John
Durnin – Theatre director
Born January
7, 1960; died February 16, 2020
John
Durnin, who has died aged 60, was a theatre director of quality and
distinction, who helped reinvigorate Pitlochry Festival Theatre, the Perthshire
‘theatre in the hills’ where he was artistic director for fifteen years. During
that period, Durnin helped boost the theatre’s reputation using a creative
sleight of hand that utilised a commercial savvy to usher in more quietly
radical work.
This was
evident in his programming for PFT’s 2017 season, which saw the likes of High
Society and Alan Ayckbourn’s comedy, Absurd Person Singular, programmed
alongside Peter Barnes’ neglected contemporary classic, The Ruling Class, and a
revival of David Greig’s play, Europe.
Bringing
his experience of running the Northcott Theatre, Exeter and the Surrey-based
Gatton Community Theatre to Pitlochry, Durnin expanded the range and length of
PFT’s programme. One of his big moves was to open each season with a
large-scale musical, allowing the large ensemble company to bond while
effectively being introduced to the audience. The move proved to be a hit, with
Durnin’s production of High Society breaking box office records.
Durnin
also established a strand of contemporary Scottish work into the PFT programme,
with new productions of plays by the likes of David Greig, Liz Lochhead and
Stephen Greenhorn programmed in a way that would have been unthinkable a few
years before. The introduction of a winter programme saw new work commissioned,
including Peter Arnott’s adaptation of The Monarch of the Glen. A Christmas strand
featured productions of the likes of The Wizard of Oz, It’s a Wonderful life
and Lesley Bricusse’s musical, Scrooge! Durnin also established the Winter
Words festival, bringing a series of high class literary readings to Pitlochry.
By the
time he left Pitlochry in 2017, Durnin had managed to retain the all-embracing spirit
of the theatre set up in a tent in 1951, but had moved it forward into the
twenty-first century in a way that those who followed him could build on.
John
Charles Durnin was born in Kew, Surrey, the fifth of seven children to John
Charles (senior) and Joan Durnin. He attended St Paul’s School, London, between
1973 and 1977, and was awarded BA Honours in English at New College, Oxford. He
became a stage manager at the Library Theatre, Manchester, where he became a
trainee assistant director. It was while at the Library that Durnin met actress
Jacqueline Dutoit. For the next thirty-six years they were inseparable.
In 1987,
Durnin was appointed associate director at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, where
he spent two years prior to working at the Belgrade, Coventry, Chichester Festival
Theatre and the Albany Theatre, London, as well as various drama schools. From
1991, he spent seven years as artistic director of the Northcott Theatre,
Exeter, where he directed more than forty productions. As a portent of things
to come, development was at the forefront of his tenure. He established an
annual pantomime, as well as the outdoor Shakespeare in the Gardens summer
events. The latter took place in the grounds of Rougemont Castle, and within
three years had become the largest open-air Shakespeare festival outside
London.
Durnin’s interest in community and
site-specific work saw him head up Theatre Venture in London before becoming the
first artistic director of Gatton Community Theatre, set up to stage a passion
play to celebrate the new millennium. As well as directing The Passion, Durnin
wrote and directed a new piece, Nativity, which was staged in a tent. The
company continued to use the script for future productions.
Durnin’s
appointment at Pitlochry Festival Theatre in 2003 was a surprise choice, but
his visionary sweep navigated both commercial and artistic fare. On the one
hand, he oversaw the likes of Hello Dolly!, My Fair Lady and High Society; on
the other, he directed revivals of Europe by David Greig and The Life of Stuff
by Simon Donald. Conversely, the likes of White Christmas and Miracle on 34th
Street were only normally seen on large-scale commercial tours, but at PFT were
rendered with an intimacy that grabbed the audience’s attention.
There
were downtimes too. Durnin’s hopes to produce outdoor work in the grounds of
PFT were never developed beyond a first-season collaboration with Stellar
Quines on Judith Adams’ play, Sweet Fanny Adams in Eden. Funding cuts also bit
hard, with the then Scottish Arts Council axing PFT’s annual grant in its
entirety. This forced the company to survive largely from box office returns, a
situation that still exists today.
While a private
figure, Durnin was charm personified, and possessed a huge sense of fun. He
departed Pitlochry following his final production of Singin’ in the Rain. In
2019, he and Dutoit were married at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee. They passed
away within two weeks of each other. The legacy of both remains in Pitlochry.
“Having
gone on this incredible journey and seen these various ambitions ticked off off
one by one,” Durnin said in an interview with the Herald prior to his
departure, “with PFT now much better regarded in Scotland, the UK and abroad
than it was before, it feels very much like mission accomplished.”
Durnin
is survived by his six siblings.
The Herald, April 10th 2020
ends
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