Writer/director MIKE LEIGH delivered the fourth annual DIRECTORS GUILD PETER BROOK LECTURE on the 24th November to a packed British Library Auditorium.
Mike Leigh's career now spans fifty years - and over fifty productions in theatre, radio, television and film. Never settling in one medium, he is a master of them all and has pioneered and legitimised devising as an art; his influences and methods can be seen and felt throughout the live and recorded media in the UK and around the world. His next eagerly-awaited film, (due in 2014) re-unites Mike with long-time collaborator Timothy Spall as English painter J.M.W.Turner. Mike has also been a Guild member and supporter since our inception and we are indebted to him for taking time out of "post" to deliver this year's lecture.
Mike's interlocuter on stage this year was Indhu Rubasingham, artistic director of the Tricycle Theatre, London. Indhu's inaugural production at the Tricycle, RED VELVET, won an Evening Standard Award, two Critics' Circle Awards and was nominated for an Olivier. Previously Associate Director of The Gate Theatre, Birmingham Rep and the Young Vic, she worked with Mike in her early days on an Arts Council bursary as assistant director at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East.
This lecture series is the most important event in the Director’s Guild’s calendar; established in 2010 with a talk given by Peter Brook himself, one of the most influential theatre directors of the second half of the 20th century. The lecture is a public event, giving leading directors from across disciplines a platform to address their craft, culture and history.
The Guild are most grateful for the support of the British Library, sponsor Aon Insurance and all of our supporters.