Sydney Theatre Company’s artistic director to step down, eyeing Broadway move

After 13 years and 89 productions the Sydney Theatre Company’s artistic director Kip Williams will bow out of the flagship company by the end of the year, turning his eye to London’s West End and Broadway.

Williams, who Andrew Upton once declared as “theatre’s next big thing”, has announced to the STC’s board that the 2024 season would be his final as the company’s full-time artistic director. In 2025, Williams will direct a single production for STC and tour an adaptation of Dracula, which will premiere in July.

Kip Williams will step down as the Sydney Theatre Company’s full-time artistic director at the end of 2024.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

While he has programmed the 2025 season, set to be launched in September, he told this masthead that a big chunk of his next year will focus on preparing for Broadway the Michael Cassel-produced West End hit, The Picture of Dorian Gray, starring Succession’s Sarah Snook in the lead role.

“It became quite clear to me that responsibility of programming 2026 would be too great with that time away,” he said. “It’s been a really big decision given how long I’ve been with the company and what the company means to me.

“This month I celebrate 13 years being with the company, eight of which I’ve been artistic director. I’m 37 now, so it’s more than a third of my life. I’ve grown up inside the company. My first job outside drama school was at the Sydney Theatre Company.”

Williams’ departure will leave a massive void as the flagship company tackles a multi-million dollar budget hole left from the expiration of COVID emergency support money, and the rolling impacts of a donor boycott triggered by an on-stage pro-Palestine protest by actors of The Seagull.

The company is now cutting costs as a result, with seven redundancies in administration and operations announced, and its 2025 program under review. Its usual 16-play season is expected to be curtailed.

But Williams says the prospects of a smaller season, and STC’s tough financial circumstances did not feature in his decision.

“No, absolutely not,” he says. “Obviously, it’s been a difficult time for the company. For me it’s about looking at 2025 and the prospect of programming for 2026.”

Sarah Snook in the production of Dorian Gray.Credit: Marc Brenner

Williams says he will be spending a significant amount of 2025 in the rehearsal room, interstate and overseas. Programming for a season starts a year ahead, so he has given nine months’ notice for the board to find and settle his replacement.

During his eight-year tenure as artistic director, Williams has become known for his visually sumptuous style and cinematic approach, and has also made some shrewd commissions including one of STC’s biggest hits, RBG: Of Many, One.

Williams is considered one of STC’s most successful artistic directors of the past two decades, with adaptions of The Picture of Dorian Gray and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde selling out 10 back-to-back seasons across the country, and a 14-week West End run for Dorian Gray.

Following Dorian Gray’s triumphant London debut, STC’s artistic director has been courted by several notable London theatre players including the Young Vic, now searching for a new artistic director.

Williams declined to comment on job offers but is said not to be looking to run another theatre company straight away. He returns to London next week for the Olivier Awards with Snook nominated for best performance and Marg Howell for best costume design.

His departure from the STC will trigger a nationwide and international search for a replacement.

Chair Ann Johnson, who was part of the board that appointed Williams, said the company experienced one of its most critically acclaimed and creatively vibrant periods with the director’s artistic input.

“Kip has put great focus on Australian writing, championing new voices and has realised his goal of gender parity for women writers and directors in every season,” she said.

“He has mentored and nurtured the careers of some of our most exciting writers, directors, designers, performers and technicians, and the Australian theatre industry is a richer and more diverse place for the role Kip has played in it.”

Williams took on creative control of STC from Jonathan Church after the British artistic director abruptly left the company in 2016 just six months into the job.

At the age of 30, he was the youngest director ever appointed to the STC.

Williams started at the STC five years earlier, fresh out of the National Institute of Dramatic Arts, as Upton’s assistant director on The White Guard. He was appointed resident director by Upton and Cate Blanchett in 2012. Williams’ early credits include Suddenly Last Summer for which he won a Helpmann award.

During William’s tenure, the company was exiled to Fox Studios while its Walsh Bay home was renovated. Then, the pandemic turned the lights out on stages across the country, a period Williams says was his low point. He avoided COVID-19 for two years only to contract it amid rehearsals for Dr Jekyll.

Williams says he continues to finesse Dorian Gray.

“I look at a moment like the success of Dorian right now, and it’s the culmination of years of investment in not just me but multiple artists, technicians, crew and stage managers who have worked inside the company for years and years. I’m an example of someone who has benefited from great nurturing and mentoring inside the company, and I’ve tried, in turn, to make that my key focus.”

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