Alumni Profile: Sam Yates

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 W 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

The New York production of Incantata

only do that if I was prepared to commit to the play if offered the part, which would mean dropping out of Homerton. So I turned it down.”

Instead he completed his degree, took a show to Edinburgh, and ended up as an understudy in the second cast of The History Boys a year later. Having initially thought he wanted to be an actor, Sam’s interest in directing was fostered by a series of mentors.

“I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to assist Phyllida Lloyd. She was so generous, protective, smart and interesting, and it was a wonderful introduction to directing. We had a week of development at the National Theatre Studio on Bryony Lavery’s adaptation of Wise Children with the most wonderful company of actors, some of whom are friends to this day: Deborah Findlay, Jenny Galloway, Alex Jennings, Nicki Amuka-Bird, Paul Ritter and Kika Markham. Bryony became my “Patroness” and helped me get my first full assisting gig at Birmingham Rep with Rachel Kavanaugh.”

Getting into directing can rely on making personal connections with people in the industry, a pattern which Sam acknowledges can create barriers to entry.

“There’s a structure of first jobs being given by the artistic director, who will often engage someone they like, or, worse, recognise something of themselves in. So that can perpetuate the effect of similar sorts of people being offered jobs. And whether you’re able to afford to live in London can also be a huge factor – if you were born there, even better. But that doesn’t negate the fact that you have to work hard either way. I am incredibly privileged as a white male who went to Cambridge. Before that, I went to a comprehensive school, I had no family in the industry, and hadn’t been to the theatre until I was 16. That was my map up to age 21.”

This time last year, Sam was directing Matthew Broderick and Elizabeth McGovern in Kenneth Lonergen’s Starry Messenger at the West End’s Wyndham Theatre, before preparing to take Incantata to Dublin. This year, by contrast, he is spending time with his partner, reading, writing, walking by the sea, re-watching Breaking Bad, cooking, and enjoying the silence. But he’s also exploring how to continue bringing the power of live performance to new audiences.

“We need to remind ourselves that pause doesn’t mean stop.”