Paige’s road to the Sydney Theatre Company
• Bridport-raised Paige Rattray is now the associate director of the Sydney Theatre Company.
By Daisy Baker
August 01, 2018
A teenage Paige Rattray would never have dreamed of making a career out of theatre.
Fast-forward through years of hard work and study, to May this year, and Paige was appointed as the associate director of the Sydney Theatre Company (STC).
The Bridport native now lives in Sydney, developing new plays with writers, directing productions and working with emerging artists to bring new voices into the company.
Paige has previously directed a number of shows for STC, including Black is the New White, Power Plays and Boys will be Boys.
She said she got the ‘theatre bug’ after directing a show as part of her undergraduate theatre degree at UTAS.
“I went back to uni to study theatre and was hoping to become a drama teacher,” she said.
“Then I got the ‘bug’ and knew there wasn’t anything else I wanted to do.
“I was fortunate to be accepted into a post-graduate degree at NIDA [National Institute of Dramatic Art] and everything has worked out from there.”
Paige left Bridport in 2009 to study at NIDA, but she comes back to her hometown to visit her mum as often as possible.
She said working in theatre means she is always learning.
“No two shows I work on are the same,” Paige said.
“I'm always meeting new people who make me think differently about the world and I hope that has a flow on effect to our audiences.”
When asked where she sees herself if five years, Paige said without hesitation, “New York baby!”
Despite this, she said an eventual return to the North-East is on the cards.
“I love coming home, I especially love having a glass of wine with Di Lette, Debbie Barnett and Mum at the Bunker (even though Mum can really only have half a glass before we have to carry her out!),” she laughed.
“I hope that I might be able to be based in Tasmania eventually and live on Di Turner's Seafood Chowder for the rest of my life but that will be a while away.”