For our Goethe Annual Lecture 2023, Katie Mitchell described 15 years of working in Germany and how the productions she directed there and the culture she encountered changed her working practice and her view of British theatre.
Mitchell has directed over 100 productions in her 30-year career, many of them in Germany. Her work encompasses text-based theatre, opera and ‘live cinema’ productions, a unique combination of video and theatre techniques.
Mitchell has worked in both the UK and mainland Europe and has received numerous awards for her work in several countries. In Germany, she has directed numerous productions that have been shown at the Schaubühne in Berlin (Miss Julie, Orlando) and the Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg (Travellers on One Leg), among others. In her lecture, she will discuss the differences between theatre-making in the UK and Germany and the feminist approach in her work.
After the lecture, Ben Fowler, Senior Lecturer at the University of Sussex, will moderate a question and answer session.
Biographies
Katie Mitchell is a Professor in Theatre Directing at Royal Holloway University where she teaches an MA directing course. Her other academic roles include Visiting Professor of Opera at Oxford University in 2017, Visiting Fellow at Central St Martin's 2016 - 2018 and an Honorary Fellow at Rose Bruford College, 2014. She has been a Cultural Fellow at Kings College, London, the TORCH Visiting Fellow in Theatre at Oxford University and Visiting Lecturer at Columbia University, New York.
Her many awards in the UK include 2 Time Out Awards (1990 & 1991), Evening Standard Best Director Award (1996) and a Tonic Award for her representations of woman and nurture of female talent (2018). Her awards in Europe and beyond include 3 Theatertreffen prizes (Germany) in 2008 & 2009, an Obie Award (US) in 2009, 2 Golden Mask Awards (Russia) in 2011 & 2019, the Stanislavsky Internation Prize (Russia) in 2014, The New Theatrical Realities, Europe Prize in 2014 and Best Director for 2019 at the International Opera Awards.
Since 2012, Katie has been committed to making performance about environmental issues, working with scientists, musicians, and performers. She has directed eight environmental productions, including directing the first ever bicycle powered classical concert at the Royal Festival Hall. She was presented with the Order of the British Empire (OBE) 2009 and the British Academy's President's Medal in 2017 for her services to theatre.
Ben Fowler is a Senior Lecturer in Drama, Theatre & Performance at the University of Sussex. He has written about the work of key directors in contemporary European theatre and on the German scene such as Katie Mitchell, Thomas Ostermeier and Nicolas Stemann. Publications include Katie Mitchell: Beautiful Illogical Acts (Routledge, 2021), a book that addresses three decades of Mitchell's practice in fourth-wall realism, opera and Live Cinema across major British and European institutions.
