Simon Godwin

Simon Godwin is an English theatre director based in Washington, DC, where he is currently serving as Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Previously he was based in London, serving as Associate Director of London's National Theatre, Associate Director of the Royal Court Theatre and Associate Director at Bristol Old Vic.

Education

Godwin was educated at the Anna Scher Theatre School,[1] an independent stage school in Islington in north London, followed by the St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he studied English.[2] In 2005 he began a two year post graduate program at the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA) where he studied physical theatre and devising.

Career

Simon began directing at Cambridge, and after graduating he began producing classical work including Romeo and Juliet[3] for the Cambridge Arts Theatre and the Marlowe Society. Godwin was then assistant director to Dominic Dromgoole and Tim Supple. He then founded Stray Dogs Theatre Company producing Inkle and Yarico, as well as Eurydice at the BAC before it transferred to the Whitehall Theatre in the West End,[4][5] which made it one of the youngest companies ever to have work staged in London's West End. This was followed by All's Well That Ends Well for a national tour.

In 2001 Simon became Associate Director at the Royal and Derngate Theatres in Northampton where he worked as the deputy to the Artistic Director, Rupert Goold and directed seven main stage shows, including The Seagull, Habeas Corpus, Relatively Speaking and with Salisbury Playhouse, and Quartermaine's Terms by Simon Gray.

In 2008 he joined Tom Morris, as the Associate Director of The Bristol Old Vic, where he directed The Little Mermaid, Krapp's Last Tape/A Kind of Alaska, Faith Healer and Far Away.

At the Tabard Theatre his production of The Country by Martin Crimp was well received, and in 2008 he became part of the Royal Court International Residency. At the Almeida Theatre in 2009 he directed All The Little Things We Crushed by Joel Horwood, followed by a critically acclaimed national tour of The Winter's Tale for Schtanhaus and Nuffield Theatre Southampton, in association with Headlong.

In 2009 Simon became Associate Director of the Royal Court. While there Simon directed seven world premieres, including Routes, If You Don't Let Us Dream, We Won't Let You Sleep, NSFW, The Witness, Goodbye to All That, The Acid Test, and Wanderlust, for which he was longlisted for Evening Standard Awards Best Newcomer in 2010.[6]

Godwin subsequently joined Bristol Old Vic as Associate Director, directing productions of Far Away (Caryl Churchill) and Faith Healer (Brian Friel). The latter was subsequently remounted in 2012 as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival.[7]

In 2012 Simon was awarded the inaugural Evening Standard/Burberry Award for an Emerging Director.[8]

In 2013 Simon made his debut at the National Theatre with Strange Interlude with Anne Marie Duff  followed by Man and Superman with Ralph Fiennes. When Rufus Norris became the new Artistic Director of the National Theatre in 2015, he invited Simon to become part of his team of permanent Associates.[9]

Simon has also enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 2001 he directed The Two Gentlemen of Verona followed in 2016 by an acclaimed Hamlet, which toured to The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.[10][11]  

His production of Antony and Cleopatra with Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo opened at the National Theatre,[12] London in September 2018, followed by Timon of Athens, starring Kathryn Hunter as Timon at the Royal Shakespeare Company in December 2018[13]. In May 2019, Simon made his Tokyo debut, directing a Japanese cast in Hamlet for Theatre Cocoon[14].

In September 2018, Simon was appointed Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company Washington D.C. effective 1 August 2019.[15][16] He made his directorial debut with the company in February 2020 with a remounted production of Timon of Athens with Kathryn Hunter reprising her role. [17]

In August 2019, he directed Hansard in the Lyttleton Theatre at the National Theatre[18]. Hansard was the debut play by writer Simon Woods[19] and was broadcast in October 2019 by National Theatre Live[20].

In August 2020, he will direct Romeo and Juliet at the National Theatre, with Jessie Buckley and Josh O'Connor playing the title roles[21].

Work

Godwin's directing career includes:

Year Title Production
2020 Romeo and Juliet

by William Shakespeare

 National Theatre
2019 Hansard

by Simon Woods

 National Theatre
2019 Hamlet
by William Shakespeare		 Theatre Cocoon
2018 Timon of Athens

by William Shakespeare

 Royal Shakespeare Company
2018 Antony & Cleopatra

by William Shakespeare

 National Theatre
2017 Rules for Living

by Sam Holcroft

 Royal & Derngate Theatre
2017 Twelfth Night

by William Shakespeare

 National Theatre
2016Hamlet
by William Shakespeare		Royal Shakespeare Company (2016) and The Kennedy Center (2018)[10]
2016 The Cherry Orchard

By Anton Chekhov

 Roundabout Theatre Company
2015Richard II
by William Shakespeare		Shakespeare's Globe
2015The Beaux' Stratagem
by George Farquhar		National Theatre
2015Man and Superman
by George Bernard Shaw		National Theatre
2014The Two Gentlemen of Verona

by William Shakespeare

 Royal Shakespeare Theatre
2013 If You Don't Let Us Dream, We Won't Let You Sleep

by Anders Lustgarten

 Royal Court Theatre
2013The Little Mermaid

by Joel Horwood

 Bristol Old Vic
2013Routes
by Rachel De-lahay		Royal Court Theatre
2013Strange Interlude
by Eugene O'Neill		National Theatre
2012NSFW
by Lucy Kirkwood		Royal Court Theatre
2012The Witness
by Vivienne Franzmann		Royal Court Theatre
2012A Kind of Alaska & Krapp's Last Tape
by Harold Pinter & Samuel Beckett		Bristol Old Vic
2012Goodbye To All That
by Luke Norris		Royal Court Theatre
2011The Acid Test
by Anya Reiss		Royal Court Theatre
2011Faith Healer
by Brian Friel		Bristol Old Vic and Hong Kong Arts Festival (2012)
2010Wanderlust
by Nick Payne		Royal Court Theatre
2010Far Away
by Caryl Churchill		Bristol Old Vic
2009The Winter's Tale
by William Shakespeare		National Tour
2009All The Little Things We Crushed
by Joel Horwood		Almeida Theatre
2008The Country
by Martin Crimp		Tabard Theatre
2004 Relatively Speaking

by Alan Ayckbourne

 Royal & Derngate Theatre
2001 Romeo & Juliet

by William Shakespeare

 Cambridge Arts Theatre
1999 Eurydice

by Jean Anouilh

 Battersea Arts Centre and Whitehall Theatre
1998 Inkle and Yarico

by George Coleman

 Battersea Arts Centre
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References
  1. Gemma Kappala-Ramsamy and Kate Kellaway (1 January 2012). "Stage picks for 2012: Katherine Kelly, Simon Godwin and Claire Calvert – Simon Godwin". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  2. Simon Godwin Background http://www.thewinterstale.co.uk/cast/creativeteam/director/director.html
  3. Romeo and Juliet http://www.societies.cam.ac.uk/marlowe/showarchive/romeo/index.htm
  4. Eurydice Archived 13 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Billington, Michael (14 July 1999). "Eurydice". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  6. Evening Standard Awards "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 30 December 2010. Retrieved 18 February 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 July 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. Playbill report of London Evening Standard awards, 25 November 2012. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. Theatre, National. "Who's Who". The National Theatre. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  10. "Simon Godwin 2016 production | Hamlet | Royal Shakespeare Company". www.rsc.org.uk. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  11. Billington, Michael (23 March 2016). "Hamlet review – Paapa Essiedu is a graffiti prince in RSC's bright tragedy". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  12. Theatre, National. "Antony & Cleopatra". The National Theatre.
  13. "RSC Website - Timon of Athens".
  14. "Japan Times - Simon Godwin Interview".
  15. "Meet Simon Goodwin". Shakespeare Theatre Company. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  16. Pressley, Nelson (6 September 2018). "Shakespeare Theatre Company names U.K.'s Simon Godwin to succeed Kahn". The Washington Post (6 September 2018). Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  17. http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/events/timon-of-athens-19-20/
  18. "National Theatre Website - Hansard".
  19. Hemming, Sarah (5 September 2019). "Hansard explores privilege, power and pain at the National Theatre, London". Financial Times. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  20. "National Theatre Live Website - Hansard".
  21. "Whats On Stage - National theatre News 2020".
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