Jamie Lloyd (director)

Jamie Lloyd (born 1980) is a British director,[1][2] best known for his work with his eponymous theatre company (The Jamie Lloyd Company).

He has been credited with drawing new people to the theatre and introducing plays to a wholly diverse audience.[3][4][5][6] He is a proponent of affordable theatre for young and diverse audiences, and has been praised as "redefining West End theatre".[7] The Daily Telegraph critic Dominic Cavendish wrote of Lloyd, "Few directors have Lloyd’s ability to transport us to the upper echelons of theatrical pleasure."[8]

Early career

Lloyd's first main house production was Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker at the Sheffield Crucible, which started a fruitful relationship with the playwright.[9] Lloyd has been heralded as a major Pinter interpreter[10] and later in his career, he directed Pinter's The Hothouse and The Homecoming.

He directed a Pinter double-bill in the West End - The Lover and The Collection - in 2008 before Michael Grandage appointed him as an Associate Director of the Donmar Warehouse.[11]

Lloyd was the Associate Director of the Donmar Warehouse[12] from 2008 to 2011, where his 2010 production of Passion won the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical.[13] He was also an Associate Artist at theatre company Headlong.[14] for whom he directed an anarchic production of Oscar Wilde's Salome[15]

In 2008 he directed The Pride at the Royal Court, for which he won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.[16] Seen as a 'wunderkind of London theatre',[9] he was named a Rising Star by the Daily Telegraph in 2009.[17]

The Jamie Lloyd Company

In 2013, the Jamie Lloyd Company was launched with the Ambassador Theatre Group.[18] With this company, he presented a season of work in 2013 as Artistic Director called Trafalgar Transformed at Trafalgar Studios. The auditorium was reconfigured to accommodate the season, including raising the stage by over two metres.[19]

The first season featured three productions: a revival of The Pride (which also went on a short UK tour), The Hothouse starring Simon Russell Beale and John Simm, and Macbeth, starring James McAvoy, which received an Olivier nomination for Best Revival. A second Trafalgar Transformed season opened in July 2014 with Richard III starring Martin Freeman, East is East, and The Ruling Class, again starring James McAvoy.[20]

Lloyd has worked frequently with McAvoy since 2009, a relationship that began with a production of Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain at the Apollo Theatre. More recently, McAvoy starred in a radio version of Heart of Darkness, which Lloyd directed and adapted for BBC Radio 4. He completed a run of Cyrano de Bergerac with Lloyd in February 2020.[21][22]

In 2014, Lloyd was named the 20th Most Powerful Person in British Theatre by The Stage in its annual Stage 100 list. He was the youngest director to break into the list since Sam Mendes.[23]

In 2015, Lloyd directed Harold Pinter's The Homecoming. The following year he directed a new adaptation of The Maids by Jean Genet, starring Uzo Aduba, Zawe Ashton, and Laura Carmichael, both at Trafalgar Studios.[11] This was followed by a controversial production of Doctor Faustus in the Duke of York’s Theatre starring Kit Harington and Jenna Russell.[24] [11] Every ticket for Monday performances of The Jamie Lloyd Company were priced at £15.[25]

In 2019, Lloyd announced that he would be directing and producing a season of three plays at the Playhouse Theatre with The Jamie Lloyd Company. The season consisted of Cyrano de Bergerac with James McAvoy in a new version by Martin Crimp, The Seagull starring Emilia Clarke in a version by Anya Reiss, and A Doll's House starring Jessica Chastain. His production of Cyrano de Bergerac earned five Olivier Award nominations, including one for Best Director for Lloyd, Best Actor for McAvoy, and Best Revival.[26] He also won the Critic's Circle Award jointly for his productions of Betrayal, Evita and Cyrano.[27] Cyrano also transferred to New York in 2020, in the Brooklyn Academy of Music. As part of the Playhouse Season, the Jamie Lloyd Company committed to a wide-ranging outreach programme, giving 15,000 tickets away for free to each production to first time theatre goers, and with a further 15,000 £15 seats to young and low-income audience members, with Lloyd stating “Every day, we talk about making theatre more accessible to absolutely everyone, but, inspired by free museum and gallery entry, I believe that true and meaningful access actually means free tickets. I hope that this inspires other theatre companies and producers to investigate similar schemes in the future, changing the landscape of West End theatre forever.” [28]

In 2020, Lloyd was named the 9th most influential person in British Theatre in the prestigious Stage 100 list. He was the highest placed director on the list.

Pinter At The Pinter

In 2018, Lloyd announced 'Pinter at the Pinter' a revolutionary sixth month long season of all of Harold Pinter's one act and short plays staged on the tenth anniversary of his death at The Harold Pinter Theatre. In the season, Lloyd directed: One For The Road; A New World Order; Mountain Language; the newly discovered The Pres and the Officer; The Lover; The Collection; Landscape; A Kind of Alaska; Monologue; Party Time; Celebration; The Dumb Waiter; and A Slight Ache, amongst many of Pinter's poems and speeches. Alongside Lloyd, Patrick Marber, Lia Williams and Lyndsey Turner directed some of the featured productions. Casting across the season included Martin Freeman, Danny Dyer, Jessica Barden, David Suchet, Russell Tovey, Lee Evans, John Simm, Phil Davis, Rupert Graves, Celia Imrie, Tamsin Greig, Jane Horrocks, Gary Kemp, John Heffernan (actor), Gemma Whelan, Tracy Ann Oberman, Kate O'Flynn, Mark Rylance, Antony Sher, Hayley Squires, Meera Syal, Penelope Wilton, and Michael Gambon.[29]

The Pinter At The Pinter season culminated with a revival of Betrayal starring Tom Hiddleston, Zawe Ashton, and Charlie Cox. The production received rave reviews with critic Matt Wolf remarking that the production "represents a benchmark achievement for everyone involved, and shows Pinter’s 1978 play in a revealing, even radical, new light." This production transferred to the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Broadway for 16 weeks in August 2019.[30]

Other work

Lloyd has had successes ranging from classical plays to modern musicals. In 2012 Lloyd directed a critically acclaimed, 'turbo-charged'[31] production of She Stoops to Conquer at the National Theatre, and The Duchess of Malfi at The Old Vic starring Eve Best.[32] In 2013 he directed The Commitments in the Palace Theatre, West End (which then went on a UK Tour),[33] followed by Urinetown at the St. James Theatre, which transferred to the Apollo Theatre in the West End.[34] Lloyd directed the musical Assassins at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2014 and was nominated for the Evening Standard award for Best Director. He directed a production of Evita in Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in 2019, which received two Olivier Award nominations, including one for Best Musical Revival. This production also won Lloyd the Whatsonstage Award for Best Director and transferred to the Barbican Theatre in 2019.[35]

Personal life

Lloyd lives in Hastings, East Sussex, with his wife, actress Suzie Toase and their three sons.[36]

Credits

Jamie Lloyd Company

Donmar Warehouse

Other work

Honours, appointments, awards and nominations
Awards
  • 2020 Whatsonstage Award for Best Director - Evita (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre)
  • 2020 Critic's Circle Award for Best Director - Betrayal/Evita/Cyrano de Bergerac
  • 2019 Evening Standard Award for Best Musical Revival - Evita (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre)
  • 2010 Evening Standard Award for Best Musical - Passion (Donmar Warehouse)
  • 2008 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre - The Pride (Royal Court)
Nominations
  • 2020 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director - Cyrano de Bergerac (Playhouse Theatre)
  • 2020 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival - Cyrano de Bergerac (Playhouse Theatre)
  • 2020 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival of a Musical - Evita (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre)
  • 2019 Evening Standard Award for Best Director - Betrayal (Harold Pinter Theatre)
  • 2013 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival - Macbeth (Trafalgar Transformed, Trafalgar Studios)
  • 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival - Passion (Donmar Warehouse)
  • 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival - Three Days of Rain (Apollo Theatre)
  • 2009 Whatsonstage Award for Best Revival - Three Days of Rain (Apollo Theatre)
  • 2008 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival - Piaf (Donmar Warehouse)

References
  1. "Portrait of the artist: Jamie Lloyd, director". The Guardian. 12 September 2011.
  2. Curtis, Nick. "Jamie Lloyd: 'If you want a more diverse audience, that has to be reflected on the stage'". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  3. O'Hanlon, Don. "Interview with The Maids director Jamie Lloyd". London Theatre Guide. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  4. Cavendish, Dominic. "Assassins, Menier Chocolate Factory, review: 'darkly entertaining'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  5. Hewis, Ben. "Jamie Lloyd: "Theatre shouldn't be just a good night out"". Whatsonstage. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  6. Curtis, Nick. "Jamie Lloyd: The Playmaker". The Evening Standard. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  7. Curtis, Nick. "Jamie Lloyd: the Playmaker". Evening Standard. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  8. Cavendish, Dominic. "The Ruling Class, Trafalgar Studios, review: 'McAvoy's performance is one of the year's must-sees'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  9. Curtis, Nick. "Jamie Lloyd: The Playmaker". The Evening Standard. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  10. Cheesman, Neil. "Jamie Lloyd to direct The Homecoming by Harold Pinter". LondonTheatre1. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  11. Hewis, Ben. "Jamie Lloyd: "Theatre shouldn't be just a good night out"". Whatsonstage. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  12. "Staff". Donmar Warehouse. Archived from the original on 15 December 2010. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  13. "Evening Standard Theatre Awards celebrate a year of high emotion on stage". thisislondon.co.uk. 29 November 2010. Archived from the original on 1 January 2012.
  14. "About us". headlongtheatre.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011.
  15. "Salome". Headlong. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  16. "The Pride at The Royal Court Theatre". royalcourttheatre.com.
  17. Interview by Mark Monahan 11:37AM GMT 31 Dec 2008 (31 December 2008). "Stars who will shine in 2009 - Theatre: Jamie Lloyd". Telegraph. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  18. "ATG announces the launch of Jamie Lloyd productions". ATGTickets.com. 13 August 2012.
  19. http://feastcreative.com, Feast Creative. "Error - The Jamie Lloyd Company".
  20. Mark Monahan (4 April 2014). "Martin Freeman to play Richard III in London's West End". Guardian. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  21. Fullerton, Huw. "James McAvoy: We shouldn't do away with the BBC – even if it could be better at diversity". The Radio Times. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  22. Benedict, David. "Review: Three Days of Rain". Variety. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  23. "Stage 100 power list hails theatre director Jamie Lloyd as 'new Sam Mendes'". The Independent.
  24. "DOCTOR FAUSTUS". The Jamie Lloyd Company. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  25. "ABOUT THE JAMIE LLOYD COMPANY". The Jamie Lloyd Company. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  26. https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatre-news/west-end-features/olivier-awards-2020-full-list-of-nominations. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  27. https://britishtheatre.com/critics-circle-theatre-awards-2020-winners-announced/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  28. https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2019/james-mcavoy-to-play-cyrano-de-bergerac-in-new-jamie-lloyd-west-end-season/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  29. https://www.pinteratthepinter.com/the-plays
  30. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/theater/betrayal-hiddleston-pinter-lloyd-broadway.html
  31. Walker, Tim. "She Stoops to Conquer, at National Theatre, Seven magazine review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  32. Billington, Michael. "Duchess of Malfi: review". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  33. "The Commitments". The Commitments on Tour. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  34. Billington, Michael. "Urinetown – review: the Spend-a-Penny Opera that's a welcome relief". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  35. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/mar/01/juliet-wins-six-prizes-at-whatsonstage-awards. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  36. Curtis, Nick. "Jamie Lloyd: 'If you want a more diverse audience, that has to be reflected on the stage'". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  37. http://feastcreative.com, Feast Creative. "The Maids - Projects - The Jamie Lloyd Company".
  38. http://feastcreative.com, Feast Creative. "The Homecoming - Projects - The Jamie Lloyd Company". Archived from the original on 19 August 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  39. "Jamie Lloyd on Twitter".
  40. "Doctor Faustus". Best of Theatre. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  41. "St James confirms UK premiere of Urinetown". whatsonstage.com. Whats On Stage. 16 September 2013. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  42. "Roddy Doyle's "The Commitments" finally made into musical". reuters.com. Reuters. 23 April 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
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