It is with broken hearts that we announce the passing of Damn Cheek Founding Director Rob Swinton. Rob died peacefully on Saturday 5 September at the age of 74.
Rob Swinton was at the heart of Damn Cheek from its very beginning. He was the driving force behind the company’s creation – bringing people together, pushing ideas forward and believing passionately in the power of theatre to say something about the world around us.
But Rob’s creative life began long before Damn Cheek. He was an established and highly respected actor, director and writer, with a career spanning many years across theatre, television and teaching. He continued to work professionally as an actor, director and writer throughout his life, right up until he became ill.
Among his many achievements was The Malvern Mystery Play, a hugely ambitious large-scale community theatre project performed at Malvern Priory in 2019. It was to be Rob’s final major creative project – and in many ways feels like a fitting legacy. Bringing together a huge community cast, it embodied his belief in the power of theatre to bring people together and his extraordinary ability to create ambitious work on a large scale while keeping people and their stories at its heart. It was during this project that Rob first began to experience the health difficulties that would eventually change the course of his life, and although he continued to write and direct for as long as he was able, his health ultimately prevented him from continuing his professional career.
Back in 2012, it was Rob who came up with the name Damn Cheek – one that perfectly captured the spirit of what we wanted the company to be: bold, irreverent, political, playful and never afraid to ask difficult questions.
But Rob was much more than a founding member and creative force. He was a best friend to me, and a best friend to the company. His friendship, humour, generosity and belief in what we were trying to achieve shaped Damn Cheek in ways that went far beyond the work itself.
Rob was also deeply passionate about supporting the next generation of actors, particularly young and working-class performers. Throughout his many years teaching at leading drama schools, including his long association with ALRA, he gave his time, experience and encouragement to countless young actors finding their way into the profession. And unlike many, he didn’t just teach them – he actively created opportunities for them, regularly employing young actors in his professional projects and giving them the chance to gain real experience and establish themselves in the industry. Among them of course, was Damn Cheek’s very own founding artist, Jonny Vaughton. It was work Rob cared about enormously.
At ALRA, Rob had the particular joy of working alongside me – much to both our amusement – under the leadership of Pat Trueman, who was also one of his lifelong best friends. Rob and Pat shared a deep friendship stretching back many years, alongside a profound professional respect and a shared commitment to supporting and nurturing young actors. We are particularly touched that, through that long-standing friendship and shared history, Pat remains such an important part of the Damn Cheek family – a connection that means even more to us now. For Rob, his time at ALRA brought together two things he cared deeply about: teaching and nurturing the next generation of performers, and working alongside people he loved, trusted and respected.
Alongside Tony Earnshaw, Debbie Christie, Jonny Vaughton and myself, Rob helped establish the company’s earliest work and its values. His energy, ideas and determination set something in motion that would grow into something much bigger than any of us could have imagined.
Much of what Damn Cheek became can be traced back to Rob’s belief that theatre could entertain, challenge, provoke and bring people together. His fingerprints are all over the company – not least in its name.
We owe him an enormous debt of gratitude – but more than that, we will miss him terribly. For me, the loss is that of a best friend. For Damn Cheek, it is the loss of one of its founding hearts.
Rob leaves behind a remarkable creative legacy: in the many actors he encouraged, the artists and communities he worked alongside, the work he created, the friends who loved him, and in the company he helped bring into being.
Rob will always be part of the Damn Cheek story, and he will always have a place in our hearts.
I know how much I, and so many others who were close to him, miss the Rob we knew and loved – his friendship, his cheeky-pokiness, his passion, his care, his politics, his humour, his art and, above all, his huge heart.
Darren x
Co-Artistic Director