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JESSICA ARTHUR

BPA, MFA (Directing)

BIO

Jessica Arthur is a director and dramaturg.  Jess works in an open and devised manner, experimenting with form and audience perception.

 

Jess was Sydney Theatre Company's Richard Wherrett Fellow in 2017, Directing Associate in 2018 and Resident Director from 2019-2022. She was also co-founder of theatre company The Anchor along with Katie Cawthorne and Laura Lethlean.

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Jess has worked for STC, Belvoir, NIDA, Griffin, Melbourne Theatre Company, Riverside Theatre, Schauspiel Frankfurt, La Mama, The Old Fitz as well as with production companies Redline Productions, Never Never and The Kings Collective. Jess has taught at NIDA, ATYP, STC and Sydney Actors School.

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TRAINING 

MFA (Directing), National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) 2014/2015
Semester Abroad, PCI, Leeds University 2012/2013

Bachelor of Performing Arts, Monash University 2013

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COMMENTS

  • 'Director Jessica Arthur shows fearless restraint in her largely static treatment. Weaving and Blair – also socially distanced on stage – trade theatrical physicality for sheer intensity of delivery...Arthur’s confidence in allowing her actors to bear the full weight of the storytelling is both a credit to her trust as a theatremaker and her understanding of her collaborators.'
    Maxim Boon | Time Out | Wonnangatta

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  • 'Director Jessica Arthur...has a good knack for the flirty humour of the earlier scenes, and when things get heavier...she’s there to chart the churning waters with a sure, steady hand. She brings out thoughtful and rich performances from her three actors – her instincts are sharp'

Cassie Tongue | Time Out | Two Hearts​

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  • 'Director Jessica Arthur uses fragments of insight granted by the text, to manufacture on stage, quite marvellously, a dynamic experience that is relentlessly engaging, and unexpectedly powerful.' 

Suzy Wrong | Suzy Goes See | The Wolves

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  • 'The sole character is named “The Woman” and is portrayed by Emily Barclay. She is directed by Jessica Arthur in her first main-stage production as STC’s new Directing Associate and their work together is marvellously subtle, humane, intelligent and mesmerising.'

Diana Simmonds | Stage Noise | Lethal Indifference

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  • 'Jessica Arthur, in her mainstage directing debut, has crafted a considered production; its seeming diffidence belies a subtle sense of guided momentum that can only come from real confidence with the story and with a director’s choices. Every element of the production makes straightforward, grounded sense.' 

Cassie Tongue | Time Out | Lethal Indifference

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ARTICLES

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