Simon Godwin(I)

Simon Godwin is an English theatre director whose prolific work includes his service as artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC, where he is based. Previously he was based in London, serving as associate director of London's National Theatre, associate director of the Royal Court Theatre and associate director at Bristol Old Vic. Godwin was educated at St Albans School and Anna Scher Theatre School, an independent stage school in Islington in north London, followed by the St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he studied English. In 2005, he began a two-year postgraduate program at the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA) where he studied physical theatre and devising. Simon began directing at Cambridge, and after graduating he began producing classical work including William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet for the Cambridge Arts Theatre and the Marlowe Society. Godwin was then assistant director to Dominic Dromgoole and Tim Supple. He then founded Stray Dogs Theatre Company producing "Inkle and Yarico", as well as "Eurydice" at the BAC before it transferred to the Whitehall Theatre in the West End, which made it one of the youngest companies ever to have work staged in London's West End. This was followed by William Shakespeare's "All's Well That Ends Well" for a national tour. In 2001 Simon became associate director at the Royal and Derngate Theatres in Northampton where he worked as the deputy to the artistic director, Rupert Goold and directed seven main stage shows, including "The Seagull", "Habeas Corpus" and "Relatively Speaking", and Simon Gray's "Quartermaine's Terms" with Salisbury Playhouse. In 2008 he joined Tom Morris, as the associate director of The Bristol Old Vic, where he directed "The Little Mermaid", "Krapp's Last Tape"/"A Kind of Alaska", "Faith Healer" and "Far Away". At the Tabard Theatre his production of Martin Crimp's "The Country" was well received, and in 2008 he became part of the Royal Court International Residency. At the Almeida Theatre in 2009 he directed Joel Horwood's "All The Little Things We Crushed" by Joel Horwood, followed by a critically acclaimed national tour of William Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" for Schtanhaus and Nuffield Theatre Southampton, in association with Headlong. In 2009, Simon became associate director of the Royal Court. While there Simon directed seven world premieres, including "Routes", "If You Don't Let Us Dream", "We Won't Let You Sleep", "NSFW", "The Witness", "Goodbye to All That", "The Acid Test" and "Wanderlust", for which he was longlisted for Evening Standard Awards Best Newcomer in 2010. Godwin subsequently joined Bristol Old Vic as associate director, directing productions of Caryl Churchill's "Far Away" and Brian Friel's "Faith Healer". The latter was subsequently remounted in 2012 as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival. In 2012 Simon was also awarded the inaugural Evening Standard/Burberry Award for an Emerging Director and in 2013 he made his debut at the National Theatre of Great Britain with "Strange Interlude" with Anne-Marie Duff followed by "Man and Superman" with Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma (National Theatre Live: Man and Superman (2015)). When Rufus Norris became the new artistic director of the National Theatre in 2015, he invited Simon to become part of his team of permanent Associates. Simon has also enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 2014 he directed "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" (Royal Shakespeare Company: The Two Gentlemen of Verona (2014)) followed in 2016 by an acclaimed "Hamlet" (Royal Shakespeare Company: Hamlet (2016)), which toured to The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. In May 2016 he directed Alexi Kaye Campbell's "Sunset at the Villa Thalia" in an acclaimed production premiered in London at the National Theatre, with Ben Miles, Elizabeth McGovern, Sam Crane, Pippa Nixon, Christos Callow, Glykeria Dimou and Eve Polycarpou in the brilliant cast. His "Timon of Athens", starring Kathryn Hunter as Timon, opened at the Royal Shakespeare Company in December 2018. His production of "Antony and Cleopatra" with Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo opened at the National Theatre, London in September 2018 (National Theatre Live: Antony & Cleopatra (2018)). In May 2019, Simon made his Tokyo debut, directing a Japanese cast in Hamlet for Theatre Cocoon. In September 2018 Simon was appointed artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company Washington D.C. effective 1 August 2019. He made his directorial debut with the company in February 2020 with a remounted production of "Timon of Athens" with Kathryn Hunter reprising her role. In August 2019, he directed "Hansard" in the Lyttelton Theatre at the National Theatre, the debut play by Simon Woods (National Theatre Live: Hansard (2019)). In August 2020, he directed "Romeo and Juliet" at the National Theatre, with Josh O'Connor and Jessie Buckley in the title roles (Romeo & Juliet (2021)). In July 2022 his production for the National Theatre of William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" opened in the Lyttelton Theatre starring Katherine Parkinson and John Heffernan (National Theatre Live: Much Ado About Nothing (2022)).