Rachel O'Riordan

Rachel O'Riordan
Born 1971/1972 (age 46–47)[1]
Cork, Ireland
Nationality Irish
Occupation Theatre director
Title Artistic director, Sherman Theatre
Spouse(s) Richard Dormer
Parent(s) Robert Anthony Welch
Angela O'Riordan Welch

Rachel O'Riordan (born 1971/1972) is an Olivier Award-winning[2] Irish theatre director. She is the artistic director of the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff, Wales. From February 2019, she will be artistic director of the Lyric Hammersmith, London.

Early life

Born in Cork, Ireland to poet and novelist Robert Anthony Welch and Angela O'Riordan Welch, O'Riordan first trained as a ballet dancer. This rigorous grounding began as a 6-year-old and culminated in a scholarship to the White Lodge, Royal Ballet School[3] and then Mariinsky Ballet (formerly Kirov).[4] She then studied English and Theatre studies at Queen Mary, University of London before completing her PhD entitled Shakespeare's Physical Texts at the University of Ulster.

Career

Spending most of her twenties as a choreographer and movement director, from to 2002 to 2011 O'Riordan co-founded and ran the Ransom theatre company in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where she directed the production Hurricane, which starred Richard Dormer and told the story of snooker legend Alex Higgins. The show was a hit at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and received almost universally positive criticism earning it a season in London's west-end and off-Broadway in New York City.[5] The success of Hurricane secured Rachel a season with the Peter Hall Company, where she directed August Strindberg's Miss Julie, and an adaption of George Orwell's Animal Farm at the Theatre Royal in Bath, England.[6]

O'Riordan's tenure as artistic director of Ransom saw her commission and direct new works, including the first play by David Ireland, Arguments for Terrorism, and new plays Early Bird by Leo Butler and Transparency by Suzie Miller, Protestants by Robert Welch, and, the Irish famine-based This Piece of Earth by Richard Dormer.[3][7] During this time she also ran a three-year programme entitled Writers on the Edge to develop new writing for women in Northern Ireland where she worked closely with Paines Plough and the Soho Theatre.[8]

O'Riordan was artistic director at the Perth Theatre between 2011 and 2014. Her first production was Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.[9] In October 2013, O'Riordan was announced as artistic director of the Sherman Theatre, and would take up her post in February 2014.[10]

In January 2016, she was named amongst the 100 most influential people in theatre in the UK.[11] She was featured again on this list in 2018, climbing to position 69.

From February 2019, she will be artistic director of the Lyric Hammersmith, London, succeeding Sean Holmes.[12]

Awards

O'Riordan's 2006 stage version of Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated was the Sunday Times critic's choice for four weeks running. Michael Billington wrote, in The Guardian, that it was "an intriguing story rather than a totally satisfying play. But it is one that is staged with deft economy by Rachel O'Riordan and well acted by the five-strong cast".[13] while Dominic Cavendish writing for the Telegraph said "Having barely been able to wade through the book's overpoweringly pleased-with-itself prose, I found Simon Block's comparatively unfussy stage adaptation, directed by Rachel O'Riordan, a huge relief."[14]

In 2011, her first season at the Perth Theatre and Concert Hall, she was nominated at the Critics Awards Theatre Scotland awards for best director for Someone who'll watch over me by Frank McGuiness.[15] In her career O'Riordan has received a number of various nominations including for Best Director in the TMA Awards for Much Ado About Nothing and The Absence of Women (both Lyric, Belfast), best director at the Irish Times Theatre Awards nomination for Sam Thompson's Over the Bridge.[16][17][18]

Following its inclusion in the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe,[19] Rachel won the Best Director award for the Owen O'Neill play Absolution in the First Irish Theatre Festival Awards in New York.[9][18][20] Her 2013 production of The Seafarer was shortlisted in three categories at the annual Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) for best ensemble, best production and best director.[21] The production won 'Best ensemble' and saw O'Riordan pick up Best director award which critics announced 'cemented her position as one of the finest and most visionary directors in the country'.[22][23]

Under the direction of O'Riordan, Gary Owen's Iphigenia In Splott became one of the most significant pieces of UK theatre of 2015, receiving critical acclaim for performances, style and direction; winning 'best new play' at the Theatre Awards UK.[24] In 2017 Iphigenia in Splott was performed at New York’s Brits Off Broadway season and was the only production by a UK company to be selected to be part of FIND Festival at Berlin’s iconic Schaubühne[25].

O'Riordan was named amongst the 100 most influential people in British theatre by The Stage magazine in 2018.[26]. Also in 2018, she won an Olivier Award for her production of Killology, a collaboration between the Sherman and London's Royal Court Theatre, which won the Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre.[2].

Personal life

O'Riordan is married to the actor Richard Dormer.[27]

References

  1. ↑ "At home in an alpha-male world". irishtimes.com. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Olivier Award win for Cardiff play". BBC News. 2018-04-13. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  3. 1 2 "Stage is set for change". Herald Scotland (04 April 2012). Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  4. ↑ Richard Dormer speaking to Hannah Kennedy (29 March 2004). 20 Questions With...Richard Dormer Archived 2013-09-30 at the Wayback Machine.. WhatsOnStage. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  5. ↑ David Finkle (21 June 2004). Hurricane review. TheaterMania. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  6. ↑ Allison Vale (2007).Animal Farm review. British Theatre Guide. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  7. ↑ Tammy Moore (12 October 2010). "My Cultural Life: Rachel O'Riordan". Culture Northern Ireland. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  8. ↑ Joe Nawaz (12 October 2012). THEATRE REVIEW: Write on the Edge Archived 2013-06-16 at Archive.is. Culture Northern Ireland. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  9. 1 2 "Perthshire - Latest news updates, pictures, video, reaction - Daily Record". www.perthshireadvertiser.co.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  10. ↑ "Sherman Cymru Announces New Artistic Director" Archived 2014-02-02 at the Wayback Machine.. Sherman Cymru (15 October 2013). Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  11. ↑ "The Stage 100 2016 (top 5) - Features - The Stage". thestage.co.uk. 7 January 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  12. ↑ "Rachel O'Riordan will take over from Sean Holmes at Lyric Hammersmith". standard.co.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  13. ↑ Michael Billington (20 September 2006). "Everything is Illuminated", Hampstead, London. The Guardian. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  14. ↑ Dominic Cavendish (21 September 2006). "Highlighting the Holocaust". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  15. ↑ "National Theatre of Scotland leads CATS nominations". The Stage, News (10 May 2012). Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  16. ↑ Laurence Mackin (15 January 2011). "The Irish Times Theatre Awards Shortlist December 2010". Irish Times. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  17. ↑ "ABSOLUTION Comes To 59E59 Theatres 9/8-10/3". Off Broadway (05 August 2010). Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  18. 1 2 Lyric puts local writer on national stage" Archived 2012-06-08 at the Wayback Machine..Lyric Theatre. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  19. ↑ Bill Dunlop (02 August 2008). "Absolution". Edinburgh Guide.com. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  20. ↑ Owen O'neill. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  21. ↑ "The Seafarer nominated for three awards". Lyric Theatre, News. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  22. ↑ Alan Cumming and Blythe Duff win best actor awards. BBC News (09 June 2013). Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  23. ↑ Thom Dibin (09 June 2013). "Alan Cumming and Perth’s The Seafarer win at Scottish theatre awards". The Stage. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  24. ↑ "What's On". birmingham-rep.co.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  25. ↑ "News : Sherman Theatre". www.shermantheatre.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  26. ↑ "The Stage 100 2018: Theatre's most influential figures (61-70)". The Stage. 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  27. ↑ "Rachel O'Riordan: 'I see Sherman Cymru as the major producing theatre in Wales' - Interviews - The Stage". thestage.co.uk. 29 January 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
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