Sam Yates

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© 2011 - 2023
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THEATRE

THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY by Tennessee Williams

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

★★★★★ MARK SHENTON, SHENTON STAGE “I was gripped, riveted and moved… surprised and enthralled.”

REVIEWS – CLICK HERE

 

A SEPARATE PEACE by Tom Stoppard

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.”

 

INCANTATA by Paul Muldoon

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

NEW YORK TIMES Critic’s Pick “Spellbinding… unique and beautiful… it has a peculiar charm, a touch of magic.”

 

THE STARRY MESSENGER by Kenneth Lonergan

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.”

 

THE PHLEBOTOMIST 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.”

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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”

EIE 12

 

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.”

DOK

 

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.”

EIE_LEP_v2 (dragged)

 

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.”

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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.”

BILLY LIAR Period 4

 

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’ Pick New 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.”

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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.”

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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”

Christopher Brandon and Nora-Jane Noone in Mixed Marriage directed by Sam Yates

 

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

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 15.28.41

 

OLEANNA by David Mamet

OLEANNA by 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

ASSASSINS by 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 P by 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 IVY by 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 SADE by 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 CHILDREN by 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.