Zinnie Harris is leaving her staff role at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. The playwright and director will step down from her position as Associate Artistic Director, concluding a six-year tenure that shaped much of the venue’s recent output.
Harris first arrived at the Lyceum as an Associate Director in 2020. She took on the Associate Artistic Director title in April 2022, later adding the responsibilities of Interim Director of Creative Learning in 2024. Her departure marks a clear shift in the theatre’s internal leadership team under Artistic Director and CEO James Brining.
Future projects and festival plans
The exit does not signal an end to her creative work in the capital. Harris is currently preparing to direct her new play, Supposing:, at the Traverse Theatre for this August’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The move precedes a swift return to her old stomping ground as a freelancer. The Lyceum confirmed she is already scheduled to write and direct a large-scale production for their 2026/27 season, with details to be announced later.
During her time on the Lyceum payroll, Harris maintained a high-profile production schedule. She wrote and directed Macbeth (an undoing), which later transferred to London’s Rose Theatre and New York’s Theatre for a New Audience. Her adaptation of The Duchess of Malfi secured a West End run, while her staging of Caryl Churchill’s A Number won a Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) prize for Best Director.
Beyond her theatre credits, Harris continues her academic work. She is the Professor of Playwriting and Screenwriting at St Andrews University and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2018.
Artistic tributes
Lyceum Artistic Director James Brining praised her impact on the company. “Zinnie is one of Scotland’s foremost theatre artists, and we’ve been fortunate to have benefited from her influence and creative energy at The Lyceum,” Brining said. “Zinnie has been an extraordinary artistic force and her imagination, intelligence and commitment to the work have enriched our stage and inspired colleagues and audiences alike.”
Lyceum Artistic Director James Brining praised her impact on the company. “Zinnie is one of Scotland’s foremost theatre artists, and we’ve been fortunate to have benefited from her influence and creative energy at The Lyceum…
Reflecting on her time with the company, Harris highlighted the growth of the theatre’s community output. “Alongside the productions I have written and directed, I am particularly proud of the Creative Learning team, and what we have achieved together during the past couple of years,” Harris said. “The theatre is a place of real ambition and care, and the staff are committed and dedicated to delivering extraordinary theatre.”
Legendary doyen of The Scotsman, critic Joyce McMillan, noted the broader significance of Harris’s work over the last decade, pointing to her teaching and mentoring efforts through St Andrews University and the Scottish Playwrights’ Studio. McMillan observed that Harris “has provided huge inspiration to a generation of new writers, many of them women, for whom she represents a living example of how to engage with history of theatre and then change it.”
The Lyceum stated that further details regarding its future artistic plans will be announced in due course.
Featured Image: Zinnie Harris – Image provided by PR
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