FEATURE
ALUMNI PROFILE
SAM YATES As New York shut down in March, Sam Yates (BA English, 2002–5) was in the final week of directing the off-Broadway production of Paul Muldoon’s Incantata. The play premiered at 2018’s Galway International Arts Festival, before a run at Dublin’s Gate Theatre last September. While Covid-19 tore through the city and normal life ground to a halt, New Yorkers were still trying to buy tickets for the production, which eventually closed three days early.
Peter Searle
Sam Yates
22
HOMERTONIAN
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hen we speak two months later, Sam is at home on the south coast adjusting, like all of us, to a different pace of life. In that parallel, virus-free version of 2020, he should currently have been directing a Tennessee Williams play at the Hampstead Theatre. The production is on ice, waiting until having hundreds of people in close proximity for a live performance once again becomes thinkable. “It’s pushed me into a more developmental phase,” he says. “I’ve had dozens of Zoom meetings, exploring the possibilities. In May I directed a live Zoom performance of a Tom Stoppard play called A Separate Piece, starring David Morrissey and Jenna Coleman, as a fundraiser for theatre workers who aren’t currently earning and for The Felix project, a charity which saves food that would otherwise go to waste and distributes it to those in need. The industry has been incredibly creative in its response.” What long-term effect the pandemic and resultant lockdown will have on that industry remains to be seen.
“The arts industry generates billions each year for the economy, but it doesn’t seem to be valued as a commodity and there has been very little talk as yet about supporting it. Drama at school is gradually being eroded from the curriculum. But live performance has a unique power that can’t be replicated on screen.” Sam has vivid memories of his first impressions of Homerton in 2001, when he arrived for his interview. “It was incredibly foggy, and there didn’t seem to be anyone around. We’d stayed at my Grandma’s near Grantham the night before, having driven down from Stockport, and we got lost so I was late. Steve Waters (then Head of Drama at Homerton, now Professor of Scriptwriting at UEA) was running a drama session as part of the interview process and I completely missed it. That wasn’t a great feeling.” Having originally applied for Drama and English, Sam was offered a place to study English with Education Studies, but drama nevertheless found its way into his student experience. “I was a bit resistant to the established institutions – I felt the ADC was just trying to copy London, though I can’t quite remember why I thought that was a bad thing. But I got involved in about 15 productions, made a couple of short films, took a production of Macbeth to the Edinburgh Festival, and formed a theatre company in my final year. I also spent my summers working as a broadcast assistant for the BBC, where I’d done work experience at 15 years old.” In his third year, Sam got a call which almost changed the trajectory of his life. Toby Whale, then Head of Casting at the National Theatre, had spotted his picture on Spotlight, a website for actors to advertise their CV. He was casting the original production of Alan Bennett’s play The History Boys, and invited Sam to audition as an understudy. “I had the audition and met Toby Whale, and the next step was to meet Nick Hytner, the director. But I was told that I should
