Secrets of a theatre director

One of Australia’s leading young directors talks theatre, feminism and parenthood.

Director Adena Jacobs. Picture: Jenny Evans

Adena Jacobs is a theatre director. She lives in Melbourne with her partner Luisa and their daughter. They have a family dog called Lucky Jim, who played Toto in The Wizard of Oz at Sydney’s Belvoir in 2015.

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You’re in the middle of directing Titus Andronicus, your debut production for Bell Shakespeare. How do you feel at that moment the reviews come out? Do critics’ opinions prompt you to tweak things here or there?

I’ve been directing theatre for over 10 years now, and so I’ve learned not to get too caught up in reviews. When I first started, I used to be more worried, but I’ve learned they are only one part of the conversation around a work. What I hope for is that a review or two will appear which really understands the intentions of our production, or has articulated something about the piece I’ve never thought of, or explained it in a new and fascinating way. As a director, once a show has opened I do have a strong sense of what is working well, and what needs improving. It’s so important to hold on to this clarity rather than being swayed by myriad opinions. I’m always curious to read reviews, but they definitely don’t inform the production or any changes made.

Who reads your reviews first, you or your partner (actor Luisa Hastings Edge)? When you’re working on productions, what do you do together to take your minds off work?

We try not to talk about our work too much at home (although I find this very hard). Making theatre is so consuming, and sometimes feels like a 24-hour-a-day job. In the past we always made sure to keep Sundays to ourselves, go to a bar for a late night drink, go for walks together. Now we have a nearly seven-month-old baby, so she definitely helps to take our minds off work.

Back to Titus, why were you compelled to cast women — Jane Montgomery Griffiths and Tariro Mavondo — in what are typically male leads?

Jane and Tariro are brilliant, fearless actors, which at the outset is the most important reason for this casting. As for Titus, it was originally intended to be played by men, with only two female roles, Tamora and Lavinia. In 2019, to stage such brutally violent play in this manner feels somewhat pointless. All it could do is to reiterate how much male violence there is towards women, which is something we already know and don’t need Shakespeare to clarify. By complicating the gender roles, the production has become less about gender roles and more about humanity. In a piece so focused on the transference of trauma from parents to children, I was interested in situating the three key roles as mothers. For me, this ­allows the play to propose a different perspective: what if these myths about cyclical violence were imagined by mothers? How would they differ? How can we try to undo these  cycles  of  violence  and  start  again?

Women often play male characters now — Richard III and Lord of the Flies’ Ralph to name a few. Is this all about feminism and revolting against male power structures, or is that too simplistic?

I don’t think feminism is a simplistic ­reason to cast women in male roles, or to subvert the history of the Western canon. If we are to continue telling these stories, we can’t ignore the history and the political movements that have evolved since the time they were written. Casting women in male roles is one aspect of this, but for me the exploration can’t end there. I think we need to totally reconceive the way in which we tell these stories in 2019.

What’s the best advice you’ve received?

Don’t wait for anyone to give you ­permission to make your work, but also, be patient.

What are you working on next?

I’ve recently been in Perth with STRUT doing a creative development for a new piece with choreographer Melanie Lane. In October, The Howling Girls, a work I co-created with composer Damien Ricketson for the Sydney Chamber Opera, is touring to the Tokyo Festival

Bell Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus runs at Sydney Opera House until September 22.