Zippel, which won an Olivier Award;[34] Les Liaisons Dangereuses with Janet McTeer, Elaine Cassidy and Dominic West at the Donmar and Janet McTeer, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen and Liev Schreiber on Broadway;[35] and also the BAFTA-nominated play for theatre and television, The Vote, which was broadcast live onto television from the Donmar on the night of the May 2015 general election. The broadcast starred Dame Judi Dench, Mark Gatiss, Nina Sosanya and Catherine Tate and garnered the highest annual viewing figures for the channel in that slot.[36]

From the Donmar, The Weir transferred to the West End, The Machine transferred from The Manchester International Festival to The Park Avenue Armory in New York, Les Liaisons Dangereuses to Broadway and Privacy was reconceived in a US version at The Public Theater with Daniel Radcliffe playing the leading role.[37]

A number of Rourke's productions, including Coriolanus, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Saint Joan and The Vote were translated to screen via live television broadcast and NT Live.

Since 2012, Rourke has been a Non-Executive Director of public service broadcaster Channel 4.[38]

In 2019 Rourke became a Vice-President of The London Library.

Rourke made her film debut with Working Title's Mary Queen of Scots. The film stars Saoirse Ronan as Mary, Queen of Scots and Margot Robbie as Elizabeth I.[39] The filmed premiered 15 November 2018 at the AFI Fest and was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hairstyling.[40]

• Josie Rourke at IMDb