Intimacy Directing for Amateur Theatre in the UK

Intimacy Directors are becoming commonplace in professional theatre spaces, at least, it definitely has in the UK, where I work. But what about regional, semi-professional and amateur theatre?

I've been working within intimacy direction (or intimacy coordination is you prefer to use that term) for a few years now, and in my time I've made it my goal to bring intimacy work to amateur and community theatres.

With the experience I've gathered, I wanted to talk about the importance of bringing consent-forward practices to these non-professional spaces, and the barriers that not-for-profits, charities and other organisations face.

I believe that intimacy directing is even more essential to these amateur and regional spaces than it is in the professional side of the TV, film and theatre industry. Let's talk about why.

Reasons why Intimacy Directing is Even More Important in Non-Professional Spaces

1. No contracts

   
   

There is no contractual expectation of behaviour within amateur theatres. There may be codes of conducts and safeguarding policies, but often there is very little in the form of accountability, and or even systems for officially reporting behaviour.

Because there are no contracts, the parameters within which people are expected to behave can be unsure. How we expect the rehearsal room to run can vary a lot and blur boundaries with others; are we friends or colleagues or something in-between? And how does that affect how we approach scenes of intimacy?

2. Less professionalism

   
   

People come to amateur theatre for all sorts of reasons, but usually it is in search of artistic fulfilment and fun. We're not being paid so we're not professionals, and when you're not getting paid for your time, you must be getting something out of it. Often we're just a group of friends making theatre; we're not working, we're playing. But as a result, the boundaries between friends, actors, directors etc, can blur in ways that can be difficult to unpick when it comes to on stage intimacy.

The "we're all friends here" mentality, without acknowledging that there are still power dynamics at play in the room, can produce the kind of social pressure to say yes which means that an actor may not feel they are fully able to give or revoke consent.

Insisting that everyone is all of the same level can be damaging. Often it is denying the lived experience of actors who know that this isn't the case, even with all the good will in the world from directors, stage managers and so on. We may be friends, but you're still the director. We may have had a beer together, but you've been a member of the theatre for several decades, and I've only been around for a month. These kinds of differences, and so many more, can make consent a difficult thing to navigate.

3. More vulnerable people

   
   

Our theatre communities are a melding pot of people from all sorts of walks of life. It's one of the joys of local theatre! It's open to everyone, and everyone (should) be welcome.

As a result, there is often a higher than usual amount of vulnerable people present. Safeguarding is something that every theatre must take seriously, whether professional or not. And how we approach intimacy of stage also needs to be taken seriously. Vulnerable people can be taken advantage of, and although it is a difficult truth to face, there are people that will take advantage.

Intimacy directing can go a long way to ensuring that these individuals are in a safer, more consent-conscious environment.

Those are just a few of reasons why intimacy directing is something that is even more important for amateur and semi-professional theatre. But what about the limitations that these places might face, even if they did want to adopt intimacy directing as part of their standard of procedure?

Limitations Non-Professional Spaces May Have With Intimacy Directing

1. Lack of Awareness

At the moment there is still a huge variation in how much people know about intimacy directing. Within the non-professional theatre world, I've met those who have taken workshops, done reading or even been intimacy directed. And I've met those who haven't the foggiest what I mean when I saw "intimacy directing". And maybe worse than that, there are those who assume all sorts of strange things about what it does mean.

As a result, in our current climate, part of my job is education. That includes holding workshops and courses to teach those in positions of power; council members, directors, trustees, what intimacy directing is, and why it is so important.

If you're interested in booking one of these workshops, I do them in person and on Zoom.

2. Resources (namely, money)
   

Another obvious limiting factor, is resources. This can be time, rehearsal space etc, but often it is money. And this is the more difficult challenge to overcome. The budget for a production can already be extremely small, let alone without factoring in the potential cost of an intimacy director.

In my personal practice I've made it my goal to continue to offer heavily discounted intimacy rehearsals to amateur theatres. I've been fortunate to have part of my training sponsored by the Little Theatre Guild, and part of the agreement is to offer lower prices to those theatres.

Often, within a professional setting, an intimacy director would be onboard of the duration of a project, whereas in an amateur context, I have found that I can offer a more streamlined process, where I'm only present for a handful of rehearsals.

The most important thing is that any change is being made, no matter how small. If your next production has roles that have expectations of intimacy in the audition notice, then that's already equipping potential auditionees with more information than they've had before. And they can use to that to inform their decisions.

3. Gatekeeping

The gatekeeping conversation is one that is subtle and nuanced. There is absolutely a level of knowledge and experience that all intimacy directors should have. However, the cost of this training is entirely unrealistic for amateur theatres. And currently, there aren't even that many courses available, and those that are either very short, very expensive or both.

My current solution to this is introducing a new role, specific to amateur theatre. The Intimacy Advocate. Individuals who are excited and passionate about this field of theatre and who are willing to put time into reading and furthering their knowledge. Intimacy advocates should not claim to be 'certified' (although there's more discourse to be had there too), but can take on some responsibility when it comes to ensuring that the production is running in a consent-forward way. There are lots of ways to improve how a production handles intimacy, and often they can be done before a rehearsal period even begins and without the presence of an intimacy director.

Although we talk about consent within the context of a play, the practices of making every member of the team feel heard starts long before the scene is rehearsed. I have been training intimacy advocates over 2024 and intend to continue into 2025.

To conclude: amateur and semi-professional theatres are often higher risk environment within which to handle on stage intimacy. They can also face different, unique challenges around intimacy coordination. However, there are solutions which can be used, regardless of budget or access to an intimacy director.

If you have any thoughts or questions about intimacy directing within a non-professional or semi-professional organisation, please drop me a message. I'm always eager to learn more about how other theatres approach these challenges, and I'm always up for sharing what I know.