After Hurtwood... Daisy Lee

From Hurtwood Theatre to the Stratford stage: meet the extraordinarily talented Daisy Lee, RSC Producer and all-round top human being.

Now here’s a remarkable journey onwards from Hurtwood; a mere ten years after leaving, Daisy Lee is newly appointed Producer in the hallowed halls of the RSC at Stratford.  In charge of new play The Constant Wife, adapted by Laura Wade, directed by Co-Artistic Director Tamara Harvey, and with Jamie Cullum, no less, on music and starring Rose Leslie (late of Game of Thrones), her progress has been stellar.  Rehearsals are in full swing, and the production opens in a matter of weeks, yet Daisy has made time to share the career path that has brought her to a ‘dream job’ at the heart of one of the most important theatre companies in the country.  Absolutely bubbling with passionate creativity, she brings a blast of the freshest of air to the world around her, and generous and insightful advice for our present and future students. It’s an impressive and enlightening story, so sit back and enjoy.

So where did it all begin? Pretty early it seems: Hurtwood had been her aim since she was eight years old and heard exciting things about it at stage school.  [dl1] She was not disappointed: indeed she sees the two years with us as seminal. ‘I would not be where I am today without Hurtwood’, she modestly announces, grounding that in how she was able to cultivate the skills that underpin her success.  A-levels in English, Psychology and Theatre, as well as an AS in Economics, have all proved invaluable: textual knowledge and insight into writing, analysing and the dark art of being succinct from English, as well as the more scientific exploration of human behaviour and the human condition in Psychology. But theatre and acting: back in those days, that was the masterplan, and she recalls the thrill of winning a place on RADA’s Foundation course.  She also recalls some remarkably pivotal advice that has shaped her career, and which was then echoed during her year at RADA. Was acting her one and only passion?  Did she care as much about anything else?  Over that year her aims clarified: it was the whole process and production of theatre itself that she was committed to, not just performance. Theatre, the magic of; the whole amazing production and what it brings to the world, and making that as accessible as possible.  She now had her clear goal, and left Hurtwood in 2014 with happy memories of school life and boarding at Beatrice Webb House under James Baker.

A degree in Theatre and Performance Studies at Warwick followed.  She found there a plethora of different societies, countless productions to work on, and  ̶  having already taken work up to Edinburgh (with Ezra and Andy) [dl2]  including taking shows to the Edinburgh Fringe over two summers  ̶  the university's ‘Improv Musical’, which was, as the name suggests, different every night.  But she was already looking towards a working future, and recalls a serendipitous Hurtwood.  A highly anticipated school trip to a sell-out show at the Barbican – Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita – had to be cancelled due to snow. A rather determined Daisy, however, was having none of this.  Defying the elements, and determined not to miss it, she arrived just in time, and bearing, courtesy of the school trip, a fat bundle of free tickets for her to disperse.  One of the lucky recipients, sitting next to her in the show picked up on her passion and commitment.  It was the [dl3] Executive Director at the Young Vic.  A generous invitation to ‘get in touch’ was issued, and at the end of her first year at Warwick, Daisy used the connection to secure work experience of the highly practical kind at prestigious marketing and creative media agency, AKA.  

In a similar vein, even before she graduated, Daisy secured a lowly receptionist role at ATG, the major international live entertainment organisation in London.   A deeply unglamorous role, largely involving ‘grunt work’ (teas and coffees, booking meeting rooms) it nevertheless put her at the heart of the business side of performance, and for the next year she took every opportunity to run errands ‘upstairs’ to the Production department. She regularly traded her paid leave for unpaid work experience on Press nights. ‘It was my way of learning’ she tells me.  It was also clarifying things. As a London girl, raised on subsidised theatre (The National, Almeida and Young Vic) she knew this was her world, but making the cut on even the most lowly of entry-level roles in this arena was proving tough.  Seeking more production assistant work, a remarkable West End charity, Stage One, aimed at training up young producers, proved invaluable.  Earning a placement with Mark Rubinstein Ltd in 2019 as a Trainee Producer, Daisy was soon involved in the full gamut of production skills, including and exceeding the range of responsibilities of general management.  This intensified when Covid struck six months in, and as one of the few members of the team not furloughed (remember that term?), she found herself working alongside Mark himself, keeping the company going in this strangest of times, and learning on the hoof, everything from payroll and HMRC to budgets and marketing.  Her one-year placement had turned into a wonderful job that covered every aspect of the complex world of commercial theatre.  Rapid promotion followed and over five years later she had worked as General Manager for Short Street Productions (previously Mark Rubinstein Ltd), as the company had become known on all kinds of show, from TINA – The Tina Turner Musical  ̶  to Waiting for Godot (the Ben Whishaw one).   She identifies these happy years as her ‘education in the industry – which is always ongoing’ but it was now time for fresh challenges.  The heart was calling her, still, to the passionate edges, to subsidised theatre, and this is Daisy Lee, so there will be no resting on laurels: stand by for the plan.

With impressive experience in the commercial arena, the challenge now was ‘how to pitch’ herself in this more rarefied world, knowing full well how broad a range of talents the role of producer requires.  Over a year she had been shortlisted but narrowly missed success several times. Undeterred (a vital quality: perhaps her best piece of advice?) a dream role at Stratford came up and she applied.  The interview did not go well.  Thinking that she had ‘bombed it’ in her first round, she was genuinely surprised to find herself shortlisted, and a second interview produced no great expectations.  With characteristic modesty, her phone switched off, she was hard at work next day, backstage, on ‘Godot’.  She laughs as she describes her surprise and delight to discover a slew of missed phone calls from Stratford.  The job was hers.  Finally.  It had taken ten years.  She joined Rupert Gould’s production of Hamlet (‘which was massive’) midway through, picking up speed and adapting along the way.  Her role means that she will be covering six shows in her first year, across the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the Swan, and hopefully in time, The Other Place, and as we saw at the beginning, she is kicking off with a really intriguing new text and a stellar production.  Time to round off here and let Daisy get on with the considerable challenges ahead.  ‘None of this would have happened without the support and input of Hurtwood’ Daisy asserts.  She came first to Stratford with the school, to see Hamlet (with actor Jonathan Slinger with whom she has subsequently worked).  Her English and Theatre A-levels have given her a rich insight and empathy with all the creative talents she now works with.  The producer’s role, she tells me, is to facilitate and maximise these talents, not control or intimidate them.  She recalls with energy the impact of studying Shakespeare, the language, the intensity and the subtlety.  Economics with the marvellous Pete Stimpson, proved an enormous boon.  Far from being intimidated by budgets and financial planning, she confesses that the odd afternoon dominated by number crunching and not people, is an enjoyable interlude.

Time for her to get back to the powerhouse that is the RSC.  A combination of ‘teachers, experience and peers got me into drama’ is a closing observation, and Hurtwood allowed her to see clearly that theatre and all it can achieve is her world.  A joyous hour of Daisy’s time has reminded me of what a force of creative enthusiasm and positive achievement she always was in the classroom.  Good to see that her manifest talents are already being harnessed for the benefit of wider audiences.  Well done, Daisy – and a very big thank you for making time to make Hurtwood proud!