Winner 2001
Winner:
Orla O'Loughlin
Production:
The Fire Raisers by Max Frisch
Orla became Artistic Director of Pentabus Theatre in 2006, moving from the Royal Court Theatre where she was the International Associate. Her previous directing work includes Kebab (Project Theatre, Dublin and Royal Court), How Much is your Iron? (Young Vic), The Hound of the Baskervilles (West Yorkshire Playhouse/National Tour/West End), A Dulditch Angel (The Gatehouse/National Tour), Vienna Dreaming, Sam and Lucy, Let your Heart Break Open, Maps, The Mum Project (National Theatre Studio), sob stories, Refrain, Go the way your Blood Beats, Norman (BAC), Redemption (New Dramatists), The Duchess of Suffolk (Globe), Carousel and Crazy for You (Beck Theatre). Orla was the recipient of the Carlton Bursary at the Donmar Warehouse.
The JMK Award gave me a unique opportunity to develop as an emerging director. I had ambition and a sense of theatrical vision but no obvious way of testing my ideas in a professional context. The Trust gave me the time, space and support to put on my first proper show. It put my work in the spotlight and gave me the confidence to believe I might have a future in the industry. I have no doubt that it is as a direct result of the Award that my career has progressed as it has. It gave me the start I needed and a direct route into the profession - Orla O'Loughlin
Orla O'Loughlin offers a strikingly fresh take on The Fire Raisers, the 1956 Max Frisch classic about willed bourgeois complacency and the dangers of trying to propitiate evil-doers. O'Loughlin's biting production proves that its concerns are still a burning issue. It would be a great shame if this fine production did not play to full houses - Paul Taylor in The Independent on Sunday
With O'Loughlin's update to contemporary Britain, one notes the topicality of Biedermann fraternising with the Semtex-juggling Bill and dithering in the face of anti-capitalist terrorism. O'Loughlin's cast admirably combine naturalism, satire and near-Pinteresque menace
- Kate Bassett in The Independent
In 2001 our final eight applicants attended a two day session at BAC. These workshops were run by Erica Whyman, then Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre, Tom Morris, then Artistic Director of BAC and Phil Wilmott of the Finborough Theatre.
Shortlisted directors in 2001 were Roland Smith, James Phillips, William Galinsky, David Salter, Annecy Lax, Rosanna Lowe, Nancy Hirst.
