Joe Hill-Gibbins interviewed by i-D magazine online

The “supremely talented” director Joe Hill-Gibbins was interviewed in this month’s i-D magazine online. Joe Hill-Gibbins is the first ever recipient of the Genesis Fellowship, a two-year grant that enables recipients to work closely with the Young Vic's artistic director David Lan in order to develop their craft as a theatre director. As the Genesis Foundation's support of the Director's Programme at the Young Vic reached its conclusion in Autumn 2009, the Foundation continued its collaboration with the Young Vic in its support of the Genesis Directors Network and through the newly created Genesis Fellowship.

Joe received his fellowship at the beginning of last year, and has since worked on Martin McDonagh’s celebrated play The Beauty Queen of Leenane, revived this summer at the Young Vic, and also on an acclaimed production of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie.

Topics that crop up in the interview include an outline of a typical day at the theatre, Joe’s love of Berlin and its avant-garde dramaturgy, and the role of the Genesis Foundation in opening up opportunities for emerging talent: "we have…an online network where directors can talk to each other and exchange ideas. We put out details of our workshops on the network or just chat or invite people to see the shows".

The network, officially known as the Genesis Directors Network, acts as a forum for young directors, providing them with a space in which to create contacts, ask questions and share their experiences. It is also used by producers, theatre companies and writers as a way of finding directors for projects, not to mention as a virtual notice board for the advertisement of bursaries, traineeships and master classes.

Asked what advice he would give to aspiring directors, Joe replied that who you know is the key to success: "I would advise them to start talking to people...when people start out, you don’t know anyone and contacts are very important in theatre, like they are in any field." Referring once again to the usefulness of the Genesis Directors Network, which enables young directors to get in touch with professionals they admire and offer their services, Joe added: "people are often willing to sit down and have a chat or a cup of tea and answer questions".

To read the full interview, please visit the i-D website.

For more information about the Genesis Directors Network and the Genesis Fellowship, please follow this link.