A dream come true for James ‘I told my careers advisor at 15 years old that one day I wanted to run the Theatre Royal - 26 years later that ambition has become a reality’
T
heatre Royal Plymouth’s new chief executive James Mackenzie-Blackman said it’s an honour to be at the helm guiding a new chapter for the organisation. James took over as CEO in January this year from Adrian Vinken but his connection to the city didn’t begin when he took up this new role. James grew up in Plymouth and cites his time with Theatre Royal Plymouth’s long-established Young Company as a lifedefining experience. ‘The Theatre Royal changed my life when I was a teenager,’ said James. ‘I was enjoying school but hadn’t quite found the tribe of people that were my very special best of friends. I discovered the Theatre Royal Plymouth Young Company when I was in my teens and this organisation transformed my life and proved to me that I had potential and opportunities to achieve. ‘So it feels a really important moment for me to have returned home to this incredible city, to help lead your Theatre Royal. I say “your” Theatre Royal because I really do mean that, this organisation, our incredible building at the bottom of Royal Parade, and TR2, belong to you, the people of this city. During my time here in this organisation, which I hope will be as long, perhaps as long as my predecessor’s Adrian, I’ll be working incredibly hard to bring the very best shows and the very best projects to all of you, who know and love the Theatre Royal.’ Before he came back to Plymouth, James was CEO of Eden Court Highlands, Scotland’s largest single-site performing arts venue. James’s previous roles include executive director of Matthew Bourne’s award-winning dance company New Adventures, executive director of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and six years in a variety of roles at the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith. Under James’s leadership, Eden Court was internationally recognised for its industry leading response to the global pandemic. The organisation was a 8
winner of the inaugural Calouste Gulbenkian 2021 Civic Arts Award. In 2020 James entered The Stage 100, an annual list of the most influential people in the UK theatre industry. James said: ‘It is the honour of my career to take on the leadership of the organisation that defined the path my life would take. I told my careers advisor at 15 years old that one day I wanted to run the Theatre Royal - 26 years later that ambition has become a reality. Throughout the recruitment process I was deeply impressed by the continued ambition for the city of Plymouth, the role that the theatre plays in the cultural life of the region and equally the recognition of the work still to do in the years to come. It will be a great privilege to build on all that Adrian and his colleagues have achieved.’ As part of TRP’s new chapter, James has launched a year-long series of conversations under the banner ‘Your Voice Matters’ that will help steer the organisation’s future development for artists, audiences and communities. The first set of conversations for the consultation were for people working in the performing arts sector with a call-out for individuals to join one of a series of workshops that will consider what creative and artistic leadership of TRP could look like in the 21st Century. ‘As we embark on a new chapter for our organisation, we are committed to our sector friends and colleagues having a voice in shaping our future priorities,’ said James. ‘That’s why we are hosting these conversations. Our organisation is in a period of transition, our industry is in a period of recovery from the pandemic and we want to ensure that how we operate in the future is relevant and responsive to the needs of artists, audiences and communities.
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