Biography

Donnellan was born in Manchester and grew up in Ealing, London. He was educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing and Queens' College, Cambridge, where he read English and Law. After leaving Cambridge, he was called to the Bar at Middle Temple in 1978.

He founded Cheek by Jowl with Nick Ormerod in 1981. Since 2006 the company has been part of the Barbican's International Theatre Program (BITE) resulting in co-productions of The Changeling (2006), Cymbeline (2007) and Troilus and Cressida (2008).

For the Royal Shakespeare Company he has directed The School for Scandal, King Lear (Academy 2002) and Great Expectations. He has also directed Le Cid for the Avignon Festival, Falstaff for the Salzburg Festival and the ballet of Romeo and Juliet for the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Other work in Russia includes The Winter's Tale for the Maly Drama Theatre of Saint Petersburg.

In 2000 he formed a company of actors in Moscow, under the auspices of The Chekhov Festival, whose productions include Boris Godunov, Twelfth Night and Three Sisters. He wrote a play, Lady Betty, which was performed by Cheek by Jowl in 1989. He has also adapted Don't Fool with Love by Alfred de Musset, Antigone by Sophocles, The Mandate by Nikolai Erdman and Masquerade by Mikhail Lermontov. First published in Russian in 2001, Donnellan's book, The Actor and the Target, was published in English in 2002 (reprinted 2005), as well as French, Spanish and Danish.

He directed the 2012 film Bel Ami, an adaption of the Maupassant novel; the film starred Uma Thurman and Christina Ricci.

Donnellan has won awards in London, Paris, New York and Moscow, including Laurence Olivier Awards for:

• 1987 Best Director for Le Cid, Twelfth Night and Macbeth
• 1989/90 The Observer Award for Outstanding Achievement for Fuenteovejuna
• 1994 Best Director of a Musical for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
• 1995 Best Director of a Play for As You Like It

Stage productions

Cheek by Jowl

• 1981 The Country Wife (William Wycherley)
• 1982 Othello (William Shakespeare)
• 1983 Vanity Fair (adapted by Donnellan from William Makepeace Thackeray - premiere
• 1984 Pericles (William Shakespeare)
• 1985 A Midsummer Night's Dream (William Shakespeare)
• 1985 Andromache (Jean Racine) - British premiere
• 1985 The Man of Mode (George Etherege)
• 1986 Le Cid (Pierre Corneille) - British premiere
• 1986 Twelfth Night (William Shakespeare)
• 1987 Macbeth (William Shakespeare)
• 1988 A Family Affair (Alexander Ostrovsky) - British premiere
• 1988 Philoctetes (Sophocles)
• 1988 The Tempest (William Shakespeare)
• 1989 Lady Betty (Declan Donnellan) - British premiere
• 1989 The Doctor of Honour (El médico de su honra) (Pedro Calderon) - British premiere
• 1990 Hamlet (William Shakespeare)
• 1990 Sara (Gotthold Ephraim Lessing) - British premiere
• 1991 As You Like It (William Shakespeare)
• 1993 Don't Fool With Love (Alfred de Musset)
• 1993 The Blind Men (Michel de Ghelderode) - British premiere
• 1994 As You Like It (William Shakespeare) - revival
• 1994 Measure for Measure (William Shakespeare)
• 1995 The Duchess of Malfi (John Webster)
• 1997 Out Cry (Tennessee Williams) - British premiere
• 1998 Much Ado About Nothing (William Shakespeare)
• 2002 Homebody/Kabul (Tony Kushner) - British premiere
• 2004 Othello (William Shakespeare)
• 2005 Great Expectations (adapted from Charles Dickens)
• 2006 The Changeling (Thomas Middleton and William Rowley)
• 2007 Cymbeline (William Shakespeare)
• 2007 Three Sisters (Anton Chekhov)
• 2008 Boris Godunov (Alexander Pushkin)
• 2008 Troilus and Cressida (William Shakespeare)
• 2009 Macbeth (William Shakespeare)
• 2011 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (John Ford)
• 2013 Ubu Roi (Alfred Jarry)
• 2014 Measure for Measure (William Shakespeare)

Other

• 1993 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Royal National Theatre
• 1996 Martin Guerre, West End
• 1999 Hay Fever, Savoy Theatre
• 2000 Boris Godunov at the Moscow Art Theatre
• 2002 King Lear with the RSC Academy Company
• 2005 Great Expectations, with the RSC, a new adaptation by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod
• The Winter's Tale for the Maly Theater of St Petersburg
• Le Cid at the Avignon Festival with French actors
• Falstaff at the Salzburg Festival
• Bel Ami
• 2014 Shakespeare in Love, Noël Coward Theatre

Bibliography

• Donnellan, D. The Actor and the Target (English edition) Nick Hern Books, London, 2002 (ISBN 1-85459-127-4)
• Approaching the Millennium: Essays on Angels in America, eds. Deborah R. Geis and Steven F. Kruger University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1997 (ISBN 0-472-09623-0)
• Reade, Simon. Cheek by Jowl: Ten Years of Celebration, Oberon Books (hardback) 1991 (ISBN 0-948230-47-9) - currently out of print
• Irvin, Polly. Directing the Stage, RotoVision, Hove, 2003 (ISBN 2-88046-661-X)
• In Contact With the Gods?, Directors Talk Theatre, eds. Maria M. Delgado & Paul Heritage, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1996 (ISBN 0-7190-4763-3)
• National Theatre Platform Papers No. 2 on Angels in America, National Theatre Publications Department
• National Theatre Platform Papers, Declan Donnellan Talks About his Book, The Actor and the Target, National Theatre Publications Department, London, 24 January 2003
• On Directing, eds. Mary Luckhurst and Gabriella Giannachi, Faber, London 1999 (ISBN 0-571-19149-5)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]