Rufus Norris

Rufus Norris (born 16 January 1965) is the Artistic Director of the National Theatre.

Life and career

Norris grew up in Africa and Malaysia, attended North Bromsgrove High School and Kidderminster College of Further Education, and later trained as an actor at RADA before turning to directing.

In 2001 he won the Evening Standard Award for Outstanding Newcomer for his production of David Rudkin's Afore Night Come at the Young Vic.[1]

In 2004, Norris won another Evening Standard Award, a Critic's Circle Award and an Olivier Award nomination for Best Director, for his production of Festen.[2][3]

In 2006 he made his National Theatre debut directing Market Boy by David Eldridge. From 2002 to 2007 Norris was an Associate Director at the Young Vic, where his productions have included Feast by Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Rotimi Babatunde, Marcos Barbosa, Tanya Barfield and Gbolahan Obisesan (2013), Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre (2007), adapted by Tanya Ronder (2009 and 2011), Hergé's Adventures of Tintin, which Norris adapted with David Greig (Barbican, 2005; UK tour & West End, 2007) and his own adaptation of Sleeping Beauty (Young Vic, 2002; Barbican, 2004, UK & international tour).

In 2009, Norris's first film King Bastard, written by his wife Tanya Ronder, was produced by BBC Films. In the same year, he directed the National Theatre's production of Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman, which played in the Olivier Theatre.[4]

He created the 2011 production Dr Dee for the Manchester International Festival, in collaboration with musician Damon Albarn, which was subsequently performed at ENO in 2012. In 2010 he directed Mozart's Don Giovanni, also for ENO.[5]

Rufus Norris has been an Associate Director at the National Theatre since 2011. His production of London Road by Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork opened at the Cottesloe in 2011, before transferring to the Olivier in 2012, winning the Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical.

His 2012 film, Broken, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and received the Golden Eye Award for best international film at the Zurich Film Festival. At the British Independent Film Awards 2012 it won the award for Best British Independent Film.

In 2013 his production of Tanya Ronder's play Table launched the new space, The Shed, at the National Theatre. He subsequently directed James Baldwin's The Amen Corner at the National Theatre.

In March 2015, Norris replaced Nicholas Hytner as Artistic Director of the National Theatre.[6] During his first season he directed a new version of the medieval play Everyman and the premiere production of a new musical, Wonder.land, with music by Damon Albarn and lyrics and book by Moira Buffini.[7]

2015 also saw the release of his film of London Road, starring Olivia Colman and Tom Hardy.

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ Curtis, Nick (26 October 2010). "Opera for the unconverted". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  2. ↑ Curtis, Nick (13 October 2006). "The man who made this Cabaret go round". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  3. ↑ "Eldridge Collects Festen's Best Play Award". What's On Stage. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  4. ↑ Coveney, Michael (13 April 2009). "Death and the King's Horseman review". The Independent. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  5. ↑ "Doctor Dee". Manchester International Festival website. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  6. ↑ "National Theatre Twitter Feed". Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  7. ↑ "Rufus Norris announces first season as National Theatre artistic director". whatsonstage.com. What's On Stage. 21 January 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2015.

External links

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