Erica Whyman,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(born 27 October 1969) is an English theatre director who became deputy artistic director at the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...

in January 2013.

Background

Whyman was born in

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

, Yorkshire, but lived in

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

until aged eight, before her family moved to Surrey. She studied French and Philosophy at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

and theatre with

Philippe Gaulier Philippe Gaulier is a French master clown, pedagogue, and professor of theatre. He is the founder of École Philippe Gaulier, a French theatre school in Étampes, outside Paris. He studied under Jacques Lecoq in the mid-1960s and was an instr ...

in Paris and then at the

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (BOVTS) is a drama school in Bristol, England. The institution provides training in acting and production for careers in film, television and theatre. BOVTS was an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance a ...

. Whyman was the Chief Executive at Northern Stage,

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

, from 2005 to 2012. In 2013, Whyman became deputy artistic director of the

. In September 2021, she became acting artistic director of the RSC.

Personal life and honours

In 2013, she was appointed an

in the

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

List. She has a daughter, Ruby, with playwright Richard Bean.

Career

* 1997 – Awarded the John S Cohen Bursary for Directors at the National Theatre Studio * 1997–98 – Associate producer of

Tricycle Theatre The Kiln Theatre (formerly the Tricycle Theatre) is a theatre located in Kilburn, in the London Borough of Brent, England. Since 1980, the theatre has presented a wide range of plays reflecting the cultural diversity of the area, as well as n ...

* 1998–2000 – Associate director of

English Touring Theatre English Touring Theatre (ETT) is a major touring theatre company based in London, England. History English Touring Theatre was founded in 1993 by Stephen Unwin. In 2008, the directorship of the company was taken over by Rachel Tackley, making E ...

* 1999–2001 – Artistic director

Southwark Playhouse Southwark Playhouse is a theatre in London with two venues, both located between Borough and Elephant and Castle tube stations. History The Southwark Playhouse Theatre Company was founded in 1993 by Juliet Alderdice and Tom Wilson. They ident ...

(Peter Brook Empty Space Award) * 2001–04 – Artistic director and chief executive of Gate Theatre * 2004–05 – Fellow of the Clore Leadership Programme in the first cohort * 2005–2012 – Chief executive of

Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne Northern Stage is a theatre and producing theatre company based in Newcastle upon Tyne. It is surrounded by Newcastle University's city centre campus on King's Walk, opposite the Newcastle University Union Society, students' union building. It ho ...

(TMA Award for Theatre Manager of the Year, 2012)

Northern Stage productions

* Son of Man (2006) * Ruby Moon (2007) * Our Friends in the North (2007) * A Christmas Carol (2007) * A Doll's House (2008) * Look Back in Anger (2009) * Hansel and Gretel (2008) * Oh What a Lovely War (2010, nominated for two TMA awards) * The Wind in the Willows (2010) * Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (2011) * The Glass Slipper (2011) * Oh, The Humanity (2012) * The Borrowers (2012)

Royal Shakespeare Company productions

* The Christmas Truce (2014) * Hecuba (2015) * A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Play for the Nation (2016) * The Seven Acts of Mercy (2016) * The Earthworks (2017) * Romeo and Juliet (2018) * Miss Littlewood (2018) *

The Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some criti ...

, broadcast on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

(2021)

Other productions

* The Winter's Tale (2000, Southwark Playhouse) * Les Justes (2001, Gate Theatre) * Witness (Gate Theatre, 2002) * Marieluise (Gate Theatre, 2004) * The Flu Season (Gate Theatre, 2003) * The Shadow of a Boy (National Theatre, 2002) * The Birthday Party (Sheffield Crucible, 2002)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whyman, Erica 1969 births Living people Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School English theatre directors British women theatre directors Royal Shakespeare Company members Officers of the Order of the British Empire