Michael Grandage
Encyclopedia
Michael Grandage CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (born 2 May 1962) is a British theatre director and producer, and current Artistic Director
Artistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...

 at the Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. Grandage won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play
Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play
The Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play has been given since 1960. Before 1960 there was only one award for both play direction and musical direction, then in 1960 the award was split into two categories: Dramatic and Musical. In 1976 the Dramatic category was renamed to Play...

 for Red
Red (play)
Red is a play by American writer John Logan about artist Mark Rothko first produced by the Donmar Warehouse, London in December 2009. The original production was directed by Michael Grandage and performed by Alfred Molina as Rothko and Eddie Redmayne as his assistant Ken.The production, with its...

.

Early years

Grandage was born in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, and raised in Penzance
Penzance
Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...

, Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

 where his parents ran a family business. He was educated at the Humphry Davy Grammar School before training as an actor at Central School of Speech and Drama
Central School of Speech and Drama
The Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in London in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students...

 through 1984. He worked as an actor for twelve years before turning to directing in 1996. His partner is award-winning British theatre designer Christopher Oram
Christopher Oram
Christopher Oram is a British theatre set and costume designer.-Background:He trained at the West Sussex College of Art and Design ....

.

Career

He made his directorial debut in 1996 with a production of The Last Yankee
The Last Yankee
The Last Yankee is a play by Arthur Miller, which premiered on January 05, 1993 at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City. The cast included Tom Aldredge as John Frick, Frances Conroy as Patricia Hamilton, Rose Gregorio as Karen Frick, John Heard as Leroy Hamilton, and Charlotte Maier as the...

at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester
Mercury Theatre, Colchester
The Mercury Theatre is a theatre in Colchester, built in 1972. It originated with the Colchester Repertory Company, formed in 1937. After considerable campaigning and fundraising a theatre, designed by Norman Downie was constructed...

.

From 2000 to 2005 he served as artistic director of Sheffield Theatres
Sheffield Theatres
Sheffield Theatres is a theatre complex in Sheffield, South Yorkshire comprising three theatres: the Crucible, the Lyceum and the Crucible Studio...

 where his high profile productions included Edward II
Edward II (play)
Edward II is a Renaissance or Early Modern period play written by Christopher Marlowe. It is one of the earliest English history plays. The full title of the first publication is The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England, with the Tragical Fall of Proud...

with Joseph Fiennes
Joseph Fiennes
Joseph Fiennes is an English film and stage actor. He is perhaps best known for his portrayals of William Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love, Sir Robert Dudley in Elizabeth, Commisar Danilov in Enemy at the Gates, Martin Luther in Luther, Merlin in Camelot, and his portrayal of Mark Benford in the...

, Richard III
Richard III (play)
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...

with Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...

, Suddenly Last Summer with Diana Rigg
Diana Rigg
Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service....

 and Victoria Hamilton
Victoria Hamilton
Victoria Sharp is an English actress who performs under the stage name Victoria Hamilton.-Early life:Hamilton was born on 5 April 1971 in Wimbledon, London, England, and grew up in Godalming, Surrey. She trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.-Career:Hamilton is best known for her...

, The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...

with Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...

 and Don Carlos
Don Carlos
Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by Friedrich Schiller...

with Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...

. He produced over forty plays with predominantly young directors and designers. The Crucible was awarded Theatrical Management Association
Theatrical Management Association
The Theatrical Management Association, founded in 1894, is the UK’s pre-eminent association for companies and organisations involved professionally in the production and presentation of the performing arts. The Theatrical Management Association has presented the TMA Awards annually since 1991....

 Theatre of the Year in 2001.

In 2002 he was announced as the successor to Sam Mendes
Sam Mendes
Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes, CBE is an English stage and film director. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning work on his debut film American Beauty and his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret , Oliver! , Company and Gypsy . He's currently working on the 23rd James Bond...

 at the Donmar Warehouse where he expanded the theatre's repertoire to include European work, touring productions and an extensive education programme as well as taking the new Donmar brand to the West End and overseas.

His work has won Olivier, Evening Standard, Critics' Circle and South Bank Awards. He was nominated for his first Laurence Olivier Award in 2001 for Best Director for Peter Nichols
Peter Nichols
Peter Nichols FRSL is an English writer of stage plays, film and television.Born in Bristol, England, he was educated at Bristol Grammar School, and served his compulsory National Service as a clerk in Calcutta and later in the Combined Services Entertainments Unit in Singapore where he...

' Passion Play
Passion play
A Passion play is a dramatic presentation depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ: his trial, suffering and death. It is a traditional part of Lent in several Christian denominations, particularly in Catholic tradition....

at the Donmar Warehouse before winning in 2004 for David Greig
David Greig (dramatist)
David Greig is a Scottish playwright and theatre director.Greig was born in Edinburgh in 1969 and was brought up in Nigeria. He studied drama at Bristol University. He has been commissioned by the Royal Court Theatre, the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company amongst others.His...

’s Caligula
Caligula (play)
Caligula is a play written by Albert Camus, begun in 1938 and published for the first time in May 1944 by Éditions Gallimard. The play was later the subject of numerous revisions. It was part of what the author called the "Cycle of the Absurd", with the novel The Outsider and the essay The Myth...

. Two of his musical productions for the Donmar have won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production and a third won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical. He has also won Evening Standard Awards for Best Director for his productions of As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...

, Passion Play
Passion play
A Passion play is a dramatic presentation depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ: his trial, suffering and death. It is a traditional part of Lent in several Christian denominations, particularly in Catholic tradition....

, Merrily We Roll Along
Merrily We Roll Along
Merrily We Roll Along is a play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. It concerns a man who has lost the idealistic values of his youth. Its innovative structure presents the story in reverse order, with the character regressing from a mournful adult to a young man whose future is filled with...

, Grand Hotel, Don Carlos
Don Carlos
Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by Friedrich Schiller...

, Ivanov
Ivanov
Ivanov may refer to one of the following:*Ivanov , list of real people with this last nameFictional characters*D. D. Ivanov, a fictional character in the Macross universe...

, The Chalk Garden
The Chalk Garden
The Chalk Garden is a play by Enid Bagnold that premiered on Broadway in 1955. The play tells the story of Mrs. St Maugham and her granddaughter Laurel, a disturbed child under Miss Madrigal's care. The setting of the play was inspired by Bagnold's own garden at North End House in Rottingdean, near...

and Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...

.

In August 2006, two Grandage-directed musical revivals were playing side-by-side in the West End; Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly Theatre (Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production) and Evita (Adelphi Theatre).

In September 2008 he launched a one-year Donmar West End season of four plays (with Donmar Warehouse ticket prices) when the company extended its repertory to the newly refurbished Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by the actor/manager Charles Wyndham . Located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, it was designed by W.G.R. Sprague about 1898, the architect of six other London theatres between then and 1916...

. Grandage directed all productions: Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...

 in Ivanov, Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...

 in Twelfth Night, Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...

 in Madame de Sade
Madame de Sade
Madame de Sade is a 1965 play written by Yukio Mishima. It was first published in English, translated by Donald Keene by Grove Press and is currently out of print....

and Jude Law
Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...

 in Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

.

Grandage has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by both Sheffield Hallam University and Sheffield University as well as an Honorary Fellowship by Central School of Speech and Drama. He was awarded the 2006 Award for Excellence in International Theatre by the International Theatre Institute. In 2009 he became a Visiting Professor of University College Falmouth and became President of Central School in 2010.

Grandage announced in October 2010 that he would be stepping down as artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...

 to pursue other ventures outside of the subsidised sector.

Grandage will direct a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...

at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

 starring baritone Mariusz Kwiecien
Mariusz Kwiecien
Mariusz Kwiecień is an operatic baritone who has sung leading roles in the major opera houses of Europe and North America...

 in the title role for the 2011-2012 Season.

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours
2011 Birthday Honours
The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth Realms were announced on 7 June 2011 in New Zealand and 11 June 2011 in United Kingdom to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2011.-Privy Councillors:...

 for services to drama.

Stage productions

Theatre (U.K.)
  • 2011: Luise Miller - Donmar
  • 2011: King Lear - Donmar
  • 2010: Danton's Death - National Theatre
  • 2009: Red
    Red (play)
    Red is a play by American writer John Logan about artist Mark Rothko first produced by the Donmar Warehouse, London in December 2009. The original production was directed by Michael Grandage and performed by Alfred Molina as Rothko and Eddie Redmayne as his assistant Ken.The production, with its...

    - Donmar
  • 2009: Hamlet - Donmar at Wyndham's
  • 2009: Madame de Sade
    Madame de Sade
    Madame de Sade is a 1965 play written by Yukio Mishima. It was first published in English, translated by Donald Keene by Grove Press and is currently out of print....

    - Donmar at Wyndham's
  • 2008: Twelfth Night - Donmar at Wyndham's
  • 2008: Ivanov - Donmar at Wyndham's
  • 2008: The Chalk Garden - Donmar
  • 2008: Othello - Donmar
  • 2007: John Gabriel Borkman - Donmar
  • 2006: The Cut - Donmar
  • 2006: Evita - Adelphi Theatre, London
  • 2006: Frost/Nixon - Donmar & Gielgud Theatre, London
  • 2006: Don Juan in Soho - Donmar
  • 2005: The Wild Duck - Donmar
  • 2005: Guys and Dolls - Piccadilly Theatre, London
  • 2004: Don Carlos - Sheffield & Gielgud Theatre, London
  • 2004: Suddenly Last Summer - Sheffield & Noel Coward Theatre, London
  • 2004: Pirandello’s Henry IV - Donmar
  • 2004: Grand Hotel - Donmar
  • 2003: A Midsummer Night's Dream - Sheffield
  • 2003: Caligula - Donmar
  • 2003: After Miss Julie - Donmar
  • 2002: The Tempest - Sheffield & Old Vic Theatre, London
  • 2002: Richard III - Sheffield
  • 2002: The Vortex - Donmar
  • 2001: Don Juan - Sheffield
  • 2001: Privates on Parade - Donmar
  • 2001: Edward II - Sheffield
  • 2000: The Country Wife - Sheffield
  • 2000: Passion Play - Donmar
  • 2000: As You Like It - Sheffield & Lyric Hammersmith
  • 2000: Merrily We Roll Along - Donmar
  • 1999: The Jew of Malta - Almeida & national tour
  • 1999: Good - Donmar
  • 1998: The Doctor's Dilemma - Almeida & national tour
  • 1998: Twelfth Night - Sheffield
  • 1998: What The Butler Saw - Sheffield
  • 1997: The Deep Blue Sea - Mercury Theatre, Colchester
  • 1996: The Last Yankee - Mercury Theatre, Colchester


Theatre (U.S.)
  • 2011: King Lear - Brooklyn Academy of Music, NY
  • 2010: Red - Golden Theater, NY
  • 2009: Hamlet - Broadhurst Theater, NY
  • 2007: Frost/Nixon - National tour, U.S.
  • 2006: Frost/Nixon - Jacobs Theater, NY


Opera
  • 2011: Don Giovanni - Metropolitan Opera, New York
  • 2010: Madama Butterfly - Houston Grand Opera
  • 2010: Billy Budd - Glyndebourne

Awards and nominations

Awards
  • 2011 Critics' Circle Award for Best Director - King Lear
  • 2010 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play - Red
  • 2010 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Direction of a Play - Red
  • 2009 Critics' Circle Award for Best Director - Ivanov/The Chalk Garden
  • 2009 Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Director - Ivanov/The Chalk Garden/Othello
  • 2008 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Director - Ivanov/The Chalk Garden/Othello
  • 2005 Critics' Circle Award for Best Director - The Wild Duck
    The Wild Duck
    The Wild Duck is an 1884 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.-Plot:The first act opens with a dinner party hosted by Håkon Werle, a wealthy merchant and industrialist. The gathering is attended by his son, Gregers Werle, who has just returned to his father's home following a self-imposed...

  • 2005 TMA Award for Best Director - Don Carlos
    Don Carlos
    Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by Friedrich Schiller...

  • 2005 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Director - Grand Hotel/Don Carlos
  • 2004 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director – Caligula
    Caligula (play)
    Caligula is a play written by Albert Camus, begun in 1938 and published for the first time in May 1944 by Éditions Gallimard. The play was later the subject of numerous revisions. It was part of what the author called the "Cycle of the Absurd", with the novel The Outsider and the essay The Myth...

  • 2000 Critics' Circle Award for Best Director – Merrily We Roll Along/Passion Play/As You Like It
  • 2000 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Director – Merrily We Roll Along/Passion Play/As You Like It


Nominations
  • 2011 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director - King Lear
  • 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director - Hamlet
  • 2010 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Direction of a Play - Hamlet
  • 2007 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play – Frost/Nixon
  • 2007 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play – Frost/Nixon
  • 2006 London Evening Standard Award for Best Director - Frost/Nixon, Don Juan in Soho, Evita
  • 2005 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director - Don Carlos
    Don Carlos
    Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by Friedrich Schiller...

  • 2001 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director - Passion Play
    Passion play
    A Passion play is a dramatic presentation depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ: his trial, suffering and death. It is a traditional part of Lent in several Christian denominations, particularly in Catholic tradition....


External links

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