Hampstead Theatre, London Cast: Kate O’Flynn & Zubin Varla Photography Marc Brenner; Designer Rosana Vize; Lighting Lee Curran; Sound Dan Balfour; Video Akhila Krishnan; Movement Malik Nashad Sharpe; Casting Stuart Burt; Voice William Conacher; Assistant Director Lizzie Manwaring
Curtain Call / Platform Presents / Apples and Oranges Broadcast live on Zoom Cast: Jenna Coleman, Denise Gough, David Morrissey, Maggie Service, Ed Stoppard
★★★★★ THE GUARDIAN“If, for however long, this is live theatre’s future, then it works triumphantly.”
Devised from the poem by Paul Muldoon Galway International Arts Festival & Jen Coppinger in association with Poetry Ireland (2018), transfer to The Gate Theatre, Dublin (2019), transfer to Irish Rep, New York (2020) New York Times Critics’ Pick. Cast: Stanley Townsend Photography Marc Brenner; Designer Rosanna Vize; Video Jack Phelan; Sound Sinéad Diskin; Composer Teho Teardo; Lighting Paul Keoghan; SM Sarah Thomas; Producer Paul Fahy
Wyndhams Theatre, West End Cast: Matthew Broderick, Elizabeth McGovern, Rosalind Eleazar, Jim Norton, Sinead Matthews, Sid Sagar, Jenny Galloway, Joplin Sibtain Photography Marc Brenner; Designer Chiara Stephenson; Lighting Neil Austin; Sound and music Alex Baranowski; Video Luke Halls; Voice William Conacher; Associate Director Rebecca Hill; Producer Simon Friend
★★★★ THE INDEPENDENT“Acting that ranges from laugh-out-loud funny to twisty, wrong-footed ambivalence.”
THEPHLEBOTOMIST by Ella Road
Hampstead Theatre, Downstairs (2018) and transfer to Main Stage (2019). Olivier Award Nomination 2019. Cast: Jade Anouka, Rory Fleck-Byrne, Vincent Ebrahim, Cherrelle Skeete Photography Marc Brenner; Designer Rosanna Vize; Lighting Zoe Spurr; Video Duncan McLean / Louise Rhodes-Brown; Sound Sinéad Diskin / Alex Twiselton; Movement Michela Meazza; Casting Lucy Hellier
★★★★ THE GUARDIAN “A gasp-worthy dystopian thriller…”
GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS by David Mamet
Playhouse Theatre, West End (2017-18) and No.1 UK Tour (2019) Cast: Christian Slater, Robert Glenister, Kris Marshall, Daniel Ryan, Oliver Ryan, Stanley Townsend, Don Warrington Photography Marc Brenner; Designer Chiara Stephenson; Lighting Richard Howell; Voice Richard Ryder; Casting Jim Carnahan / UK Tour Lucy Hellier; Associate Director Rebecca Hill
★★★★★ THE METRO“Slater, as the slickest operator Ricky Roma, delivers a superbly judged performance of measured aggression.”
DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS by Eugene O’Neill
Sheffield Crucible (2017) Cast: Me’sha Bryan, Claudia Cadette, Emma Darlow, Tim Dewberry, Aoife Duffin, Colin Haigh, Matthew Kelly, Theo Ogundipe, Sule Rimi, Michael Shea Photography Marc Brenner; Designer Chiara Stephenson; Lighting Jon Clark; Video Luke Halls / Zakk Hein; Sound and music Alex Baranowski; Movement Kim Brandstrup; Voice Richard Ryder; Associate Director Taio Lawson
★★★★ WHAT’S ON STAGE“The sudden visual images, the different areas of action cross-cutting cinematically, the lighting and the music unfailingly atmospheric.”
MURDER BALLAD by Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash
Arts Theatre, West End (2016) Cast: Kerry Ellis, Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, Ramin Karimloo & Norman Bowman Photography Marc Brenner; Designer Richard Kent; Lighting David Plater; Sound designer Sam Clarkson; Video Laura Perret; Movement Michela Meazza * Nominated for 3 What’s On Stage Awards and Oliver Award (Best Supporting Actress)
THE GUARDIAN“Sam Yates’s staging boasts a quartet of spot-on performances”
CYMBELINE by William Shakespeare
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Globe Theatre Cast: Joseph Marcell, Pauline McLynn, Emily Barber, Jonjo O’Neill, Eugene O’Hare, Sid Sagar, Darren Kuppan, Brendan O’Hea, Trevor Fox Photography Marc Brenner; Designer Richard Kent; Music Alex Baranowski; Assistant Director Rebecca Hill * Ian Charleson Award nomination for Emily Barber (Innogen) * Winner Clarence Derwent Award (Jonjo O’Neill)
Critics’ Choice | THE DAILY TELEGRAPH | Best plays now on“Director Sam Yates embraces the fairytale aspects of the drama with an enthusiasm kept in check by excellently clear verse-speaking and moments of piercing emotional clarity.”
EAST IS EAST by Ayub Khan Din (UK Tour)
Jamie Lloyd Productions & ATG, UK Tour With Pauline McLynn, Sally Bankes, Ashley Kumar & Darren Kuppan Photography Marc Brenner; Designer Tom Scutt; Lighting Richard Howell; Sound and music Alex Baranowski; Movement Georgina Lamb; Associate Director Rebecca Hill; Voice Richard Ryder; Casting Stuart Burt
★★★★ THE TIMES | Sam Marlowe“Thrillingly vital. A play with guts, wit and a big, beating heart”
OUTSIDE MULLINGAR by John Patrick Shanley
Ustinov Theatre, Bath Cast: James Hayes, Carol MacReady, Owen McDonnell, Dierdre O’Kane Designer Richard Kent; Sound and music Giles Thomas; Lighting David Plater
★★★★ THE DAILY TELEGRAPH | Claire Allfree “What makes it special, in Sam Yates’s skilfully attuned production, is the thoroughly lived-in feel of its characters and their gorgeous, knarly dialogue.”
EAST IS EAST by Ayub Khan Din (West End)
Trafalgar Studios, West End Jamie Lloyd Productions & ATG, West End Cast: Jane Horrocks & Ayub Khan Din
Photography Marc Brenner; Designer Tom Scutt; Lighting Richard Howell; Sound and music Alex Baranowski; Movement Georgina Lamb; Associate Director Kimberley Sykes; Voice Richard Ryder; Casting Stuart Burt
★★★★ THE GUARDIAN | Lyn Gardner“Director Sam Yates announces himself as a major talent in a revival, played out on Tom Scutt’s clever, deceptively flexible design, which is pleasingly fluid…and which always puts truth before comedy. The payoff is a show that delivers the laughs even as it hurts.”
THE EL. TRAIN three one-act plays by Eugene O’Neill
Hoxton Hall (Found Productions and 31Productions)
Directed by Sam Yates & Ruth Wilson
Cast: Ruth Wilson, Nicola Hughes, Zubin Varla, Simon Coombs, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Ony Uihara, Adam Sopp & Christian Edwards Photography Marc Brenner; Design Richard Kent; Lighting Neil Austin; Sound and music Alex Baranowski; Movement Ann Yee & Michela Meazza; Casting Anne McNulty and Lucy Casson; Producers FOUND (Francesca Zampi, Alice Russell, Lucy Chaloner)
★★★★★ THE OBSERVER | Kate Kellaway“Sam Yates proves himself a director of unusual flair with a pitch-perfect sense of O’Neill’s prose and of theatrical sound: the thunder of train and storm.”
BILLY LIAR by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester With Harry McEntire, Jack Deam, Lisa Millet, Emily Barber, Sue Wallace, Aaron Anthony, Katie Moore & Rebekah Hinds Designer David Woodhead; Lighting David Plater; Sound and music Isobel Waller-Bridge; Casting Sophie Parrot; Movement Ann Yee; Voice Richard Ryder; Assistant director Alexander Summers * Winner Best Actor (Harry McEntire) and Best Newcomer (Emily Barber) at 2015 Manchester Theatre Awards
★★★★ THE GUARDIAN | Alfred Hickling“Teenage dreamer is as witty as ever in a fine revival… Sam Yates’ production is played admirably straight to often hilarious effect.”
CORNELIUS by J.B. Priestley (New York)
59E59 Theater, New York With Alan Cox, Pandora Colin, Beverley Klein, Col Farrell
Designer David Woodhead; Lighting Howard Hudson; Sound and music Alex Baranowski; Casting Lucy Casson
* Critics’ PickNew York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES | Ben Brantley (Critics’ Pick)“Expertly directed by Sam Yates…Cornelius, given virtuosic life by Mr. Cox, exudes an infectious, vital engagement with the world around him and a self-aware distance from it…As designed by David Woodhead and acted with in-the-moment precision, Mr. Yates’s production is a work of straightforward naturalism, with subtle suggestions of the numinous provided by Howard Hudson’s lighting and Alex Baranowski’s music…Wonderful.”
CORNELIUS by J.B. Priestley (Finborough)
Finborough Theatre | 31Productions With Alan Cox, Beverley Klein, Col Farrell, Emily Barber
Designer David Woodhead; Lighting Howard Hudson; Sound and music Alex Baranowski; Casting Lucy Casson *Nominated for four Off West End Awards
★★★★ THE TIMES | Sam Marlowe “Sam Yates’s production is beautifully modulated and played to perfection, its atmosphere of deadening routine offset by the petty politics and personal quirks that characterise office life, now as then…Piercingly relevant, compassionate and delivered, like Cornelius’s bons mots, with great style.”
MIXED MARRIAGE by St John Ervine
Finborough Theatre | 31Productions With Nora-Jane Noone, Daragh O’Malley, Fiona Victory, Joel Ormsby, Damien Hannaway, Christopher Brandon
Design Richard Kent; Lighting David Plater; Sound and music Alex Baranowski; Casting Lucy Casson
★★★★ THE GUARDIAN | Michael Billington“A fine production by Sam Yates that, in compressing the four acts into an uninterrupted 80 minutes, gives the play a headlong momentum and never strikes a false note… The most compelling play in London”
POETRY WEEK with Josephine Hart
Donmar Warehouse With Jeremy Irons, Edward Fox, Harriet Walter, Ruth Wilson, Max Irons, Deborah Findlay, Emelia Fox, Kenneth Cranham, Dan Stevens and Felicity Kendal
OLEANNA by David Mamet
OLEANNAby David Mamet McAulay Theatre, Hong Kong Arts Centre With Howard Paley and Kesty Morrison
PURGATORY by W.B. Yeats
PURGATORY by W.B. Yeats C Venues, Edinburgh Festival With Brooke Morriswood and Monique Cornwell
★★★★★ THE BRITISH THEATRE GUIDE “The strength and effect of the simple story is maximised by the play’s short running time and makes the bitter end all the more shocking, as the audience is swept in the plain and simple horror of the tale.”
MACBETH: THE HOUR
MACBETH: THE HOUR by William Shakespeare C Venues, Edinburgh Festival, & ADC With Ben Deery, Tom Berish and Thomas Eccleshare
★★★★★ BROADWAY BABY “Director Sam Yates has changed my expectations of a Fringe show. His interpretation of Macbeth raises the bar so high that other 5-Star shows suddenly look amateurish in comparison. The most spectacular production of a classic I have seen in Edinburgh – or even London – for years.”
Readings & workshops
COMPANY by Stephen Sondheim (2016) Royal Academy of Music
ASSASSINSby Stephen Sondheim (2015) Royal Academy of Music
IN A TOWN OF 5,000 PEOPLE
by Frank McGuinness (2015) Waterstones, Piccadilly (poetry reading) With Brid Brennan, Eugene O’Hare and Patrick O’Kane
UNTITLED DANCE/POETRY WORKSHOP (2014) Manchester International Festival | Paris Opera With Ruth Wilson and Marie-Agnes Gillot
RAGE by Eugene O’Hare (2014) 31Productions (rehearsed reading) With Deborah Findlay, Edward Hogg, Matthew Marsh, Al Weaver
KNIGHTS by Marcelo Dos Santos (2014) Vanbrugh Theatre, RADA (rehearsed reading)
INSIGNIFICANCE by Terry Johnson (2014) Jagged Fence, (rehearsed reading) With Ruth Wilson, Kenneth Cranham, Robert Glenister & Nick Moran
BREAKING THE CODE by Hugh Whitemore (2013) McCabe/Smith Productions (rehearsed reading) With Andrew Scott, Phil Davis, Oliver Cotton, Deborah Findlay, Michelle Terry
GRIEF by Eugene O’ Hare (2013) RADA new plays series With Karen Colgan, Caolan Byrne, Lisa Dwyer
THE EL. TRAIN: Three Plays by Eugene O’Neill 31Productions (rehearsed reading, January 2013) With Andrew Scott, Ruth Wilson, Matthew Marsh, Eugene O’Hare
FLESH AND BLOOD by William Gaminara (2012) Chichester Festival Theatre (rehearsed reading) With Simon Russell Beale, Lisa Dillon, Paul Ready and Paul Ritter
CAPITALYPSO Music/lyrics by Joe Swarbrick (2012) National Theatre Studio With David Fynn and Amy Booth-Steel
THERE GOES MY FUTURE by Nicholas De Jongh (2011) Finborough Theatre Vibrant Festival With Frances Cuka and Annabel Levinton
CLEVER by Sally Woodcock (2011) RADA new plays festival (rehearsed reading) With Karen Cogan and Andrew Martyn Lewis
MRS Pby Diane Samuels and Gwyneth Herbert (2010) Mercury Musical Developments (workshop) With Sophie Thompson, Nick Holder, Paul Kaye
ELECTRA by Sophocles (2010) Garrick Theatre, Stockport Local community
TO KEEP THE GHOST AWAKE by Nicholas De Jongh (2010) Finborough Theatre Vibrant Festival With Luke Treadaway, Lex Shrapnel, Annabel Levinton
OEDIPUS by Sophocles (2009) Garrick Theatre, Stockport Local community
THE TURKE by John Mason (2007) Arcola Theatre With Sam Swainsbury and Clemmie Wade
THE TEMPEST by William Shakespeare (2004) Blank Theatre Company, Cambridge With Jay Miller and Monique Cornwell
Associate director
ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS by Richard Bean National Theatre, UK Tour, World Tour and West End With Rufus Hound, Owain Arthur, Edward Bennett, Kelly Shirley & Amy Booth-Steel dir. Nicholas Hytner & Adam Penford
SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER by Oliver Goldsmith National Theatre, Olivier Theatre (2012) With Sophie Thomson, Steve Pemberton, Cush Jumbo, Katherine Kelly, John Heffernan, Harry Hadden-Paton dir. Jamie Lloyd
THIRTY THREE by Matthew Hurt (2012) National Theatre Studio (also casting) With Rory Kinnear, John Heffernan, Harry Hadden-Paton, Sarah Solemani dir. Laurie Sansom
BIRDSONG by Sebastian Faulks & Rachel Wagstaff Comedy Theatre, West End, CMP (2011) With Ben Barnes, Nicholas Farrell, Lee Ross, Genevieve O’Reilly dir. Trevor Nunn
HEAVENLY IVYby Ronald Harwood (2010) The Ivy, London With Michael Pennington, Nicholas Woodyson and Isabella Calthorpe dir. Sean Mathias
SALOME by Oscar Wilde (2010) Headlong UK Tour and Hampstead Theatre With Con O’Neil, Zawe Ashton, Jaye Griffiths dir. Jamie Lloyd
THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED by Douglas Carter-Beane (2010) Garrick Theatre, West End, CMP With Tamsin Greig, Gemma Arterton, Rupert Friend, Harry Lloyd dir. Jamie Lloyd
HAMLET by William Shakespeare (2009) Donmar West End, Elsinore and Broadway With Jude Law, Penelope Wilton, Ron Cook, Peter Eyre and Gugu Mbatha-Raw dir. Michael Grandage
MADAME DE SADEby Yukio Mishima (2009) Donmar West End With Judi Dench, Rosamond Pike, Frances Barber, Deborah Findlay, Jenny Galloway, Fiona Button dir. Michael Grandage
HOW TO CURSE by Ian McHugh (2007) Bush Theatre With Al Weaver, Robert Boulter, Emily Beecham dir. Josie Rourke
BURYING YOUR BROTHER IN THE PAVEMENT by Jack Thorne NT Connections retreat (2007) dir. Josie Rourke
UNCLE VANYA by Anton Chekhov / Bryony Lavery Birmingham Rep Theatre (2007) With John Ramm, Jill Halfpenny, Christopher Godwin dir. Rachel Kavanaugh
HYSTERIA by Terry Johnson (2007) Birmingham Rep Theatre With Sean Foley, Ruth Miller, John Burgess, Sam Swainsbury dir. Paul Raffield
MACBETH by Verdi (2006) Royal Opera House (revival) dir. Phyllida Lloyd
WISE CHILDRENby Angela Carter / Bryony Lavery National Theatre Studio (2006) With Alex Jennings, Deborah Findlay, Paul Ritter dir. Phyllida Lloyd
BBC RADIO DRAMA (2000-2006) Broadcast Assistant and casting on many new and classic plays, including works by Dan Rebellato, Alan Bennett, Samuel Beckett, Tennessee Williams, and Eugene O’Neill. Highlights include KRAPP’S LAST TAPE with Corin Redgrave, MIDWICH CUCKOOS with Bill Nighy, and THE WOMEN’S ROOM with Elizabeth McGovern.
