Sue Higginson has just taken up her position as Executive Director of Kingston Theatre. I met Sue on a dark, damp, chilly November evening. I was immediately surprised by her openness and friendliness; I was expecting a more forbidding presence! And I was also surprised to find that she was a local girl come home, having been born in Hampton Court and going to junior school in Teddington.
Sue told me it was this cultural transformation that really interested her. She believes that Kingston Theatre will have a galvanising effect on the culture of Kingston, and will help transform it into a centre, not just for theatre, but for all the arts.
From her teenage years, Sue was only ever interested in working in the Theatre, and she has succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. She goes back a long way with Sir Peter as well, being involved in the transfer of the National Theatre from the Old Vic to the South Bank. Back in those days she recalls driving Laurence Olivier about in her battered Renault 4 (actually, I added the word battered, but I’ve never seen a Renault 4 which wasn’t…)
Sue
describes herself as ‘an enabler’ rather than an ‘administrator’. At Sadlers
Wells Opera, she ‘enabled’ the move to The Coliseum and later, at the Old Vic
she helped ‘enable’ the move to the South Bank. Clearly she is not into
administration for its own sake, but to achieve something tangible.
Following time working at the BBC, as an Associate Producer at LWT and working with Sir Cameron Mackintosh, she took on the role of ‘enabling’ again at the National Theatre. This time Sue was charged with setting up the National Theatre Studio. Working initially with Peter Gill, and subsequently as its director, she founded
and ran the innovative research and development centre of the National, and developing in particular the work of a raft of new writers.
After 18 years working at the top of her profession, I had to ask why she was prepared to give it all up and come to a theatre which isn’t even finished. As it happens, we were on the stage talking, and she simply threw her arms wide and said ‘Because of this!’ Like so many others, the design, ambition and potential of this theatre is an irresistible draw. Once again she sees herself as an enabler, enabling Sir Peter’s idea and ambitions, as well as those of the Trust and the local people, to all be realised; quite a task!
Currently she is helping create a brand new team of internationally respected experts to finish the theatre to the highest standards. Rosie Hoare has joined to help complete the fitting out. She has had extensive experience throughout the leisure sector, having worked for Spitting Image, Madam Tussauds and Alton Towers among many others. Alison Chitty is an internationally acclaimed designer, as well respected in the worlds of film and opera as well as theatre. She has been captivated by the theatre and will be assisting the final stages of design. To plan the sound systems, Paul Groothuis will be down in Kingston once he has finished working on the National Theatre’s new production of His Dark Materials, while another globe-trotting technical guru, Peter Mumford is going to work on the theatre lighting set-up. Sue considers this to be a remarkable array of the very best of their respective professions.
While the fabric of the theatre is receiving such expert attention, Sue has also been working on plans for the theatre to go outside the building and reach people who would not normally go near it. She regards it as a fundamental plank of her role, and Sir Peter’s policy, to ensure the theatre reaches out into all parts of the community. I pressed her on this, as many people assume that the new theatre plan has rather shelved the community aspect of the theatre, but she told me that she will not feel her job has been done until everyone in Kingston feels a shared ownership of the theatre.
There are few aspects of the Kingston Theatre plan in which Sue is not involved. She is very excited by the Kingston University MA course, and tells me that the University is already well ahead with its preparations. She is hugely enthusiastic about this aspect of the scheme, unique in world theatre; it is the passing on of skills that she thinks is so important, as the young and inexperienced get to rub shoulders with the foremost actors of their generation. A unique and extraordinary concept. All of the team outlined above regard themselves as teachers as well as practitioners, which makes the educational aspect of the theatre both important and exciting. With their help the theatre will be like a living organism, evolving and developing to fit the needs and aspirations of the community for many years.
Last, but not least, Sue had kind words to say about the Friends. She has been knocked out not just by the impressive membership figures, but by the enthusiasm and hard work shown by so many people. As she said, considering the theatre isn’t even open yet, she has never seen anything like it. It is another sign to her that Kingston is ready for this new turn in its cultural history.
It is difficult not to warm to this crusading figure who has worked for so many years with the very finest talents in British theatre. That she thinks it was worth giving up her role as nurturer of new talent on the South Bank for this site in Kingston really does fill you with confidence. And her final words were to impress upon me that this is not ‘Sir Peter Hall moves to Kingston’, this is a new, vibrant, exciting and original production team put together by Sir Peter to meet the singular needs of this theatre at this time.
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