Melanie Jamieson reports on her Associate Director Internship at Dundee Rep.
Melanie Jamieson was the recipient of our 2026 Creative Internship with Dundee Rep. This award was created to support a short-term Early Career, paid bursary for an emerging Creative Artist at the Rep. Our aim is to encourage diversity in the industry, help the artist develop their skills and experience as performing arts practitioners, encourage the adoption of best practice and increase the pool of suitably-qualified, talented young professionals working in UK Theatre.
Melanie is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She is a theatre director, choreographer, playwright and author and teaches part-time at the RCS. She has worked extensively in the Scottish theatre scene as well as on off-Broadway productions.
Melanie worked as the Associate Director on The History of Paper, a joint production between Dundee Rep and Pitlochry Festival Theatre. The play, which went on to win a Fringe First at the 2026 Edinburgh Festival, was directed by Andrew Panton and starred Alan Cumming and Shirley Henderson.
Melanie had this to say about her experience of working on the production:
‘There are so many takeaways for me from this experience, and I will forever be grateful for it. It was so incredibly refreshing and inspiring to be a part of a story that spoke to me personally and to be in a room with creative passionate professionals. This was not a job but an artistic endeavour, where all parties involved were highly skilled and had a deep cohesive understanding of the story we were telling.
I am truly grateful to The Bridge Awards and Dundee Rep for giving me the opportunity to enforce some creative ideas I had let fade a bit, and to aid my evolution with more concrete learning in a professional high-stakes environment. I would like to thank Andrew specifically for making me feel so included in the process. This is a role that could have very much been observation, but he gave me responsibility and trusted me with it. He allowed me to take notes and offer thoughts to the group. He asked for my opinion and ensured I was introduced to new people entering the environment.
Thanks to this internship, I feel significantly more prepared to take on directorial roles for non-academic organisations and regional houses, and more confidence in my ability to communicate ideas with seasoned professionals. Thank you so very much for the opportunity to be a part of A History of Paper.
Alan Cumming and Shirley Henderson in A History of Paper.
