Rupert Goold
{{Short description|English theatre director}}
{{for|the British Royal Navy officer and horologist|Rupert Gould}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rupert Goold
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|commas=on|CBE}}
| image = Rupert_Goold_(2019).jpg
| caption = Goold in October 2019
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1972|02|18}}
| birth_place = Highgate, London, England
| occupation = Theatre director
| spouse = {{marriage|Kate Fleetwood|2001}}
| years_active = 1995–present
| education = Trinity College, Cambridge
New York University
| children = 2
}}
Rupert Goold {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE}} (born 18 February 1972){{Citation
| title = Birthdays
| newspaper = The Guardian
| pages = 37
| date = 18 February 2014
}} is an English director who works primarily in theatre. He is the artistic director of the Almeida Theatre, and was the artistic director of Headlong Theatre Company (2005–2013).{{cite news | author=Matt Trueman | title=Rupert Goold named as Almeida theatre's new artistic director | url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/feb/08/rupert-goold-almeida-artistic-director | work=The Guardian | date=8 February 2013 | access-date=28 February 2013 | location=London}} Since 2010, Goold has been an associate director at the Royal Shakespeare Company.[http://www.rsc.org.uk/press/420_6673.aspx rsc.org.uk] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202073644/http://www.rsc.org.uk/press/420_6673.aspx |date=2 December 2008 }} He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 for services to drama.{{London Gazette|issue=61803 |supp=y|page=N9|date=31 December 2016}}
Goold is known for his extensive work in theatre. For his work in the West End he won two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Director for Macbeth (2008) and Enron (2010). He was Olivier-nominated for King Charles III (2015), Ink (2018), and Dear England (2024). He received Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play nominations for King Charles III (2016) and Ink (2019). He made his directorial film debut with True Story (2015).{{cite web |last1=Goodykoontz |first1=Bill |title=Rupert Goold tells 'True Story' in directing debut |url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/movies/2015/04/15/rupert-goold-tells-true-story-directing-debut/25815115/ |website=AZ Central |publisher=USA Today Network |access-date=12 December 2024 |date=April 15, 2015}}
Early years and education
Goold was born in Highgate, England, a suburb of north London. His father was a management consultant, and his mother was an author of children's books.{{cite news | author=Emma John | title=Going for Goold | url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/sep/28/theatre | work=The Observer | date=28 September 2008 | access-date=4 December 2008 | location=London}} He attended the independent University College School,{{cite web |url=http://www.alanfranks.com/Rupert_Goold.html |title=Interview with Alan Franks |publisher=Alanfranks.com |access-date=15 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015040507/http://www.alanfranks.com/Rupert_Goold.html |archive-date=15 October 2013 |df=dmy-all }} graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1994 with a First in English literature and studied performance studies at New York University on a Fulbright Scholarship. He was trainee director at Donmar Warehouse for the 1995 season, and assisted on productions including 'Art' and Speed-the-Plow in the West End.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}
Career
Goold was artistic director of the Royal and Derngate Theatres in Northampton from 2000 to 2005. Prior to that, he was an associate at the Salisbury Playhouse in 1996–97. In addition to his work as a director he has co-authored three adaptations for the stage. Goold directed Sir Patrick Stewart (whom he had previously directed as Prospero, and later in Richard II) as Macbeth in his acclaimed Minerva Studio staging of Macbeth at the Chichester Festival Theatre in May 2007.{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/07/16/btpatrick116.xml | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226113914/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/07/16/btpatrick116.xml | url-status=dead | archive-date=26 December 2007 | work=The Daily Telegraph | location=London | title=Shakespeare is coursing through me | first=Dominic | last=Cavendish | date=16 July 2007 | access-date=23 May 2010}}
In September 2007, the production transferred to the Gielgud Theatre in London, then the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York and then to the Lyceum Theater on Broadway. At the 2007 Evening Standard Theatre Awards, Macbeth won two awards: Stewart won the Best Actor Award, while Goold won The Sydney Edwards Award for Best Director.{{cite web
|url = http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23423447-details/Winning+performances+on+the+West+End+stage/article.do
|title = Winning performances on the West End stage
|date = 28 November 2007
|publisher = This Is London.co.Uk
|access-date = 30 June 2012
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071230225548/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23423447-details/Winning+performances+on+the+West+End+stage/article.do
|archive-date = 30 December 2007}} It also won Goold a 2008 Olivier Award for Best Director. He says he was not concerned with thoughts of a career anti-climax. "I came home to an empty house after the Olivier Awards, clutching my trophy for Best Director and I realised that I'd peaked. It was now going to be downhill all the way. But I still felt quite comfortable with the realisation that nothing could get better after this."{{cite magazine
| url = http://www.afterhoursmagazine.co.uk/lifestyle/people/lpeo19.html
| title = Rupert Goold profile
| magazine = Director magazine
| access-date = 30 June 2012
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130828061156/http://www.afterhoursmagazine.co.uk/lifestyle/people/lpeo19.html
| archive-date=28 Aug 2013
| url-status = dead
| author=Al Senter}} He later directed a 2010 BBC 4 television film version of Macbeth using Soviet-era Russian-type uniforms and weapons.{{cite web|url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tv/2010/12/macbeth-patrick-stewart-tv.shtml|title= Macbeth with Sir Patrick Stewart: The Scottish play from stage to TV|website= BBC|accessdate= March 18, 2024}}
In 2008, he directed the UK premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis's The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and a radical re-interpretation of Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author at the Chichester Festival which he co-authored with Ben Power. This production subsequently transferred to the West End and toured the UK and later Australia. In 2009 he directed a hugely acclaimed West End revival of Lionel Bart's Oliver! Produced by Cameron Mackintosh, Goold recreated Sam Mendes' direction for the London Palladium production, which was nominated for three Olivier Awards.{{Cite news|url= https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatre-news/news/laurence-olivier-theatre-awards-2010-winners-announced |title= Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards 2010 Winners Announced |work= londontheatre.co.uk |date= June 8, 2016 }} In 2009, Goold directed a revival of Shakespeare's King Lear at the Young Vic. Goold set his Lear in Northern England during the 1970s,and approached the play with a drastically different view, and as a result this production received mixed reviews. In 2009, he again won Best Director at the Evening Standard Awards for ENRON.{{cite web|url= https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/winners-of-evening-standard-theatre-awards-2009-6733220.html|title= Winners of Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2009|website= Standard.co.uk|date= 10 April 2012|accessdate= March 18, 2024}} His opera credits include productions at Batignano Opera Festival and Garsington.{{cite news|url= https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2009/oct/12/turandot-rupert-goold|title= Does Rupert Goold's Turandot really show him up?|website= The Guardian|date= 12 October 2009|accessdate= March 18, 2024|last1= Billington|first1= Michael}}
In the following years he directed a string of plays for the Almeida Theatre, which include the musical American Psycho (2013), the new play King Charles III (2014), the revivals Medea (2015) and Richard III (2016), as well as the new play Ink (2017).{{cite web|url= https://www.abouttheartists.com/artists/285035-rupert-goold|title= Rupert Goold Theatre Credits|website= abouttheartists|accessdate= March 18, 2024}} Goold returned to Broadway with the transfer of the play, King Charles III which he previously directed in the West End. He earned a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play.{{cite web|url= https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/tony-awards-2016-complete-list-901959/|title= King Charles III|website= The Hollywood Reporter|date= 12 June 2016|accessdate= March 18, 2024}} The following year he directed the musical transfer, American Psycho based on the 1991 novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis.{{cite web|url= https://www.playbill.com/production/american-psycho-gerald-schoenfeld-theatre-vault-0000014139|title= American Psycho (Broadway, 2016)|website= Playbill|accessdate= March 18, 2024}} In 2019 he directed the Broadway transfer for the James Graham play Ink about the rise of Rupert Murdoch which ran at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Goold received his second nomination for the Tony Award for Best Direction.{{cite web|url= https://www.playbill.com/production/inksamuel-j-friedman-theatre-2018-2019|title= Ink (Broadway, 2019)|accessdate= March 18, 2024}} That same year he directed the Almeida Theatre production of The Hunt (2019) starring Tobias Menzies by David Farr which was based on the 2012 film of the same name directed Thomas Vinterberg.{{cite web|url= https://www.abouttheartists.com/productions/118424-the-hunt-at-almeida-theatre-2019|title= The Hunt at the Almeida Theatre|website= aboutheartists|accessdate= March 18, 2024}} In 2021 he directed the musical revival of Spring Awakening on the West End.{{cite web|url= https://www.abouttheartists.com/productions/150400-spring-awakening-at-almeida-theatre-2021-2022|title= Spring Awakening at the Almeida Theatre|website= March 18, 2024}}
In 2022 he directed the Peter Morgan play Patriots about the rise of Vladimir Putin{{cite web|url= https://www.abouttheartists.com/productions/166344-patriots-at-almeida-theatre-2022|title= Patriots at Almeida Theatre|website= abouttheartists|accessdate= March 18, 2024}} and the Elton John musical Tammy Faye about the American evangelist Tammy Faye Messner.{{cite web|url= https://www.abouttheartists.com/productions/166339-tammy-faye-at-almeida-theatre-2022|title= Tammy Faye|website= abouttheartists|accessdate= March 18, 2024}} The following year he directed the play Dear England about the England football manager Gareth Southgate{{cite web|url= https://www.abouttheartists.com/productions/173661-dear-england-at-olivier-theatre-2023|title= Dear England|website= Abouttheartists|accessdate= March 18, 2024}} and Cold War a musical based on the 2018 film of the same name directed by Paweł Pawlikowski, the former of which earned Goold a nomination for the Olivier Award for Best Director.{{cite web|url= https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/cold-war/|title= Cold War|website= Almeida Theatre|accessdate= March 18, 2024}} In 2024 he directed the New York transfer of The Hunt which ran at St. Ann's Warehouse.{{cite web|url= https://www.abouttheartists.com/productions/181641-the-hunt-at-st-anns-warehouse-2024|title= The Hunt at St. Ann's Warehouse|website= abouttheartists|accessdate= March 18, 2024}}
In February 2025, Goold directed William Shakespeare's Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company starring Luke Thallon, Jared Harris, Nancy Carroll, Elliot Levey and Anton Lesser. The production will also tour the UK in 2026. It is the second production of the play that Goold has directed following his 2005 production at the Royal & Derngate.
On 24 November 2024, Goold was named as the next artistic director of The Old Vic taking over from Matthew Warchus in September 2026.{{Cite news |last=Bakare |first=Lanre |last2=Arts |first2=Lanre Bakare |last3=correspondent |first3=culture |date=2024-11-27 |title=Rupert Goold named as next artistic director of Old Vic |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/nov/27/rupert-goold-artistic-director-old-vic-theatre |access-date=2025-05-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}
Personal life
Goold is married to actress Kate Fleetwood.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.tatler.com/the-tatler-list/g/rupert-goold |title=The Tatler List > Rupert Goold |date= |magazine =Tatler |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120606224958/http://www.tatler.com/the-tatler-list/g/rupert-goold |archive-date=6 June 2012 |url-status=dead}} The couple met while working together on a production of Romeo and Juliet. They have one son, Raphael, and a daughter, Constance.
Works
= Theatre =
; Directing
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
- Travels with My Aunt (1997, Salisbury Playhouse / UK tour)
- The End of the Affair (1997, Salisbury Playhouse / Bridewell Theatre)
- Romeo and Juliet (1998, UK tour)
- Dancing at Lughnasa (1998, Salisbury Playhouse)
- Summer Lightning (1998, Salisbury Playhouse)
- Habeas Corpus (1999, Salisbury Playhouse)
- The Colonel Bird (1999, Gate Theatre)
- Broken Glass (1999, Salisbury Playhouse/ Watford Palace Theatre)
- Gone To LA (2000, Hampstead Theatre)
- Privates on Parade (2001, New Vic Theatre)
- Scaramouche Jones (2001, international tour)
- The Wind in the Willows (2001, Birmingham Rep)
- Arcadia (2002, Northampton)
- Betrayal (2002, Northampton)
- Waiting for Godot/ The Weir (2003, Northampton)
- Sunday Father (2003, Hampstead Theatre)
- Othello (2003, Northampton/ Greenwich Theatre)
- Insignificance (2004, Northampton)
- Summer Lightning (2004, Northampton)
- Hamlet (2005, Northampton)
- Speaking Like Magpies (2005, RSC)
- The Tempest (2006, RSC)
- Restoration (2006, Headlong/ Bristol Old Vic: UK tour)
- Faustus (2006, Headlong/ Hampstead Theatre)
- The Glass Menagerie (2007, Apollo Theatre){{cite web|author=John Thaxter |url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/15945/the-glass-menagerie |title=The Stage / Reviews / The Glass Menagerie |publisher=Thestage.co.uk |date=14 February 2007 |access-date=15 October 2013}}
- Macbeth (2007, Chichester Festival Theatre/ West End/ NYC)
- Rough Crossings (2007, Headlong: Lyric Hammersmith/ Birmingham Rep, Liverpool Everyman/ WYP)
- The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (2008, Headlong: Almeida Theatre)
- Six Characters in Search of an Author (2008, Headlong: Chichester / West End)
- No Man's Land (2008, Gate Theatre, Dublin/West End)
- King Lear (2008, Headlong: Liverpool Everyman/Young Vic)
- Oliver! (2009, Theatre Royal Drury Lane)
- ENRON (2009, Minerva Theatre / Royal Court Theatre)
- Romeo and Juliet (2010, RSC)
- Earthquakes in London (2010, National Theatre)
- The Merchant of Venice (2011 RSC; 2014 Almeida Theatre{{Cite web|url=https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/the-merchant-of-venice/5-dec-2014-14-feb-2015|title=The Merchant of Venice|website=Almeida Theatre|language=en|access-date=2019-01-19}})
- Decade (2011, Headlong)
- The Effect (2012, National Theatre)
- American Psycho (2013, Almeida Theatre)
- King Charles III (2014, Almeida Theatre)
- Made in Dagenham (2014, Adelphi Theatre){{cite web| url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26415664 | title= Gemma Arterton to star in Made in Dagenham musical | date= 3 March 2014 | publisher=BBC| access-date=3 March 2014}}
- Medea (2015, Almeida Theatre)
- Richard III (2016, Almeida Theatre){{cite web|url=http://www.almeida.co.uk/2016-17-season|title=2016/7 Season|work=Almeida Theatre}}
- Albion (2017, Almeida Theatre)[https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/albion/10-oct-2017-24-nov-2017]
- Ink (2017, Almeida Theatre{{Cite web|url=https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/ink/17-jun-2017-5-aug-2017|title=Ink|website=Almeida Theatre|language=en|access-date=2019-01-19}} / Duke of York's Theatre;{{Cite web|url=https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/ink-west-end/9-sep-2017-6-jan-2018|title=Ink|website=Almeida Theatre|language=en|access-date=2019-01-19}} 2019, Samuel J. Friedman Theatre){{Cite web | url=https://deadline.com/2018/04/rupert-murdoch-ink-broadway-debut-manhattan-theatre-club-1202379010/ |title = Rupert Murdoch Story 'Ink' Sets Broadway Bow at Manhattan Theatre Club|date = 30 April 2018}}
- Shipwreck (2019, Almeida Theatre){{Cite web|url=https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/shipwreck/11-feb-2019-30-mar-2019|title=Shipwreck|website=Almeida Theatre|language=en|access-date=2019-01-19}}
- The Hunt (2019, Almeida Theatre;{{cite web|url= https://playbill.com/production/the-huntlondon-almeida-theatre-2019|title= The Hunt (London, 2019)|website= Playbill|accessdate= March 18, 2024}} 2024, St. Ann's Warehouse{{cite web|url= https://stannswarehouse.org/show/the-hunt/|title= The Hunt|website= St. Ann's Warehouse|accessdate= March 18, 2024}})
- Spring Awakening (2021, Almeida Theatre){{Cite web|url=https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/spring-awakening/2-dec-2021-22-jan-2022|title=Spring Awakening|website=Almeida Theatre|language=en|access-date=2022-01-01}}
- The 47th (2022, The Old Vic)
- Patriots (2022, Almeida Theatre; 2023, Noël Coward Theatre)
- Tammy Faye (2022, Almeida Theatre; 2024, Palace Theatre, Broadway)
- Women, Beware the Devil (2023, Almeida Theatre)
- Dear England (2023, National Theatre)
- Cold War (2023, Almeida Theatre){{cite web |title=Cold War |url=https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/cold-war/|website=Almeida Theatre|access-date=13 December 2023}}
- Hamlet (2025, RSC){{div col end}}
; Writing
- The End of the Affair (1997) – a play with music, adapted with Caroline Butler, from the novel by Graham Greene. The first production included music played by a pianist at the side of the stage, underscoring the text with some period songs sung by the cast. Goold and Butler removed the music from later productions and the play was published without musical interpolation in 2001.{{cite book |last=Goold |first=Rupert |title=The End of the Affair by Graham Greene, Adapted for the stage by Rupert Goold and Caroline Butler |location=London |publisher=Samuel French Ltd. |year=2001 |isbn=0-573-01886-3}}
- Faustus (2004) – adapted with Ben Power from Dr Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
- Six Characters in Search of an Author (2008) – adapted with Ben Power from the play by Luigi Pirandello
= Film and television =
; Directing
- Macbeth (TV, 2010)
- Richard II (TV, 2012)
- True Story (2015)
- King Charles III (TV, 2017)
- Judy (2019)
Award and nominations
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- {{IBDB name}}
- [http://www.headlongtheatre.co.uk/Company-Rupert-Goold.php Profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081018215238/http://www.headlongtheatre.co.uk/Company-Rupert-Goold.php |date=18 October 2008 }} at Headlong's Official site.
{{Rupert Goold}}
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Rupert Goold
|list =
{{Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Director}}
{{Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Director}}
{{OlivierAward Director}}
}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goold, Rupert}}
Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Critics' Circle Theatre Award winners
Category:English television directors
Category:English theatre directors
Category:Film directors from London
Category:Laurence Olivier Award winners
Category:People educated at University College School