Sam Yates is an award-winning film and theatre director. He was voted one of Screen International’s Stars of Tomorrow in 2016, and named a rising star in The Observer. Yates has been described as “a major talent” in The Guardian newspaper and “a director of unusual flair” in The Observer. 

His productions have been nominated for Olivier Awards (Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Murder Ballad (2017), and Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for The Phlebotomist by Ella Road (2019).

Theatre

Stage: The Starry Messenger  (Wyndham’s Theatre, West End); The Phlebotomist (Hampstead Theatre, Downstairs and transfer to Main Stage, nominated Olivier Award Outstanding Production);  Incantata  (Galway International Festival & Jen Coppinger, transfer to Gate Theatre, Dublin); Glengarry Glen Ross (Playhouse Theatre, West End, and No.1 UK Tour); Desire Under The Elms (Sheffield Crucible); Assassins (Royal Academy of Music); Murder Ballad (Arts, West End, nominated for three WhatsOnStage Awards and 2017 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress); Company (Royal Academy of Music); Cymbeline (Globe Theatre, Ian Charleson Award commendation); East is East (Trafalgar Studios, & 2 UK Tours); The El. Train (Hoxton Hall); Outside Mullingar (Ustinov); Billy Liar (Royal Exchange; winner Best Actor and Best Newcomer at Manchester Theatre Awards); Cornelius (Finborough & 59E59 New York; nominated for four Off West End Awards and Critics’ Pick New York Times); and Mixed Marriage  (Finborough Theatre). Radio: ECCo by Chris Harrald for BBC Radio 4 (Sparklab); The Phlebotomist by Ella Road for BBC Radio 3. 

Film

Screen: Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar (1×90′, Darlow Smith Productions); The Hope Rooms with Ciarán Hinds & Andrew Scott (31Productions & BKF, Winner Grand Prize Future Filmmaker Award, RIIFF 2016); Cymbeline with Hayley Atwell, All’s Well That Ends Well with Lindsay Duncan & Ruth Wilson, and Love’s Labour’s Lost with Gemma Arterton & David Dawson (The Complete Walk, Shakespeare’s Globe); and two music videos, Emeralds and Auld Wives (MTV’s A-List) for Ivor Novello Award-nominated band Bear’s Den (Communion Music).