“THE FORCES of conservatism irritate me,’’ departing Dundee Rep theatre artistic director Dominic Hill declared yesterday, writes Joy Watters, arts reporter.

This will be blindingly obvious to anyone who has seen his re-working of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt.

Love it or hate it, it certainly won’t leave you cold, for as Hill said, “There is nothing worse than being bored at the theatre.”

The man who “likes big plays” had his last day in the theatre office yesterday, first reading the latest five-star reviews of Peer Gynt which opened last week.

On Monday he was in London auditioning for the American play A Prayer for My Daughter which he is to direct for the Young Vic and soon he will direct Falstaff for Scottish Opera.

All this before he takes up the reins at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre, the home of new writing, in a few months.

The transition is not a complete change of direction as Hill has worked with writers before, playwright Colin Teevan’s reworking of Peer Gynt is such a radical version of Ibsen’s original, it could almost pass as new work.

At the Traverse, he will have various responsibilities, developing new work, commissioning and programming for next year’s Edinburgh Festival.

Running the Traverse will mean less time for directing but he welcomed the opportunity to have some space.

Hill, who is 38, said the Rep had given him the chance to create his best work.

“The Rep has great freedom. One of the great things about being here is that the audience has embraced what we have done rather than dictate to us.

“We have a wide range of people in our audiences and don’t have to offer a narrow range of work.

“I am forever grateful that the Rep has allowed me to do such productions as Ubu the King, Scenes from an Execution and Peer Gynt.

“Any other regional theatre would not have let me, here they just let me get on with my job.”

He first directed for the Rep as a freelance in 2001 with a production of A Winter’s Tale, then became associate director to artistic director Hamish Glen.

When Glen resigned at the end of 2002 to head off to the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, the board decided to have two artistic directors, appointing Hill and James Brining, who is also chief executive.

Autumn 2003 saw the launch of the new partnership opened by Hill’s magical Twelfth Night.

It was only the beginning of an intriguing programme from the pair, putting Dundee Rep on the UK theatre map with the only full-time company of actors in Scotland.

“I really think I’ve done my best work ever here and I think it’s because of the ensemble, good people who I trust and they trust me,” said Hill.

For Peer Gynt the rehearsal time was nine weeks, when normally a regional theatre would have four.

“These sort of conditions are great. It has allowed me free rein.

“James has been great, having him here has meant that a lot of pressure has been off me. I have been directing the lion’s share of the shows and have been allowed to because someone else has been in charge all day long.

“He’s been fantastic, allowing me that freedom.”

Asked about the productions of which he is most proud, the first is Howard Barker’s Scenes From An Execution.

It was only the third staging of the work in Britain and took five of the 10 Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland in 2004, including best production and best director for Hill.

The auditorium was entirely re-configured creating theatre in the round.

His radical approach never smacks of gimmickry but shows a mind keen to get to the heart of a work and show it to an audience.

“Doing Scenes was the fulfilment of an ambition, it was something I had wanted to do since I was about 20,” he said.

Ubu “was great, we had never done anything like it before. It was very concept- ually led and it worked.”

He thoroughly enjoyed rehearsing Midsummer Night’s Dream, which he set amid pouring rain.

It was just one of his inventive treatments of Shakespeare’s work that won him plaudits. His revival of A Winter’s Tale in 2003 was performed in Iran.

The Rep not only boasts its own company of actors but is also the home of Scottish Dance Theatre.

Both companies worked together on last year’s highly entertaining Monkey.

“I really believe in giving the audience an experience—even if they don’t like it, I want to entertain, shock and surprise.”

Looking out the sun-filled Rep, he smiles and says, “I am going to miss this place, the actors and the people that I work with who have become my friends and family.”