Vicky Featherstone

Vicky Featherstone (born 5 April 1967) is a theatre and artistic director. She was artistic director of the UK new writing touring theatre company Paines Plough from 1997, founding director of the National Theatre of Scotland in 2004, and the first female artistic director of London's Royal Court Theatre from 2013 until 2023. Featherstone's career has been characterised by significant involvement with new writing.

Early life and education Vicky Featherstone was born in Redhill, Surrey on 5 April 1967, but moved to Scotland at 6 weeks old, where she lived in Clackmannanshire until the age of 7, when her father's work took her around the world. Her father is a chemical engineer and her mother a nurse. and soon discovered she favoured directing over acting. She gained a place on the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme, under which she spent two years from 1992 to 1994, first as assistant director and then associate director, based at West Yorkshire Playhouse, then under the artistic directorship of Jude Kelly.

She then became resident director at the Octagon Theatre Bolton from 1994 to 1996 The programme debuted in 1997.

She was also involved in the development of the pathologist drama Silent Witness, first broadcast in 1996, for which she was credited as script editor for the first two episodes.

Management roles Paines Plough (1997–2004) Featherstone was artistic director of Paines Plough, a theatre company based in the UK that specialises in new plays and touring, from 1997 to 2004.

Immediately prior to her appointment, the company was not thriving. Featherstone appointed writers Mark Ravenhill as literary manager and Sarah Kane as writer-in-residence, and developed an atmosphere seen as welcoming to writers. and willingness to experiment and collaborate with other theatre companies such as Frantic Assembly staff had doubled from four to eight, and turnover had risen to £0.5m per year. Robert Findlay, once chief executive of Scottish Radio Holdings, was appointed as chairman, and once a board had also been appointed, the search for the first artistic director for the NTS began. From an initial 30 applications for the post, six were interviewed. Findlay announced Featherstone's appointment on 29 July 2004 at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and Featherstone took up her post at the NTS – then housed in an empty temporary office in Hope Street, Glasgow, on 1 November 2004. playwright David Greig, as dramaturg; and Simon Sharkey, then artistic director of Cumbernauld Theatre, as associate director of NTS Learn. and began developing ideas and strategy.

On 2 November 2005, Featherstone unveiled the National Theatre of Scotland's inaugural programme to a packed audience at the Tramway in Glasgow, The 10 experimental site-specific shows were staged simultaneously in non-theatre locations all across Scotland, with an official first night of 25 February 2006. Each production was allocated a budget of £60,000, The production, about a group of young soldiers from the Fife-based regiment in Basra, was developed from interviews Burke did one Sunday afternoon in a pub in Dunfermline with six soldiers who had served in Iraq. This was developed into loosely connected scenes and ultimately the finished play. The production subsequently won multiple awards including Olivier Awards, has toured repeatedly since with productions on five continents, was announced in May 2012 and she took over in April 2013.

During this time, she was asked to do a production of Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape.

Recent work From October 2024, Featherstone directed a production of Krapp's Last Tape for Landmark Productions, starring Stephen Rea as Krapp. The play premiered at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, moving to Dublin's Project Arts Centre later that month. In February–March 2025 the production plays at the Dunstan Playhouse at the Adelaide Festival Centre in Adelaide, South Australia,

Personal life Featherstone married Danny Brown, a TV scriptwriter and former stand-up comedian. They have two children.

A National Theatre of Scotland production presented in partnership with the London Review of Books. Edited and directed by Featherstone and John Tiffany. Co-edited by Andrew O'Hagan.

A co-production between the National Theatre of Scotland and The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. A National Theatre of Scotland production. Winner of an Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award and a Fringe First at the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

A National Theatre of Scotland production. Directed by Featherstone and Stephen Skrynka.

A National Theatre of Scotland co-production with the Edinburgh International Festival. A National Theatre of Scotland, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh and Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow co-production. Directed by Featherstone, with a credit of "conceived and made for the stage by Featherstone, Julian Crouch and Nick Powell". Equity Award for Best Show for Children and Young People at 2006 TMA awards.

Performances of 8 different plays. Featherstone directed 270° by Jennifer Farmer and possibly other plays. Directed by Featherstone, Scott Graham, Steven Hoggett and Jenny Sealey (of Graeae Theatre Company). Staged reading, a co-production of SNT Drama and Exodos Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts. Birmingham Rep, then Traverse in August 2002, followed by UK tour in 2003. Winner of a Fringe First at the 2002 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Script-in-hand performances of 6 different plays. It is unclear which plays Featherstone directed.

Featherstone won 2001 Barclays Theatre Awards Best Director, and the 2001 TMA Best Director award, for the production. Script-in-hand performances of 9 new plays inspired by the Jubilee Line Extension. It is unclear which plays Featherstone directed. Script-in-hand performances of 7 different plays. It is unclear which plays Featherstone directed.

Winner of a Fringe First at the 1999 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Winner of a Fringe First at the 1997 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and an Independent on Sunday Award. Script-in-hand performances of 5 different plays. It is unclear which plays Featherstone directed.