The Lasting Legacy of the Durham Stage

By Anna Pile

With this being our 900th issue, I decided to reach out to Durham alumni who have made the stage their career — to hear how their time at university shaped where they are today, and to discover just how much Durham itself has changed over the decades. 

I first spoke to Richard Lintern (Van Mildert, 1984), a decorated actor whose career spans stage and screen, from performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company to playing Dr Thomas Chamberlain in the BBC series Silent Witness. I also spoke with Nish Kumar (Grey, 2007) during his stop in Durham on his stand-up tour, Angry Humour From a Really Nice Guy — a genuinely brilliant show, but you may also know him from The Mash Report and Taskmaster. Lastly, Xanthe Gibson (Van Mildert, 2025) answered my questions over email while rehearsing as a swing, and understudying Katniss, in the new West End adaptation of The Hunger Games, and each had their own stories to tell about their time at Durham.

None of the three were especially certain of their career path when they first arrived. “I did lots of school plays and I went to National Youth Theatre,” Richard explained, “but when I got to Durham, I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.” Nish felt similar, explaining that he knew he loved comedy, but with his family having no background in show business, he hadn’t connected the dots that it could be a career until he visited the Freshers’ Fair. “I went when I arrived here and there was the Revue stand and I suddenly realised, oh, there’s a thing here like The [Cambridge] Footlights. And it was like, oh, maybe I’ll join that.”

“Before going to Durham I had no idea about the student theatre scene, and I just got so lucky with how good it was!” – Xanthe Gibson

“Before going to Durham I had no idea about the student theatre scene, and I just got so lucky with how good it was!” Xanthe wrote. “I was able to compete on the dance team, run a society, and be in over fourteen shows during my time.” She wasn’t the only one to praise Durham’s opportunities, Lintern remembered a staggering amount of performances when he attended: “If you wanted to put on a play, or some poetry, or whatever, there appeared to be the funds to do so,” he said. “I never actually got massively involved in the production side of things, but there were plays going on every ten minutes, it felt like — college plays, university plays, all sorts — and they were all well-funded and well-organised.”

On the comedy side, Nish only had wonderful memories of The Durham Revue. “I have a lot of fond memories of us finishing our exams and then spending twelve hours a day in a rehearsal room trying to put an hour of sketch comedy together,” he said. “I also spent a lot of time drinking Guinness at the Hog’s Head with Ed Gamble — and you could smoke indoors back then, so it just stank of fags and Guinness for two years.” Musical theatre played an equally large part in Xanthe’s time at Durham, “Any of my shows with DULOG [Durham University Light Opera Group] will always hold a special place in my heart,” she said, “I was president for two years, so I cared about the society very deeply.”

Richard and Nish share another experience too, as they both found their life partners at Durham. Richard recounted how he met his wife, who he met when she leapt on him on one of Durham’s many bridges, before adding: “I love her very much, you should put that in your article.” 

“If you’re even vaguely interested in it, give it a go, because it truly does not matter if you’re terrible,” – Nish Kumar

With a new cohort of first-years arriving, I was keen to hear their advice, both for students just starting out, and for those leaving who hope to pursue a career on stage. “If you’re even vaguely interested in it, give it a go, because it truly does not matter if you’re terrible,” Nish said. “…This is an amazing time in your life to do it, because there is infrastructure accessible to you — and the inaccessibility of infrastructure elsewhere is why the arts are becoming more of a playground for the children of the already wealthy.” 

Xanthe’s path towards the professional world has certainly been fast, but not exactly easy. “The transition from uni life to this industry is quite difficult, and you have to work extremely hard to make it work, but it absolutely can be done,” she explained. “Drama school can be a great — and sometimes more direct — path, but if you don’t feel it’s right for you, it’s not the only way in. I had a gut feeling that I was supposed to do things my own way, and I am so glad I listened to myself! You just need thick skin, crazy determination, and to remember that nothing is impossible if you’re insane enough.”

“That primal process of storytelling reasserts itself time after time.” – Richard Lintern

When discussing the uncertainty of the future in the world of performance, Lintern reflected on how theatre always reasserts itself: “A brilliant play comes along, a brilliant performer, and the straightforward antiquity of standing in a room, telling that story to people who have come — who have either paid money or not — to hear your story, repeats itself. That primal process of storytelling reasserts itself time after time.”

Image Credit: Becks Fleet