Katrina Jane Mitchell (born 23 September 1964) is an English
theatre director
A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...
.
Life and career
Mitchell was born in
Reading, Berkshire
Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...
, raised in
Hermitage, Berkshire
Hermitage is a village and civil parish, near Newbury, in the English county of Berkshire. The civil parish is made up of a number of settlements: Hermitage village, Little Hungerford and Wellhouse.
Location
The village is focused residentiall ...
, and educated at
Oakham School
(Like runners, they pass on the torch of life)
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding
, religion = Church of England
, president ...
. Upon leaving Oakham, she went up to
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...
, to read English.
She began her career behind the scenes at the
King's Head Theatre
The King's Head Theatre, founded in 1970 by Dan Crawford, is an off-West End venue in London. It is the second oldest operating pub theatre in the UK. In 2021, Mark Ravenhill became Artistic Director and the theatre focusses on producing LGBTQ ...
in London before taking on work as an assistant director at theatre companies including
Paines Plough
Paines Plough is a touring theatre company founded in 1974 by writer David Pownall and director John Adams.
The company specialises exclusively in commissioning and producing new plays and helping playwrights develop their craft.
Over the past ...
(1987) and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) (1988 - 1989). Early in her career in the 1990s, she directed five early productions under the umbrella of her company Classics On A Shoestring including Women of Troy for which she won a Time Out Award.
In 1989, she was awarded a Winston Churchill Travel Fellowshi to study director’s training in Russian, Georgia, Lithuania and Poland and the work she saw there, including productions by
Lev Dodin
Lev Abramovich Dodin (russian: Лев Абрамович Додин, born 1944) is a modern Russian theater director, the leader of Saint Petersburg Maly Drama Theater.
Biography
Lev Dodin was born in Novokuznetsk in 1944. He first experienced ...
, Eiumentas Nekrosius and
Anatoly Vasiliev
Anatoly Alexandrovitch Vasiliev (russian: Анато́лий Алекса́ндрович Васи́льев, link=no; born May 4, 1942, Penza Oblast) is a Russian theatre director. He is artistic director of the Moscow Theatre "School of Dramat ...
, influenced her own practice for the next twenty years.
In 1996, Mitchell started directing operas at
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera (WNO) ( cy, Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru) is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales; it gave its first performances in 1946. It began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its ...
where she directed four productions, including Handel's ''
Jephtha
Jephthah (pronounced ; he, יִפְתָּח, ''Yīftāḥ''), appears in the Book of Judges as a judge who presided over Israel for a period of six years (). According to Judges, he lived in Gilead. His father's name is also given as Gilead, ...
'' and Jancek's ''
Jenůfa
''Její pastorkyňa'' (''Her Stepdaughter''; commonly known as ''Jenůfa'' ) is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play ''Její pastorkyňa'' by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed ...
''. Since then, she has directed operas at houses, including the
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...
,
English National Opera
English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...
,
Glyndebourne
Glyndebourne () is an English country house, the site of an opera house that, since 1934, has been the venue for the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The house, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England, is thought to be about six hun ...
, the
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Ama ...
,
Berlin State Opera
The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from ...
, the
Royal Danish Opera
The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first ser ...
Aix-en-Provence Festival
The Festival d'Aix-en-Provence is an annual international music festival which takes place each summer in Aix-en-Provence, principally in July. Devoted mainly to opera, it also includes concerts of orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo instrumental ...
.
Mitchell was an Associate Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1996 and 1998. In 1997, Mitchell became responsible for programming at The Other Place, the RSC's former
black box theatre
A black box theater is a simple performance space, typically a square room with black walls and a flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interaction. The black ...
. While at the RSC she directed nine productions, including ''
The Phoenician Women
''The Phoenician Women'' ( grc, Φοίνισσαι, ''Phoinissai'') is a tragedy by Euripides, based on the same story as Aeschylus' play ''Seven Against Thebes''. It was presented along with the tragedies ''Hypsipyle'' and '' Antiope.'' With this ...
'' which won her the ''Evening Standard'' Award for Best Director in 1996. Between 2000 and 2003 she was an Associate Director at the
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...
and between 2003 and 2011 she was an Associate of the Royal National Theatre.
She has directed thirteen productions for the Royal Court, including ''Ten Billion'' (2012) and 2071(2014) about the climate emergency, an issue she is passionate about. Recent productions at the Royal Court include her ongoing collaboration with the writer
Alice Birch
Alice Birch is a British playwright and screenwriter. Birch has written several plays, including ''Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.'' for which she was awarded the George Devine Award for Most Promising New Playwright, and ''Anatomy of a Suicide' ...
on ''Ophelia’s Zimmer'' (''Ophelia's Room'') and ''Anatomy of a Suicide''.
At the National Theatre, she has directed eighteen productions, the most innovative being an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel, ''
The Waves
''The Waves'' is a 1931 novel by English novelist Virginia Woolf. It is critically regarded as her most experimental work, consisting of ambiguous and cryptic soliloquies spoken mainly by six characters; Bernard, Susan, Rhoda, Neville, Jinny a ...
'', where she combined theatre making with the use of live video, creating a form later called ‘live cinema’.
The live cinema work was subsequently developed in Germany and France. She has directed more than 15 live cinema productions in the UK, Austria, Germany and France, at theatres like the Schaubühne Theatre (Berlin) and the Schauspielhaus in Cologne, and these pieces have toured the world including Greece, Russia, China, Portugal and Brazil.
Whilst at the National Theatre, Mitchell pioneered children’s theatre for primary school age theatre goers, including an adaptation of
Dr. Seuss
Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss" '' Cat in the Hat''. Her interest in this age group also led her to initiate English National Opera’s first ever opera commission for a primary school audience - an adaptation of
Oliver Jeffers
Oliver Brendan Jeffers (born 1977) is a Northern Irish artist, illustrator and writer who now lives and works in Brooklyn. He went to the integrated secondary school Hazelwood College, then graduated from the University of Ulster in 2001.
...
' book, ''The Way Back Home''.
From 2008, Mitchell started working regularly on mainland Europe in Germany, Holland, France, Denmark and Austria. Her first production for the Cologne Schauspielhaus, Wunschkonzert, earned her a place at the Theatertreffen in Berlin and since then she has directed four productions for the Cologne Schauspielhaus, seven for the Schaubühne Theatre, Berlin, and six for the Hamburg Schauspielhaus. She has also worked at the Toneelgroep, Amsterdam, and twice at the Bouffes du Nord, Paris. She is a resident director at the Schaubühne Theatre, Berlin, the Hamburg Schauspielhaus and had a seven-year artist-in-residency at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. In 2015 the Stadsschouwburg theatre in Amsterdam held a retrospective of her opera and theatre work, presenting eight productions from across Europe.
In 2009, Mitchell published ''The Director’s Craft: A Handbook for the Theatre'' (Routledge), her practical manual to help emerging directors learn how to direct. She also published two books based on her live cinema productions – ''…some trace of her'' and ''Waves'', both in 2008.
Mitchell has also directed installations, including Five Truths at the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
. In 2011 The Department of Theatre and Performance at the V&A invited Mitchell and Leo Warner of 59 Productions to conceive and produce a video installation exploring the nature of 'truth in performance'. Taking as its inspiration 5 of the most influential European theatre directors of the last century, the project examines how each of the practitioners would direct the actress playing Ophelia in the 'mad' scenes in Shakespeare's ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
''. This multiscreen video installation, launched at the Chantiers Europe festival at the
Théâtre de la Ville
(meaning the City Theatre) is one of the two theatres built in the 19th century by Baron Haussmann at Place du Châtelet, Paris, the other being the Théâtre du Châtelet. It is located at 2, place du Châtelet in the 4th arrondissement.
Incl ...
in Paris on 4 June, and opened at the V&A on 12 July 2011.
In a career spanning thirty years, Mitchell has directed over 100 shows - over 70 theatre productions and nearly 30 operas. She is currently a Professor of Theatre Directing at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she teaches on an MA in directing. Other academic positions include:
* Cultural Fellow at King’s College, London 2015 –Present
* Honorary Fellow at Rose Bruford College, London 2014
* Visiting Fellow at Central St Martins, London 2016 – 2018
* Visiting Professor of Opera at Oxford University 2017
Reputation
Mitchell has been described as "a director who polarises audiences like no other" and "the closest thing the British theatre has to an auteur". In 2007, the artistic director of the NT accused the British press of affording Mitchell's productions "misogynistic reviews, where everything they say is predicated on her sex".
Her productions have been described as "distinguished by the intensity of the emotions, the realism of the acting, and the creation of a very distinctive world" and accused of "a willful disregard for classic texts", but Mitchell suggests that while "there's a signature in every director's work", it is not her intent to work to a "strong personal signature".
At the beginning of her career, Mitchell's process involved long and intensive rehearsal periods and use of Stanislavski's system. She regularly involves psychiatry in looking at characters, and in 2004 directed a series of workshops on Stanislavski and neuroscience at the NT studio. Since her 2006 play ''Waves'', she has also experimented with video projections in a number of productions.
In 2016 Mitchell was described as ‘British theatre’s Queen in exile’ and a director who ‘provokes strong reactions.’ Some see her ‘as a vandal, ripping apart classic texts and distorting them to her own dubious purpose’ and others ‘consider her to be the most important British director of theatre and opera at work today – indeed, among the greatest in the world.’ (The Guardian, 14 January 2016)
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...
"for her work to enhance the presentation of classic and contemporary theatre and opera through innovative new production".
Githa Sowerby
Katherine Githa Sowerby (6 October 1876 – 30 June 1970), also known under her pen name K. G. Sowerby, was an English playwright, children's writer, and member of the Fabian Society. A feminist, she was well-known during the early twentieth cen ...
*1995: ''The Machine Wreckers'' (''Die Maschinenstürmer'') by
Ernst Toller
Ernst Toller (1 December 1893 – 22 May 1939) was a German author, playwright, left-wing politician and revolutionary, known for his Expressionist plays. He served in 1919 for six days as President of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, ...
*1996: ''
The Phoenician Women
''The Phoenician Women'' ( grc, Φοίνισσαι, ''Phoinissai'') is a tragedy by Euripides, based on the same story as Aeschylus' play ''Seven Against Thebes''. It was presented along with the tragedies ''Hypsipyle'' and '' Antiope.'' With this ...
'' by
Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars a ...
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
*1998: ''
Jenůfa
''Její pastorkyňa'' (''Her Stepdaughter''; commonly known as ''Jenůfa'' ) is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play ''Její pastorkyňa'' by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed ...
'', an opera by
Leoš Janáček
Leoš Janáček (, baptised Leo Eugen Janáček; 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic musics, including Eastern European f ...
*1998: ''
Uncle Vanya
''Uncle Vanya'' ( rus, Дя́дя Ва́ня, r=Dyádya Ványa, p=ˈdʲædʲə ˈvanʲə) is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1898, and was first produced in 1899 by the Moscow Art Theatre under the dir ...
'', a version by
David Lan
David Lan is a South African-born British playwright, theatre producer and director and a social anthropologist.
Career
Born in Cape Town, he trained as an actor and gained a BA at the University of Cape Town. He has lived in London since 197 ...
of Anton Chekhov's play
*2000: ''
The Oresteia
The ''Oresteia'' ( grc, Ὀρέστεια) is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BCE, concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of t ...
'', a version by
Ted Hughes
Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...
from
Aeschylus
Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...
Martin Crimp Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Aust ...
*2001: ''
Káťa Kabanová
''Káťa Kabanová'' (also known in various spellings including ''Katia'', ''Katja'', ''Katya'', and ''Kabanowa'') is an opera in three acts, with music by Leoš Janáček to a libretto by the composer based on '' The Storm'', a play by Alexander ...
Jephtha
Jephthah (pronounced ; he, יִפְתָּח, ''Yīftāḥ''), appears in the Book of Judges as a judge who presided over Israel for a period of six years (). According to Judges, he lived in Gilead. His father's name is also given as Gilead, ...
'', an
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is ...
The Turn of the Screw
''The Turn of the Screw'' is an 1898 horror novella by Henry James which first appeared in serial format in '' Collier's Weekly'' (January 27 – April 16, 1898). In October 1898, it was collected in ''The Two Magics'', published by Macmil ...
'' (film), opera by
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
*2004: ''
Iphigenia in Aulis
''Iphigenia in Aulis'' or ''Iphigenia at Aulis'' ( grc, Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Αὐλίδι, Īphigéneia en Aulídi; variously translated, including the Latin ''Iphigenia in Aulide'') is the last of the extant works by the playwright Euripide ...
'' by Euripides
*2005: ''
A Dream Play
''A Dream Play'' ( sv, Ett drömspel) is a fantasy play in 14 scenes written in 1901 by the Swedish playwright August Strindberg. It was published in Swedish in 1902 and first performed in Stockholm on 17 April 1907. It remains one of Strindberg ...
'' by
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...
*2006: ''
The Seagull
''The Seagull'' ( rus, Ча́йка, r=Cháyka, links=no) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises th ...
'', a version by Martin Crimp of Anton Chekhov's play
*2006: ''Waves'', based on
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.
Woolf was born i ...
's novel ''
The Waves
''The Waves'' is a 1931 novel by English novelist Virginia Woolf. It is critically regarded as her most experimental work, consisting of ambiguous and cryptic soliloquies spoken mainly by six characters; Bernard, Susan, Rhoda, Neville, Jinny a ...
''
*2007: ''Attempts on Her Life'' by Martin Crimp
*2007: '' Women of Troy'' by Euripides
*2008: ''The City'' by Martin Crimp
*2008: ''...Some Trace of Her'' inspired / based on ''
The Idiot
''The Idiot'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Идиот, Idiót) is a novel by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published serially in the journal ''The Russian Messenger'' in 1868–69.
The title is an ...
'' by
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
*2008: ''
The Maids
''The Maids'' (french: Les Bonnes, links=no) is a 1947 play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. It was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris in a production that opened on 17 April 1947, which Louis Jouvet directed.
The play ...
'' by Jean Genet, Sweden
*2009: ''Wunschkonzert'' by
Franz Xaver Kroetz
Franz Xaver Kroetz (; born 25 February 1946) is a German author, playwright, actor and film director. He achieved great success beginning in the early 1970s. ''Persistent'', '' Farmyard'', and ''Request Concert'', all written in 1971, are some o ...
,
Schauspiel Köln
Schauspiel Köln is a theatre and company in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It forms together with the Cologne Opera and other houses the Bühnen der Stadt Köln (Stages of the city of Cologne). The listed building has 830 seats in th ...
, Cologne, Germany
*2009: ''After Dido'' based on ''
Dido and Aeneas
''Dido and Aeneas'' (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncertain. It was com ...
'' by Purcell (for
English National Opera
English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...
at the Young Vic)
*2009: ''Pains of Youth'', a version by Martin Crimp of
Ferdinand Bruckner
Ferdinand Bruckner (born Theodor Tagger; 26 August 1891, in Sofia, Bulgaria – 5 December 1958, in Berlin) was an Austrian-German writer and theater manager. Although his works are relatively rarely revived, ''Krankheit der Jugend'' was put o ...
's play ' at the National Theatre
*2009: ''Parthenogenesis'' an opera by
James MacMillan
Sir James Loy MacMillan, (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor.
Early life
MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is James MacMi ...
and
Michael Symmons Roberts
Michael Symmons Roberts FRSL (born 1963 in Preston, Lancashire) is a British poet.
He has published eight collections of poetry, all with Cape (Random House), and has won the Forward Prize, the Costa Book Award and the Whitbread Prize for Poetr ...
at the
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...
*2009: ''
The Cat in the Hat
''The Cat in the Hat'' is a 1957 children's book written and illustrated by the American author Theodor Geisel, using the pen name Dr. Seuss. The story centers on a tall anthropomorphic cat who wears a red and white-striped top hat and a red b ...
Idomeneo
' (Italian for '' Idomeneus, King of Crete, or, Ilia and Idamante''; usually referred to simply as ''Idomeneo'', K. 366) is an Italian language opera seria by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a Frenc ...
'' by
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
at English National Opera
*2010: ''
Fräulein Julie
''Miss Julie'' (german: Fräulein Julie) is a 1922 German silent drama film directed by Felix Basch and starring Asta Nielsen, William Dieterle, and Lina Lossen. It was based on August Strindberg's 1888 play ''Miss Julie''.
Plot
Julie, a young ...
'' after
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...
at the
Schaubühne
The Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz (Theatre on Lehniner Square) is a famous theatre in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin, located on the Kurfürstendamm boulevard. It is a conversion of the ''Universum'' cinema, built according to plans designe ...
, Berlin, Germany
*2010: ''Beauty And The Beast'' by
Lucy Kirkwood
Lucy Ann Kirkwood (born October 1983) is a British playwright and screenwriter. She is writer in residence at Clean Break.
In June 2018 Kirkwood was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in its "40 Under 40" initiative.
Early life ...
at the National Theatre
*2011: ''Clemency'', an opera by
James MacMillan
Sir James Loy MacMillan, (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor.
Early life
MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is James MacMi ...
and
Michael Symmons Roberts
Michael Symmons Roberts FRSL (born 1963 in Preston, Lancashire) is a British poet.
He has published eight collections of poetry, all with Cape (Random House), and has won the Forward Prize, the Costa Book Award and the Whitbread Prize for Poetr ...
at the Royal Opera House
*2011: ''Die Wellen'' based on Virginia Woolf's ''The Waves'' at Schauspiel Köln, Cologne, Germany
*2011: ''Wastwater'' by
Simon Stephens
Simon Stephens (born 6 February 1971) is an English playwright and Professor of Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University. Having taught on the Young Writers' Programme at the Royal Court Theatre for many years, he is now an Artistic ...
at the
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...
, London
*2011: ''A Woman Killed With Kindness'' by
Thomas Heywood
Thomas Heywood (early 1570s – 16 August 1641) was an English playwright, actor, and author. His main contributions were to late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre. He is best known for his masterpiece '' A Woman Killed with Kindness'', ...
at the National Theatre, London
*2012: ''The Trial of Ubu Roi'' by
Simon Stephens
Simon Stephens (born 6 February 1971) is an English playwright and Professor of Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University. Having taught on the Young Writers' Programme at the Royal Court Theatre for many years, he is now an Artistic ...
at the
Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. Roxana Silbert has been the artistic director since ...
Aix-en-Provence Festival
The Festival d'Aix-en-Provence is an annual international music festival which takes place each summer in Aix-en-Provence, principally in July. Devoted mainly to opera, it also includes concerts of orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo instrumental ...
*2012: ''Die Ringe des Saturn'' by W. G. Sebald at the
Avignon Festival
The ''Festival d'Avignon'', or Avignon Festival, is an annual arts festival held in the French city of Avignon every summer in July in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes as well as in other locations of the city. Founded in 1947 by Jean Vila ...
*2012: ''Ten Billion'' by Katie Mitchell and Stephen Emmott at the Avignon Festival
*2012: ''Reise Durch Die Nacht'' by
Friederike Mayröcker
Friederike Mayröcker (20 December 1924 – 4 June 2021) was an Austrian writer of poetry and prose, audio plays, children's books and dramatic texts. She experimented with language, and was regarded as an avantgarde poet, and as one of the lea ...
at Schauspiel Köln, Cologne, Germany
*2013: ''Le vin herbé'' by Frank Martin at
Berlin State Opera
The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from ...
, Berlin
*2013: ''The House Taken Over'' by Vasco Mendonça at the Aix-en-Provence Festival
*2013: ''Alles Weitere Kennen Sie aus dem Kino'' a version by Martin Crimp of Euripides' ''The Phoenician Women'' at the
Deutsches Schauspielhaus
The Deutsches Schauspielhaus is a theatre in the St. Georg quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany. It was established in 1901 by the renowned stage actress Franziska Ellmenreich.
Theatre managers
Notable actors
Marco Albrecht,
Ingrid ...
Hamburg
*2013: ''Die gelbe Tapete'' by
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (; née Perkins; July 3, 1860 – August 17, 1935), also known by her first married name Charlotte Perkins Stetson, was an American humanist, novelist, writer, lecturer, advocate for social reform, and eugenicist. She w ...
Peter Handke
Peter Handke (; born 6 December 1942) is an Austrian novelist, playwright, translator, poet, film director, and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored t ...
at Burgtheater, Vienna, Austria
*2014: ''The Forbidden Zone'' von Duncan Macmillan,
Salzburger Festspiele
The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...
Deutsches Schauspielhaus
The Deutsches Schauspielhaus is a theatre in the St. Georg quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany. It was established in 1901 by the renowned stage actress Franziska Ellmenreich.
Theatre managers
Notable actors
Marco Albrecht,
Ingrid ...
, Hamburg, Germany
*2015: ''
Alcina
''Alcina'' (Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis, HWV 34) is a 1735 opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of ''L'isola di Alcina'', an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after during ...
'' by Handel at Festival d'Aix-en-Provence (Streaming-Live, Blu-ray/DVD released in 2016)
*2015: '' Reisende auf einem Bein'' by
Herta Müller
Herta Müller (; born 17 August 1953) is a Romanian-born German novelist, poet, essayist and recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Nițchidorf (german: Nitzkydorf, link=no), Timiș County in Romania, her native language is G ...
at Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg, Germany
*2016: ''
Cleansed
''Cleansed'' is the third play by the English playwright Sarah Kane. It was first performed in 1998 at the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs in London. The play is set in a university which (according to the blurb of the published script) is op ...
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...
, London
*2016: ''
Lucia di Lammermoor
''Lucia di Lammermoor'' () is a (tragic opera) in three acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian-language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's 1819 historical novel '' The Bride of Lammermoo ...
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...
*2016: ''
Neither
Neither is an English pronoun, adverb, and determiner signifying the absence of a choice in an either/or situation. Neither may also refer to:
* ''Neither'' (opera), the only opera by Morton Feldman
* "neither" (short story), a very short s ...
'' by
Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School ...
at
Berlin State Opera
The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from ...
*2016: ''Schatten (Eurydice sagt)'' by
Elfriede Jelinek
Elfriede Jelinek (; born 20 October 1946) is an Austrian playwright and novelist. She is one of the most decorated authors writing in German today and was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Literature for her "musical flow of voices and counter-vo ...
at Schaubühne, Berlin, Germany
*2016: '' Pelléas et Mélisande'' by Claude Debussy at Festival d'Aix-en-Provence (Streaming-Live)
*2017: ''Anatomy of a Suicide'' by
Alice Birch
Alice Birch is a British playwright and screenwriter. Birch has written several plays, including ''Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.'' for which she was awarded the George Devine Award for Most Promising New Playwright, and ''Anatomy of a Suicide' ...
at
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...
*2019: ''Orlando'' by Virginia Woolf with the Schaubühne, Berlin
*2021: ''little scratch'' by Rebecca Watson (adapted by Miriam Battye) at
Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. Roxana Silbert has been the artistic director since ...
Awards
She was awarded a Churchill fellowship in 1989
* ''Time Out'' Award 1991 for Arden of Faversham and Women of Troy (UK)
* ''Evening Standard'' Best Director Award 1996 (UK)
* The Theatertreffen Prize 2008 (Germany)
* The Theatertreffen Prize 2009 (Germany)
* An OBIE Best Production Award in 2009 (USA)
* Golden Mask Award for Best Foreign Production for Fraulein Julie in 2011 (Russia)
* The Best Production Reumert Prize for The Seagull in 2012 (Denmark)
* The Best Director Nestroy Prize for ''Reise durch die Nacht'' in 2013 (Austria)
* The Stanislavsky International Prize 2014 (Russia)
* The New Theatrical Realities, Europe Prize, 2014 (Europe)
* British Academy President’s Medal in 2017: for her work to enhance the presentation of classic and contemporary theatre and opera through innovative new productions. (UK)
* The Tonic Award in 2018: for her representations of women and nurture of female talent in (UK)
* Golden Mask Award for Best Opera Director for her production of Alcina in 2019 (Russia)
* Best Director 2019 for International Opera Awards (UK)
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...
Operabase
Operabase is an online database of opera performances, opera houses and companies, and performers themselves as well as their agents. Found at operabase.com, it was created in 1996 by English software engineer and opera lover Mike Gibb.Edward Sc ...