CAREER INFORMATION
Director
PHYLLIDA LLOYD
From the age of about 5 or 6, I wanted to be an actor. I went to a school that did a lot of writing and performing plays. I went to university rather than drama school, with the possibility of doing a postgraduate drama school course after I graduated. I read English and Drama at Birmingham University and it was there that I realised that it was the directing aspect of theatre that I was most interested in.
After working at the BBC for some time, I obtained a bursary to be a trainee director. Since then I’ve directed plays for the Royal Court Theatre, the National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic and the Royal Shakespeare Company amongst others.
My advice would be to avoid worrying that you’re not ‘there’ yet. My early career was about working out how to do what I wanted to do, and how to ensure I earnt money from it! I didn’t do a postgraduate course in the end. All of life is experience and material for the stories that we want to tell on stage.