The JMK Trust

The JMK Trust provides talented young directors with awards, guidance and development opportunities

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JMK Assistant Director Blog – Nyasha Gudo

April 9, 2019 by Katherine Rigg

JMK Assistant Director bursary recipient Nyasha Gudo shares his experience of working on The Mountaintop, written by Katori Hall and directed by Roy Alexander Weise (who won the 2016 JMK Award with this production). The show was a co-production between Reading Rep, Nuffield Southampton Theatres and Desara Productions, and also toured to Northern Stage, The North Wall Oxford, Curve Theatre Leicester, Bristol Old Vic and Birmingham Rep.

How has the JMK Assistant Director bursary helped your career as a director to develop?

I acquired new skills, knowledge and experience through working on my first touring production. The bursary added to my work experience, making me more attractive to future employers as my technical knowledge and ability to lead a company have been tested and proved. Each venue required the actors to give the audience a fresh energetic performance, the challenge of maintaining the cast’s performance and teching the show at various venues, all with different technical requirements, improved my confidence helping me to develop as a director and leader.

What are the main things you have learnt from the experience?

I learnt how to technically rehearse a production efficiently and that as a director you have to create an environment where everyone involved in the process feels safe and secure. Part of creating a safe and secure environment is enabling the company to be okay with getting things wrong to get them right, including myself the director.

What have you been working on since the bursary?

Since the bursary I have been working as a drama facilitator with young adults who have additional needs, young adults in care and young careers, as a facilitator at HMP Birmingham, as a support artist to a visually impaired director, directed two short plays with poets who are first time playwrights and currently as an assistant director for an immersive piece of theatre. I will continue to expose myself to a diverse spectrum of productions, theatres and creatives because I believe a variety of skills and knowledge will make my practice as an artist effective. I will continue to look for assisting and directing roles that challenge my ability and understanding of theatre and its many forms, I have also been taking part in masterclasses with the Birmingham Opera Company as a way of looking at different forms of theatre that can help enhance my work. I am also studying the human psyche using the works of the psychoanalyst Carl Jung to help me find a way of creating work that can penetrate and occupy an audience.

What was the best thing about being the JMK Assistant director on The Mountaintop?

Apart from being paid to do what I love on such a brilliant piece of writing, I would say the opportunity to work with a black cast and director who are also the same age as me. It made the whole experience fun and liberating.

Nyasha Gudo and Roy Alexander Weise in rehearsals for The Mountaintop. Credit: Helen Murray

Filed Under: Assistant Director Blog, Blog

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Alumni

Adam Karim Kalungi Ssebandeke Diane Page Tristian Fynn-Aiduenu Winner 2017 - Josh Roche Winner 2016 - Roy Alexander Weise Winner 2015 - Liz Stevenson Kate Hewitt - winner 2014 Winner 2013 - Alex Brown Winner 2012 - Sam Pritchard Winner 2011 - Cathal Cleary Winner 2010 - Matthew Evans Winner 2009 - Caroline Steinbeis Winner 2008 - Michael Oakley Winner 2007 - Polly Findlay Winner 2006 - Jamie Harper Winner 2005 - Natalie Abrahami Winner 2004 - Anne Tipton Winner 2003 - Bijan Sheibani Winner 2002 - Joe Hill Gibbins Winner 2001 - Orla O'Loughlin Winner 2000 - Thea Sharrock Winner 1999 - Mark Rosenblatt Winner 1998 - Tassos Stevens

Click here to view all JMK alumni »

Patrons: Dame Judi Dench, Baroness Howe, Sir Ian McKellen, Clare Menzies-Kitchin MBE and Tom Morris OBE (Founding Chair).  

The JMK Trust is kindly supported by The Martin Bowley Charitable Trust, Arts Council England, The Katie Bradford Arts Trust, The Cockayne Foundation, The London Community Foundation, The Leche Trust, Scops Arts Trust, The Garrick Charitable Trust, The Victoria Wood Foundation, The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust, The Maria Björnson Memorial Fund, The Patricia Routledge Foundation, The Hollick Family Foundation and all our individual donors.

Registered address: Talton Farm Cottage, Newbold on Stour, Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire, CV37 8UB.

Registered Charity: No. 295080

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  • Home
  • About
  • The JMK Award
    • About the JMK Award
    • Application process 2024
    • Information for Designers
  • National Programme
    • About the JMK National Programme
      • JMK Birmingham
      • JMK Bristol
      • JMK Edinburgh
      • JMK Manchester
      • JMK Newcastle
      • JMK Northampton
      • JMK Nottingham
      • JMK Reading
      • JMK Salisbury
      • JMK Stoke-on-Trent
      • JMK Yorkshire
    • #JMKSpace
    • JMK Director Practitioners
  • Assistant Director Bursaries
    • JMK Assistant Director Bursary Recipients
  • Support us
    • How you can help
    • Support for Free with Online Shopping
    • Legacies
    • JMK Gift Membership & Awards Circle
    • ShareGift
    • Thanks to our supporters
  • Blog
  • More information
    • Learn about directing
    • Archive Playlists
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact