Power-woman behind a theatre company
“I went to university thinking I wanted to do acting. At that time I thought drama was just acting,” Charlotte Bennett says, sitting in a cafe right around the corner of the theatre where Carole King’s musical Beautiful is playing. That’s where the office of her theatre production company is based.
“I started to get interested in other things when I realised I was very bad at acting, I couldn’t get into any plays so I just sat at home bored. I thought I’ll just direct a play then, even when I didn’t really know what that meant.”
Charlotte feels she was very lucky going to university knowing what she wanted to do, not trying to figure it out like the rest of us. Poppy Melzack, her room mate from university has an idea on how determined Charlotte is:
"It's so inspiring see someone follow their dream. Watching Charlotte go from sitting in the living room deciding to direct a play at uni to watching her work in the National Theatre is amazing.
“It's more than just innate skill (which she has), she's the most driven, dedicated and persuasive person I know."
“It's more than just innate skill (which she has), she's the most driven, dedicated and persuasive person I know."
The Forward Theatre
Charlotte’s company, The Forward Theatre project, produced its first play for York Theatre. After that they have done around two productions a year.
“The transition from assisting director to a director is really hard and I don’t know how I would have done it without starting my own business,” Charlotte says adding that the contacts she made before starting her company helped her to take off.
Her proudest moment was when the she directed a play to the National Theatre, a one man’s dialogue show from David Bradley, called ‘On The Harmful Effects of Tobacco/Can Cause Death’.
“At the time and remembers thinking ‘how on earth have I done this’,” she says.
The play was on for one night only and it was sold out, but for Charlotte, the best part was being able to work with such a prolific actor. Bradley also happens to be known for his performance in the Harry Potter movie series.
“My biggest relief in the first day of rehearsals was, because I was thinking that he is so amazing, how an earth.. you know.. what am I going to do here.
“But actually, when we worked together, we really found that we got a lot from each other. It felt great.”
Unpaid internships
Unpaid internships
What Charlotte realised very soon, was that if she wanted to direct for a living, she needed to get as much experience as she could while still on student loan. She did several unpaid internships as an assistant editor, something Charlotte won’t tolerate easily in her own company.
“I had some really good times and some really bad times. I was sometimes paid ten pounds a week, living in London thinking ‘what am I doing, I have a degree’, but I learned from it.
“Every single one of those jobs was paid of in some way. It either led to other work, or meeting somebody who was really exciting and I could work with, and it was all just really exciting.”
At the moment, Forward Theatre is working on a play called the Bird & Bay, which Charlotte is currently pitching to festivals for next summer. She is dividing her time between her own business and a company called Rush Tash, where she does freelance directing. They are currently working on a radical feminist play for the National Theatre.
Find out more about The Forward Theatre Project, here.
Find out more about Charlotte:
- Charlotte talking about the start of her career and how she got into directing:
- The story behind the Forward Theatre project and its future plans:
- Knowing what she knows now, what would Charlotte do differently and why her company will not work with unpaid people:
More on the internship conversation.
By: Ida Aari
I just got a check for over $500.
ReplyDeleteSometimes people don't believe me when I tell them about how much money you can make taking paid surveys from home...
So I show them a video of myself getting paid $500 for doing paid surveys to set the record straight.