Women for all seasons

As if to stress the point, Levick's long-scheduled production of The Tempest, which opens in Dundee this week, bends genders in Shakespeare's magical island yarn to the extent of casting female actors in the traditionally-male roles of Prospero, Caliban and Aerial.

Of course, given Dundee's long-standing reputation as something of a matriarchy, such an approach seems the perfect fit, as Levick explains.

"I was keen to find a play where I felt I could do what I wanted," she says. "You can't do that with all Shakespeare plays, but with The Tempest, because it's on an island, and because there's magic, you really can do what you want. I've been really obsessed with casting Irene MacDougall in male roles ever since I cast her as Hook. I think there's a really muscular quality to her performance whilst still being her woman. With The Tempest, I think the relationship between Miranda and Prospero, which is between father and daughter, is not as interesting as it is for me if it's mother and daughter, in terms of the things she has to teach her. Then I thought about the other casting, and thought that if Prospero and Miranda are women, what if all the characters living on the island were women as well? They're the people who have been washed up or dumped on an island and taken away from society. These women have been cast out and left to rot, really."

Imposing a concept on Shakespeare can be as risky business. While it's easy to graft something on the start of a play, sustaining it is a different matter. Levick seems aware of such pitfalls, even as she enters into uncharted territory.

"I was really keen to do a Shakespeare," she says, "because I've never done one before. It was really interesting recently talking to Roxana Silbert, who's best known as a director of new writing with Paines Plough, but who before getting her current job at Birmingham Rep worked as an associate at the RSC. She said that, as a new writing director, directing Shakespeare was amazing, and discovered the same thing.

"The Tempest is one of those plays that keeps on giving things back in the rehearsal room, which is amazing. The danger is that you could probably rehearse it forever and still find different things and end up not producing it."

Given the nature of her new job, this is a luxury neither Levick nor co-artistic director and chief executive Philip Howard can afford. With Howard not joining her until February, Levick will be directing four shows back to back. While this leaves her little time to think about a programme beyond the autumn, the reality of her new job is slowly starting to sink in. "I'm excited, and a little bit anxious," she admits.

While Levick already has her feet under the table in Dundee via her tenure as associate director for the last couple of years, with productions including Equus, The Elephant Man and Steel Magnolias, Howard is an unknown quantity. This was one of the reasons why the pair applied separately for the job, so Howard could be judged solely on his own merits. Only once they'd both passed the first round of interviews did they formally suggest to the board a two-tiered approach might be best.

While a similar partnership between James Brining and Dominic Hill had existed prior to Hill's departure, there was no guarantee such a proposal would be accepted.

"The more Philip and I spoke about the job and what we wanted to do," says Levick, "the more synchronised and joined-up it became."

The roots of Levick and Howard teaming up date back to a rumour, when Levick heard that Howard wasn't going to apply for the Dundee job because he felt that, as an associate, the job should be Levick's.

Levick then called Howard to encourage him to apply. The dialogue between them that followed made them both realise how much they were on the same page regarding the Dundee job.

"We've long been admirers and supporters of each other's work," says Levick, "and, while I knew I really wanted the job of artistic director, I wasn't so sure about the chief executive bit of it. I've still got such a lot to learn about running a building, so when Philip suggested we go for it together, it all seemed to fit. I knew I would only want to run a building if I could still be an artist, and yet I also wanted to work in an organisation that had a supportive infrastructure to be able to make it work. So doing it this way, both Philip and I get to share the responsibilities of both, and to look after one another as well as the organisation."

Howard's new role as chief executive marks his first real return to high-profile work since his departure from the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh after a decade there as artistic director, and 14 years in total at Scotland's new-writing theatre. During that time, Howard oversaw the main-stage debuts of David Greig, David Harrower, Henry Adam and many others during a period when directors including John Tiffany and Vicky Featherstone worked at the Traverse.

"Timing-wise it suits me really well, " Howard says of his new post. "I've had an indecently enjoyable time as a freelance director for the last four years since I left the Traverse. That's also been a ridiculously stress-free time not having the responsibility of a building, but now I think I need a bit more stress in my life. I made a New Year's resolution 18 months ago that I was going to do all the stuff I'd never done before, including old plays and music theatre, and I've done both now. I've also yearned for the challenge to run another company, and to be pulled right out of my comfort zone, and that's certainly the case here. I'm not sure I would've wanted to do the job without Jemima, because I'm a real family man in terms of running a company, and working with her it becomes more of a playpen."

Levick and Howard are keen to stress that Dundee Rep's ensemble company will continue, and that, while they've yet to programme beyond the end of the year, despite both of their new writing backgrounds, a mix of classical and contemporary work should be expected. Both too are aware of Dundee Rep's sense of place.

"I feel like I've started to connect with the community since I've been here," Levick says, "and I want that to develop and continue. The important thing is to build on the audience we already have, so we can do things like Steel Magnolias and The Tempest. We're not going to rip things up and start again."

The Tempest, Dundee Rep, June 6-23. www.dundeerep.co.uk