Training

Upon graduating from Cambridge in 1998, she worked for Cambridge Arts Theatre, co-ordinating the BT National Connections project around East Anglia. She then moved to London, where she worked nights as a secretary for a mergers and acquisitions bank,^[2] pursuing theatre projects during the days, including assisting Laurie Sansom on a production of J.B. Priestley's Dangerous Corner (1999) at Watford Palace Theatre.

After nine months of living and working in London, she was appointed Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar Warehouse.^[3] Sam Mendes was then the Artistic Director. Over her year-long traineeship, she assisted Michael Grandage on Peter Nichols' Passion Play (2000) and Merrily We Roll Along (2000–2001), Nicholas Hytner on Orpheus Descending (2000), starring Helen Mirren, Sam Mendes on Nick Whitby's To the Green Fields Beyond (2000) and Phyllida Lloyd on David Mamet's Boston Marriage (2001), starring Zoë Wanamaker.^[4]

Following her twelve months at the Donmar, Sam Mendes asked her to direct Frame 312 (2002) on its stage,^[5] and Michael Grandage invited Rourke to Sheffield to direct Kick for Touch (2002) as part of the Peter Gill Festival at Sheffield Theatres.^[6] While preparing those productions, Rourke assisted Peter Gill on his own play, The York Realist (2001),^[7] and John Osborne's Luther (2001) on the Olivier stage of the National Theatre.^[8]

Early directing career

For the next five years, Rourke freelanced at a number of theatres, while being resident at the Royal Court in London and Associate Director of Sheffield Theatres.^[9]

While resident at the Royal Court Theatre, under Artistic Director Ian Rickson, she programmed readings, developed new work and directed Crazyblackmuthafuckin'self (2003)^[10] in the Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court and Loyal Women (2003) in the Theatre Downstairs.^[11] Her productions for Sheffield Theatres during this time were on the Lyceum, Crucible and Studio stages and included Much Ado About Nothing (2005) and Willis Hall's The Long and the Short and the Tall (2006).^[12] Her production of Steve Waters' play World Music (2003) transferred from Sheffield to the Donmar stage.^[13] During this period, Rourke was also the UK tour director of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues (2003).^[14]

She also directed for the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 2005 Gunpowder Season, Believe What You Will by Philip Massinger^[15] and, as part of the 2006 Complete Works Festival, King John by William Shakespeare, starring Richard McCabe, Joseph Millson and Tamsin Greig.^[16] She returned to the Donmar to direct a production of David Mamet's The Cryptogram (2006), which starred Kim Cattrall and Douglas Henshall.^[17]

Artistic directorship

Film and television

Rourke made her film debut with Working Title's Mary Queen of Scots. The film starred Saoirse Ronan as Mary, Queen of Scots and Margot Robbie as Elizabeth I.^[45] It premiered on 15 November 2018 at the AFI Fest and later received three nominations at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards,^[46] and two nominations, for Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hairstyling, at the 91st Academy Awards.^[47]

In early 2019, it was first announced that she would direct Catherine Tate's feature film, The Nan Movie, about her popular old-lady character from the BBC sketch series The Catherine Tate Show.^[48] In September, Rourke made an Instagram post, saying, "I think I speak for loads of us when I say that my Gran's spirit lives in Catherine Tate's immortal Nan. I have loved working with Catherine over the years on stage, and it is a massive treat to put her Nan on film."^[49] After initial filming, the film was substantially retooled.^[50] It largely took place in 1940s London, but those scenes were reportedly scaled back and new footage, greatly expanding the modern-day road trip sections, was filmed without Rourke at a low cost, with animation sequences used to fill any gaps.^[50] The film was scheduled to be released in June 2020,^[51] but was indefinitely postponed due to cinemas being closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[52] The Nan Movie was eventually released on 18 March 2022, with Rourke receiving an executive producer credit and no director credited.^[53][54]

During the 2020 lockdown, she directed the episode "Her Big Chance" of the BBC reboot of Alan Bennett's classic 1980s monologues, Talking Heads, starring Jodie Comer in the lead role.^[55] In summer 2021, she directed and co-wrote (with James Graham) the star-studded short film Rhythm of Life, encouraging people to get COVID-19 vaccines. It featured the song "The Rhythm of Life" from the 1966 classic musical, Sweet Charity, and starred Jim Broadbent, Derek Jacobi, David Walliams, Asa Butterfield, Colin Salmon, Don Warrington, Nicola Roberts, Russel Tovey and West End dancers.^[56]

Other work

From 2012 to 2018, Rourke served as a Non-Executive Director of public service broadcaster Channel 4.^[57][58] Since November 2019, Rourke has been a Vice-President of the London Library,^[59] having a particular focus on developing the Library's support for emerging playwrights as part of its wider Emerging Writers Program.^[60]