Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse has announced that Suba Das will be its new Creative Director, helping shape the artistic future and bringing a fresh perspective to its two iconic venues.
Currently Suba is Artistic Director and Chief Executive of new writing company HighTide. Previously an Associate Director at Leicester Curve, he has been a Resident Director at the National Theatre Studio and for English Touring Theatre. His directing credits also include work for the Young Vic, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Nottingham Playhouse, Northern Stage and The Roundhouse. Suba is also a Trustee of the North Music Trust (Sage Gateshead); and the Coram Shakespeare Schools Festival.
On his new appointment as Creative Director, Suba Das said:
“To be entrusted with helping lead the vision for one of the UK’s most important theatres is the most incredible honour, and it’s certainly quite the journey for a brown kid brought up on benefits. It’s also an extraordinary responsibility as I don’t think we’ve ever experienced a more profoundly serious need for culture. As we all try to find our responses to the ever-starker truths of climate crisis, gender violence, transphobia, structural racism and so much more; we absolutely need safe, inclusive theatre spaces where people of all backgrounds really can debate, explore, and hopefully find some joy in being together as we emerge from a pandemic. I’ve always believed it’s the artist’s role in society to help us all to imagine different futures. To do this now in Liverpool, a city which is home to the UK’s oldest Black and Chinese communities; has a larger queer population than San Francisco; and where the local authority really do see culture as fundamental to how we live our best lives: it really is the opportunity of a lifetime to use the few things I know to help create a better world.”
Andrea Nixon, Chair of Liverpool and Merseyside Theatres Trust, said:
“We’re thrilled that Suba will be joining us next year in this new role of Creative Director. He brings a wealth of experience at a national and regional level, with a passion for nurturing and supporting new talent. Together with his creative flair and emerging vision for the journey ahead, we can build confidently on the history of our two theatres to create and deliver a bold and inspiring new future.”
CEO of the Liverpool and Merseyside Theatres Trust, Mark Da Vanzo said:
“I’m really looking forward to welcoming Suba to the team and to the city region. As a theatre-maker originally from the North of England, he’s attuned to the challenges and opportunities we have in being both relevant and serving our communities. His strengths as a collaborator and an innovator will be real assets to the organisation when he joins us in Spring 2022.”
Neil Darlison, Director Theatre, Arts Council England said:
“It’s welcome news that Suba is to be the new Creative Director of Liverpool Theatres; I am looking forward to working with him in his new post and hearing about the programme of work he is planning for the audiences for the North West.”
Liverpool’s Cabinet Member for Culture and Visitor Economy, Councillor Harry Doyle, said:
“I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Suba who will be an incredible new addition to Liverpool’s cultural sector. “His creative credentials speak for themselves and Suba will build on the impressive legacy these theatres already have – bringing a fresh, dynamic and exciting new chapter to the iconic venues. “Liverpool’s cultural industry is slowly recovering from nearly two years of uncertainty, so this feels like the perfect opportunity to deliver a new vision which will reconnect and resonate with audiences.”
This new role of Creative Director is for a fixed term of 5 years and will deliver the Liverpool and Merseyside Theatre Trust’s artistic vision and programming, building on the theatres’ reputation for artistic innovation, talent development and progressive social change. A key responsibility will be to develop a collaborative artistic vision that puts new work and local stories, at the heart of an artistic programme representing the communities served by the two venues.
Photo credit: Pamela Raith Photography