Josie Rourke is an English theatre and film director. She is a vice-president of the London Library, and was the artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse theatre from 2012 to 2019. In 2018, she made her feature film debut with the Academy Award- and BAFTA-nominated historical drama Mary Queen of Scots, starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie.
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Early life and education
Josie Rourke was born in Salford, Greater Manchester.
She attended St Mary's RC Primary School, Swinton, St Gilbert's RC Primary School, Winton, St Patrick's RC Secondary School, Eccles, and Eccles College of Further Education.
Rourke was the first person in the history of her school to attend Cambridge University, where she studied English at New Hall, now Murray Edwards College. She began directing for theatre at Cambridge and, amongst other credits, was the first woman ever to direct the Footlights Pantomime, which was co-written by Footlights president and vice president Richard Ayoade and John Oliver.
Career
Training
Upon graduating from Cambridge in 1998, Rourke worked for Cambridge Arts Theatre, co-ordinating the BT National Connections project around East Anglia. She then moved to London, where she worked nights as a secretary for a mergers and acquisitions bank, pursuing theatre projects during the days, including assisting Laurie Sansom on a production of J.B. Priestley's Dangerous Corner (1999) at Watford Palace Theatre.
After nine months of living and working in London, she was appointed resident assistant director at the Donmar Warehouse. Sam Mendes was then the artistic director. Over her year-long traineeship, she assisted Michael Grandage on Peter Nichols' Passion Play (2000) and Merrily We Roll Along (2000–2001), Nicholas Hytner on Orpheus Descending (2000), starring Helen Mirren, Sam Mendes on Nick Whitby's To the Green Fields Beyond (2000) and Phyllida Lloyd on David Mamet's Boston Marriage (2001), starring Zoë Wanamaker.
Following her twelve months at the Donmar, Sam Mendes asked her to direct Frame 312 (2002) on its stage, and Michael Grandage invited Rourke to Sheffield to direct Kick for Touch (2002) as part of the Peter Gill Festival at Sheffield Theatres. While preparing those productions, Rourke assisted Peter Gill on his own play, The York Realist (2001), and John Osborne's Luther (2001) on the Olivier stage of the National Theatre.
Early directing career
For the next five years, Rourke freelanced at a number of theatres, while being resident at the Royal Court in London and Associate Director of Sheffield Theatres.
While resident at the Royal Court Theatre, under Artistic Director Ian Rickson, she programmed readings, developed new work and directed Crazyblackmuthafuckin'self (2003) in the Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court and Loyal Women (2003) in the Theatre Downstairs. Her productions for Sheffield Theatres during this time were on the Lyceum, Crucible and Studio stages and included Much Ado About Nothing (2005) and Willis Hall's The Long and the Short and the Tall (2006). Her production of Steve Waters' play World Music (2003) transferred from Sheffield to the Donmar stage. During this period, Rourke was also the UK tour director of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues (2003).
She also directed for the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 2005 Gunpowder Season, Believe What You Will by Philip Massinger and, as part of the 2006 Complete Works Festival, King John by William Shakespeare, starring Richard McCabe, Joseph Millson, and Tamsin Greig. She returned to the Donmar to direct a production of David Mamet's The Cryptogram (2006), which starred Kim Cattrall and Douglas Henshall.
Artistic directorship
In 2007, Rourke was appointed artistic director of the Bush Theatre, one of the country's key venues for new plays and playwrights. During her time at The Bush, she programmed the first plays and early work of, amongst other writers: James Graham, Nancy Harris, Lucy Kirkwood, Nick Payne, Penelope Skinner, Jack Thorne, Steve Waters, Anthony Weigh and Tom Wells.
Shortly after she was appointed, the Bush Theatre was the target of a proposed cut in funding by Arts Council England. Rourke made a Freedom of Information Act request which established that the proposed cut had been made using flawed evidence and data. The Arts Council reinstated the theatre's funding but gave Rourke three years in which to find a new home for the Bush Theatre. In 2011, the Bush Theatre opened in new premises in a former library building, winning Theatre of the Year.
The new home for The Bush opened with Sixty-Six Books (2011), a 24-hour performance cycle with 66 writers and 144 actors that Rourke co-directed with a dozen of her peers. The cycle went on to be performed overnight in Westminster Abbey.
During her time at The Bush, Rourke continued to work as a freelance director. Her projects included Twelfth Night (2009) and The Taming of The Shrew (2010) for Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Men Should Weep (2010–2011) by Ena Lamont Stewart at the National Theatre and Much Ado About Nothing (2011) for Sonia Friedman Productions at the Wyndham's Theatre, starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, the onstage reunion of which won the WhatsOnStage Award for the Theatre Event of the Year.
In 2011, Rourke was appointed Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, the first woman to hold the role and the first female theatre director to be appointed the artistic director of a major London theatre.
As artistic director, she was responsible for programming the work of, amongst other directors: Phyllida Lloyd, who directed her all-female Shakespeare Trilogy at the Donmar; Kwame Kwei-Armah; Lyndsey Turner, whose celebrated revivals of Brian Friel's work have been a significant part of the Donmar's programme; Polly Findlay; Blanche McIntyre; John Crowley; Joe Wright and Robert Hastie.
Film and television
Rourke made her film debut with Working Title's Mary Queen of Scots. The film starred Saoirse Ronan as Mary, Queen of Scots and Margot Robbie as Elizabeth I. It premiered on 15 November 2018 at the AFI Fest and later received three nominations at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards, and two nominations, for Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hairstyling, at the 91st Academy Awards.
In 2019, Rourke was attached to direct The Nan Movie (then titled This Nan's Life), based on Catherine Tate's popular television character. However, a significant portion of the film was shot without Rourke's involvement, resulting in the film being released with no director credited and Rourke listed as an executive producer. The film received universally negative reviews upon release, obtaining a 0% approval rating on reviewing site Rotten Tomatoes.
After leaving the Donmar Warehouse, Rourke revived her Olivier Award-winning production of City of Angels at the Garrick Theatre in London, in a production produced by Nica Burns. The cast included Theo James and Vanessa Williams, alongside original company members Rosalie Craig and Hadley Fraser. The production was scheduled to open in March 2020 but was cancelled two days before its opening night due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of UK theatres.
During the 2020 lockdown, she directed the episode "Her Big Chance" of the BBC reboot of Alan Bennett's classic 1980s monologues, Talking Heads, starring Jodie Comer in the lead role. In summer 2021, she directed and co-wrote (with James Graham) the star-studded short film Rhythm of Life, encouraging people to get COVID-19 vaccines. It featured the song "The Rhythm of Life" from the 1966 classic musical, Sweet Charity, and starred Jim Broadbent, Derek Jacobi, David Walliams, Asa Butterfield, Colin Salmon, Don Warrington, Nicola Roberts, Russel Tovey and West End dancers.
Following the COVID-19 shutdown of UK theatres, Rourke returned to stage directing with a series of productions in London, including As You Like It (2022) at @sohoplace, the first new West End theatre to open in 50 years. The production featured Rose Ayling-Ellis, Leah Harvey and Martha Plimpton, and incorporated British Sign Language and live music. She subsequently directed Sam Steiner’s Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (2023) at the Harold Pinter Theatre, and Dancing at Lughnasa (2023) by Brian Friel at the National Theatre.
Other work
From 2012 to 2018, Rourke served as a non-executive director of public service broadcaster Channel 4. Since November 2019, Rourke has been a vice-president of the London Library, having a particular focus on developing the Library's support for emerging playwrights as part of its wider Emerging Writers Program.
Filmography
Film
Mary Queen of Scots (2018)
The Custom of the Country (TBA)
Television
Short film
Rhythm of Life (2021) (Also writer)