Kristine Landon-Smith

Kristine Landon-Smith (born 1958) is a British actor, director and artistic director of mixed Australian and Indian parentage. Together with Sudha Bhuchar, she founded the Tamasha Theatre Company in 1989.[1]

Life

Born in London, Landon-Smith grew up in Sydney, Australia. In 1978 she returned to the UK to train at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and worked as an actress. In 1985 she co-founded the Inner Circle Theatre Company, producing and acting in a production of Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening at the Young Vic studio.[1]

In 1989, on placement as a director-teacher at the National School of Drama, Delhi, she adapted and directed a student production of Mulk Raj Anand's novel Untouchable. On returning to the UK, she cofounded the Tamasha Theatre Company with her friend Sudha Bhuchar, and the company opened with a Hindi-English production of the play. She has continued to direct Tamasha's plays, and several radio plays. Women of the Dust won the Race in the Media Award for Best Radio Drama from the Commission for Racial Equality.[1]

Landon-Smith directed the original 1996 performance of East is East, and a 1999 production of the play at the Oldham Coliseum Theatre. In 1999 she also directed Jean Anouilh's The Orchestra at Southwark Playhouse. In 2001 she directed the Agatha Christie Festival season at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff-on-Sea.[1]

Landon-Smith has repeatedly worked at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Australia. As visiting international director in 2009, she directed the Australian premiere of East is East. She returned in 2011 to direct a production of Port, and in April 2013 took up a position in the acting department at NIDA.[2]

In 2019 she again directed Anouilh's The Orchestra in a TeatroLatino production at the Omnibus Theatre.[3][4] Later that year she directed Tuyen Do's Summer Rolls, a domestic drama about a family who have emigrated from war-torn Vietnam to Essex, at the Park Theatre, London.[5]

In 2022 Landon-Smith called for actor training to move beyond Stanislavski's system, and free actors to incorporate the full range of their cultural backgrounds.[6]

References
  1. Bhuchar, Suman (2002). "Landon-Smith, Kristine". In Donnell, Alison (ed.). Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture. Routledge. pp. 141–2. ISBN 0203194993.
  2. Cassie Tongue (23 September 2012). "Kristine Landon-Smith appointed to NIDA Acting Department". AussietTheatre.com. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  3. Christie, Jennifer (3 February 2019). "REVIEW: The Orchestra, Omnibus Theatre". British Theatre. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  4. Billington, Michael (31 January 2019). "The Orchestra review – Jean Anouilh's band clash over sex and politics". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  5. Gillinson, Miriam (28 June 2019). "Summer Rolls review – fascinating tale of Vietnamese family in Essex". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  6. Landon-Smith, Kristine (1 February 2022). "It's time for actor training to venture beyond Stanislavski". The Stage. Retrieved 9 October 2022.

Further reading
  • Lizbeth Goodman; Jane de Gay, eds. (2020). "Kristine Landon-Smith of Tamasha". Feminist Stages: Interviews with Women in Contemporary British Theatre. Routledge. pp. 201–206.
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