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First established as a director of numerous West End productions, Hettie MacDonald made her debut as a feature filmmaker with Beautiful Thing (1996), an acclaimed portrait of two South London youths who explore their homosexuality. A former English major at Bristol University, MacDonald learned to direct as part of the Royal Court Theatre's Regional Theatre Trainee Director Scheme in the mid-'80s and, at age 24, made her stage directorial debut with an Albery Theatre production of The Normal Heart. She was the youngest woman to helm a West End play. In 1991, MacDonald became the Associate Director at Ipswich's Wosley Theatre.