The trustees of HighTide have announced that they have appointed Clare Slater, currently Head of New Work at the Donmar Warehouse as the next Artistic Director of HighTide. She will lead the company alongside Executive Director Rowan Rutter as joint Chief Executives. Clare takes over from Suba Das, former Artistic Director and Chief Executive of HighTide.
Tim Clark, Chair of the HighTide Board said: ‘All of us at HighTide are delighted that Clare has agreed to become our new Artistic Director. Clare is a highly talented arts leader with a strong track record of developing new writing talent coupled with a commitment to inclusivity and engagement. In her time at the Donmar and the Gate over the last 10 years, Clare has exhibited all the attributes and gained the relevant experience to build on the success of HighTide over the last few (challenging) years. Clare will join Rowan as Joint Chief Executive and their partnership will lead HighTide in the company’s next stage of creating life-changing new theatre for the audiences and artists of the East of England. We all look forward to an exciting and stimulating future for HighTide.’
Clare Slater said: ‘I’m thrilled to be joining Rowan and the wonderful team at HighTide as their new Artistic Director/Joint CEO. The company is a powerhouse of British playwriting and I’m honoured to be continuing Suba’s great work. I can’t wait to support and champion the exceptional writing talent in the East of England, for the whole nation to enjoy.’
Clare has been the Head of New Work at the Donmar Warehouse in London for the last six years, commissioning and developing the new plays on the Donmar’s stage, whilst also supporting the artistic strategy and programming of the whole company. Her dramaturgical credits at the Donmar include the upcoming The Trials by Dawn King (directed by Natalie Abrahami) and Silence by Sonali Bhattacharyya, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, Ishy Din and Alexandra Wood (directed by Abdul Shayek). Past productions include: Force Majeure adapted by Tim Price (directed by Michael Longhurst); Love and Other Acts of Violence by Cordelia Lynn (directed by Elayce Ismail); Blindness adapted by Simon Stephens (directed by Walter Meierjohann); [BLANK] by Alice Birch (directed by Maria Aberg); Berberian Sound Studio adapted by Joel Horwood (directed by Tom Scutt); The Lady from the Sea in a new version by Elinor Cook (directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah); and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui in a new version by Bruce Norris (directed by Simon Evans).
Prior to working at the Donmar, Clare’s dramaturg credits include Unknown Island and Idomeneus by Roland Schimmelpfennig (both directed by Ellen McDougall) and Meet Your Neighbours (directed by Emily Lim) all produced at the Gate Theatre, London; Aristophanes’ Women in Power, in a new version by multiple writers including Wendy Cope, Suhayla El-Bushra, Shappi Khorsandi and Jess Phillips MP (directed by Blanche McIntryre) at Nuffield, Southampton; and The Last Mermaid by Charlotte Church (directed by Bruce Guthrie) at the Wales Millennium Centre. Clare also wrote Here’s How It All Began an audio play with soundscape by Adult Jazz (directed by Chris Haydon) for the Gate.
She sits on the Creative Council of Shakespeare’s Globe and served for five years on the Board of the Royal & Derngate, Northampton. She previously worked as Executive Director/Joint CEO of the Gate Theatre in Notting Hill. Prior to that, Clare was the Assistant Literary Manager at the National Theatre and worked in TV and film development.
