CURVE APPOINTS NIKOLAI FOSTER AS NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Curve today announces the appointment of Nikolai Foster as the company’s new Artistic Director. Foster takes up the position in January 2015, succeeding Paul Kerryson who steps down as Artistic Director at the end of this year, after 22 years in post.
Foster joins CEO Fiona Allan, newly appointed Commercial Director Alister de Ternant, and a soon to be appointed Chief Operating Officer to create the new core executive team. Conceived by Allan, this new business structure is being implemented to optimise commercial income streams and create a sustainable business model. At the heart of this, Foster will be responsible for developing the artistic strategy for Curve, with an emphasis on continuing to grow the company’s national reputation for musical theatre, developing drama audiences, and building strong links with Leicester’s diverse communities.
Nikolai Foster said today,
“Curve is a remarkable theatre, representing everything I believe theatre should be. I consider it a great honour to build upon the tremendous foundations laid over the past five years by Paul Kerryson, Fiona Allan and the inspirational team in Leicester, which places the community and audiences at the heart of Curve’s bold, contemporary and eclectic programming. Needless to say, I am tremendously excited to begin my Curve adventure, collaborating with a hugely talented and dynamic team, developing all strands of the programme: drama, dance, new writing and of course, musical theatre. I cannot wait to get started.”
Fiona Allan commented,
“Nikolai was our stand-out choice as Artistic Director, and I’m very much looking forward to working with him. Leicester loves musicals, and under Paul Kerryson’s leadership we have grown a reputation for producing exceptional musical theatre – this is a legacy I feel confident that Nikolai will continue to develop and expand with his own ideas and energy. Alongside this, Nikolai is committed to growing our drama audiences and links with Leicester’s cosmopolitan communities – so very important to ensuring our future success. His taking the role will complete Curve’s new leadership team- which saw the recent recruitment of Alister de Ternant as Commercial Director.”
Chair of the Board, Philip Tasker added,
“We are delighted that Nikolai Foster is joining Curve as Artistic Director, and I have every confidence that he will grow Curve’s artistic reputation nationally, whilst nurturing talent and audiences locally. He joins a leadership team, under CEO Fiona Allan, who have achieved 100% growth in audience figures since Curve opened, and substantial increases to commercial revenues – our focus now can be on a refreshed and reinvigorated artistic strategy to drive Curve to even greater success over the next 5 years.”
Nikolai Foster was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and grew up in North Yorkshire. He trained at Drama Centre London and at the Crucible, Sheffield. His work has been seen in many of the UK’s leading regional theatres, touring houses and internationally. Foster has been director on attachment at the Sheffield Crucible, National Theatre Studio, and an Associate Director at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, where he has directed Amanda Whittington’s Bollywood Jane, Louise Page’s Salonika, Bryony Lavery and Jason Carr’s A Christmas Carol (also at Birmingham REP); Orwell’s Animal Farm, Annie and Sherlock Holmes – The Best Kept Secret.
He is currently in rehearsals for Calamity Jane (Watermill Theatre). His other recent credits include The Memory of Water (New Vic, Stoke & Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough); Brecht’s The Good Person of Sichuan (Mercury Theatre, Colchester); the 20th anniversary production of Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing (Arts Theatre and Digital Theatre); Merrily We Roll Along (Clwyd Theatr Cymru); The Diary of Anne Frank (York Theatre Royal & The Touring Consortium); As You Like It (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, Chester), and Macbeth (Singapore Repertory Theatre).
His other extensive credits include West Side Story (National Youth Music Theatre at Victoria Warehouse, Manchester); a new adaptation of Dickens’ Great Expectations by Tanika Gupta (Palace Theatre Watford & English Touring Theatre); Flashdance (Shaftesbury Theatre); Hay Fever (Chichester Festival Theatre); Barry Hines’ Kes, adapted by Lawrence Till (Liverpool Playhouse and The Touring Consortium); Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love (UK tour and South Africa); London Assurance (Watermill Theatre); and for Sheffield Theatre, Shaffer’s Amadeus,Sondheim’s Assassins and A Chorus Line.