JamesDacre

James was Artistic Director of the Royal & Derngate Theatre for ten celebrated years, stepping down earlier this year. In the 2019/20 season the venue reached more than 600,000 audience members nationwide, toured it’s Made in Northampton productions to over 100 venues across the UK and internationally, engaged 25,000 participants in its education programmes and transferred four plays to the West End, winning the Olivier Award for Best Family Show for its production of The Worst Witch.

James brings a strong musical sensibility to all his work. He recently directed an acclaimed touring production of Verdi’s Macbeth for English Touring Opera; other musical collaborations include new work with composers Elena Langer, Orlando Gough, Anne Dudley, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Valgeir Sigurosson, White Lies, These New Puritans and Rachel Portman.

His productions at the Royal & Derngate include the world premiere of The Pope by Anthony McCarten, subsequently adapted into the 2020 Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA-nominated film The Two Popes; the world premiere of Arthur Miller’s The Hook (UK Theatre Award for Touring); Roy Williams’ Soul, which transferred to Hackney Empire and the 2020 Olivier Award-nominated Our Lady of Kibeho. The latter was James’s third collaboration with playwright Katori Hall since premiering her first play The Mountaintop, the surprise winner of the 2010 Olivier Award for Best New Play following its transfer to the West End.

His previous work includes four productions at Shakespeare’s Globe – As You Like It (World Tour and UK Theatre Renee Stepham Award); David Eldridge’s Holy Warriors, King John (UK Theatre Award for Best Touring Production) and a short film of Othello (Complete Walk), as well as King James Bible at the National Theatre; The Accrington Pals (UK Theatre Best Design Award) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Manchester’s Royal Exchange; Ella Hickson’s Precious Little Talent (Evening Standard Award nomination, London Theatre Festival Best Play Award) at Trafalgar Studios; Amy Herzog’s 4000 Miles (Pulitzer Prize) at Bath Theatre Royal; Dan O’Brien’s The Body of an American (Horton Foote Prize for Outstanding New American Play, Evening Standard Best New Play Award Nominee) at The Gate; and new plays by Ron Hutchinson, Dawn King, Mike Poulton, Alistair Beaton, Amanda Whittington, Bekah Brunstetter, Nanna Mwaluwko and Molly Davies, amongst others.

James is also a Trustee of Britain’s primary Black-led theatre company, Talawa, a Board Director of the Olympics legacy charity Spirit of 2012 and a Franco-British Young Leader, promoting greater cultural exchange with France.