Guy Woolf

Why did you set up Represent?

I grew up on a council estate in Kentish Town and went to a private school through a bursary, so I felt like I saw both sides. That sense of being too posh for the estate and too poor for the school. It didn’t feel like a level playing field. After university, I joined Equity and was a chair of the Young Members Committee. I started to research the lack of socioeconomic diversity [in the industry]. The sticking point was that I landed a job on the fringe as an actor and I found out I only got it because somebody else couldn’t afford to do it. I was increasingly fed up with working for nothing or for profit share.

Repertory theatre used to be an opportunity for people who hadn’t necessarily been through drama school. It always filled that void as a place you could cut your teeth. You learn by doing, but to do that you have to build up your CV and do unpaid work to be taken seriously. I saw the fringe as a fertile ground for this kind of work, but it had to be sustainable and that meant paying people properly. So, my research took me to rep.

What is the acting apprenticeship you offer?

Our actors are employed to perform in a certain number of plays back-to-back. Our workshops cover areas such as how to negotiate a rehearsal room, and important things that many drama schools don’t even bother with, such as tax. Actors rehearse in a professional environment with a director and work on a great play. In our opinion, that’s the best training you can have. That’s our model. We haven’t yet completed our season, but our actors will leave Represent with two professional credits, having worked in three venues on a diverse range of texts. If you can do Represent, you can do anything.

Why did you choose to stage the play Interruptions?

Interruptions is by the late, great Stephen Jeffreys. I was reading all his work and I met his wife Annabel Arden [a co-founder of Complicité]. I was excited when I read this play. It’s about an imagined country going through a sort of civil war. But, ultimately, it’s about when relationships get interrupted. We thought: “This is the Covid play, without being anything to do with the pandemic.” It’s about people who are trying to do their best. So much of it is about leadership and how we live together. When our leaders were sacrificing weaker people, when people’s relationships were interrupted by Covid. It felt timely.

How would you like to see the industry change?

New faces in new places and more risks. As an industry, we should represent people from lower-income backgrounds. That’s where the more interesting stories are. If the hero doesn’t hear themselves in the story, they’ll stop reading. If young people are not seeing themselves on screen or stage they’re not going to be interested. We’re lazy, we go for easy fixes when it comes to diversity and inclusion and don’t ask the difficult questions. We need more kindness.

CV Guy Woolf

Training: Theology at the University of Cambridge (2010-13)
First professional role: Thrill Me in Hamburg (2014)
Agent: Kitty Laing at United Agents

Interruptions is playing in rep with Albatross. It runs until December 4 at Jacksons Lane, London. For more: representtheatre.com