Helena Kaut-Howson

Helena Kaut-Howson
Born
Helena Kaut[1]

1940 (age 83–84)[1]
Lviv, Soviet Union[1]
OccupationTheatre director

Helena Kaut-Howson (born 1940) is a Polish-born British theatre director.

Early life and education

Helena Kaut-Howson was born (as Helena Kaut) in Lviv, a Polish city which was recently forcibly incorporated into Soviet Union.[1] She is a child Holocaust survivor. She grew up in Wrocław, Poland.[1] Her training as a director was first at the Polish State Theatre School and then at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[2]

Career

Kaut-Howson originally worked as an actor in the 1950s, at the Jewish Theatre, Warsaw.[3] She had to leave Poland after marrying a British man who was the son of an admiral working for NATO, and came to the United Kingdom then.[1] She worked in the 1960s in direction at the Royal Court Theatre.[3] She has directed in Israel at the Jerusalem Community Theatre, the Habima Theatre and Cameri Theater.[3] Other work as director outside the UK includes at Monument-National in Canada and the Gate Theatre in Dublin.[3] She has also worked with Scena Polska UK at the Polish Social and Cultural Association in London.[4][5]

Kaut-Howson was artistic director of Theatr Clwyd in Wales between 1992 and 1995.[3][6] The Board decided not to renew her contract, despite the financial and critical success Clwyd had under her leadership.[7]

There was disagreement between Kaut-Howson and the theatre management about her production of The Miser at the Royal Exchange, Manchester in 2009.[8]

Kaut-Howson has taught at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.[3]

Some of the plays she has directed are her own adaptations.[3] This includes Faithful Ruslan, which she adapted from the book by Georgi Vladimov.[9][10]

Themes

Although Kaut-Howson does not call herself a feminist, her productions are often identified as feminist.[2][11][12] In her production of King Lear at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre, later transferring to the Young Vic, the part of King Lear was played by a woman, Kathryn Hunter, a decision which was called "controversial".[2][11][13][14]

Kaut-Howson values working with actors from the theatre company Complicité.[2] She believes that theatre is about a company performing, rather than individual actors.[2]

Kaut-Howson was instrumental in bringing the work of Bruno Schulz to the stage.[15][9]

Awards

  • Peter Brook Open Space Award 1994 for Outstanding Body of Work at Theatr Clwyd[3]
  • Liverpool Post and Echo Arts Award 1992 for Best Director (The Devils)[3]
  • UK Theatre Awards Regional Theatre Awards 1995 for Best Director (The Rose Tattoo)[citation needed]
  • Contact International Festival, Torun 1994 Critics Award (Full Moon)[citation needed]
  • Manchester Evening News Award 1996 for Best Production (The Hindle Wakes)[citation needed]
  • Manchester Evening News Awards 1997 for Best Production (Much Ado About Nothing)[citation needed]
  • Polish Festival of Premieres, Bydgoszcz 2004: Grand Prix for Best Director (Victory)[citation needed]

Bibliography

  • Werewolves, translation from Teresa Lubkiewicz-Urbanowicz [pl], Plays and Players, 1978
  • Grave Acts, Dialog, 1981
  • Tola Korian, Pamietnik Teatralny, 1986
  • Full Moon, Plays International, 1993
  • "Flowers Among the Ruins - Identity and the Theatre", in Views of Theatre in Ireland 1995, The Arts Council, 1995
  • Victory (translation into Polish), Dialog, 2004
  • Remembering Pinter, Dialog, 2010
  • Sons Without Fathers, from Chekhov's Platonov, Oberon Books, 2013

From 2017, Kaut-Howson wrote a column in Tydzień Polski, called "Notes from the wings".

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wardle, Irving (3 September 1994). "SHOW PEOPLE / A winner against the odds: Helena Kaut-Howson". Independent. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e Schafer, Elizabeth (2000). Ms-Directing Shakespeare: Women Direct Shakespeare. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780312227463. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kaut-Howson, Helena (1995). "Flowers Among the Ruins - Identity and the Theatre". Views of Theatre in Ireland 1995 (PDF). The Arts Council.
  4. ^ "OPOWIEŚĆ ZE ŚMIETNIKA HISTORII". Tydzień Polski. 16 July 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  5. ^ "TEATRALNY KRZYK POLSKOŚCI… "ŹRÓDŁO" W REŻYSERII HELENY KAUT-HOWSON". Tydzień Polski. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  6. ^ Goodman, Lizbeth; de Gay, Jane (31 January 2002). The Routledge Reader in Gender and Performance. ISBN 9781134707607. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  7. ^ Pascal, Julia (2005). Women in Theatre 2#3. Routledge. ISBN 9781135305352. As we go to press it is revealed that, despite her success at Clywd, the Board is not renewing her contract
  8. ^ Qureshi, Yakub (26 September 2009). "Top director 'fired' by theatre". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  9. ^ a b Totev, Borimir (27 August 2017). ""Faithful Ruslan" Flying After an Ideal: Interview with Helena Kaut-Howson". Theatre Times. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  10. ^ Brennan, Claire (17 September 2017). "Faithful Ruslan: The Story of a Guard Dog review – a haunting experience". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  11. ^ a b Parker, Patricia (2004). "Barbers and Barbary: Early Modern Cultural Semantics". In Masten, Jeffrey; Wall, Wendy (eds.). Renaissance Drama 33. ISBN 9780810121997. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  12. ^ Ferris, Lesley (2009). "Lear's Daughters and Sons: Twisting the Canonical Landscape". In Friedman, Sharon (ed.). Feminist Theatrical Revisions of Classic Works: Critical Essays. ISBN 9780786452392. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  13. ^ Senelick, Laurence (2000). The Changing Room: Sex, Drag and Theatre. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780415159869. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  14. ^ Aston, Elaine (2005). Feminist Theatre Practice: A Handbook. Routledge. ISBN 9781134771516. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  15. ^ Fox, Christie (2009). Breaking Forms: The Shift to Performance in Late Twentieth-Century Irish Drama. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781443807739. Retrieved 8 March 2022.

Further reading