Lessons in Women’s Leadership: Behind the Scenes of a ‘A Christmas Carol’ with Director Stephanie Street

Actor, writer, campaigner and Dramatic Resources Senior Associate Stephanie Street spoke with us to talk about her directorial debut, ‘A Christmas Carol’ currently playing at Wilton’s Music Hall in London. This ground-breaking new adaptation has received rave reviews for its superb portrayal of the first female Scrooge on stage. Given her extensive work on women’s leadership for DR, we went backstage to find out how the two link together.  

You are directing a woman in what has always been a male role – Dickens’ character Scrooge – what made you want to do that?

A Christmas Carol is a story about empathy, about redemption and the power of community. I was thrilled to work on a story with these big universal themes, but even more so in an adaptation that makes its relevance to our contemporary society so much more immediate. When Dickens was writing, Scrooge could only have been a male character but now there is every reason to bring the story up to date by seeing it through a woman’s eyes.

Are there any connections with women stepping into what have traditionally been seen as male roles in the business world?

I think there are many parallels to the world of women’s leadership. An encouragement to be more authentic and courageous has really paid off for our leading actor Sally Dexter and I see that with the work we do at Dramatic Resources. When we’re encouraging women to expand into their own leadership, we often say ‘Take up more space, push yourself further, be bolder, take bigger risks’. In the play Sally has to make herself so different from the other Victorian versions of femininity around her and I think that requires a level of courage and boldness - and a lot of energy.  

Having directed this play, is there anything you would incorporate or do differently in your work with women leaders?

I don’t think I had fully understood how difficult it is to take risks. It’s an easy thing when you are running a training room – to say ‘oh you have to be bolder, you’ve got to take risks’, but seeing it play out week after week in a rehearsal room, I saw how much that costs. And I will carry that back into my work with DR, understanding how much support women need, both in the training room and back at work, to be able to really reap the rewards of taking those risks and being bold.

You are a woman leader (as a writer, actor, campaigner, trainer – as well as director). Has this experience brought anything to that for you personally?

Totally. I have questioned so many times whether I’m up to it. So many times, I thought I had bitten off more than I could chew. Not just in terms of the production but in balancing the production with the rest of my life, the levels of exhaustion and the cost feels enormous. I like to really push myself and for me, that means calling on people to support you. I’ve found that people are there to support you. They really, really are.

The power of the collective in making this piece of theatre has been significant, but also the power of the collective around me and supporting it has got me through. And that would be one of my big learnings which I will take back to the leadership work we do: the power of collaboration! 

So, I suppose my advice would be the old saying - ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together’.