Helena Kaut-Howson Explained
Helena Kaut-Howson |
Birth Name: | Helena Kaut[1] |
Birth Place: | Lviv, Soviet Union |
Occupation: | Theatre director |
Helena Kaut-Howson is a British theatre director.
Early life and education
Helena Kaut-Howson was born (as Helena Kaut) in 1940 in Lviv, a Polish city which was recently forcibly incorporated into Soviet Union.[1] She is a child Holocaust survivor. She grew up in Wrocław, Poland.[1] Her training as a director was first at the Polish State Theatre School and then at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[2]
Career
Kaut-Howson originally worked as an actor in the 1950s, at the Jewish Theatre, Warsaw.[3] She had to leave Poland after marrying a British man who was the son of an admiral working for NATO, and came to the United Kingdom then.[1] She worked in the 1960s in direction at the Royal Court Theatre.[3] She has directed in Israel at the Jerusalem Community Theatre, the Habima Theatre and Cameri Theater.[3] Other work as director outside the UK includes at Monument-National in Canada and the Gate Theatre in Dublin.[3] She has also worked with Scena Polska UK at the Polish Social and Cultural Association in London.[4] [5]
Kaut-Howson was artistic director of Theatr Clwyd in Wales between 1992 and 1995.[3] [6] The Board decided not to renew her contract, despite the financial and critical success Clwyd had under her leadership.[7]
There was disagreement between Kaut-Howson and the theatre management about her production of The Miser at the Royal Exchange, Manchester in 2009.[8]
Kaut-Howson has taught at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.[3]
Some of the plays she has directed are her own adaptations.[3] This includes Faithful Ruslan, which she adapted from the book by Georgi Vladimov.[9]
Themes
Although Kaut-Howson does not call herself a feminist, her productions are often identified as feminist.[2] [10] [11] In her production of King Lear at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre, later transferring to the Young Vic, the part of King Lear was played by a woman, Kathryn Hunter, a decision which was called "controversial".[2] [10] [12] [13]
Kaut-Howson values working with actors from the theatre company Complicité.[2] She believes that theatre is about a company performing, rather than individual actors.[2]
Kaut-Howson was instrumental in bringing the work of Bruno Schulz to the stage.[14] [15]
Awards
- Peter Brook Open Space Award 1994 for Outstanding Body of Work at Theatr Clwyd[3]
- Liverpool Post and Echo Arts Award 1992 for Best Director (The Devils)[3]
- UK Theatre Awards Regional Theatre Awards 1995 for Best Director (The Rose Tattoo)
- Contact International Festival, Torun 1994 Critics Award (Full Moon)
- Manchester Evening News Award 1996 for Best Production (The Hindle Wakes)
- Manchester Evening News Awards 1997 for Best Production (Much Ado About Nothing)
- Polish Festival of Premieres, Bydgoszcz 2004: Grand Prix for Best Director (Victory)
Bibliography
- Werewolves, translation from, Plays and Players, 1978
- Grave Acts, Dialog, 1981
- Tola Korian, Pamietnik Teatralny, 1986
- Full Moon, Plays International, 1993
- "Flowers Among the Ruins - Identity and the Theatre", in Views of Theatre in Ireland 1995, The Arts Council, 1995
- Victory (translation into Polish), Dialog, 2004
- Remembering Pinter, Dialog, 2010
- Sons Without Fathers, from Chekhov's Platonov, Oberon Books, 2013
From 2017, Kaut-Howson wrote a column in Tydzień Polski, called "Notes from the wings".
External links
Notes and References
- News: Wardle . Irving . SHOW PEOPLE / A winner against the odds: Helena Kaut-Howson . 8 March 2022 . Independent . 3 September 1994.
- Book: Schafer . Elizabeth . Ms-Directing Shakespeare: Women Direct Shakespeare . 2000 . Palgrave Macmillan . 9780312227463 . 8 March 2022.
- Book: Kaut-Howson, Helena . Views of Theatre in Ireland 1995 . 1995 . The Arts Council . Flowers Among the Ruins - Identity and the Theatre.
- News: OPOWIEŚĆ ZE ŚMIETNIKA HISTORII. 9 March 2022 . Tydzień Polski . 16 July 2016.
- News: TEATRALNY KRZYK POLSKOŚCI… "ŹRÓDŁO" W REŻYSERII HELENY KAUT-HOWSON . 9 March 2022 . Tydzień Polski . 25 October 2018.
- Book: Goodman . Lizbeth . de Gay . Jane . The Routledge Reader in Gender and Performance . 31 January 2002 . 9781134707607 . 8 March 2022.
- Book: Pascal . Julia . Women in Theatre 2#3 . 2005 . Routledge . 9781135305352 . As we go to press it is revealed that, despite her success at Clywd, the Board is not renewing her contract.
- News: Qureshi . Yakub . Top director 'fired' by theatre . 9 March 2022 . Manchester Evening News . 26 September 2009.
- News: Brennan . Claire . Faithful Ruslan: The Story of a Guard Dog review – a haunting experience . 8 March 2022 . 17 September 2017.
- Book: Parker, Patricia . Masten . Jeffrey . Wall . Wendy . Renaissance Drama 33 . 2004 . https://books.google.com/books?id=9m4ORrbEF34C&dq=Helena+Kaut-Howson&pg=PA150 . 8 March 2022 . Barbers and Barbary: Early Modern Cultural Semantics. 9780810121997 .
- Book: Ferris, Lesley . Friedman . Sharon . Feminist Theatrical Revisions of Classic Works: Critical Essays . 2009 . https://books.google.com/books?id=g5PDPzs0zokC&dq=Helena+Kaut-Howson&pg=PA100 . 8 March 2022 . Lear's Daughters and Sons: Twisting the Canonical Landscape. 9780786452392 .
- Book: Senelick . Laurence . The Changing Room: Sex, Drag and Theatre . 2000 . Psychology Press . 9780415159869 . 8 March 2022.
- Book: Aston . Elaine . Feminist Theatre Practice: A Handbook . 2005 . Routledge . 9781134771516 . 8 March 2022.
- Book: Fox . Christie . Breaking Forms: The Shift to Performance in Late Twentieth-Century Irish Drama . 2009 . Cambridge Scholars Publishing . 9781443807739 . 8 March 2022.
- News: Totev . Borimir . "Faithful Ruslan" Flying After an Ideal: Interview with Helena Kaut-Howson . 8 March 2022 . Theatre Times . 27 Aug 2017.