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Rachel O'Riordan (born 1974) is an Irish theatre director. She is the artistic director at the
Lyric Hammersmith The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a nonprofit theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London."About the Lyric" > "History" ''Lyric'' official website. Retrieved January 2024. Background The Lyric Theatre ...
, London.


Early life and education

Born in Cork, Ireland to poet and novelist Robert Anthony Welch and Angela O'Riordan Welch, O'Riordan first trained as a ballet dancer. This culminated in a scholarship to the White Lodge,
Royal Ballet School The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...
"Stage is set for change"
''The Herald'' (Glasgow) (4 April 2012). Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
and then
Mariinsky Ballet The Mariinsky Ballet () is the resident classical ballet company of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world's ...
(formerly ''Kirov''). She studied English and Theatre studies at
Queen Mary, University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London. Today, ...
, before completing her PhD entitled ''Shakespeare's Physical Text: The Body's Imperative'' at the
University of Ulster Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...
in 2002.


Career

From to 2002 to 2011, O'Riordan co-founded and ran the Ransom theatre company in
Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
, Northern Ireland, where she directed the production ''Hurricane''. The show was performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and earned a season in London's West End and
Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
in New York City. O'Riordan then completed a season with the Peter Hall Company, where she directed
August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (; ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 pla ...
's ''Miss Julie'', and an adaption of
George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
's ''Animal Farm'' at the Theatre Royal in Bath, England. O'Riordan's tenure as artistic director of ''Ransom'' saw her commission and direct the first play by David Ireland, ''Arguments for Terrorism'', and new plays ''Early Bird'' by
Leo Butler Leo Butler (born 1974 in Sheffield) is a British playwright. His plays have been staged, among others, by the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Almeida Theatre. His plays have been published by Bloomsbury A & C Black.
and ''Transparency'' by
Suzie Miller Susan "Suzie" Miller (born ) is an Australian playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and lawyer. She has written over 40 plays, first coming to notice in 2008 for ''Reasonable Doubt'', which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Her best-k ...
, ''Protestants'' by Robert Welch, and, the Irish famine-based ''This Piece of Earth'' by Richard Dormer. During this time she also ran a three-year programme entitled ''Writers on the Edge'' to develop new writing for women in Northern Ireland. O'Riordan was artistic director at the
Perth Theatre Perth Theatre is an entertainment venue in Mill Street, Perth, Scotland. It opened in 1900 and was extended in the 1980s. The building is category B listed by Historic Environment Scotland, and is operated by the charitable organisation Horsec ...
between 2011 and 2014. Her first production was
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 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 natio ...
's ''
Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...
''. "Unfaithful" by Owen McCafferty was produced by the Traverse Theatre for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2014. In October 2013, O'Riordan was announced as artistic director of the
Sherman Theatre The Sherman Theatre () is a venue in the Cathays district of Cardiff. It was built as a twin-auditorium venue in 1973 with financial support from University College Cardiff (now Cardiff University). Sherman Cymru was the name of the Sherman Thea ...
in
Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
, and took up the post in February 2014. The most significant result of the time in Cardiff was the formation of the partnership with playwright Gary Owen. ''Iphigenia in Splott'' and ''Killology'' were both award-winners. In January 2016, she was named amongst the 100 most influential people in theatre in the UK by ''
The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. Founded in 1880, ''The Stage'' contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at thos ...
''. In February 2019 O'Riordan joined the
Lyric Hammersmith The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a nonprofit theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London."About the Lyric" > "History" ''Lyric'' official website. Retrieved January 2024. Background The Lyric Theatre ...
, London as artistic director, succeeding Sean Holmes. Her first production was a transposition by Tanika Gupta of ''A Doll's House'' to Victorian
Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
. Productions in the return of theatre after the pandemic in 2022 were ''Scandaltown'' and a revival of ''Iphigenia in Splott'', again with Sophie Melville. It was the choice of critic Arifa Akbar in ''The Guardian'' for best production of the year.


Personal life

O'Riordan is married to actor
Richard Dormer Richard Dormer (born 11 November 1969) is an actor and playwright from Northern Ireland. He is best known for his roles as Beric Dondarrion in the HBO television series ''Game of Thrones'' and Dan Anderssen in Sky Atlantic's '' Fortitude''. Ea ...
.


Selected productions


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ORiordan, Rachel 1974 births Alumni of Queen Mary University of London Alumni of Ulster University Irish theatre directors Irish women theatre directors Living people People educated at the Royal Ballet School People from County Cork