There are so many articles written about Cate and Andrew leaving STC and here is one for you to read:

“It’s been an interesting experiment but enough is enough.”

This was the thinking at the Sydney Theatre Company about the departure of Cate Blanchett and her husband, Andrew Upton, as co-artistic directors.

It is believed the decision by the couple and the STC board was mutual. Blanchett and Upton will leave next year after the end of their second term in charge.
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The STC’s general manager, Patrick McIntyre, said Blanchett and Upton, a playwright and stage director, had always wanted an orderly succession and would like to work with the new artistic director rather than dump a 2014 program on them.

“As far as the company and the board is concerned [Blanchett and Upton's tenure] has been a great success,” he said.

The appointment of the high-profile couple had been described by some members as a “Hollywood fix” that attracted international directors and actors, big audiences keen to see the internationally acclaimed actress on stage and valuable corporate sponsorship from the likes of Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani (whose sponsorship deal has now ended).

Recruitment firm Korn/Ferry had been quietly talking to people in the industry before yesterday’s confirmation that a search had begun for a new artistic director.

Blanchett’s overseas film commitments, the couple’s pressures as the parents of a young family and Upton’s “erratic” personality are believed to have worried some board members.

Blanchett, who is travelling, and Upton were not available for comment yesterday.

Mr McIntyre said the couple had engaged seriously with the business side of the company, and the “greening” of the Wharf and the new bar and dining space that will open in March were their ideas.

Appointing another actor or someone from overseas has not been ruled out, but Mr McIntyre said it was very early days.

David Gonski, the STC chairman, said the company had been “very, very fortunate to have both Cate and Andrew for what will constitute a six-year period … they have been absolutely excellent”. “We have always had an international element to the company but now there is absolutely no doubt about that,” he said.

Asked if the STC’s international profile would dissipate once Blanchett departed, Mr Gonski said: “One seeks to profit from what has been built.”

Following several years of losses at the STC, the couple’s 2009 debut program produced an operating profit of $607,167, thanks largely to a sell-out season of A Streetcar Named Desire. The 2010 season was even stronger, with an operating profit of $919,860.

International directors and actors became regular visitors, including Liv Ullmann, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Steven Soderbergh and William Hurt, although Hurt’s performance in Long Day’s Journey Into Night disappointed many.

International collaborations with the likes of Steppenwolf Theatre Company (August: Osage County) and Abbey Theatre (Terminus) were critical and box office successes.

Blanchett’s international status has helped boost the company’s profile overseas and the US tours of A Streetcar Named Desire and Uncle Vanya were critically acclaimed.

The board might look to a safe pair of hands for a successor, such as playwright and former artistic director of the Queensland Theatre Company, Michael Gow, or Michael Kantor, formerly artistic director of Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre. Another potential candidate could be STC associate director Tom Wright.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald