Sophie Hickman - Co-Artistic Managing Director
Sophie's first independent project was at the age of 17, when she founded and managed a Junior Drama Club at her grammar school, and then directed their inaugural production of The War. She then missed the performance as she was sitting her Theatre Studies AS Level exam. She also performed as Beverly in Abigail's Party, Ann Putnam in The Crucible, and Rita in Womberang. She interned with Bournemouth Theatre In Education and worked with children with special needs, as well as drug addicts, council workers and children from underprivileged backgrounds.Sophie then attended University of Exeter to study Drama. Whilst training, she played a variety of roles, including Queen Elizabeth in Richard III, Poet in Timon of Athens, Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew, Maria in The Tamer Tamed, Countess of Salisbury in Edward III, Emilia in The Winter's Tale, Plautilla in world premiere of Bassianus, and Olivia and Viola in Twelfth Night. She participated in a 24 hour project, Shake in a Day: The Tempest, where she played Sebastian.
She has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as Witch/Lavinia/Kitty/Cordelia in Love Song in Iambic Pentameter. She has also performed as Marina in Pericles, Prince of Tyre in Stratford-upon-Avon for the Royal Shakespeare Company-sponsored summer festival at The Dell.
While training, Sophie specialised primarily in directing. She worked as director on Henry V, Shakers, The Political Cabaret and Death and Dancing as part of her course. However, she also worked independently, working on a five-star reviewed promenade performance of Duck, as part of Exeter's Harbinger Theatre Festival.
Since graduating, Sophie was recruited as Associate Producer for The Wrestling School's 21 for 21, a global festival orchestrated to celebrate 21 years of Howard Barker working with his theatre company. Over a year's time, she was jointly responsible for recruiting European theatre companies, funding, advertising and liaising with Mr. Barker and the executive producer. She also was the London producer for the festival, including such companies and schools as The Wrestling School, RSC, RADA and East 15.
As part of the festival, Sophie produced and directed a staged reading of Howard Barker's The Road, The House, The Road, performed in the West End's Fortune Theatre. Sophie was then recruited to direct the rarely performed The Tragedy of Soliman and Perseda, attributed to Thomas Kyd at The Rose Theatre, Bankside. This enjoyed rave reviews:
Richmond Theatre Blog: 'dazzling frenetic energy' 'We felt that this play seems a perfect example of how timeless theatre is'
remotegoat.co.uk: 'will have audiences gripped for the duration of this love story'
Peter Kirwan at The Bardathon: 'speaks immediately to a modern audience', 'this was a funny, moving, powerful and thoroughly entertaining reading of Kyd's ignored tragedy', '...reflected neatly the tone of Sophie Hickman's production that successfully juxtaposed comedy and tragic pathos to strong effect', 'this production's sensitivity and drive ensured it played out in a riveting and affecting way.'
British Theatre Guide: 'Director Sophie Hickman has done an astonishing job of turning an obscure tragedy into an astonishingly powerful and entertaining event', 'for audience members out for an evening’s intense drama, nothing could be more rewarding', 'Superb'.
Sophie has also been stage manager at The Royal Court Theatre, notably for Look Left, Look Right Theatre Company's five-star reviewed, sell-out performances of The Caravan.
Sophie is excited about co-founding Foul Papers Theatre Company, and is looking forward to assistant directing on its inaugural production of The Mandrake at Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year.
