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Katie Mitchell Research
JACK POWELL MAR 27, 2020 01:30PM
Links to research sources
Excellent Biography on her work:
http://www.theheroinecollective.com/katie-mitchell/
Article about her recent work in Europe:
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jan/14/british-
theatre-queen-exile-katie-mitchell
Thorough introduction to Katie Mitchell:
https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles/an-
introduction-to-katie-mitchells-theatre
Katie Mitchells work at The National Theatre:
https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/katie-mitchells-
work-nt
BBC Bitesize Practitioner Focus:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zvph2sg/revision/5
The Method behind the madness: Katie Mitchell, Stanislavski,
and the classics:
https://academic.oup.com/crj/article/7/3/400/2366229
Life of KM
- Mitchell was born in Reading, Berkshire, raised in Hermitage,
Berkshire, and educated at Oakham School. Upon leaving
Oakham, she went up to Magdalen College, Oxford, to read
English.
- She began her career behind the scenes at the King's Head
Theatre in London
- Worked as an assistant director at theatre companies including
Paines Plough (1987) and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)
(1988 - 1989).
- She directed ve early productions under the umbrella of her
company Classics On A Shoestring, including Women of Troy for
which she won a Time Out Award.
- In 1989, she was awarded a Winston Churchill Travel
Fellowship to study director’s training in Russian, Georgia,
Lithuania and Poland
- Having started her career at the Kings Head Theatre in
London, she has since gone to work for companies such as
Paines Plough, Royal Shakespeare Company and The Royal
National Theatre. Her work is as varied as her employers, having
directed Uncle Vanya, The Cat in the Hat and Sarah Kane’s
Cleansed. Her work has been described as bring able to polarise
an audience like no other.
KM Techniques
- Mitchell assisted her actors in achieving such accuracy by
employing three primary techniques: creating an extensive
backstory for the production; constructing detailed
psychological pro les for each character; and rehearsing the
play with a focus on the biology of emotions.
- Mitchell assisted her actors in creating a psychologically
realistic backstory by completing extensive research and writing
exhaustive timelines for each character and event in the play.
- To ensure that the actors understood the psychological
motivations of their characters, as well as their personal
backstory and that of the play, Mitchell met with a psychologist
during the rehearsal period and developed pro les for each
character.
- Mitchell asked her cast to enact scenes based on primary
emotions, particularly fear, and themes she associated with the
text, including war, family, power, and the collapse of moral
order.
- Mitchell additionally employed a number of devices in an
attempt to make the audience experience the emotion of fear
and its accompanying physical manifestations as well.
- De ning of a characters “INTENTIONS”: What a character
wants and who from.
- Even if a character is silent, INTENTION is still there as there is
a reason for the character to choose to be silent at that point.
- She has incorporated video into live theatre
People who have Influenced KM
Pina Bausch (German Choreographer who blended
movement, sound and stage set with performers in a
style now known as Tanztheatre)
Siobhan Davies (In uential choreographer from London
and founder of Siobhan Davies Dance)
Stanislavski (Russian Theatre Practitioner synonymous
with Naturalism)
KM Quotes
- “Liberating yourself from a notion of Stanislavsky’s work as a
xed, immovable system will help you to use what he has to offer
more effectively.” (Mitchell, 2009)
- "De ning Intentions looks at the concrete world of the drama
and how actors navigate their way through this” (Mitchell, 2008)
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