Emma Doherty

MusB, 2017

Stage director and practitioner

Tell us a little about your work

I work in a variety of different roles as a director, assistant director, musician and project manager, and since graduating have worked on productions with Welsh National Opera, National Opera Studio, Waterperry Opera, British Youth Opera and Manchester Collective. I also use music and theatre in various community settings; doing projects with people in prison, children and young people, women who are refugee and asylum seekers and people affected by homelessness.

How did your experience at Manchester prepare you for where you are now?

The opportunity to direct Castor and Pollux in my second year was invaluable and completely changed my life trajectory, leading me to set up The Opera Shack and pursue directing as a career. The encouragement from the department to create your own opportunities motivated me to think outside the box about what it was I wanted to do, and how to make that happen. Also, living in a city as vibrant as Manchester opened my eyes to the amount of organisations doing really exciting and important work.

What do you enjoy most about what you do?

The think I love most about my job is the variety. Each project I do offers new challenges and experiences, places to live and people to collaborate with. I love doing a mixture of professional and community projects, some roles as director and some as assistant, some that are purely musical and others that are more theatre focused. No two days are ever the same!