Theatre director Jeff James: My London Cultural Life

Jeff James has been on our radar as one to watch since his first solo project as a director, an acclaimed Pinter double bill at the Young Vic (2011). He's revealed himself as an innovator and he's learned from the best; the list of directors Jeff’s assisted reads like a who’s who of the theatre's movers and shakers: Lucy Bailey, Carrie Cracknell, Joe Hill-Gibbons and, the man he describes as his hero, Ivo Van Hove.

Jeff was righthand man in Van Hove's stunning production of  A View from the Bridge, which will transfer to the West End after sellout success at the Young Vic. He describes the experience of working with a team including the famously avant-garde Belgian director and British actor Mark Strong as ‘exciting and challenging in lots of ways – the expectations of the theatre and actors were different to those of the creative team… so there was a bit of a culture shock’

The expressionistic style that made the show such a refreshing adaptation of Arthur Miller has its roots in Europe but is becoming a trend in London theatres. For those less au fait with such technical terms, Jeff describes expressionism as when 'the production isn’t trying to create a reality on stage’. And adds ‘for me some elements of the British tradition have got slightly lost in naturalism… once you stop trying to make it look like reality the possibilities are endless'.

‘Sex and violence are the limitations of theatre’ he states, explaining that we can never truly believe that acts of either are real, so by default they stain the rest of the show with a sense of the inauthentic. Rather than copying reality on stage, Jeff strives to ‘find another way of expressing the kissing or the fighting... you need to find a way of expressing them that isn’t real’.

And now, in his second solo directing project, the young director has found a very striking (and sticky) way of expressing the truth of a greek drama with subtly surreal staging.

Sophocles's story of Philoctetes, the war hero whose wounded foot is so noxiously disgusting that he's abandoned by his shipmates and left to fester on a remote island, became an 'obsession' of Jeff's. Unable to find a version of the play that aligned with his vision, he found himself writing an adaptation. Though he resolutely has 'no interest in being a playwright'.

'The desert island is such a powerful metaphor' he explains, citing The Tempest, Tom Hanks’s Castaway and Desert Island Disks among the creative influences that shape the idea of an isolated space.“Sometimes I thought: maybe it’s unstageable because of the ethical anxieties within it” he reflects, describing doubts about the Greek drama being too big and difficult, something he should save until he's 'about 50'. But with creative support from director Joe Hill-Gibbons, Stink Foot grew from workshopping at the Young Vic to a full blown production at The Yard.

But for this director-cum-playwright the biggest challenge was creating not just the isolated island, but finding a way to represent the visceral vileness of a fetid foot wound. Working with designer Alex Lowde and inspired by a selection of arresting images, including Ricard Wilson's 20:50 installation at the Saatchi Gallery, which covers the space in an endless oil slick, Jeff found a visual analogue for Philoctetes's wound: gallons of treacle.

'The fact that it's treacle isn't important, it's more that it's just gunk. The metaphor is gunk.' We've seen the show (read our thoughts here) and, without giving too much away, the effect is spectacular: the kind of gross that you can't keep your eyes off. The stage starts clean, then the agonised Philoctetes leaves a trail of murky mess that restricts movements, and occasionally explodes in a stomach-churningly accurate evocation of pus. And the soiled stage is not just a visual innovation: it performs the shifts in the characters, as moral purity is blemished in sticky splatters of corruption.

Stink Foot is at The Yard Theatre until December 13th. 

Old favourite?

I really love the South London Gallery. It’s very near my house, has a great café and a genius series of exhibitions, especially the Laurence Weiner installation. I like to go there for Saturday brunch. They curate work that’s really exciting.

New discovery?

Hanging out in Hackney Wick [near the Yard Theatre] has been really fun. It feels like being in Berlin with the graffiti and industrial feel.

Best-loved walk or view?

I really like the Lea river – it’s a new discovery. When we were rehearsing in Clacton I’d spend my lunch hour freaking out about the show – and I used to do that walking along the Lea. It felt like it wasn’t in London

Favourite local restaurant/bar/pub?

Definitely the Silk Road [in Camberwell]. It's the best restaurant in the world. But I probably should’t tell you that because it’s already getting crowded. It is Out-of-this-world-good.

London shows you're getting excited about?

Hope at the Royal Court

Golem at the Young Vic

And I'm really excited about Lippy, also at the Young Vic. I think Ben Kidd who is directing is one of the most interesting directors of my generation.

Public/cultural/artistic figure you admire?

David Lan who runs the Young Vic. Where I’ve got to has been largely down to him and the Young Vic a venue that is a mainstream theatre that is trying to experiment and show the kind of work I like. I think their programming is really exciting. I think David is just such a positive force in cultural life.