Michael Grandage

From 2000 to 2005 he was Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres where his high-profile productions included Edward II with Joseph Fiennes, Richard III with Kenneth Branagh, Suddenly Last Summer with Diana Rigg and Victoria Hamilton, The Tempest with Derek Jacobi and Don Carlos with Derek Jacobi. He produced over forty plays with predominantly young directors and designers. He is credited with delivering consistently high quality work as well as bringing in new audiences and in 2001, Sheffield Theatres won the TMA Theatre of the Year.[5]

From 2002 to 2012 he was Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse where he succeeded Sam Mendes. During his tenure, he expanded the theatre's repertoire to include European work, touring productions and an extensive education programme as well as taking the new Donmar brand to international audiences in America, Australia, Argentina and Europe.

In September 2008 he launched a one-year Donmar West End "access for all" season of four plays with affordable ticket prices when the company extended its repertory to the newly refurbished Wyndham's Theatre. Grandage directed all four productions: Kenneth Branagh in Ivanov, Derek Jacobi in Twelfth Night, Judi Dench in Madame de Sade and Jude Law in Hamlet.[6]

In 2010 he launched a three-year West End season at the Trafalgar Studios to highlight the work of young directors who emerged from the Donmar's training scheme during his tenure.[7]

During his decade at the Donmar he produced sixty six productions directing twenty five of them himself. His contributions to the Donmar included the purchase of the theatre site in Earlham Street, and the purchase of office and rehearsal space in nearby Dryden Street in 2011. These were made possible through commercial activity that Grandage engaged in on behalf of the Donmar during his tenure, particularly transferring productions to the West End and Broadway.[8]

His work at the Donmar won Tony, Olivier, Evening Standard, Critics' Circle and South Bank Awards. He was first nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award in 2001 for Best Director for Peter Nichols' Passion Play at the Donmar Warehouse before winning in 2004 for David Greig's Caligula. Two of his musical productions for the Donmar have also won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production and a third won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical. He has won four Evening Standard Awards for his Donmar work including productions of Passion Play, Merrily We Roll Along, Grand Hotel, Ivanov, The Chalk Garden and Othello. In 2010, his production of Red by John Logan won six Tony Awards including Best Play and Best Director.

In June 2012, Constable & Robinson published A Decade At The Donmar by Michael Grandage, a photographic record of his tenure.

In 2010 Grandage started to work in opera, making his debut at Glyndebourne with a production of Billy Budd.[9] This production has also played at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City in 2014 and San Francisco Opera in 2019.[10][11] He returned to Glyndebourne in 2012 to direct Le nozze di Figaro, a production that was revived for the following four years.[12] In the U.S. his work has included new productions of Madama Butterfly and Don Giovanni for the Metropolitan Opera,[13] Chicago Lyric Opera and Houston Grand Opera.[14]

At the end of 2011, Grandage set up the Michael Grandage Company[1] to produce work in theatre, film and TV.

In June 2012, alongside producer James Bierman, he announced a fifteen-month season of work at the Noël Coward Theatre in London's West End aimed at reaching out to a new generation of theatre-goers through pricing and access with over 100,000 seats going on sale at £10.[15] Between December 2012 and February 2014 they produced Privates on Parade with Simon Russell Beale; John Logan's new play Peter and Alice with Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw; Daniel Radcliffe in The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh; and two plays by Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream with Sheridan Smith and David Walliams, followed by Henry V with Jude Law. Grandage directed all five productions and the season was nominated for six Olivier Awards. In 2014 The Cripple of Inishmaan transferred to Broadway where it was nominated for six Tony Awards.[16]

In 2014 Grandage and Bierman started work on the feature film, Genius, about the relationship between author Thomas Wolfe and his editor Max Perkins. The film, which is based on A. Scott Berg's biography Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, has a screenplay by John Logan and is directed by Grandage. It stars Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Guy Pearce, Dominic West and Laura Linney. The film, produced by MGC, premiered at Berlin Film Festival in 2016 and was released on 16 June in the USA.[17][18]

In 2015, the company returned to the West End with Photograph 51, a new play by Anna Ziegler starring Nicole Kidman. The production continued their commitment to greater access with twenty five percent of every performance at ten pounds. Kidman went on to win the Evening Standard Best Actress Award as well as receiving an Olivier nomination for Best Actress.[19][20]

Further theatre work in 2015/16 included a co-production with Emily Dobbs of Richard Greenberg's The Dazzle starring Andrew Scott and David Dawson, directed by Simon Evans at Found 111[21] and a co-production with Phil McIntyre of 30 Million Minutes, a one-woman show starring Dawn French, directed by Michael Grandage. This toured the UK and played in the West End twice before being broadcast on BBC Four.[22]

In 2016, MGC produced Eugene O'Neill's Hughie on Broadway starring Forest Whitaker.[23] Following this, Bierman left the company and producer Nick Frankfort joined alongside Executive Director Stella McCabe.[24] In addition to producing work in all media, MGC now offers a General Management service as well as looking after a select group of creative practitioners.

In 2017, the company produced Labour of Love, a new play by James Graham in a co-production with Headlong. Directed by Jeremy Herrin and starring Martin Freeman and Tamsin Greig, this critically acclaimed production went on to win the 2017 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy.[25]

In 2018 they continued their commitment to quality work at affordable prices in the West End presenting Red by John Logan and The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh – both directed by Grandage. Also in 2018, MGC announced a new film in development based on David Pitts' book Jack and Lem: The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship.[26]