Sam Buntrock (born 19 September 1975) is an English
stage 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 ...
.
Career
Buntrock studied Drama at
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...
.
[Kaye, Kimberly]
"Interview"
broadway.com, June 12, 2008
Buntrock directed the first
West End
West End most commonly refers to:
* West End of London, an area of central London, England
* West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England
West End may also refer to:
Pl ...
revival of the musical ''
Sunday In The Park With George
''Sunday in the Park with George'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It was inspired by the French pointillist painter Georges Seurat's painting '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande ...
''. The production ran at the
Menier Chocolate Factory
The Menier Chocolate Factory is a 180-seat off-West End theatre, which comprises a restaurant, bar and rehearsal rooms.
It is located in a former 1870s Menier Chocolate, Menier Chocolate Company factory at 53 Southwark Street, a major street in ...
in London, England, from 18 November 2005 - 12 March 2006, before transferring to the West End's
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 archite ...
, running 23 May 2006 - 2 September 2006. Buntrock received critical acclaim, and an
Olivier Award
The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...
nomination for this production.
[Jones, Kenneth]
"Freshly Framed, ''Sunday in the Park With George'' Revival Opens on Broadway"
''Playbill'', February 21, 2008 He made his
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
debut directing the first revival of the show,
[Zinoman, Jason]
"Theater. Who’s That Kid Staging Sondheim?"
''New York Times'', 17 February 2008 for which he received
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...
and
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...
nominations. The production ran at
Studio 54
Studio 54 is a Broadway theater and a former disco nightclub at 254 West 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Operated by the Roundabout Theatre Company, Studio 54 has 1,006 seats on two levels. The theater ...
, from 21 February - 29 June 2008.
[ The production made its West Coast debut in 2009 at ]5th Avenue Theatre
The 5th Avenue Theatre is a landmark theatre located in Seattle's Skinner Building, in the U.S. state of Washington. It has hosted a variety of theatre productions and motion pictures since it opened in 1926. The building and land are owned ...
in Seattle, Washington.
Other directing credits include the London revival of ''Assassins'', Daniel Goldfarb's ''Cradle and All'' 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 th ...
at Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has g ...
, which opened in May 2011, Lenny Henry
Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and writer.
Henry gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in '' The Le ...
's ''Cradle to Grave'' (UK tour), '' Take Flight'' at the Menier Chocolate Factory
The Menier Chocolate Factory is a 180-seat off-West End theatre, which comprises a restaurant, bar and rehearsal rooms.
It is located in a former 1870s Menier Chocolate, Menier Chocolate Company factory at 53 Southwark Street, a major street in ...
(2007) and McCarter Theater
McCarter Theatre Center is a not-for-profit, professional company on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. The institution is currently led by Artistic Director Sarah Rasmussen and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg.
...
, Marcus Brigstocke
Marcus Alexander Brigstocke (born 8 May 1973) is a British comedian, actor and satirist. He has worked in stand-up comedy, television, radio and musical theatre. He has appeared on many BBC television and radio shows.
Early life
Brigstocke is ...
's ''God Collar'' (Edinburgh, UK Tour and West End), the European tour of ''The Rocky Horror Show
''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to the Science fiction film, science fiction and Horror film, horror B movies of the 1930s through to the early 1960s, the ...
'' and Marcus Brigstocke's one-man shows ''Get a Life'' and ''Help Yourself'' (both in Edinburgh and UK tour). As resident assistant director at the Donmar Warehouse
The Donmar Warehouse is a 251-seat, not-for-profit theatre in Covent Garden, London, England. It first opened on 18 July 1977.
Sam Mendes, Michael Grandage and Josie Rourke have all served as artistic director, a post held since 2019 by M ...
,[ he worked on productions of '']Juno and the Paycock
''Juno and the Paycock'' is a play by Seán O'Casey. Highly regarded and often performed in Ireland, it was first staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924. It is set in the working-class tenements of Dublin in the early 1920s, during the Ir ...
'', ''Three Days of Rain
''Three Days of Rain'' is a play by Richard Greenberg that was commissioned and produced by South Coast Repertory in 1997. The title comes from a line from W. S. Merwin's poem, "For the Anniversary of My Death" (1967). The play has often been c ...
'', '' Helpless'' and '' The Real Thing'' (which subsequently transferred to the West End and Broadway). He directed the first London revival of ''Assassins
An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder.
Assassin may also refer to:
Origin of term
* Someone belonging to the medieval Persian Ismaili order of Assassins
Animals and insects
* Assassin bugs, a genus in the family ''Reduviid ...
'' in 1997 at the New End Theatre in Hampstead.
As part of the British comedy team Club Seals,[ Buntrock created the animation for "The Award-Winning Show," "Live Ghost Hunt," "DJ Danny," "Sins of the Grandfathers," "The Museum of Everything" and "We Are History" for ]BBC2
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...
. He has worked as an animation director on numerous commercial and corporate projects, most recently the television film '' Stuart: A Life Backwards'' (2007) for Neal Street Productions, HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
and the BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
.
Other projects include the world premiere of Rob Handel's "A Maze" (New York Stage and Film
New York Stage and Film is an art and film institution founded in 1985 by Mark Linn-Baker, Max Mayer and Leslie Urdang in order to provide artists with a rigorous and nurturing environment to invigorate the artistic process; to promote collabora ...
's Powerhouse Theater
The Powerhouse Theater (officially the Hallie Flanagan Davis Powerhouse Theater) is a theater building on the campus of Vassar College in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, US. Originally built as a power station in 1912, it was renovated and repu ...
season), ''Much Ado About Nothing
''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...
'' at Two River Theater
Two River Theater is a professional, not-for-profit, regional theater company producing plays and educational programs for audiences from central New Jersey and beyond. It is located in Red Bank, New Jersey, on the peninsula between the Navesink ...
(September 2011), Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...
's ''Travesties
''Travesties'' is a 1974 play by Tom Stoppard. The play centres on the figure of Henry Carr, an elderly man who reminisces about Zürich in 1917 during the First World War, and his interactions with James Joyce when he was writing '' Ulysses'', ...
'' and the world premiere of John Guare
John Guare ( ;; born February 5, 1938) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He is best known as the author of '' The House of Blue Leaves'' and ''Six Degrees of Separation''.
Early life
He was raised in Jackson Heights, Queens.Druckman ...
's "Are You There, McPhee?" (May 2012) both at McCarter Theater
McCarter Theatre Center is a not-for-profit, professional company on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. The institution is currently led by Artistic Director Sarah Rasmussen and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg.
...
. He directed the Benjamin Britten opera ''The Turn of the Screw
''The Turn of the Screw'' is an 1898 horror novella by Henry James which first appeared in serial format in ''Collier's Weekly'' (January 27 – April 16, 1898). In October 1898, it was collected in ''The Two Magics'', published by Macmilla ...
'' at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in February 2013. He directed the new play ''Sleeping Rough'' by Kara Manning Off-Broadway by Page 73 Productions in April 2013. He directed the new musical ''The A to Z of Mrs P'' at the Southwark Playhouse
Southwark Playhouse is a theatre in London, located between Borough and Elephant and Castle tube stations.
History
The Southwark Playhouse Theatre Company was founded in 1993 by Juliet Alderdice and Tom Wilson. They identified the need for a h ...
, starring Isy Suttie and Frances Ruffelle
Frances Ruffelle (born 29 August 1965) is an English musical theatre actress and singer. She won a Tony Award in 1987, and represented the United Kingdom in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest with the song " Lonely Symphony (We Will Be Free)", f ...
in 2014."''The A to Z of Mrs P''"
westendtheatre.com, March 1, 2014
Image:SamB.jpg, Sam Buntrock
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buntrock, Sam
1975 births
Living people
Alumni of the University of Bristol
English theatre directors