Jeremy Herrin

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Jeremy Herrin
Born19 January 1970
New York City USA
Alma materRoyal Conservatoire of Scotland
OccupationTheatre director

Jeremy Herrin is an English theatre director. He is one of the founding directors of Second Half Productions.

Career

Having trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Herrin was an assistant director under Stephen Daldry at the Royal Court Theatre from 1993 to 1995. He then was a staff director at the National Theatre from 1995 to 1999. In 2000 he became associate director at Live Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, where his credits included plays by Richard Bean and Joe Harbot.

His breakthrough show was the critically successful That Face by Polly Stenham at the Royal Court Upstairs in 2007, which subsequently transferred to the West End. He was nominated for the Evening Standard Award for Best Director for Stenham's Tusk Tusk in 2009. He became the deputy artistic director at the Royal Court to Dominic Cooke in 2009. He has directed a number of new plays at the Royal Court including Spur of the Moment by Anya Reiss, Richard Bean's The Heretic and No Quarter, also by Stenham, in 2013.[1]

Herrin made his Shakespearean debut at the Globe Theatre in 2011, directing Eve Best in Much Ado About Nothing. In 2011 Herrin directed several West End productions, including a well received revival of Alan Ayckbourn's Absent Friends. He also directed the UK premiere of David Hare's The Vertical Hour as well as the world premiere and West End transfer of Hare's South Downs. He has directed Roger Allam in Uncle Vanya and in The Tempest at Shakespeare's Globe. He was nominated as Best Director in the 2013 Olivier Awards for his work on This House by James Graham at the National Theatre.

In December 2013 he directed the world premiere of two plays adapted from Hilary Mantel's novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies for the RSC.[2] The plays subsequently transferred to The Aldwych Theatre. In 2021 he directed the stage adaptation of Mantel's third novel in the trilogy The Mirror and the Light, which played at the Gielgud Theatre.

In 2013, he succeeded Rupert Goold as the artistic director of Headlong, where he has directed a number of hit productions including Jennifer Haley's The Nether (at The Royal Court Theatre), People, Places and Things by Duncan Macmillan and Labour of Love by James Graham, featuring Martin Freeman and Tamsin Greig in the West End.

In 2022 he directed Amy Adams, who made her West End debut, in a production of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, his inaugural production for Second Half Productions.

His production of Best of Enemies based on the acclaimed documentary by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville transferred from the Young Vic theatre to the West End, winning the South Bank Show’s best Production award. The show was broadcast on NT Live.

Philosophy

Herrin describes himself as the archetypal Royal Court Theatre director, putting the writer before the director:

You never want anything onstage that the writer doesn’t like. You need them to be entirely proud. What you want is to give them the deluxe version of their play... I try to disappear into the work. I’d hate for someone to say, in the way they do about other directors, ‘That’s a very Jeremy Herrin production.’ Ego’s a really dangerous thing in theatre. It’s a collegiate enterprise.[3]

Herrin has been instrumental in the founding of Stage Directors UK, an organisation that aims to create better working conditions and terms for directors.

Theatre

Stage productions directed by Jeremy Herrin
Year Title Author Theatre Notes
2017 Labour of Love James Graham Noël Coward Theatre
2017 The House They Grew Up In Deborah Bruce Chichester Festival Theatre
2017 Common D. C. Moore Royal National Theatre - Olivier Stage
2017 Junkyard Jack Thorne Bristol Old Vic, Theatr Clwyd and Rose Theatre, Kingston
2016 Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme Frank McGuinness UK Tour
2015 People, Places and Things Duncan Macmillan Royal National Theatre - Dorfman Stage, 2016 transfer to Wyndham's Theatre, 2017 transfer to St. Ann's Warehouse New York and 2017 UK tour
2015 The Absence of War David Hare UK Tour
2014 The Nether Jennifer Haley Royal Court Theatre - 2015 transfer to Duke of York's Theatre
2012 This House James Graham National Theatre - 2016 Transfer to Chichester Festival Theatre and Garrick Theatre, 2018 UK Tour Nominated for 2013 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director
2012 Children's Children Matthew Dunster Almeida Theatre
2012 Absent Friends Alan Ayckbourn Harold Pinter Theatre
2011 Uncle Vanya Anton Chekhov Chichester Festival Theatre
2011 Death and the Maiden Ariel Dorfman Harold Pinter Theatre
2011 Haunted Child Joe Penhall Royal Court Theatre
2011 South Downs David Hare Minerva Theatre, Chichester
2011 Much Ado About Nothing William Shakespeare Globe Theatre
2011 The Heretic Richard Bean Royal Court Theatre Winner Best New Play Laurence Olivier Award
2010 Kin E.V. Crowe Royal Court Theatre
2010 Spur of the Moment Anya Reiss Royal Court Theatre Nominated for Evening Standard Award Best Director
2010 The Laws of War various authors[4] Royal Court Theatre
2009 The Priory Michael Wynne[5] Royal Court Theatre Winner Best Comedy Laurence Olivier Award
2009 Tusk, Tusk Polly Stenham Royal Court Theatre Nominated for Evening Standard Award Best Director
2009 Marble Marina Carr Abbey Theatre
2008 The Family Reunion T.S. Eliot[6] Donmar Warehouse
2008 The Vertical Hour David Hare Royal Court Theatre
2007 Statement of Regret Kwame Kwei-Armah National Theatre
2007 Blackbird David Harrower The Market Theatre
2007 That Face Polly Stenham[7] Royal Court Theatre Nominated for Best New Play in the Laurence Olivier Awards
2007 Gathered Dust and Dead Skin Joe Harbot Live Theatre
2005 The Lovers Bridget O'Connor Live Theatre
2004 Our Kind of Fun Alice de Smith Live Theatre
2004 Toast (new version) Richard Bean Live Theatre
2004 Sudden Collapses in Public Places Julia Darling Live Theatre
2004 Dirty Nets Karen Laws Live Theatre
2003 Smack Family Robinson Richard Bean Live Theatre
2002 Attachments Julia Darling Live Theatre
2001 From the Underworld Sean O'Brien Live Theatre
2000 The Last Post Julia Darling Live Theatre then tour in County Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria
1999 Personal Belongings Julia Darling Live Theatre

References

  1. ^ "No Quarter at The Royal Court Theatre", Royal Court Theatre. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  2. ^ "Wolf Hall director to become Headlong artistic director", BBC News, 10 June 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  3. ^ "The vanishing man | Interviews | The Stage". The Stage. 21 January 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  4. ^ "Galas: Court Laws, Cardboard Seats & Grateful - - News - Whatsonstage.com". Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  5. ^ http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whatson01.asp?play=559[dead link]
  6. ^ "Jeremy Herrin On ... TS Eliot, The Playwright - - Interviews - Whatsonstage.com". Archived from the original on 16 June 2011.
  7. ^ http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/files/downloads/THATFACErelease.doc.pdf[dead link]