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Emma Rice
English actress, director and theatre professional (born 1967) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Emma Juliet Rice[1] (born August 1967) is a British actor, director and writer. Described as a fearless director,[2] Rice's work includes theatrical adaptations of Brief Encounter, The Red Shoes and Wise Children. In 2022, Rice was named in the Sky Arts Top 50 most influential British artists.[3] Rice worked with Kneehigh Theatre[4] in Cornwall for twenty years as an actor, director, then artistic director with co-artistic director, Mike Shepherd. She was the Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe from 2016 to 2018, before founding her own touring theatre company Wise Children.[5][6]
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Early life
Rice was born in Oxfordshire, England,[7] and grew up in Nottingham, where her mother was a social worker and her father was a lecturer in personnel management.[8] After studying English and Stage Design at Harrington College[9] Rice went on to study acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.[4]
Career
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After graduating from Guildhall, Rice spent eight years working with Alibi Theatre, performing theatre that emphasised storytelling.[9] Alongside touring the UK and performing to children and communities with Alibi, Rice trained in Poland, with Gardzienice, a company founded by Włodzimierz Staniewski.[8]
In 1994, Rice joined the Cornish theatre company, Kneehigh, as a performer.[10] After taking on increasing creative responsibilities,[9] Kneehigh Artistic directors Bill Mitchell and Mike Shepherd encouraged her to direct[11] and her first production, The Itch, was staged in 1999.[9] As a director, Rice says that her long-running production of The Red Shoes represented the point in her career when she came into her own.[11][12] Rice went on to become the artistic director of Kneehigh, alongside Mike Shepherd, and under their leadership Kneehigh produced adaptations and original work, including Tristan and Yseult, The Bacchae and a 'seedy, dreamy' take on Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus.[13] While Rice's work did not always please critics, Kneehigh's 'visually stunning, inventive, often subversive and unashamedly populist' shows toured in the UK and internationally.[9]
In 2015, it was announced that Rice would take over from Dominic Dromgoole as artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe,[10][14] with Rice applying for the role despite stating: "I have tried to sit down with Shakespeare but it doesn’t work... I get very sleepy and then suddenly I want to listen to The Archers."[15] After a summer season that included Rice's A Midsummer Night's Dream and 'exceptionally strong' box office returns,[16] it was announced in October 2016 that Rice would leave the Globe in April 2018. The announcement followed a decision by the theatre's board, which cited concerns over authenticity and her use of lighting technology after she refused to adhere to the Globe's founding principles of “shared light" and non-amplified sound.[16][17][18] Previous artistic director Dromgoole disagreed with Rice's attempts to move away from this traditional "shared light" – in which the actors and audience are in the same light – which he said was "at the heart of her disagreements with colleagues and the board".[19] Her final Shakespeare production at the Globe was Twelfth Night, which received middling reviews,[20][21] with the Arts Desk stating the production "ends up giving two fingers to Shakespeare, which rather makes the board’s case for them."[22]
In 2017, Rice announced her new touring theatre company, Wise Children.[6] Standard Issue Magazine made her their woman of the year in 2016 for "her fearlessness, leadership, innovation and bravery".[2] Wise Children was accepted into Arts Council England’s group of regularly-supported organisations, and allocated annual funding of £475,000 from 2018. This was not without controversy; Christy Romer, a journalist for Arts Professional, said that allowing Wise Children into the Arts Council's national portfolio despite its lack of any track record "makes a mockery of the entire arts funding system".[23]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rice's Wise Children livestreamed a fully-staged production to a global audience: their production of Romantics Anonymous which had been due to tour the US before the pandemic.[24][25][26] Alongside the live streams Rice also presents a podcast series looking behind the scenes of her work and process.[27][better source needed]
In 2021, Rice directed an adaptation of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights that toured at Bristol Old Vic and Theare Royal Brighton, receiving mixed to positive reviews from critics.[28][29][30][31][32][33]
Rice's life and career, illustrated by the music that played a large part in her life, were featured in Michael Berkeley's Private Passions on BBC Radio 3 in May 2025.[34]
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References
External links
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