Practitioner focus: Marianne Elliott

It's difficult to pin Elliott down to a single style or approach; the plays she has directed vary widely in theme and content. However, they owe their universal appeal to the integrity with which she handles their emotional and often challenging subject matter. She collaborates closely with her team of choreographers, lighting and sound designers, giving her productions a distinctively experimental feel. Her clever use of ensemble is complemented by sparse staging and the use of symbolic design elements.

At the start of her exhaustive preparation process, she completes detailed interrogation of the text, reading it many times and from each character's perspective. Then she storyboards it with a designer so that each moment is a crafted visual delicacy. She works with her actors to foster an environment of trust; together they experiment with each line, examine the characters’ objectives, subtext and what she calls the ‘subconscious desires of the characters’.