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Biography
David Cottis has directed over thirty shows at Off-West End venues, including Charles Marowitz’s ‘Caesar’ at Catford Broadway (named one of the theatrical highlights of the year by whatsonstage.com), ‘The Druid’s Rest’ at the Finborough Theatre (‘thoroughly enjoyable’ – the West End Whingers) and many shows at the White Bear where he is now directing ‘It’s All True’ by Jason Sherman. As a writer, his five-actor adaptation of ‘Oliver Twist’ was taken on national tour by Love and Madness, and his short libretto ‘She Stops at Costa’s’ is currently a finalist in the ENO’s Mini-Operas competition.
What first attracted you to the theatre?
I was lucky enough to get taken to the theatre a lot from an early age. My parents had advanced ideas about what children could understand and appreciate so I saw (for instance) Peter Brook’s production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ when I was ten. Either that, or they were just lousy at finding babysitters.
If you could pick any one person or theatre company to work with on your next project, who/which would it be?
To be honest, I don’t really think like that. The kind of theatre I like is all about new discoveries, so the people I want to work with next are people I haven’t yet heard of.
What is your opinion of Off West End theatre, in general?
Two stories that answer that question:
During my five years as Literary Manager of the Etcetera, we presented the first work of (among many other people) Mitchall and Webb, Dennis Kelly and Rupert Goold. I’m not saying this to claim any great talent-spotting powers; anyone involved with the fringe could come up with a similar list. My point is that we do today what the West End will be doing tomorrow.
Secondly:
My old boss at that theatre had a soundbite which we kept pinned up on the wall; ‘Fringe theatre is the place to find the undiscovered, the unseen and the unknown.’.
What was the most inspiring production you have ever seen? Why?
Thirty years down the line, it’s still got to be the RSC/David Edgar ‘Nicholas Nickleby’. Seeing that many people, putting a whole society on stage, and clearly having such a great time – it wasn’t so much a show, more a glimpse of a better world. I’ve been trying to recreate that kind of atmosphere onstage ever since.
What piece of work are you the most proud of?
I work as a volunteer for Scene and Heard, a children’s charity based in Somers Town that works with child playwrights, who are encouraged (as a way of weaning them off telly-realism) to create characters who aren’t necessarily human. So, my best work was a ten-minute play, written by a twelve year-old about a Sumo wrestler, a credit card and a cupcake who was also a serial killer. It got me first (and so far, only) review from Michael Billington, who was very taken with the line ‘You look like a sweet cupcake, but you have a jam filling of stone.’
What things in your personal life do you draw upon when you direct?
Anything and everything, good or bad. One of the benefits of working in the arts is that nothing you do is wasted. I was always impressed with the story of Phil Spector taking the title of his first big hit ‘To Know Him Is To Love Him’, off his father’s grave. (Though I did grow less impressed with Spector when he became a murderer...)
Which director do you respect most on OffWestEnd at the moment?
Any answer to this question will inevitably get me into trouble with those I don’t mention, so let me just say how much admiration I’ve got for producers and venue managers, particularly those who’ve stayed in the Off-West End sector, like Neil McPherson at the Finborough, and Michael Kingsbury at the White Bear. Speaking of which…
Can you tell our readers about what you’re doing now/next?
I’m directing the British premiere of ‘It’s All True’ by Jason Sherman, one of Canada’s leading playwrights. The play is about the young Orson Welles, and his time as the saviour of the Broadway Theatre. Before he did ‘The War of the Worlds’ on radio, Welles was already a legend in the theatre, with the work he did for the Federal Theatre Project, with productions like an all-black ‘Macbeth’ set in Haiti, with a real voodoo priest as one of the witches. (The show got rave reviews in all papers but one. The priest responded by putting a curse on the negative critic, who died within the week.)
‘It’s All True’ is set in 1937, and deals with Welles’ production of Marc Blitzstein’s left-wing opera ‘The Cradle Will Rock’ and what Welles and his company did when the show’s producers, the US government, locked them out of the theatre…
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