Introduction

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Katie Mitchell is an English director, mainly known for her theatrical pursuits. She is renowned internationally for her book, The Directors Craft: A Handbook for the Theatre, where she outlines her practice in approaching and directing an upcoming production. Katie Mitchell began her career in 1986 where she was a production assistant at King’s Head theatre. In 1987 she got a job as an assistant director for Paines Plough and by 1988 she was an assistant director at the Royal Shakespeare company. She established an independent theatre company called “Classics On A Shoestring” in 1990 and soon became associate director for Royal Court and National Theatre. Some of her most memorable productions have included Waves by Virginia Woolf, The Seagull by Chekov, Cleansed by Sarah Kane and Five Truths, an exploration of directorial practices through a series of videos portraying the suicide of Ophelia in Hamlet. She has always had an avid interest in storytelling since directing her first play at age 16 at Oakham School - which was a production of a Harold Pinter’s radio play titled, Family Voices For The Stage. 

Katie Mitchell’s work uses extreme naturalism, multimedia and live cinema influences to create defined worlds and engaging, suspenseful productions. When appearing in a lecture at Royal Holloway Drama, Mitchell states that the main objective of a director is to “make what the audience see and hear clear”. Furthermore, before she approaches any directorial task, she asks herself; “what is my place of responsibility in the world community?” to ensure her productions have a place in the current world at the time. This highlights Mitchell’s belief that as a director, her sole responsibility is to the audience, to make sure they clearly understand not only the narrative presented on the stage, but also the specificity in intentions.

Mitchell’s work usually focuses on exploring the political and/or social element of the text  to raise questions in the audience about our current world. Feminism and the female gaze, is a topic that frequently appears throughout her work, usually in the form of a strong female character with a strong perspective. Mitchell’s fascination with female psychology has caused her to establish quite well-known female protagonists as not victims, but figures of strength and determination. Notable examples of this endeavour include Grace in Cleansed and Iphigenia in Iphigenia at Aulis, which both characters were portrayed with a strong sense of drive and ambition, as opposed to the victimised portrays seen before.

Katie Mitchell is a director that values clarity and specificity to ensure the audience can have the best experience they can within the theatre. Through the development of her work she aims to tackle intellectual problems and make them accessible to audience members to provide a new perspective and create an engaging and memorable production.