Simone Vause (generally known as Simon) graduated from the East 15 Acting School Directors' Course in 1976.
Her first assignment was assisting Philip Hedley who was giving a drama course to Sudanese teachers in Khartoum in 1976.
In 1977-8, Simone Vause worked in Kuwait as general assistant to film director Khalid Saddik, and wrote adverts for Saudi television, which were subsequently directed by Monjid Sharif.
Her advertising career continued after her return from Kuwait, when she was awarded £100 for her slogan "So near, So Spar" , which is still in use today.
... Tiptoe Through the Tombstones by Richard Gallagher for The Green Room. , starring Pam Buckle ...
... Rebels and Friends, Jacqueline Mulhallen's play about Constance Markievicz and Eva Gore-Booth, for the London East End Festival 1989 ...
... and the musical Stone Baby for Full Theatre Company. The production toured the North-West, including Library Theatre Manchester.
Following an invitation to direct in Lancaster, Simone Vause established the Quayside Theatre CompanyLancaster in 1979, and formed an alliance with artist Ewart Johns, who was then Head of Visual Arts at Lancaster University. Click the image on the right for the Quayside page, which features many beautiful photographs by Arthur Thompson.
In 1983, Simone Vause directed Telling Moments by Jack Bradley (head of the National Theatre's literary department) as part of the Etcetera Theatre's festival of short plays. (Click right for programme.)
Her work at East 15 continued until 1985, when Andrew Wade formed Quayside London with Simone Vause as course director and Vanessa Ewan as movement director. (Click far right for further details on the Quayside page.)
David Robson, the head of Arts Educational Schools, who was impressed by Simone Vause's work on character, invited her to direct annual productions from 1987-9: Fear and Misery of the Third Reich (Brecht), Abigail's Party (Mike Leigh) and a selection of scenes from the plays of Oscar Wilde.
Simone Vause was invited back to Lancaster in 1989 to direct When I Was a Girl, I used to Scream and Shout for the main stage at Duke's Playhouse, working with designer Ashley Shairp.
Other freelance directing about this time included two productions in Manchester: Medea for ArdenSchool of Theatre ...
(a page from the workbook
of The Nurse)
In 1982 Simone Vause was invited to run the weekly Red Rose Radio arts programme. Her interviewees for the programme included Peter O'Toole, Melvyn Bragg and Peter Ustinov.
Simone Vause was invited back to East 15 as course director, teacher and play director in 1982. Her directing work at this time included three plays by Lorca - Yerma, Blood Wedding and House of Bernarda Alba - all rehearsed in Spain.
After several years of teaching, private coaching and continuing work with David Robson, Simone Vause was invited to take her MA in contemporary drama at Lancaster University in 1994-5. Her final productions included two mimes to music by Erik Satie (An Umbrella) and Frederick Delius (A Tree) (right).
She directed Caryl Churchill's Light Shining in Buckinghamshire for St Martin's College in 1995.
... and Candide (Leonard Bernstein) for Imperial Opera.
Simone Vause returned to East 15 in 1997.
Simone Vause also made some of the adaptations performed at East 15 in these years, including Sweet Thursday (John Steinbeck) (right) and Cider with Rosie (Laurie Lee). Other East 15 productions included Love on the Dole (Walter Greenwood), Our Town (Thornton Wilder) and This Happy Breed (Noel Coward).
Click the image below for the programme and cast list for the East 15 production of The Hop Pickers (Sally Worboys), including a larger version of the sketch by Lawrie Vause.
Returning to London in 1996, she directed Christie in Love (Howard Brenton) for Camden People's Theatre ...
Her teaching for East 15 enabled her to develop further her work on character, because East 15 was, as always, encouraging students to live the lives of their characters during the rehearsal period. For example, the students created a Jacobean room and clothes for themselves, in order to rehearse drama with the manner and atmosphere of the period.
In the audio player at the head of this page:
John Baraldi, Director of East 15 at this time, describes Simone Vause as "a genius";
Alice O'Connell, who trained under Simone Vause at East 15 and has continued to work with her ever since, reflects on Simone's "magical and incredibly satisfying" approach.
Also about this time, Simone Vause directed Abigail's Party for Troy Theatre Company at the Edinburgh Festival and Mermaid Studio London.
For Cloud Downey in 2003, Simone Vause directed Sacred Cows, a sequence of short plays as remembered by a famous actress in Paris.
Simone Vause directed Seven Other Children by Richard Stirling at the New End Theatre in May 2009 for Evergreen Theatrical Productions. Click the image below for a video excerpt from the production.
Also at AWL, Simone Vause directed Paddy Gormley's play for radio or animation, The Wold Wide Web. The action follows the fortunes of a house spider who is washed down a plughole and emerges into the Wide Wold. The reading was followed a few days later by a studio recording, and subsequently produced with full soundscape by sound designer Milos Drndarevic.
Click the image below for an audio excerpt from The Wold Wide Web with rehearsal and studio photographs.
The following year, 2006, she worked with performance artist Chris Channing for the first time, as the other half of an elderly couple dancing to the music of Victor Sylvester.
She went on to work on Chris Channing's performance piece, The Faun, in which he takes on the manner and appearance of a faun.
Later that year, for Barrie Stacey, she directed Dick Whittington at Kensington Library Theatre in 2003.
In 2005, for Pentameters Theatre, Simone Vause transposed Harvey Fierstein's American classic, Torch Song Trilogy , to Liverpool.
Simone Vause joined Actors & Writers London (AWL) in 2004, where she is a regular member of the directing team, presenting script-in-hand readings of new work.
One of the plays she directed at AWL, The Condor and the Maiden by Dermot Murphy, was subsequently produced under her direction at the King's Head Theatre, London. Simone's interpretation of the play inspired a Spanish translation and a further production of the play in Bolivia.
In 2011, Simone Vause directed Vicki McKellar's Paradise Lost at Leicester Square Theatre, starring Abi Titmuss, who was a delight to work with.
A few months later, Aletta Coliins approached Simone Vause, asking how she would do character work on a Cocteau dance piece. Their work together began the following day, with rehearsals for the Royal Opera House production of Duet for One Voice (Jean Cocteau)...
... and resumed a few months later with Magical Night, also in the Linbury Studio Theatre. The Evening Standard said "Every toy is a well thought-out character, and everything it does is for a reason.
(Click the programme image below right to read a few of the toys' stories as told in the programme.)
Simone Vause's work with Aletta Coliins continues, most recently with the Salzburg Easter Festival production of Bizet's Carmen in March 2012, with further performances later in the year. Carmen was conducted by Simon Rattle, and starred Magdalena Kuzona in the title role and Jonas Kaufmann as Don José.
In 2014, Simone directed the premiere production and tour of Ground Rules by Eric Chappell (famous for Rising Damp) by Outward Productions Ltd. It was a delight to work with Eric Chappell.
