Sean Foley (born 21 November 1964) is a British director, writer, comedian and actor. Following early success as part of the comedy double act

The Right Size The Right Size was a British theatre company active from 1988 to 2006, led by Sean Foley and Hamish McColl. Their major success was '' The Play What I Wrote'', a tribute to Morecambe and Wise, and other key productions included '' Do You Come H ...

and their long-running stage show ''

The Play What I Wrote ''The Play What I Wrote'' is a comedy play written by Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben, starring Foley and McColl (the double act The Right Size, playing characters named "Sean" and "Hamish"), with Toby Jones, directed by Kenneth Bran ...

'', Foley has more recently become a director, including of several West End comedy productions.

Early career and ''The Right Size''

Foley and

Hamish McColl Hamish McColl (born 28 January 1962) is a British comedian, writer and actor. He trained at the École Philippe Gaulier, Paris and the University of Cambridge. With Sean Foley, he formed the double act '' The Right Size'' in 1988, creating co ...

formed ''The Right Size'' in 1988.Noor Hayati
"Three's The Right Size"
''New Straits Times'', 1 July 1989. Retrieved 2012-10-20. They devised and performed in the shows, with regular creative team collaborators such as director Jozef Houben,
. Retrieved 2012-10-20. designer Alice Power,
, ''the agency''. Retrieved 2012-10-19. and songwriter Chris Larner.
Retrieved 2012-10-19. Their style combined elements of

clown A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in ...

ing,

physical comedy Physical comedy is a form of comedy focused on manipulation of the body for a humorous effect. It can include slapstick, clowning, mime, physical stunts, or making funny faces. Physical comedy originated as part of the Commedia dell'arte. It ...

mime Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs. Message ...

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such ...

,Nick Curtis
"THE FRINGE / Not as funny as all that: Nick Curtis on the caperings of Penny Dreadful and the calm Song for a Bluefoot Man"
''The Independent'', 6 October 1993. Retrieved 2012-10-20.

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

and

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

.Brian Logan
"How stupid can they get?"
''The Guardian'', 12 July 1999. Retrieved 2012-10-20.Fiachra Gibbons
"The play what is breaking West End theatre records"
''The Guardian'', 22 December 2001 . Retrieved 2012-10-17. ''The Right Size'''s major successes were ''Do You Come Here Often?'', about two strangers stuck in a bathroom for 25 years, and ''

'', a tribute to

Morecambe and Wise Eric Morecambe (John Eric Bartholomew, 14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984) and Ernie Wise (Ernest Wiseman, 27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known as Morecambe and Wise (and sometimes as Eric and Ernie), were an English comic double act, workin ...

. ''The Right Size'' were active until 2006.

Acting

Foley has played some major parts in traditional scripted roles, including

Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...

in ''

Hysteria Hysteria is a term used colloquially to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that ...

'' by Terry Johnson at Birmingham Rep in 2007,Terry Grimley
"Terry Grimley meets Sean Foley, co-creator of The Play What I Wrote, now playing Sigmund Freud at Birmingham Rep."
''The Birmingham Post'', 25 April 2007. Retrieved 2012-10-19. and the single role in the film of

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and Tragicomedy, tr ...

's ''

Act Without Words I ''Act Without Words I'' is a short play by Samuel Beckett. It is a mime, Beckett's first (followed by '' Act Without Words II''). Like many of Beckett's works, the play was originally written in French (''Acte sans paroles I''), being translate ...

'' directed by

Karel Reisz Karel Reisz (21 July 1926 – 25 November 2002) was a Czech-born British filmmaker, one of the pioneers of the new realist strain in British cinema during the 1950s and 1960s. Two of the best-known films he directed are '' Saturday Night and S ...

. He appeared alongside

Mark Rylance Sir David Mark Rylance Waters (born 18 January 1960) is a British actor, playwright and theatre director. He is known for his roles on stage and screen having received numerous awards including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Laurence ...

in ''I Am Shakespeare'' at the

Minerva Theatre, Chichester The Minerva Theatre is a studio theatre seating, at full capacity, 310. It is run as part of the adjacent Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, and was opened in 1989.Oxford Youth Theatre before his time at the

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

, where he studied history.

Writing and directing

Foley made his stage directorial debut in 2007 with '' Pinter's People''. He then directed several stage shows by stand-up comedians including

Joan Rivers Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedian, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona—heavi ...

, Nina Conti and Armstrong and Miller. He achieved significant West End success in 2012, when he directed productions of '' The Ladykillers'' (for which he was nominated for the 2012 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director) and

Joe Orton John Kingsley Orton (1 January 1933 – 9 August 1967), known by the pen name of Joe Orton, was an English playwright, author, and diarist. His public career, from 1964 until his death in 1967, was short but highly influential. During this brie ...

's '' What the Butler Saw''. He also, with

Patrick Barlow Evan George Patrick Barlow (born 18 March 1947) is an English actor, comedian and playwright. His comedic alter ego, ''Desmond Olivier Dingle'', is the founder, artistic director and chief executive of the two-man National Theatre of Brent, whic ...

, co-directed and co-wrote a four-actor stage adaptation of '' Ben Hur'' at the

Watermill Theatre The Watermill Theatre is a repertory theatre in Bagnor, Berkshire. It opened in 1967 in Bagnor Mill, a converted watermill on the River Lambourn. As a producing house, the theatre has produced works that have subsequently moved on to the West E ...

, a regional English theatre. In 2013, Foley made his

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 ...

debut, directing

Thomas Middleton Thomas Middleton (baptised 18 April 1580 – July 1627; also spelt ''Midleton'') was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. He, with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson, was among the most successful and prolific of playwrights at work in the Jac ...

's '' A Mad World, My Masters''. The production was well received by UK critics. It was announced in June 2013 that Foley would be directing

Matthew MacFadyen David Matthew Macfadyen (; born 17 October 1974) is an English actor. Known for his performances on stage and screen, he gained prominence for his role as Mr. Darcy in Joe Wright's ''Pride & Prejudice'' (2005). He currently stars as Tom Wambsgan ...

and

Stephen Mangan Stephen James Mangan (born 16 May 1968) is an English actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He has played Guy Secretan in ''Green Wing'', Dan Moody in ''I'm Alan Partridge'', Seán Lincoln in '' Episodes'', Bigwig in ''Watership Down'', Postm ...

in a theatrical adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse's

Jeeves Jeeves (born Reginald Jeeves, nicknamed Reggie) is a fictional character in a series of comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Berti ...

and Wooster stories, to be titled '' Perfect Nonsense'', at the

Duke of York's Theatre The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre until her death in 1935. Designed by th ...

, London, from 30 October 2013."Sean Foley"
. Retrieved 2012-10-14. Foley also directed the '' X Factor'' stage musical, ''

I Can't Sing! The X Factor Musical ''I Can't Sing! The X Factor Musical'' was a musical comedy written by Harry Hill, and Steve Brown. Based on the TV series ''The X Factor'', the musical made its West End and world premiere in March 2014, at the London Palladium. Due to low tick ...

'', which premiered in 2014. Foley adapted and directed ''The Painkiller'' starring

Kenneth Branagh Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh (; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Branagh trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and has served as its president since 2015. He has won an Academy Award, four BAFTAs (plus ...

and

Rob Brydon Robert Brydon Jones (; born 3 May 1965) is a Welsh actor, comedian, impressionist, presenter, singer and writer. He played Dr Paul Hamilton in the Australian/British comedy series ''Supernova'', Bryn West in the BBC sitcom '' Gavin & Stacey'' ...

during the Kenneth Branagh season at the

Garrick Theatre The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, named after the stage actor David Garrick. It opened in 1889 with ''The Profligate'', a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, and another Pinero play, ' ...

in the West End in March 2016. He also adapted Eugène Ionesco's ''

Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It ''Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It'' (french: Amédée ou comment s'en débarrasser) is a play written by Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wro ...

'' starring

Josie Lawrence Josie Lawrence (born Wendy Lawrence; 6 June 1959) is an English actress and comedian. She is best known for her work with the Comedy Store Players improvisational troupe, the television series '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' and as Manda Best in ...

and Trevor Fox in March 2017 at the

Birmingham Repertory Theatre Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Barry Jackson, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre ...

. He directed his and Phil Porter's adaptation of Molière's ''

The Miser ''The Miser'' (french: L'Avare; ; also known by the longer name ''L'Avare ou L'École du Mensonge,'' meaning The Miser, or the School for Lies) is a five-act comedy in prose by the French playwright Molière. It was first performed on September ...

'' starring

Griff Rhys Jones Griffith Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, and television presenter. He starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. Rhys Jones came to national attention in the 1980s for h ...

Lee Mack Lee Gordon McKillop (born 4 August 1968), known by his stage name Lee Mack, is an English comedian, actor, podcaster and presenter. He is known for his quick wit, writing and starring in the sitcom '' Not Going Out'', being a team captain on th ...

and

Mathew Horne Mathew Frazer Horne (born 6 September 1978) is an English actor, comedian, television presenter and narrator. He is best known for appearing on several BBC sketch shows and sitcoms, most notably ''Gavin & Stacey'' (as Gavin Shipman), ''The Ca ...

at the

which was nominated for a 2018 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. He also directed

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...

's ''

Present Laughter ''Present Laughter'' is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1939 but not produced until 1942 because the Second World War began while it was in rehearsal, and the British theatres closed. The title is drawn from a song in Shakespeare's ''T ...

'' for

Chichester Festival Theatre Chichester Festival Theatre is a theatre and Grade II* listed building situated in Oaklands Park in the city of Chichester, West Sussex, England. Designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, it was opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Mart ...

in April 2018 starring Rufus Hound as Garry Essendine with Katherine Kingsley and Tracy Ann Oberman. Foley also adapted and directed '' The Man in the White Suit'' for the stage, starring

and

Kara Tointon Kara Louise Tointon (born 5 August 1983) is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Dawn Swann in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders''. In 2010, she won the BBC competition series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', and in 2015, she appeared ...

, beginning at the

Theatre Royal, Bath The Theatre Royal in Bath, England, was built in 1805. A Grade II* listed building, it has been described by the Theatres Trust as "One of the most important surviving examples of Georgian theatre architecture". It has a capacity for an audien ...

for three weeks before transferring to the

Wyndham's Theatre Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the archit ...

in London's West End from 9 October until 7 December 2019. In February 2020, Foley directed '' The Upstart Crow'' by

Ben Elton Benjamin Charles Elton (born 3 May 1959) is an English comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. He was a part of London's alternative comedy movement of the 1980s and became a writer on the sitcoms '' The Young Ones'' and ''Bla ...

, based on the BBC TV series with David Mitchell reprising his role as

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

at the Gielgud Theatre, London. The production was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play. However, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the production closed early. The production will be revived at the Apollo Theatre, London from 23 September to 3 December 2022.

Artistic Director of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre

In March 2019 it was announced that Foley was appointed to become artistic director of

succeeding Roxana Silbert. Foley's inaugural season was due to start in 2020 however, due to the

it began in autumn 2021. Foley's first production as director was a revival of his play ''

'' from 27 November 2021 until 1 January 2022, followed by ''The COVID-19 Variations: A Piano Drama'' composed by

Richard Thomas Richard Thomas or Dick Thomas may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Dick Thomas (singer) (1915–2003), American singing cowboy and actor * Richard Thomas (actor) (born 1951), American actor * Richard Thomas (author) (born 1967), American ...

, created by Alison Jackson and performed by Philip Edward Fisher from 8 to 9 February 2022. In February 2023 he will direct ''Spitting Image Live,'' based on the

TV series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...

, co-written by himself,

Al Murray Alastair James Hay Murray (born 10 May 1968) is an English comedian, actor, musician and writer from Hammersmith. In 2003, he was listed in ''The Observer'' as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and in 2007 he was voted the 16th gre ...

and

Matt Forde Matt Forde (born 6 November 1982) is an English impressionist, television writer, and radio presenter. Background Forde attended Becket School in West Bridgford, Nottingham. His mother is a former nun. He joined the Labour Party when he was 15 ...

Awards and nominations

Olivier Awards

;Winner * 1999 Best Entertainment, ''Do You Come Here Often'' * 2002 Best Comedy, ''

'' ;Nominations * 2002 Best Actor (with

), ''

'' * 2006 Best Entertainment, ''

Ducktastic ''Ducktastic'' is a 2005 farce, parodying the Siegfried and Roy Las Vegas act, but with performing ducks instead of tigers. The show stars, and was written by the double act The Right Size (Hamish McColl and Sean Foley) and directed by Kenneth ...

'' * 2010 Best Entertainment, ''Arturo Brachetti: Change'' * 2012 Best Director, '' The Ladykillers'' * 2012 Best New Play, '' The Ladykillers'' *2018 Best New Comedy, ''

Tony Awards

;Nominations * 2003 Best Special Theatrical Event, ''

Selected other work

Television

*'' Spine Chillers'' *''

Wild West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

'' *''

Happiness Happiness, in the context of mental or emotional states, is positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishing and eudaimonia. ...

'' *'' People Like Us'' *'' The Fitz'' *'' Brass Eye''

Radio

* ''The Remains of Foley and McColl'' * ''Foley and McColl Again'' * ''The Goldfish Bowl''

Film

*''

Mindhorn ''Mindhorn'' is a 2016 British independent comedy film directed by Sean Foley, written by Julian Barratt and Simon Farnaby, and executive produced by Steve Coogan and Ridley Scott. It stars Barratt, Farnaby, Essie Davis, Russell Tovey and Andrea ...

'' (2016)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Foley, Sean Alumni of the University of Oxford English male comedians British directors English male stage actors Living people People from Cleethorpes 1964 births