Simon Dormandy

^[1]

Simon Dormandy is an English theatre director, teacher and actor. As an actor, he worked with Cheek by Jowl and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), as well as at The Donmar Warehouse, The Old Vic, Chichester Festival Theatre and The Royal Exchange, amongst many others. He is perhaps best known on screen for his performances in Little Dorrit (film) and Vanity Fair. Between 1997 and 2012 he taught drama at Eton College, Berkshire, and held the posts of Director of Drama and Head of Theatre Studies.^[2][3] . He is currently working as a freelance theatre director.^[4] In 2015 he co-directed his own stage adaptation of the Coen Brothers' film The Hudsucker Proxy at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton and the Liverpool Playhouse, in association with Complicite.

Background

Simon Dormandy was, as an actor, known largely for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1988 and 1995. Over the period he worked with many well known directors, including Adrian Noble, Sam Mendes, Deborah Warner, Katie Mitchell and Max Stafford-Clark. He also took part in several films and television series. He was perhaps best known for his performances in Little Dorrit (as Sparkler) and Vanity Fair (as Dobbin). He was also known for his work with the theatre company Cheek By Jowl.^[5]

He taught Drama and English at Eton College for fifteen years from 1997 to 2012, where he was Director of Drama and Head of Theatre Studies.^[2][3] His pupils included the actors Tom Hiddleston, Eddie Redmayne, Harry Lloyd and Adetomiwa Edun, director James Dacre and comedians Tom Palmer and Tom Stourton of comedy duo Totally Tom and Humphrey Ker. School productions include Henry VI with Eddie Redmayne, Waiting for Godot with Harry Lloyd, King Lear (where he directed Edward Stourton's son in the title role ^[6]), Three Sisters, Pool, No Water, Henry IV, (a joint version of both Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2),^[7] Joseph K and Spring Awakening.

Since January 2013 he has been working as a freelance theatre director. In 2013 he was assistant director on the world premiere of The Low Road by Bruce Norris at The Royal Court Theatre. In 2014 he directed the UK Premiere of Eldorado by Marius von Mayenburg and a production of Waiting for Godot with young comedians in the leading roles, both at The Arcola Theatre in London. In 2015 he co-directed his own stage adaptation of the Coen Brothers' film The Hudsucker Proxy with Toby Sedgwick at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton and the Liverpool Playhouse, in association with Complicite. The production won Best Design at the 2015 UK Theatre Awards. He was also an artistic collaborator on Simon McBurney's The Encounter for Complicite at the Edinburgh International Festival and subsequently at the Barbican, London and on tour. In 2016 he directed Mel Giedroyc in the highly acclaimed UK Premiere of Luce by J. C. Lee at Southwark Playhouse. His children's version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for 6 actors and orchestra was performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall.

He teaches at Shakespeare's Globe, Drama Centre, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, the British American Drama Academy and Fordham University's London Centre.

Filmography

Film credits

Television credits

Selected stage appearances

Non-Royal Shakespeare Company

• Death and the King's Horsemen, Royal Exchange, 1990 (dir. Phyllida Lloyd)^[8]
• Adam Was A Gardener, Minerva Studio, Chichester, 1991^[9]
• Losing Venice (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh 1992)^[10]
• The Threepenny Opera (Donmar Warehouse, London, 1994)

With the Royal Shakespeare Company

All Royal Shakespeare Company performances taken from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust archive history^[11]

See also

• Eton College
• Royal Shakespeare Company

References

External links

• Simon Dormandy at the Internet Movie Database
• The Guardian - Eton at odds with the RSC
• Giving the Boys at Eton Something to Think About - NY Times article
• Random House - RSC Stagings (Simon Dormandy references)