James Dacre is to step down in spring 2023 as artistic director at Northampton’s Royal and Derngate after ten years in the role.
Dacre has produced more than 120 shows at the venue. Sixty have toured both nationally and internationally and 42 have transferred to London. Over the decade Royal and Derngate has welcomed more than 2.5 million audience members.
Dacre said, “as I reach my tenth year, the culmination of several major strategic projects, the successful completion of our current funding term and the launch of our most far-reaching season yet, it seems like the right time to embark on a new chapter in my career.
“Leaving next spring also provides plenty of time to begin the careful process of handing the artistic reins of these very special theatres to a new artistic director.
“Our industry has been through seismic challenges and changes over the past few years but Royal and Derngate is thriving. It truly is a community venue, a centre of artistic excellence and ambition and a home for exceptional educational and social opportunities for young people.
“I’m looking forward to building on my relationships across the sector by directing and producing new theatre, opera, film and music projects across the UK both as an independent artist and through my new production company, Living Theatre Productions, which launches in the new year.”
Simon Antrobus, chair of the board of trustees, commented, “I can think of few others across the country as committed to the importance, vitality and benefit of regional theatre as James. Together with chief executive Jo Gordon, he was instrumental in keeping Royal and Derngate thriving through the challenges of the pandemic and taking a leading role nationally in the championing of the value, variety and scale of theatre being made around the UK.
“To conclude his brilliant tenure, he’s curated an exceptional last season that exemplifies all that he has achieved across the last decade—an unwavering commitment to new work, new voices and untold stories, a step change in our digital work and an imaginative, diverse and popular range of shows that once again welcome some of the country’s most exciting artists to Northampton.”
Recruitment for Dacre’s replacement will begin in November 2022.