Natalie Abrahami is a British theatre, film and opera director. She was Associate Director and Genesis Fellow [1] at the Young Vic in London 2013-16 and Associate Artist at Hull Truck Theatre. From 2007–12 she was joint Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre with Carrie Cracknell.[2][3]
Career
Abrahami attended Ibstock Place School, Roehampton before sixth form at Latymer Upper School in west London.[4] She read English Literature at Christ's College, Cambridge before joining the Royal Court Theatre as a Graduate Trainee and then continuing her training at the National Theatre Studio and the Young Vic. Abrahami was awarded the James Menzies-Kitchin Trust Award for Directors for her production of Samuel Beckett's Play and Not I.[5] Abrahami and Cracknell were awarded a grant from the Paul Hamlyn Breakthrough Fund for Creative Entrepreneurs in 2009 to develop their vision of the Gate Elsewhere, involving co-production, touring and off-site presentations.[6]
In 2015, Abrahami directed the debut production of Helen Edmundson's play Queen Anne for the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Swan Theatre.[7] In 2017, she directed the play's revival at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.[8]
Credits
Selected directing credits include:
Theatre
- Anna created by Ella Hickson, Ben and Max Ringham, Dorfman Theatre, National Theatre 2019, cast includes; Phoebe Fox, Max Bennett, and Diana Quick.[9]
- The Meeting by Charlotte Jones, Minerva Theatre, Chichester, Chichester Festival Theatre, 2018, cast includes: Lydia Leonard, Gerald Kyd and Jean St Clair.[10]
- Machinal by Sophie Treadwell, Almeida Theatre 2018, cast includes: Emily Berrington, Jonathan Livingstone and Kirsty Rider.[11]
- Wings by Arthur Kopit, Young Vic 2017, cast includes Juliet Stevenson and Lorna Brown.[12]
- Queen Anne by Helen Edmundson, Royal Shakespeare Company 2015 and Theatre Royal Haymarket 2017, cast includes: Emma Cunniffe, Romola Garai and Beth Park.[13]
- Ah, Wilderness! by Eugene O'Neill, Young Vic 2015, cast includes: Janie Dee, George MacKay, and Martin Marquez.[14]
- Happy Days by Samuel Beckett, Young Vic 2014 and revived 2015, cast: Juliet Stevenson and David Beames.[15]
- After Miss Julie by Patrick Marber, Classics for a New Climate, Young Vic, 2012, cast: Natalie Dormer, Kieran Bew, and Polly Frame.[16][17][18]
- The Kreutzer Sonata by Nancy Harris (adapted from Leo Tolstoy's novella), Gate Theatre (World Premiere 2009) and La MaMa E.T.C, New York 2012, cast: Hilton McRae, Tobias Beer, and Sophie Scott.[19][20][21][22]
- Yerma in a new version by Anthony Weigh – after Federico García Lorca, Hull Truck Theatre and Gate Theatre, World Premiere 2011.[23][24]
- Pericles by William Shakespeare, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, 2011.[25][26]
- A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, Headlong Theatre, Nuffield Theatre, Southampton and Hull Truck and Regional Tour, 2011.[27]
- How To Be An Other Woman by Lorrie Moore (adapted by Abrahami), Gate Theatre, World Premiere 2010.[28]
- Vanya by Sam Holcroft (inspired by Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya) Gate Theatre, World Premiere 2009.[29]
- Guardians by Lucy Caldwell HighTide Festival, Halesworth, World Premiere 2009.[30]
- Unbroken by Alexandra Wood (inspired by Arthur Schnitzler's La Ronde) Gate Theatre, World Premiere 2009.[31]
- Women in Love by Mark Ravenhill, site specific production, Pembridge Square, London, 2008.[32]
- The Internationalist by Anne Washburn, Gate Theatre, UK Premiere 2008.[33]
- The Eleventh Capital by Alexandra Wood, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, World Premiere, Winner of the 2007 George Devine Award 2007.[34]
- Play and Not I by Samuel Beckett, Battersea Arts Centre, 2005.
- Human Rites by Amélie Nothomb, Southwark Playhouse, UK Premiere 2005.
Short films
- The Roof by Nigel Williams, A Young Vic Film, 2016, cast includes: David Lan, Peter Brook, Natalie Dormer, Noma Dumezweni, Jude Law, Sinead Matthews, Ian McKellen, and Hugh Skinner.[35]
- MAYDAY by Nancy Harris, A Young Vic Film,[36] 2014, cast: Juliet Stevenson, David Beames, and Tanya Moodie.
- Life's a Pitch by Olivia Poulet, A Young Vic Film, 2013, cast includes David Lan, Jane Horrocks, Rory Kinnear, and Eddie Redmayne.
Opera
- How The Whale Became by Ted Hughes, composer Julian Philips, libretto Ed Kemp, Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House, 2013.[37]