Director John Looks Forward To Southwark Playhouse Premiere

This month, former pupil John Haidar - who left Bablake in 2009 and read English Literature at Trinity College, University of Cambridge - is looking forward, as director, to the European premiere of award-winning playwright Steven Dietz's play 'Last of the Boys' at the Southwark Playhouse.

John, deputy editor of the 2007-8 edition of our nationally recognised magazine 'The Wheatleyan', had a keen interest in drama at Bablake but had originally set his career sights on becoming a chef. English teacher Mr Gary Park helped challenge all this with an A Level English trip to see Michael Boyd's production of 'Henry V' at the RSC.

John says: "That was my lightbulb moment. I did not fully know what it was I was looking at, but I knew I wanted to have a go at it. It reinforced the fact that Shakespeare's plays, along with those of so many other great dramatists, were never really written to be read; they were written to be seen. That was a game-changer for me. The thought of pursuing a career in theatre or film had not crossed my mind before that."

His CV is an impressive record of the vast experience gained since writing for the world-regarded Cambridge Footlights and completing his English Literature BA (First Class hons). His MA in Theatre Directing at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) was followed by a post as resident assistant director at the Birmingham REP.

He then enjoyed work as an assistant director at Shakespeare's Globe and The Royal Court Theatre, and was associate director to Michael Grandage on 'Photograph 51', which starred Nicole Kidman, at the Noel Coward Theatre in the West End last year. Once 'Last of the Boys' has finished its run at the Southwark Playhouse, John moves to be a staff director at the National Theatre. 

We are delighted to report on John's dramatic impact in the theatre and it will be no surprise to see more of his own projects involving writing, poetry and screenplay adaptation come to fruition over the next few years! 

For more information on 'Last of the Boys' - a funny, haunting play about a friendship forged by the Vietnam War and tested by time - which runs from Wednesday 11th May to Saturday 4th June, please click here.

(Image supplied.)

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