Penny Woolcock (born 1 January 1950) is an Argentine filmmaker, opera director, and screenwriter.

Early life

Penny Woolcock was born in Argentina and raised in

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

and

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. In 1967, she founded a radical theatre group and was briefly arrested. Her parents wanted to send her to Europe for safety; instead she fled to Spain with a man from the theatre group and had a baby in Barcelona. In 1970 she moved to England as a single mother. She did factory work and other jobs. In her thirties she enrolled in a filmmakers' workshop, borrowed some film-making equipment and sold the resulting feature to the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

. She was then hired as a director and editor of a current affairs program in Newcastle and subsequently went on to feature making.

Career

Her first feature as a writer and director was ''Women in Tropical Places'' in 1989. Since then she has directed and written numerous documentary and feature films, for television and screen. She adapted and directed ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

on the Estate'' in 1997. As with her earlier film ''Shakespeare on the Estate'' (made with

Michael Bogdanov Michael Bogdanov (15 December 1938 – 16 April 2017) was a British theatre director known for his work with new plays, modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare, musicals and work for young people. Early years Bogdanov was born Michael Bogd ...

), African-Caribbean people living in tower blocks in Ladywood, Birmingham were revealed to have a natural affinity with Shakespearean language and great skill at making Shakespeare relevant to present day inner city life. Her breakthrough film was ''Tina Goes Shopping'' which was a collaborative piece with the real residents of the

Gipton Gipton is a suburb of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, between the A58 to the north and the A64 to the south. It is in the Gipton and Harehills ward of Leeds City Council and the Leeds East parliamentary constituency. The separate area a ...

estates in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, and which forms part one of what is now known as the ''Tina Trilogy (along with Tina takes a Break'' and the feature film ''

Mischief Night Mischief Night is an informal holiday on which children, teenagers and adults (both young and old) engage in jokes, pranks, vandalism and/or parties. It is known by a variety of names including Devil's Night, Gate Night, Goosey Night, Moving Nig ...

)''. As well as starring in the Tina Trilogy, people from the estate (including

Kelli Hollis Kelli Hollis (born 29 June 1976) is a British actress, known for playing Tina Crabtree in the three Channel 4 related films, shop owner Yvonne Karib in Channel 4's popular comedy-drama '' Shameless'' and Melanie Say then as Ali Spencer in ITV' ...

) went on to appear in other TV and feature films, a

social action In sociology, social action, also known as Weberian social action, is an act which takes into account the actions and reactions of individuals (or ' agents'). According to Max Weber, "Action is 'social' insofar as its subjective meaning takes ac ...

feature of much of Woolcock's work. She has provided informal support to many people she has encountered whilst making documentaries and has tried to have social impacts over and above the making of her films. In Birmingham she was involved in helping to bring about a gangland truce after the making of the movie '' 1 Day'' and the documentary ''One Mile Away'' (both of which illustrated gangland "postcode wars"). She is part of a social enterprise with Dylan Duffus, Shabba Thompson and other ex-gang members trying to bring about change in parts of Birmingham affected by gang violence. In 2013, Woolcock released a new documentary, ''Storyville: From the Sea to the Land Beyond - Britain's Coast on Film'', which was broadcast on the

. Based on archive movie footage from early cinematography to recent times it illustrated working-class life in the 20th century. In 2014, she directed a documentary for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

called ''Going to the Dogs'', investigating inner city

dog fighting Dog fighting is a type of blood sport that turns game and fighting dogs against each other in a physical fight, generally to the death, for the purposes of gambling or entertainment to the spectators. In rural areas, fights are often staged i ...

in the UK. She is currently the executive director of ''

Ackley Bridge ''Ackley Bridge'' is a British comedy-drama series set in a multicultural academy school of the same name. The series is filmed in Halifax, West Yorkshire Halifax () is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdal ...

'', a television series broadcast on Channel 4. In 2020, she directed a documentary called ''Who is Frances Aviva Blane?'' a profile of the artist in lockdown (camera Leo Regan, editing Alex Fry).
In 2020, she directed a documentary entitled ''Two Metres Apart'', a short film about the artist Frances Aviva Blane featuring psychotherapist and author

Susie Orbach Susie Orbach (born 6 November 1946) is a British psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, writer and social critic. Her first book, ''Fat is a Feminist Issue'', analysed the psychology of dieting and over-eating in women, and she has campaigned against m ...

, (camera Leo Regan, editing Alex Fry).

Opera

Woolcock's operas include a production of

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

' ''

Doctor Atomic ''Doctor Atomic'' is an opera by the contemporary American composer John Adams, with libretto by Peter Sellars. It premiered at the San Francisco Opera on October 1, 2005. The work focuses on how leading figures at Los Alamos dealt with the gre ...

'' which she directed for the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

's 2008–2009 season. She had previously filmed Adams' ''

The Death of Klinghoffer ''The Death of Klinghoffer'' is an American opera, with music by John Adams to an English-language libretto by Alice Goodman. First produced in Brussels and New York in 1991, the opera is based on the hijacking of the passenger liner ''Achille L ...

'' as a feature film. In 2014, she staged

Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', which has become on ...

's ''

The Pearl Fishers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' at

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 ...

in London (English translation version), then recreated it in a highly acclaimed French version at

The Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

in January 2016. In 2016, she was invited by Streetwise Opera to direct a production of the Bach St Matthew Passion, performed predominantly by homeless people. Sir James MacMillan composed a new finale for the occasion, which was broadcast on BBC4 on Sunday 27 March 2016.

References

Notes

*Katrina Ames, "The Surprising Career of Penny Woolcock," ''Opera News,'' October 2008, pp 38–39

External links

*
One Mile Away Social Enterprise to reduce gang violence in Birmingham
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woolcock, Penny 1950 births Living people People from Buenos Aires British film directors British screenwriters British people of Argentine descent British opera directors Female opera directors