Timothy Sheader

Timothy Sheader, 2015

Timothy Sheader (born 23 November 1971, Scarborough, North Yorkshire) is a British theatre director. Sheader read Law with French at the University of Birmingham and then became a Trainee Director at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond followed by an Assistant Director with the Royal Shakespeare Company for two years.^[1] He was appointed artistic director at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in November 2007, being responsible for productions from the 2008 season.^[2]

2008

Sheader's first season, produced in 2008, consisted of productions of Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Lerner and Loewe's Gigi^[3] - starring Millicent Martin as Mamita and Topol as Honore - and an especially adapted production of A Midsummer Night's Dream for family audiences.

2009

Productions in 2009 included Much Ado About Nothing, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Tempest which was adapted for family audiences, and Hello, Dolly!. The latter won several awards, including the Olivier Award for Best Revival of a Musical and Best Actress in a Musical for its star Samantha Spiro.

2010

In 2010, the theatre presented new productions of The Crucible, The Comedy of Errors and Macbeth, which was adapted for younger audiences. The season musical was Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim. The production starred Hannah Waddingham as the Witch, Jenna Russell as the Baker's Wife, and Helen Dallimore as Cinderella. It was the first time that Into the Woods had been performed outside and won the Olivier Award for "Best Musical Revival." (This staging would be adapted in the U.S. in 2012 by The Public Theatre for their Shakespeare in the Park festival that season.)

2011

The 2011 season included productions of Lord of the Flies, The Beggar's Opera, Shakespeare's Pericles (re-imagined for everyone aged six and over) and the musical Crazy for You, which received the highest number of five star reviews of any musical opening in 2011 and became the first Open Air Theatre production to transfer directly into the West End, where it played at the Novello Theatre.

2012

For the 2012 season, two productions were run across the entire season in repertoire: the Tony Award-winning Ragtime the Musical and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream'.'^[4]

2013

The 2013 season included productions of To Kill a Mockingbird, Pride and Prejudice (adapted for the stage by Simon Reade), The Winter's Tale (re-imagined for everyone aged six and over) and The Sound of Music.^[5]

2014

The 2014 season included productions of All My Sons, Hobson's Choice, Twelfth Night (re-imagined for everyone aged six and over) and Porgy and Bess. To Kill A Mockingbird returned to the Open Air Theatre ahead of a major UK tour.^[6]

2015

The 2015 season began with Peter Pan, directed by Sheader and Liam Steel. The Seagull and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers followed, directed respectively by Matthew Dunster and Rachel Kavanaugh. Lord of the Flies is to return to the Open Air Theatre for one week, and will then embark upon a major UK tour.^[7]

2016

In November 2015 the 2016 season was a announced. Running Wild by Michael Morpurgo opened the season as a co-production with Chichester Festival Theatre. The play was directed by Sheader and Dale Rooks. It received a good critical response; deemed "a winner" by the Daily Telegraph.^[8] Henry V brought William Shakespeare back to the Park, and was followed by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar, which played to sold-out audiences, also directed by Sheader. Jesus Christ Superstar won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival in 2017. The sell-out production of Pride and Prejudice returned at the end of the season ahead of a major UK tour.

2017

In November 2016 it was announced that On The Town would open the 2017 season, followed by Dickens Uncovered, a new adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens which would be directed by Sheader, and Oliver Twist adapted for younger audiences, Oliver Twist created for everyone aged six and over. Jesus Christ Superstar returns to conclude the season. In January 2017 it was announced that the theatre had won London Theatre of the Year at The Stage Awards.

Other theatre work

In 2013 Sheader directed a new production of Barnum at Chichester Festival Theatre. The previous year he directed The Magistrate at the Royal National Theatre which starred John Lithgow. At the beginning of 2015 he directed My Fair Lady at the Aarhus Teater in Denmark. Other productions that Sheader has directed include Imagine This (New London Theatre); Hobson's Choice, The Clandestine Marriage, Love in a Maze (Watermill); Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, The Three Musketeers (Bristol Old Vic); The Star Throwers, Unless (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough); Misconceptions (Derby Playhouse); Streetcar to Tennessee (Young Vic); Achilles (Edinburgh Fringe First); Wild, Wild Women (Orange Tree); Arms and the Man (National Tour) Piaf, Sweet Charity (Sheffield Crucible).

References