The theatre director on the best novel she’s read in a long time, Tracey Emin’s latest exhibition, exercising in the dark, and a Middle Eastern vegetarian restaurant

The theatre director Rebecca Frecknall grew up in Cambridgeshire and studied drama at Goldsmiths. Currently an associate director at the Almeida, from 2026 she will move to the same role at the Old Vic. Frecknall had a huge hit with the 2021 revival of Cabaret with Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley – it won seven Olivier awards – and another with A Streetcar Named Desire starring Paul Mescal. Her production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is at the Almeida until 1 February, while Streetcar returns to London from 3 to 22 February at the Noël Coward theatre.