Helena Kaut-Howson

Helena Kaut-Howson
Born	Helena Kaut[1] 1940 (age 83–84)[1] Lviv, Soviet Union[1]
Occupation	Theatre director

Helena Kaut-Howson is a British theatre director.

Early life and education

Helena Kaut-Howson was born (as Helena Kaut) in 1940 in Lviv, a Polish city which was recently forcibly incorporated into Soviet Union.^[1] She is a child Holocaust survivor. She grew up in Wrocław, Poland.^[1] Her training as a director was first at the Polish State Theatre School and then at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.^[2]

Career

Kaut-Howson originally worked as an actor in the 1950s, at the Jewish Theatre, Warsaw.^[3] She had to leave Poland after marrying a British man who was the son of an admiral working for NATO, and came to the United Kingdom then.^[1] She worked in the 1960s in direction at the Royal Court Theatre.^[3] She has directed in Israel at the Jerusalem Community Theatre, the Habima Theatre and Cameri Theater.^[3] Other work as director outside the UK includes at Monument-National in Canada and the Gate Theatre in Dublin.^[3] She has also worked with Scena Polska UK at the Polish Social and Cultural Association in London.^[4][5]

Kaut-Howson was artistic director of Theatr Clwyd in Wales between 1992 and 1995.^[3][6] The Board decided not to renew her contract, despite the financial and critical success Clwyd had under her leadership.^[7]

There was disagreement between Kaut-Howson and the theatre management about her production of The Miser at the Royal Exchange, Manchester in 2009.^[8]

Kaut-Howson has taught at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.^[3]

Some of the plays she has directed are her own adaptations.^[3] This includes Faithful Ruslan, which she adapted from the book by Georgi Vladimov.^[9][10]

Themes

Although Kaut-Howson does not call herself a feminist, her productions are often identified as feminist.^[2][11][12] In her production of King Lear at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre, later transferring to the Young Vic, the part of King Lear was played by a woman, Kathryn Hunter, a decision which was called "controversial".^{[2][11][13][14]}

Kaut-Howson values working with actors from the theatre company Complicité.^[2] She believes that theatre is about a company performing, rather than individual actors.^[2]

Kaut-Howson was instrumental in bringing the work of Bruno Schulz to the stage.^[15][9]

Awards

• Peter Brook Open Space Award 1994 for Outstanding Body of Work at Theatr Clwyd^[3]
• Liverpool Post and Echo Arts Award 1992 for Best Director (The Devils)^[3]
• UK Theatre Awards Regional Theatre Awards 1995 for Best Director (The Rose Tattoo)^{[citation needed]}
• Contact International Festival, Torun 1994 Critics Award (Full Moon)^{[citation needed]}
• Manchester Evening News Award 1996 for Best Production (The Hindle Wakes)^{[citation needed]}
• Manchester Evening News Awards 1997 for Best Production (Much Ado About Nothing)^{[citation needed]}
• Polish Festival of Premieres, Bydgoszcz 2004: Grand Prix for Best Director (Victory)^{[citation needed]}

Bibliography

• Werewolves, translation from Teresa Lubkiewicz-Urbanowicz [pl], Plays and Players, 1978
• Grave Acts, Dialog, 1981
• Tola Korian, Pamietnik Teatralny, 1986
• Full Moon, Plays International, 1993
• "Flowers Among the Ruins - Identity and the Theatre", in Views of Theatre in Ireland 1995, The Arts Council, 1995
• Victory (translation into Polish), Dialog, 2004
• Remembering Pinter, Dialog, 2010
• Sons Without Fathers, from Chekhov's Platonov, Oberon Books, 2013

From 2017, Kaut-Howson wrote a column in Tydzień Polski, called "Notes from the wings".

References

1. Wardle, Irving (3 September 1994). "SHOW PEOPLE / A winner against the odds: Helena Kaut-Howson". Independent. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
2. Schafer, Elizabeth (2000). Ms-Directing Shakespeare: Women Direct Shakespeare. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780312227463. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
3. Kaut-Howson, Helena (1995). "Flowers Among the Ruins - Identity and the Theatre". Views of Theatre in Ireland 1995 (PDF). The Arts Council.
4. "OPOWIEŚĆ ZE ŚMIETNIKA HISTORII". Tydzień Polski. 16 July 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
5. "TEATRALNY KRZYK POLSKOŚCI… "ŹRÓDŁO" W REŻYSERII HELENY KAUT-HOWSON". Tydzień Polski. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
6. Goodman, Lizbeth; de Gay, Jane (31 January 2002). The Routledge Reader in Gender and Performance. ISBN 9781134707607. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
7. Pascal, Julia (2005). Women in Theatre 2#3. Routledge. ISBN 9781135305352. As we go to press it is revealed that, despite her success at Clywd, the Board is not renewing her contract
8. Qureshi, Yakub (26 September 2009). "Top director 'fired' by theatre". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
9. Totev, Borimir (27 August 2017). ""Faithful Ruslan" Flying After an Ideal: Interview with Helena Kaut-Howson". Theatre Times. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
10. Brennan, Claire (17 September 2017). "Faithful Ruslan: The Story of a Guard Dog review – a haunting experience". Retrieved 8 March 2022.
11. Parker, Patricia (2004). "Barbers and Barbary: Early Modern Cultural Semantics". In Masten, Jeffrey; Wall, Wendy (eds.). Renaissance Drama 33. ISBN 9780810121997. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
12. Ferris, Lesley (2009). "Lear's Daughters and Sons: Twisting the Canonical Landscape". In Friedman, Sharon (ed.). Feminist Theatrical Revisions of Classic Works: Critical Essays. ISBN 9780786452392. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
13. Senelick, Laurence (2000). The Changing Room: Sex, Drag and Theatre. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780415159869. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
14. Aston, Elaine (2005). Feminist Theatre Practice: A Handbook. Routledge. ISBN 9781134771516. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
15. Fox, Christie (2009). Breaking Forms: The Shift to Performance in Late Twentieth-Century Irish Drama. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781443807739. Retrieved 8 March 2022.

Further reading

• Klett, Elizabeth (2005), "'O, how this mother swells up toward my heart': performing mother and father in Helena Kaut-Howson's cross-gender King Lear", Shakespeare Bulletin, 23

External links

• Kaut-Howson's website
• Helena Kaut-Howson at IMDb