“Declan Donnellan – Irish in origin, English in education, European in culture, universal in thought – is one of the most original directors there is” Le Figaro
The British Council is delighted to host the second of two online masterclasses with the internationally acclaimed theatre director Declan Donnellan, focused on his experiences and insights in relation to directing and adapting classical theatre in our present day context. The discussion with the small group attending will be moderated by the Spanish journalist, playwright and author Arantxa Vela Buendía, who recently published “Donnellan sobre Shakespeare”, a collection of interviews undertaken over 10 years inspired by Donnellan’s relationship with Shakespeare.
If you’re an emerging, professional playwright and/or director in Europe and you’d like to apply to attend, please fill in this form. The deadline to apply is Tuesday 30th June - 5:00 PM (CEST).
The selection of participants will be undertaken by a Jury made up of representatives from a series of arts organisations from across Europe, including:
- National Theatre of Greece
- Theatre Forum Ireland
- Gdański Teatr Szekspirowski (Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre), Poland
- Theater Networking Talents, Român
- Academia de las Artes Escénicas de España (Academy of Performing Arts), Spain
Immensely versatile and hugely talented, Declan Donnellan is indisputably one of world theatre’s greatest living directors. Since founding the company Cheek by Jowl together with his partner, the designer Nick Ormerod, in 1981, Donnellan has directed over 40 ground-breaking productions for the company all across the world, performing in English, Russian and French. The company has established an international reputation for bringing ‘fresh life to the classics using intense, vivid performances like a laser of light to set the text ablaze’ (The Guardian).
As well as Shakespeare and other major British playwrights, Donnellan has directed European classics by writers including Racine, Corneille, Lessing, Ostrovski or Lope de Vega. He was made Associate Director of the Royal National Theatre in in 1989, and in the year 2000 he founded a theatre company in Moscow whose productions have included works by Shakespeare, Chekov and Pushkin.
His book, “The Actor and the Target”, originally published in Russian (2001), has since appeared in 15 languages including English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Romanian and Mandarin.