ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
SIMON GODWIN
Simon Godwin joined Shakespeare Theatre Company as Artistic Director in September 2019. His directing credits at STC include Comedy of Errors, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Timon of Athens, and the 2024 production of Macbeth with Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma, which also played in Liverpool, Edinburgh, and London. He is an Associate Director of the National Theatre of London, and has served as Associate Director of the Royal Court Theatre, the Bristol Old Vic, and the Royal and Derngate Theatres in Northampton.
He made his debut at the National Theatre with Strange Interlude, followed by Man and Superman, The Beaux’ Stratagem, Twelfth Night, and a celebrated production of Antony and Cleopatra with Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo. In 2020, Simon returned to the National Theatre to direct Romeo & Juliet, an original film for television (Sky Arts in U.K./PBS in U.S.) starring Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley.
He has directed at the Royal Shakespeare Company, including productions of Timon of Athens with Kathryn Hunter in the titular role, which was reimagined in early 2020 for Theatre for a New Audience in New York City and Shakespeare Theatre Company, an acclaimed Hamlet, which toured to the Kennedy Center, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
In 2019, Simon made his Tokyo debut, directing a Japanese cast in Hamlet for Theatre Cocoon. In 2023, he made his opera debut at the Washington Nation Opera directing Roméo et Juliette by Gounod.
In 2012, Simon was awarded the inaugural Evening Standard/Burberry Award for an Emerging Director. In 2023, Simon became the annual Harman/Eisner Residence Artist at the Aspen Institute.
He made his debut at the National Theatre with Strange Interlude, followed by Man and Superman, The Beaux’ Stratagem, Twelfth Night, and a celebrated production of Antony and Cleopatra with Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo. In 2020, Simon returned to the National Theatre to direct Romeo & Juliet, an original film for television (Sky Arts in U.K./PBS in U.S.) starring Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley.
He has directed at the Royal Shakespeare Company, including productions of Timon of Athens with Kathryn Hunter in the titular role, which was reimagined in early 2020 for Theatre for a New Audience in New York City and Shakespeare Theatre Company, an acclaimed Hamlet, which toured to the Kennedy Center, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
In 2019, Simon made his Tokyo debut, directing a Japanese cast in Hamlet for Theatre Cocoon. In 2023, he made his opera debut at the Washington Nation Opera directing Roméo et Juliette by Gounod.
In 2012, Simon was awarded the inaugural Evening Standard/Burberry Award for an Emerging Director. In 2023, Simon became the annual Harman/Eisner Residence Artist at the Aspen Institute.