Profiles

On one level, Scott Graham is a stereotypical Corby lad.

He was born into a Scottish family. He jokes that his parents went to Glasgow for his birth because "they couldn't face their first born being English".

So how did Scott Graham end up creating a respected theatre company whose latest production is one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies?

The answer is partly his hormones: "I was in a school play, met a girl and ended up going out with her and following her into more plays," he reveals.

'Sexually-charged'

Scott describes school drama as "sexually-charged". He explains: "You're play acting at being a lot older and being with girls, which sounded good and was a lot of fun!

Frankenstein at the Royal & Derngate

"I was the 'sports boy' at school; there wasn't a massive cross-over between sports and drama but I enjoyed it so much that I kept at it.

"I had girlfriends so there was no question about my sexuality and I think that's what people do fear. That's where it gets a bit nasty: all the connotations about drama being a bit sissy."

Corby is a town with working-class roots. "Corby has a hard exterior," is how Scott describes it. "You want to be seen as credible and you don't want to be seen as a luvvie."

'An attack on your senses'

When he left school to study English at Swansea University he contemplated joining the drama society: "I put my head round the door. They were all stretching out as if they were trees. I turned around and ran off." For a Corby man, stretching like a tree was not credible.

Frantic Assembley's Othello

It was a couple of years later that Scott's eyes were opened to how exciting theatre can be. A company called Volcano had a residency at the University and put on a show which blew his mind: "it was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. It was visceral, energetic, sweaty - it was such an attack on your senses.

"It seemed to match my sensibilities: I wanted something raw, energetic and physical."

That was the inspiration to establish his own theatre company, Frantic Assembly, with fellow student Steven Hoggett.

Their style was energetic, loud and fast: "it was very much about being up-front, in a room with an audience. People found it very exciting. We were brash but we weren't technically brilliant in any way."

Energy and passion

The technical brilliance happened when they could afford to buy in actors and concentrate on directing.

"We've always been a collaborative company. It’s so important who you collaborate with because they need to come in with something new to teach you to take you forward and challenge you. But they need to buy into an existing ethos."

Their ethos is still energy and passion.

Scott was movement director for Northampton's Royal & Derngate's high-octane production of Frankenstein in February 2008. In October 2008, he is bringing Frantic Assembly's production of Shakespeare's Othello to the Royal & Derngate.

It maybe some time since Scott moved away from Corby and his parents retired to Spain, but his Corby roots have not been forgotten. From time to time, Scott visits Kingswood School to excite pupils and trainee teachers with his own brand of 'credible theatre'.