Ann "Annie" Castledine (26 February 1939 – 4 June 2016), was a British
theatre director
A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...
, teacher and
dramaturg
A dramaturge or dramaturg is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and printed programmes (or helps others with these tasks), consults auth ...
.
Described in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' as "one of the arts world's best-known secrets"
who "shaped some of the most influential players in British theatre" and had a "genius for doing work that is unfashionable".
Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Sha ...
described her as an "outstanding director of European classical and contemporary plays".
[Foreword to ''On Directing: Interviews with Directors'', Faber & Faber, 1999.]
She was regarded as an expert on the dramas of
Bertolt Brecht,
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
,
Anton Chekhov and
Henrik Ibsen, as well as being noted
for her championing of new talent in British theatre and the arts, including work with new playwrights and the training of new directors.
In supporting the development of British theatre, she was often likened to
Joan Littlewood
Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of M ...
– the "mother of modern (English) theatre".
Early life
Born in 1939, Ann Castledine grew up in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
and initially worked as a teacher. She attended the
University of York as a mature student and turned to theatre
directing in the 1970s.
She was the eldest child of three born to Ida Castledine (née Armstrong) and Walter Cecil Castledine, who worked as an electrical engineer employed by the
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...
at
coal mines
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...
including
Kiveton Park Colliery
Kiveton Park Colliery was a coal mine in the village of Kiveton Park, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England.
History
Until 1845, Kiveton was a rural village, where the main work was in agriculture. In that year, a railway line was built ...
. Her mother worked to run the household and bring up three children, while also donating time to the
NSPCC
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a British child protection charity.
History
Victorian era
On a trip to New York in 1881, Liverpudlian businessman Thomas Agnew was inspired by a visit to the New Yor ...
. Ida and Cecil were keen on plays and theatre
and placed an emphasis on education as a means of betterment. Castledine claimed to have been well-versed with Greek and Roman mythology and literature at the age of 5.
A bright student, she considered her early career prospects to be firmly established by her gender and class – in press interviews she recalled making the choice to work as a teacher, having been presented with a choice between becoming a teacher or becoming a nurse.
Castledine attributed some of her early interest in theatre directing to the influence of Honor Mathews, who had been the head of drama at
Goldsmiths College
Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...
, London, during her own training. After working in London state schools as a teacher, and as senior lecturer in drama at Bulmershe College,
Castledine attended the
University of York as a mature student and found herself becoming preoccupied with directing plays. This early work was spotted by Michael Winter, the then director of York's
Theatre Royal, who offered her the chance to be his
Arts Council trainee in 1979.
Theatres and theatrical companies
Much of Castledine's theatrical work was carried out on a freelance basis and involved productions for a great number of British theatres and companies, including the
Royal Shakespeare Company and the
Royal National Theatre.
Her career also included periods as the artistic director for
Derby Playhouse
Derby Playhouse was a theatre production company based in Derby, England and the former name of the theatre which it owned and operated from its opening in 1975 until 2008, when the company ceased operating after a period in administration. The th ...
(1987–90). Prior to which she was Associate Artistic Director at
Theatr Clwyd
Theatr Clwyd () is a regional arts centre and producing theatre from Mold, Flintshire, in North East Wales. It opened as Theatr Clwyd in 1976, but was known between 1998 and 2015 as Clwyd Theatr Cymru, before reverting to its original name.
His ...
(1985–87).
She also worked regularly at
Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre is a theatre and Grade II* listed building situated in Oaklands Park in the city of Chichester, West Sussex, England. Designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, it was opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Mart ...
.
While based in York, early in her directing career, Castledine ran her own small production company – Northern Studio Theatre.
Later in her career, she frequently collaborated with
Complicité
Complicité is a American theatre company founded in 1898 by Simon McBurney, Annabel Arden, and Marcello Magni. Its original name was Théâtre de Complicité. The company is based in London and uses extreme movement to represent their work, wit ...
.
Collaborators
Repeat collaborators included
Stephen Daldry
Stephen David Daldry CBE (born 2 May 1960) is an English director and producer of film, theatre, and television. He has won three Olivier Awards for his work in the West End and three Tony Awards for his work on Broadway. He has received thr ...
,
Neil Bartlett,
Simon McBurney
Simon Montagu McBurney (born 25 August 1957) is an English actor, playwright, and theatrical director. He is the founder and artistic director of the Théâtre de Complicité, London. He has had roles in the films '' The Manchurian Candidate'' ...
,
Annabel Arden,
Josette Bushell-Mingo,
[https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/interviews/2017/josette-bushell-mingo-id-love-to-come-back-and-lead-a-company-or-run-a-building/ ] Iona McLeish,
Kathryn Hunter
Aikaterini Hadjipateras ( el, Αικατερίνη Χατζηπατέρας; born 9 April 1957), known professionally as Kathryn Hunter, is an American-born British actress and theatre director, known for her appearances as Arabella Figg in th ...
,
Marcello Magni, Maureen Lawrence,
Gillian Wright
Gillian Wright (born 5 May 1960) is an English actress, best known for portraying the role of Jean Slater on the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' since 2004, for which she has won a number of awards. She was a teacher and theatre director before ...
,
Bryony Lavery
Bryony Lavery (born 1947) is a British dramatist, known for her successful and award-winning 1998 play '' Frozen''. In addition to her work in theatre, she has also written for television and radio. She has written books including the biography ...
,
Beatrix Campbell
Mary Lorimer Beatrix Campbell, OBE (''née'' Barnes; born 3 February 1947) is an English writer and activist who has written for a number of publications since the early 1970s. Her books include ''Wigan Pier Revisited'' (1984), ''Goliath: Brit ...
,
Corin Redgrave
Corin William Redgrave (16 July 19396 April 2010) was an English actor and left-wing socialist activist.
Early life
Redgrave was born on 16 July 1939 in Marylebone, London, the only son and middle child of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kem ...
,
Kika Markham
Erika S.L. "Kika" Markham (born 1940)''birth registered 4th quarter (Oct, Nov, Dec) 1940'' is an English actress.
Early life
Markham is a daughter of actor David Markham and writer Olive Dehn (1914–2007). She has three sisters: Petra, Sonia ...
,
Jane Birkin
Jane Mallory Birkin, OBE (born 14 December 1946) is an English-French singer and actress. She attained international fame and notability for her decade-long musical and romantic partnership with Serge Gainsbourg. She also had a prolific career ...
,
Mark Wheatley Polly Irvin,
Roger Allam
Roger William Allam (born 26 October 1953) is a British actor, who has performed on stage, in film, on television and radio.
He played Inspector Javert in the original London production of the stage musical '' Les Misérables'', First Officer ...
,
Colin Ellwood and Catherine Bailey.
Theatre productions
Selected productions include:
*In 1990, Annie Castledine directed a production of ''
The Caretaker
''The Caretaker'' is a play in three acts by Harold Pinter. Although it was the sixth of his major works for stage and television, this psychological study of the confluence of power, allegiance, innocence, and corruption among two brothers a ...
'' by
Harold Pinter at the
Sherman Theatre
The Sherman Theatre ( cy, Theatr y Sherman) is a venue in the Cathays district of Cardiff. It was built as a twin-auditorium venue in 1973 with financial support from Cardiff University. Sherman Cymru was the name of the Sherman Theatre between 2 ...
in Cardiff. It was noted as the first-ever production to have the title part played by a woman,
Miriam Karlin.
*In 1991, she co-directed with
Stephen Daldry
Stephen David Daldry CBE (born 2 May 1960) is an English director and producer of film, theatre, and television. He has won three Olivier Awards for his work in the West End and three Tony Awards for his work on Broadway. He has received thr ...
"a revelatory, award-winning pair of 1920s plays",
''
Pioneers in Ingolstadt'' and ''Purgatory in Ingolstadt'', by
Marieluise Fleißer, at the
Gate Theatre (London).
These productions won the ''Time Out'' London Award for Best Director (1991).
*In 1992–93, she directed ''Marching for Fausa'' by
Biyi Bandele
Biyi Bandele (born Biyi Bandele-Thomas; 13 October 1967 – 7 August 2022Micah L. Issitt Contemporary Black Biography, 2009. Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 12 October 2015.) was a Nigerian novelist, playwright and filmmaker. He was the author of s ...
, the first African play to be staged at the Royal Court in London since 1966.
*In 1993, she directed ''From The Mississippi Delta'' by
Endesha Ida Mae Holland at the
Cochrane Theatre
The Cochrane Theatre, previously known as the Jeanetta Cochrane Theatre, was a receiving and producing theatre situated in Holborn, London, that opened in 1964. It is now used for television filming.
History
The theatre opened in 1963 and was n ...
. Winner of the Bass Charrington London Fringe Award for Best Ensemble and Best Director.
*At the
Royal National Theatre in 1995, she directed an "impressive" and "unforgettable" production of the ''
Women of Troy''.
*In 2002, she directed Meredith Oakes' play ''Man for Hire'' in a season of new plays commissioned by Laura Harvey and Alan Ayckbourn at the
Stephen Joseph Theatre.
*In 2010, at the
Arcola Theatre in 2010, she co-directed with
Annabel Arden Thomas Bernhard
Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet who explored death, social injustice, and human misery in controversial literature that was deeply pessimistic about modern civilizat ...
's last play ''Heldenplatz''. It was reviewed in the British press: "The superb Arcola staging made the case for Bernhard, a major European dramatist, for the first time, in effect, in this country."
*Annie Castledine played a role in the creation of ''The Encounter'', based on the book ''Amazon Beaming'' by
Petru Popescu. The one-person show was first devised, directed and performed by
Simon McBurney
Simon Montagu McBurney (born 25 August 1957) is an English actor, playwright, and theatrical director. He is the founder and artistic director of the Théâtre de Complicité, London. He has had roles in the films '' The Manchurian Candidate'' ...
in 2015. Castledine had suggested the piece for adaptation to McBurney, with the gift of an inscribed book, 20 years before.
It has been performed across the UK and Europe.
Radio productions
By Annie Castledine and Pier Productions:
*''Book at Bedtime: Three stories written by
Stefan Zweig''. Originally broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
in January 2005.
*''Sister Under the Skin'' written by
Corin Redgrave
Corin William Redgrave (16 July 19396 April 2010) was an English actor and left-wing socialist activist.
Early life
Redgrave was born on 16 July 1939 in Marylebone, London, the only son and middle child of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kem ...
, starring Corin Redgrave and
Kika Markham
Erika S.L. "Kika" Markham (born 1940)''birth registered 4th quarter (Oct, Nov, Dec) 1940'' is an English actress.
Early life
Markham is a daughter of actor David Markham and writer Olive Dehn (1914–2007). She has three sisters: Petra, Sonia ...
. Originally broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
in March 2005
Directed by Castledine and produced by Catherine Bailey Productions:
*''Gaslight'' written by
Patrick Hamilton, starring
Juliet Stevenson
Juliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, (born 30 October 1956) is an English actor of stage and screen. She is known for her role in the film ''Truly, Madly, Deeply'' (1991), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leadi ...
,
Roger Allam
Roger William Allam (born 26 October 1953) is a British actor, who has performed on stage, in film, on television and radio.
He played Inspector Javert in the original London production of the stage musical '' Les Misérables'', First Officer ...
and Corin Redgrave. Originally broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
.
*''Lady Audley's Secret ''written by
Mary Bradden, adapted by
Bryony Lavery
Bryony Lavery (born 1947) is a British dramatist, known for her successful and award-winning 1998 play '' Frozen''. In addition to her work in theatre, she has also written for television and radio. She has written books including the biography ...
, starring
Francesca Annis. Originally broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
in 2000.
*''Oh Sorry, Were You Asleep?'' written by
Jane Birkin
Jane Mallory Birkin, OBE (born 14 December 1946) is an English-French singer and actress. She attained international fame and notability for her decade-long musical and romantic partnership with Serge Gainsbourg. She also had a prolific career ...
, starring Jane Birkin and Corin Redgrave. Originally broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
.
*''Hymn to Love – Homage to Piaf''. Originally broadcast on
BBC Radio 3.
*''One Small Step'' written by Mark Wheatley. Originally broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
.
*''One Small Good Thing'' adapted by Mark Wheatley from a short story by
Raymond Carver
Raymond Clevie Carver Jr. (May 25, 1938 – August 2, 1988) was an American short story writer and poet. He contributed to the revitalization of the American short story during the 1980s.
Early life
Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, a mil ...
. Originally broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
.
*''The Lovers of Viorne'' written by
Marguerite Duras
Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film '' Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) e ...
, adapted by
Bryony Lavery
Bryony Lavery (born 1947) is a British dramatist, known for her successful and award-winning 1998 play '' Frozen''. In addition to her work in theatre, she has also written for television and radio. She has written books including the biography ...
. Originally broadcast on
BBC Radio 3 in October 2004.
*''Boniface and Me'' written by
Gillian Plowman. Originally broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
in December 2007.
*''Gracey and Me'' written by Gillian Plowman. Originally broadcast on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
in October 2010.
*''Gilead'' adapted by
Mike Kenny from the novel by
Marilynne Robinson
Marilynne Summers Robinson (born November 26, 1943) is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and t ...
. Originally broadcast on
BBC Radio 3 in November 2010.
Television productions
Produced by Annie Castledine:
*''Henry IV'' written by
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, adapted and directed by
John Caird, starring
Ronald Pickup
Ronald Alfred Pickup (7 June 1940 – 24 February 2021) was an English actor. He was active in television, film, and theatre, beginning with a 1964 appearance in ''Doctor Who''. Theatre critic Michael Billington described him as "a terrific sta ...
. Originally broadcast on
BBC 2 on 28 October 1995.
Directed by Annie Castledine:
*''The Colour of Light'' written by Sheila Yeger, starring Kim Hicks,
Barbara Marten
Barbara Marten (born 3 January 1947) is a British actress. She is most known for playing Eve Montgomery in ''Casualty''. She has appeared in various soaps, including Eastenders and Brookside, as well as many other drama serials such as ''Harry' ...
and Rob Pickavance. Originally broadcast on
BBC 2 on 24 July 1997.
Teaching
*
Bulmershe College
*
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...
,
including productions of ''When Nora Left Her Husband'' by
Elfriede Jelinek
Elfriede Jelinek (; born 20 October 1946) is an Austrian playwright and novelist. She is one of the most decorated authors writing in German today and was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Literature for her "musical flow of voices and counter-vo ...
.
*
Rose Bruford College
Rose Bruford College (formerly Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance) is a drama school in the south London suburb of Sidcup. The college has degree programmes in acting, actor musicianship, directing, theatre arts and various discipl ...
:
Placement Tutor from 2004 to 2010; teacher of the 'New Writing Production Module', 'The BAC Final Production Module', 'The Brecht Course', 'The Chekhov Course', and 'Lectures on Classic Texts'. Honorary Fellow.
*
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...
/
Rose Bruford College
Rose Bruford College (formerly Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance) is a drama school in the south London suburb of Sidcup. The college has degree programmes in acting, actor musicianship, directing, theatre arts and various discipl ...
: creation (2009–10) of a distance learning course with
Polly Irvin, 'Four Contemporary Directors and the Stories They Tell'.
*
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
, Cambridge Greek plays.
Castledine was also a long-standing Patron of the British Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme, serving alongside fellow Patrons
Phyllida Lloyd
Phyllida Christian Lloyd, (born 17 June 1957) is an English film director and producer, best known for ''Mamma Mia!'' (2008) and '' The Iron Lady'' (2011). Her theatre work includes directing productions at the Royal Court Theatre and Royal Na ...
,
Trevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn (born 14 January 1940) is a British theatre director. He has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed dramas ...
,
Adrian Noble
Adrian Keith Noble (born 19 July 1950) is a theatre director, and was also the artistic director and chief executive of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1990 to 2003.
Education and career
Noble was born in Chichester, Sussex, England. After le ...
,
Michael Boyd,
Michael Grade
Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth, (born 8 March 1943) is an English television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive of Channel 4 (1 ...
and
Michael Billington.
Books
*''Plays by Women, Volume 9'', first published by
Methuen Drama for
Bloomsbury Publishing in 1992, edited and introduced by Annie Castledine.
*''Plays by Women, Volume 10'', first published by Methuen Drama for Bloomsbury Publishing in 1994, edited and introduced by Annie Castledine.
*Interviewed in ''On Directing: Interviews with Directors'', edited by Gabriella Giannachi and Mary Buckhurst, published by
Faber & Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel ...
1999.
Death
She died in June 2016, aged 77, in hospital in
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...
.
Family
Castledine was survived by her sister, brother, five nieces and a nephew.
This family includes the classicist
Helen Morales.
Quotations by Annie Castledine
*''"Our priority then and now is to extend our hands across cultural barriers to grasp our common humanity. If we ignore that, we are condemning the whole human race."''
*''"Too many theatres are driven by caution and a desire to do work that is proven."''
*''"I hadn't realised regional rep was about money. I thought it was about encouraging the young and being radical."''
*''"When you spend so many weeks in the presence of a great playwright with a challenging voice and a political consciousness, then your quality of life goes into the stratosphere."''
*''"If women playwrights are not given enough practice through production and have to snatch what experience they can... it is because their work is not the first choice of those in power in our theatre."''
[From the Introduction of ''Plays by Women: Nine'' ed. Annie Castledine, published by Methuen, 1991.]
*''"The curse of our theatre is the linear, suburban imagination which has to be literal about time and place."''
*''"In doing it for us, the characters allow us to also experience the scream. Hugely cathartic, hugely important. Classless, timeless, placeless."''
*''"Theatre is an abused art form here. And it is undervalued because it is underfunded."''
*''"When you have nothing else you have words, so use those words."''
Quotations about Annie Castledine
*
Stephen Daldry
Stephen David Daldry CBE (born 2 May 1960) is an English director and producer of film, theatre, and television. He has won three Olivier Awards for his work in the West End and three Tony Awards for his work on Broadway. He has received thr ...
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
, director & producer: "''A giant, a mother and a force for all that's best in the theatre.''"
*Sarah Brigham, artistic director and chief executive of
Derby Playhouse
Derby Playhouse was a theatre production company based in Derby, England and the former name of the theatre which it owned and operated from its opening in 1975 until 2008, when the company ceased operating after a period in administration. The th ...
: ''"Annie was fearless in her programming of Derby Playhouse, encouraging innovation, work of the highest quality and encouraging audiences to take as many risks as we ask artists to."''
*
Mike Kenny, playwright: ''"I don't think they make them like Annie any more... She had a belief in the creativity of ordinary people and never compromised on a parallel belief in excellence. She promoted women's work and diversity when it wasn't fashionable. She threw together volatile groups of creative people and often produced magic and sometimes, it has to be said, chaos. If you were an actor in her rehearsal room, every day was like having a full house – the quality of the attention she paid you was as enormous as she was as a personality. I did smile when I heard that she died on the same day as
Muhammad Ali. If those two met at the Pearly Gates, I wouldn't fancy his chances."''
*
Lyn Gardner
Lyn Gardner is a British theatre critic, children's writer and journalist who contributes reviews and articles to ''The Stage,'' '' Stagedoor'' and has written for ''The Guardian''.
Theatre critic and educator
A graduate in drama and English from ...
, critic and journalist: ''"
e of the most energising and dynamic talents in the business. She was always a late starter... Castledine's work... combines an English working-class and feminist toughness tempered by a lyric, European sensibility."''
*
Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Sha ...
CH CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
, director: ''"
astledinehas defined herself as an outstanding director of European classical and contemporary plays, bringing a compelling visionary power to the stage."''
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castledine, Annie
1939 births
2016 deaths
English theatre directors
People from Sheffield
Schoolteachers from Yorkshire