Polly Findlay is a British

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

, who won the Olivier for Best Entertainment in 2011 for

Derren Brown Derren Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English mentalist, illusionist, painter, and author. He began performing in 1992, making his television debut with ''Derren Brown: Mind Control'' in 2000, and has since produced several more shows f ...

's Svengali. She has directed seven productions for the National Theatre, and four for the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

, where she is an associate artist.

Early life

Findlay grew up in Wandsworth, her mother working in charity and her father as a legal journalist. Findlay was, herself, a successful child actor, starting with a small part in an RSC play at the age of 12 and undertaking a professional job a year until she went to University.

Education and Training

Findlay studied English at Exeter College,

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, from 2001 to 2004, then completed post-graduate training in directing at

LAMDA LaMDA, which stands for Language Model for Dialogue Applications, is a family of conversational neural language models developed by Google. The first generation was announced during the 2021 Google I/O keynote, while the second generation was ...

. In 2006, she trained on the Directors' Course at the National Theatre Studio. Findlay was the recipient of the Bulldog Princeps Bursary Award from 2006 to 2007, and in 2007, she won the James Menzies-Kitchin Trust's Young Theatre Director award with which she directed

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

Battersea Arts Centre The Battersea Arts Centre ("BAC") is a performance space specialising in theatre productions. Located near Clapham Junction railway station in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, it was formerly Battersea Town Hall. It is a Grade II* ...

in July, 2007. She has since worked in major venues across the UK and in Europe.

Career

In the years following her training, Findlay directed productions at the

Arcola Theatre Arcola Theatre is an Off West End theatre in the London Borough of Hackney. It presents plays, operas and musicals featuring established and emerging artists. The theatre building, in the former Colourworks paint factory on Ashwin Street, Dals ...

Bush Theatre The Bush Theatre is located in the Passmore Edwards Public Library, Shepherd's Bush, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1972 as a showcase for the work of new writers. The Bush Theatre strives to create a s ...

Sadler's Wells Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-seat ...

, and the

Lyric Hammersmith The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London.

. Critically acclaimed productions include Sophocles'

Antigone In Greek mythology, Antigone ( ; Ancient Greek: Ἀντιγόνη) is the daughter of Oedipus and either his mother Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene.Roman, L., ...

on the Olivier Stage at the National Theatre in 2011, Shakespeare's

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

for the

in 2015. Findlay's production of David Eldridge's new play ''

Beginning Beginning may refer to: * ''Beginning'' (album), by Pakho Chau * ''Beginning'' (play), a 2017 play by David Eldridge * ''Beginning'' (film), a Georgian-French drama film *"Beginning", a song by heavy metal band Kotipelto *"Beginning", a 2018 trac ...

'' opened at the National Theatre in October 2017 and transferred to the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End in January 2018. In 2018, she directed an adaptation of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at the Donmar, and in 2019, a production of Rutherford and Son at the National Theatre. In 2020, Findlay directed

Caryl Churchill Caryl Lesley Churchill (born 3 September 1938) is a British playwright known for dramatising the abuses of power, for her use of non- naturalistic techniques, and for her exploration of sexual politics and feminist themes.

's A Number at the

Bridge Theatre The Bridge Theatre is a commercial theatre near Tower Bridge in London that opened in October 2017. It was developed by Nick Starr and Nicholas Hytner as the home of the London Theatre Company, which they founded following their tenancy as execut ...

, and one of the first live theatre productions after the pandemic, Michael Frayn's

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

at the Theatre Royal Bath. In 2021, she directed

Suzan-Lori Parks Suzan-Lori Parks (born May 10, 1963) is an American playwright, screenwriter, musician and novelist. Her 2001 play ''Topdog/Underdog'' won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002; Parks was the first African-American woman to receive the award for d ...

's play '' White Noise ''. Outside of the UK, Findlay has directed in Germany and Denmark, including War Horse (Gefährten) at the

Theater des Westens The Theater des Westens (Theatre of the West) is one of the most famous theatres for musicals and operettas in Berlin, Germany, located at 10–12 in Charlottenburg. It was founded in 1895 for plays. The present house was opened in 1896 and d ...

in Berlin, Strindberg's Frøken Julie at Aarhus Theatre. Her next major theatre project will be a one-man show with Grayson Perry, opening at the beginning of 2021. She is currently writing a feature for BBC Films. In 2022 she directed Middle by David Eldridge at the National Theatre.

References

Living people British theatre directors Year of birth missing (living people) {{Theat-director-stub