She met Weise in 2013, when they both had a BBC theatre fellowship in 2016, each won emerging director awards, resulting in shows at the Young Vic – Trade by Debbie Tucker Green for Shanahan and Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop for Weise. “Who we are and what we look like and the point at which we are in our careers is maybe a bit different,” Shanahan says. They join other recent appointments – Charlotte Bennett and Katie Posner at Paines Plough Debbie Hannan and Gareth Nicholls at the Traverse – in opening up possibilities for more collaborative arts leadership. The artistic directorship of Manchester Royal Exchange is now split between two rising directing talents: Bryony Shanahan and Roy Alexander Weise. And a new trend in 2019 has proved quietly progressive: job shares. It’s often said that change in British theatre will only come about when you change who’s in charge. Rory Alexander Weise and Bryony Shanahan photographed at the Manchester Royal Exchange by Gary Calton for the Observer. The Water Dancer merges historical and fantasy fiction in a slavery story that Oprah Winfrey says is one of the best books she has read in her life. Also eagerly awaited is the debut novel by US nonfiction author Ta-Nehisi Coates. Devastating,” says Kamila Shamsie of the novel, which was inspired by the family tragedy of Shakespeare’s son, who died aged 11. Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet (March) marks a departure for a much-loved and acclaimed author as she too takes on historical fiction. The first two books in the series, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, both won the Man Booker prize (a unique achievement for successive novels), so it’s a good bet that The Mirror and the Light will make for a triumphant finale.
There will be new novels from Anne Tyler, Isabel Allende, Lionel Shriver, Roddy Doyle, Sebastian Barry and JM Coetzee, but it will be hardest to miss Hilary Mantel, who will publish the third and final book in her Thomas Cromwell trilogy in March – an event looked forward to with as much feverish longing as the follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale last year. It promises to be a tremendous year for fiction, with an embarrassment of big-name novelists returning to the fray.
Hilary Mantel, who will publish the final book in her Thomas Cromwell trilogy this year. “Why are we putting on plays written by long-dead, white, fascist, racist men, and then putting some black people in it? Why don’t we put more money into plays about people Ian McKellen would never be able to perform?” That change needs to be seen in the writing, she says. Teixeira considers herself lucky that she’s rarely been cast because of her race – but adds that she “hates” the term “colourblind casting”. “It’s probably why I became an actor, because in Brazil everyone is performing all the time.” She links this urge to perform to her heritage: born in Bradford to a black Brazilian father and white British mother, she was raised in El Salvador, returning to the UK when she was eight. It’s so revealing – which is probably why I love it. “It’s one of the most terrifying performances: you’re retelling an ancient story that’s been told millions of times before, in your own words, no one’s directed you, you have nowhere to hide. Live performance is still her main love, however: Teixeira is part of storytelling group the Embers Collective. “It’s funny: so many people are wanting to use the term ‘controversial’ because it’s about three people falling in love together, but it’s never been a word we used,” says Teixeira. She was so desperate to get the part, she wrote a pleading letter to the director Athina Tsangari after her audition. “It’s nothing to do with maths – thank God, because I would not be able to act that!” says Teixeira. She stars opposite Maisie Williams in Sky’s crime caper Two Weeks to Live, playing a “stone-cold” cop, and in Trigonometry – a BBC Two comedy written by Duncan Macmillan and Effie Woods about a flatshare that turns into a polyamorous relationship. Teixeira is a memorable performer, even in supporting roles – but this looks to be a break-out year. Thalissa Teixeira photographed by Suki Dhanda for the Observer.