Deborah Edgington

Deborah is a director and dramaturg. She is also Festival director, producer and script reader for 10x10, a national biennial playwriting competition and new writing festival, which she co-founded in 2008.

She is former Associate Director and co-director with Two Sheds Theatre and Head of Fundraising and Development (2004-13) at what was the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, under artistic director, Patrick Sandford.

She is passionate about new work, especially discovering new writers and nurturing distinctive voices. She also loves modern classics and the work of Anton Chekhov, Athol Fugard and twentieth century American playwrights, especially Tennessee Williams, whose critically acclaimed play, A Streetcar Named Desire, was Deborah's directorial debut in 2012.

Deborah aims to create work that is thought-provoking and socially engaging by bringing complex stories to the stage in highly imaginative and inventive ways, while still combining truth and humanity with the magic of theatre.

Additional experience/skills

Deborah has over 20 years' experience as a collaborative, flexible, strategic arts and business professional. Prior to becoming a theatre director, she worked in social services, the charity sector and the NHS. She has considerable experience in fundraising (for both the arts and charity sectors) producing, writing bids, marketing, brand development, communications, stakeholder management, governance and capital project management.

To find out more about Deborah, please visit her website: deborahedgingtondirector.com

Credits

DIRECTOR
Once Upon A Time - online monologue for Slackline Productions, Summer 2020
La Boheme, Instant Opera, Normansfield Theatre, 3 perfs, Oct 2019
Rook, Raven, Crowe, Chesil Theatre, 4 perfs, 2018
Unforgettable, Commissioned for Hyde 900, 1 perf, 2017
The Golden Years, Chesil Theatre, 4 perfs, 2016
The Son of a Precariat, Southwark Playhouse & Bread and Roses, 2 perfs 2016
African Gothic, Park Theatre, 4 weeks, 2015
My Children! My Africa!, Trafalgar Studios, 4 weeks, 2015
The Seagull, Chesil Theatre, 1 week, 2015
My Children! My Africa!, Tristan Bates, 4 weeks, 2015
Muswell Hill, Park Theatre, 4 weeks, 2015
Burger Boy, Chesil Theatre, 4 perfs, 2014
Black Mass, London Theatre, 2 perfs, 2014
Muswell Hill, The White Bear, 3.5 weeks, 2014
A Streetcar Named Desire, Chesil Theatre, 1 week, 2013
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
The Battle Lines Trilogy, Forest Forge TC, Rural Tour, 8 weeks, 2014

Training

Royal Central School of Speech and Drama – directing course
Mentoring from Patrick Sandford, former Artistic Director of the Nuffield Theatre
Masterclasses & Workshops via JMK Trust, Young Vic Directors’ Programme, SDUK, Old Vic New Voices with:
Melly Still
Marianne Elliott
James McDonald
Lisa Spirling
Pia Furtado
Jeremy Herrin
James Graham
Claire Lizzimore
Chris Campbell
Rikki Beadle-Blair
Cathal Cleary

Plus
• 2 -day directing workshop with Katie Mitchell
• 1-day movement workshop with Frantic Assembly
• 1-day workshop on writer/director relationship with Lynsey Turner
• Invitation only session at Royal Court with Carrie Cracknall
• 1-day Stage One Producers workshop
• Workshop on movement with choreographer Rachel Nanyonjo
• 3-day physical theatre/dance lab with Spanish Dance Company TodoArts • 1-day workshop on new writing with Luke Barnes
• Workshop on Performing Rights
• 2-day workshop on movement and musical theatre with Max Webster, Jonathan O’Boyle, Gbolahan Obisesan and Caroline Steinbeis
• 2-day workshop on New Writing with Ria Parry and Jennifer Tang
• 1-day workshop on Shakespeare and classical verse with Giles Taylor
• Workshop on German theatre with Lucy J Skilbeck
• Workshop with Robert Shaw Cameron
• 2 -day lab with sound designer Richard Hammarton
• 2-day workshop on diversity in theatre with associate director Amit Sharma, Graeae Theatre • 1-day workshop on producing with Joe Orr • 1-day workshop on surviving Edinburgh Festival & writing about theatre Mark Fisher

Qualifications
BA (Hons) Business Administration
ENB General Nursing