Taking a break

I’m going to take a break from Company Three.

My partner Ella and I are having a second child toward the end of the year, and I’ve agreed with our team and board of trustees that I’ll take six months away from the company – a combination of paid parental leave (we have a good policy on this) and unpaid sabbatical.

I’ve run C3 since 2008 (full time since 2014) and I’ve never taken so much time away.

I had hoped to do it a year or two ago, but the pandemic and various other things made that impossible. And it’s the pandemic that’s made it feel more important now – we have worked so hard and I’m not sure how much more I have to give right now.

There was a moment in the summer when I felt this particularly acutely – a week or two when I felt completely wiped out - sad and exhausted, unable to do my job very well. I saw this in so many other people as we (supposedly) left the pandemic behind – but I haven’t seen enough organisations making allowances for it, particularly in our industry.

We have tried at C3 - by giving our staff additional time off, trying to keep projects realistic and deliverable, starting our term a little later, operating a proper TOIL process, working the hours we’re paid for. Still though, we’ve wanted to give our young members everything they missed out on - and that at times has led to us over-committing.

Part of the story of our last couple of years has been the dedication and talent of a group of artists who’ve given so much to the company.

Today we announced a new staff structure that means we should never again be over-reliant on me as an artistic director. In our new artistic team - Nuna, Amber and Philip - we have three permanent artists who I hope will use my time away to challenge and redefine who we are as an organisation, to make bold work and to think beyond what I’ve been able to offer so far.

They’ll be supported brilliantly by Angie, who was once in Company Three and now becomes our Project Manager, and Becky Martin, our dynamic and brave ED.

This change is a chance to move Company Three to a new way of working. A bigger team with a long-term connection to the company: a foundation of consistency on which to build radical new work.

At its heart is a vision of collaborative artistic leadership. I’ll work with the team to help set this up, but I think it will help everyone to develop it in their own way if I step away for a bit.

When I come back, I expect C3 to have changed - and for my role to have changed. I’m excited about that.

I hope I will have changed too.

I know it is too much to hope for a rest when there’s a new baby involved, but that is part of this all too. A chance to absorb the change that a new arrival brings - that I didn’t fully appreciate the first time it happened, because I was so busy.

When I can (and when I get some sleep), I also want to spend some time doing some different things and working in different ways.

I’ll have some time for freelance work.

I like making things happen, and I’m pretty good at helping organisations think, particularly around vision, mission, strategy and (of course) young people.

I’m interested in young people - how we listen to them and how we build structures that can best enable that. I’m interested in happiness and how we create it. I’m interested in climate campaigning - and how we can involve more people (like me) who haven’t engaged in it enough.

I’m particularly interested in working outside of theatre, because I’ve been inside it (or maybe just outside it, depending how you see it) for a long time.

So do get in touch, if I might be useful to you.