North East theatre makers Camisado Club and Rebecca Frecknall are among the first recipients of bursaries from the Michael Grandage Company (MGC).
MGCfutures was set up in 2012 alongside the Michael Grandage Company West End residency. Its web site says:
The future of theatre depends on young people. They are the theatre makers and theatre goers of tomorrow. MGCfutures reaches out to people of different ages and backgrounds, providing information, guidance and support through mentorship, the Bursary scheme, online resources, workshops and participatory activities. It is also committed to enabling young people to visit the theatre who might otherwise not be able to do so.
Its patrons are Judi Dench, Dawn French, Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, Daniel Radcliffe, Simon Russell Beale, Sheridan Smith, David Walliams and Ben Whishaw.
As well as awarding funding (from £500 to £5000), the bursaries include mentoring support.
Camisado Club’s bursary will pay for a director / mentor to work with seven members of the company to help them develop their work, specifically developing the directing skills of company member Jamie Tansley.
The company developed from NORTH14, a group of eight young performing arts graduates from across the North East brought together in 2014 by Northern Stage to "make work, develop skills and take the next step with the full support of a professional theatre company" under the guidance of Mark Calvert. Its first production was Send More Paper (March 2014).
Rebecca Frecknell is also linked to Northern Stage. In 2014, she was one of four people awarded a paid residency to enable them to spend eighteen months based in a UK theatre as part of the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme 2015/2016 which took her to the Newcastle venue.
At Northern Stage, she directed Julie, Zinnie Harris’s version of Strindberg’s Miss Julie, and worked with and directed Camisado Club as it developed its second production, You, Me and Everything Else.
During her time at Northern Stage, she has formed a relationship with playwright Lee Mattinson and her bursary will “support the development of a new play that they are both passionate about—a bold re-imagining of Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba.”