Matthew Warchus

Matthew Warchus (born 24 October 1966) is a British director and dramatist.^[1][2]

Life

Warchus studied music and drama at Bristol University. He has directed for the National Youth Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Donmar Warehouse, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre, Opera North, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Welsh National Opera, English National Opera and in the West End.

He won the Globe's Most Promising Newcomer Award for Much Ado About Nothing in the West End, the Evening Standard Best Director award, and Olivier Award nominations for Shakespeare's Henry V and Ben Jonson's Volpone.

Productions include: Sejanus his Fall (Edinburgh), Master Harold and the Boys (Bristol Old Vic), The Suicide, Coriolanus (National Youth Theatre), Life is a Dream, Plough and the Stars, True West (Donmar Warehouse), Henry V, The Devil is an Ass, Hamlet (RSC), Volpone (RNT), Troilus and Cressida (Opera North), Rake's Progress (Welsh National Opera), Falstaff (Opera North & ENO), 'Art' (West End & Broadway).

His recent productions of Hamlet at the Barbican Theatre and Falstaff at the English National Opera have been nominated for several Olivier awards including "Best Director". Hamlet has also been seen at the Brooklyn Academy in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Warchus directed 'Art' by Yasmina Reza in the West End and later on Broadway, where he was nominated for a Tony Award. Since then he also directed Reza's next two plays The Unexpected Man (RSC) and Life x 3 (National Theatre) in London and New York (at, respectively, the Promenade Theatre and The Circle in the Square).

In 1999 he completed his debut feature film - an adaptation of Sam Shepard's play Simpatico - which he co-wrote and directed, starring Nick Nolte, Jeff Bridges, Albert Finney and Sharon Stone.

In 2000 he directed Sam Shepard's True West starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly and in 2008 he directed David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow, starring Kevin Spacey and Jeff Goldblum.

Recent projects included a production of Alan Ayckbourn's trilogy of plays The Norman Conquests at London's Old Vic Theatre, Boeing Boeing at New York's Broadhurst Theatre (Tony nomination for Best Director of a Play), a UK tour of the musical Our House and the stage adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, which began playing in May 2007 at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

During the 2008-2009 Broadway season, Warchus directed two productions. One was the critically lauded, 2009 Tony Award winner for Best Revival of a Play transfer of his Old Vic production of "The Norman Conquests" for which he won the Drama Desk Award for Directing. The other was the 2009 Tony Award winner for Best Play, Yasmina Reza's smash hit "God of Carnage" for which Warchus won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play.^[3][4]

In 2010, Warchus directed the acclaimed RSC production of Matilda (musical), which will transfer to the West End in late 2011.

His production of Ghost: The Musical, a stage adaptation of the Academy Award winning 1990 film Ghost premiered at the Manchester Opera House in March 2011, and will open in the West End in June.

References

1. ^ http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/w/matthew_warchus/index.html
2. ^ http://www.filmreference.com/film/45/Matthew-Warchus.html
3. ^ http://www.ibdb.com/awardperson.asp?id=16443
4. ^ http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=16443

External links

• Matthew Warchus at the Internet Movie Database
• Matthew Warchus at the Internet Broadway Database
• "PLAYBILL.COM'S BRIEF ENCOUNTER With Matthew Warchus", Robert Simonson, 20 May 2009
• Yahoo! biography
• Filmbug biography
• Lord of the Rings Stage Show (Book, Lyrics and Direction by Matthew Warchus) Unofficial Fansite

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Name	Warchus, Matthew
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Date of birth	24 October 1966
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