Jackie Wylie is new National Theatre of Scotland director

Jackie Wylie, the former artistic director of The Arches, has been announced as the new artistic director of the National Theatre of Scotland

Feature by The Skinny | 26 Oct 2016

Today it’s been revealed that Jackie Wylie has been appointed as the National Theatre of Scotland’s new artistic director. The news is sure to excite theatre lovers across Scotland, given the leadership and commitment Wylie’s showed in her previous role as The Arches’ artistic director. From 2008 until its controversial closure last year, she helped transform the club and theatre venue’s reputation, turning it into a leading European powerhouse of cultural activity.

Wylie, the first Scot to be awarded this post at the National Theatre of Scotland, is currently co-director of Take Me Somewhere, a new city-wide festival based at Tramway in Glasgow. She will take charge at NTS in Spring 2017.

“It’s an incredible privilege to be given the opportunity to lead the National Theatre of Scotland,” says Wylie. “Ten years ago it pioneered the ground-breaking model of a theatre without walls and since then it has combined world-class artistic distinction with a particular commitment to involving the entire population of Scotland. I look forward to continuing that spirit of innovation, building on the organisation’s many existing successes and relationships whilst also bringing in new voices, seeking out exciting collaborations at home as well as looking outwards, across the world.”

As well as a commitment to grassroots theatre, Wylie has been responsible for commissioning world-class, cross-discipline work that toured to the National Theatre in London, Barbican, Brits off Broadway New York, Spoleto Festival Charleston, Brighton Festival, Push Festival Vancouver, Cultura Inglesa Festival Brazil, NZ, Sydney, Hong Kong and Luminato Festivals.

Wylie says she’s thrilled at the prospect of continuing “the brilliantly ambitious work that the National Theatre of Scotland has excelled at over the past decade, reaching new audiences in places and spaces across the country. Our national theatre is in a confident position, able to explore future definitions of what theatre can be and who it should be for. We are fortunate in Scotland to have so many extraordinary, world-class theatre-makers and I’m looking forward to working with them – on both local and global stages – as we go forward.”

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New voices were very much Wylie’s specialty during her time at the Arches, where she helped develop some of the most interesting theatre-makers working in Scotland; theatre-makers like Rob Drummond, Cora Bissett, Nic Green and Kieran Hurley, who between them have gone on to win numerous awards.

Hurley welcomed Wylie's appointment in a series of Twitter posts highlighting the former Arches director's work in growing Scotland's theatrical scene. Hurley said: "Jackie's legacy at the Arches wasn't just supporting emergent work. It was making Glasgow a centre of international experimental performance... It was also about creating a home for radical queer and feminist work that otherwise didn't exist in this country. The obstacles were about budget and scale. So it's obviously thrilling to imagine the possibilities now she's got the keys to the big hoose."

Elsewhere, theatre practitioner Julie Taudevin (Blow-Off) described Wylie's appointment as "the BEST news in a long time", adding that "Scottish theatre just became 100 times more exciting". Battersea Arts Centre director David Jubb described Wylie thus: "Exceptionally talented. Visionary. Loved by artists."

Seona Reid, the Chair of the National Theatre of Scotland, is equally enthusiastic about Wylie’s appointment. “Jackie brings great energy and a passion for theatre-making that is far-reaching and collaborative and we look forward very much to Scotland’s national theatre entering its second decade with her at the helm,” says Reid. “Under her leadership, we will see a commitment to building on the National Theatre of Scotland’s exceptional reputation for world-class theatre whilst engaging further with new forms of theatre, new audiences, new communities and new talent.”

http://nationaltheatrescotland.com/