Sue Thornton MA FGS FRSA

Sue Thornton

Being pushed in at the deep end has been a recurring theme in the career of Sue Thornton. After her own Drama School training, her first job as Assistant Stage Manager at the Nottingham Playhouse led to her taking over as Stage Manager within 6 months at this top repertory theatre. Again at the age of 26, she became one of the first female Company Stage Managers in the West End and for the next 16 years she carried on a double career working as both a Company Manager and Television Stage Manager. In the theatre, Sue worked with many of the influential playwrights of the 70s, including Tom Stoppard, Simon Gray, Alan Ayckbourn, Edward Bond and Michael Frayn. Countless directors and actors have been in her tender care: from Alec Guinness, Alan Bates, Tom Courtenay, Richard Briers, Robert Stephen, Ronnie Barker and Tim Curry to Judi Dench, Jill Bennett and Lynn Redgrave. One of her fondest memories is the week she worked with Groucho Marx!

Sue has been at the Guildhall School since 1991 and during that time has masterminded the transition of the Technical Theatre course to BA (Hons) degree status. She combines her busy career at the School with an equally busy schedule of events as a leader of SGI, an international Buddhist peace movement and she is our only known member of staff authorised to marry people!