Dominic CookeCBE (born 1966) is an English director and writer.

Born inWimbledon, south London, Cooke saw a lot of theatre as a teenager thanks to free theatre tickets provided by theInner London Education Authority.

Soon after graduating fromWarwick University, Cooke's first job as a TV runner led him to start his own theatre company, Pan Optic, which he ran for two years before becoming an assistant director at theRoyal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

He started his relationship with theRoyal Court Theatre underStephen Daldry in 1995. He became an associate director at the Royal Court forIan Rickson in 1999. During this time, he directedFireface byMarius von Mayenburg,Other People byChristopher Shinn, andRedundant byLeo Butler. In 2003, he left the Royal Court and returned to the RSC forMichael Boyd, where he directed his acclaimed version ofThe Crucible starringIain Glen, which won him the 2007Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director; the play also won the Olivier for Best Revival.

He has won fiveOlivier Awards. In addition to Best Director and Best Revival forThe Crucible in 2007, he won Best Revival forMa Rainey’s Black Bottom in 2016, Best Musical Revival forFollies in 2018, and, in 2013, his final season in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court won Achievement In An Affiliate Theatre.

In 2013, he won the International Theatre Institute Award for Excellence in International Theatre, and in the same year, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by his alma mater, Warwick University. Cooke was appointedCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to drama.^[1]

Cooke was artistic director and Chief Executive of the Royal Court Theatre 2006 to 2013 during which time he pioneered new writing by actively promoting the Royal Court's Young Writers’ Programme and new, young writers such asMike Bartlett (My Child),Polly Stenham (That Face),Penelope Skinner (The Village Bike) andBola Agbaje (the Olivier Award-winningGone Too Far!).^[2][3]

During his tenure at the Royal Court Cooke stagedJez Butterworth’s multi-award winningJerusalem which Ian Rickson directed; and which transferred to theWest End, Broadway, and San Francisco;Lucy Prebble’s 2009Enron, which was directed byRupert Goold; andBruce Norris’Clybourne Park, which Cooke directed himself. All three were transferred to the West End amid critical acclaim and box office success.

Cooke's time at the Royal Court was a huge success;^[2] he staged numerous new plays and refocused the theatre's aims. Of the 130+ plays, 94 were full productions of new plays, with public readings and productions of old plays making up the remainder. The theatre was nominated for 210 major awards and won 59. Cooke was also credited with bringing a new dynamism and excitement to the Royal Court Theatre with his eclectic programming: "What makes Cooke’s reign unique is that he has used the Royal Court’s young writers programme as a way of finding and cultivating new talent, often by precariously young writers...for Cooke, if a play was good enough, that was enough: he would put it on…Polly Stenham’s ‘That Face’, staged when she was only 19, bowled over its audiences. Anya Reiss was younger still – 18 – when her assured debut ‘Spur of the Moment’ opened. Bola Agbaje won an Olivier with her first play ‘Gone Too Far!’"^[2]

In 2007, Cooke wrote the stage adaptation ofMalorie Blackman'sNoughts and Crosses, which he directed and produced at the RSC. He wrote an adaptation ofArabian Nights for the Young Vic in 1998 and directed a revised version for the RSC in 2009. With scriptwriter Ben Power, Cooke co-wrote the scripts for Shakespeare'sHenry VI Parts 1 and 2 for BBC TV'sThe Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses (May 2016).

Cooke is a National Theatre Associate Director; he made his directing debut there in November 2011 with Shakespeare'sThe Comedy of Errors, which he set in modern-day London. The cast includedLenny Henry andClaudie Blakley, and was broadcast worldwide in March 2012 as part of the NT Live programme. Cooke directedCaryl Churchill'sHere We Go at the National in 2015. He directed the critically acclaimed production ofAugust Wilson'sMa Rainey’s Black Bottom in 2016, which won the 2015 Olivier Award for Best Revival.^[4][5] His 2017 production ofStephen Sondheim andJames Goldman'sFollies starringImelda Staunton,Janie Dee, andTracie Bennett was nominated for tenOlivier Awards,^[6] winning Best Musical Revival.^{[7][circular reference]} Cooke received theCritics' Circle Best Director Award.^[8]

Cooke's TV directorial debut was in May 2016 with the second BBC TV series ofThe Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses. The series was televised in three parts:Henry VI, Part 1,Henry VI, Part 2, andRichard III. It was produced by Sam Mendes' company,Neal Street Productions, and starredBenedict Cumberbatch,Judi Dench,Sophie Okonedo,Tom Sturridge, andHugh Bonneville.

Cooke's feature directorial debut,On Chesil Beach, starringSaoirse Ronan andBilly Howle, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 7 September 2017. It is based on the novelof the same name byBooker Prize winning novelistIan McEwan. The film received a wide release in 2018 and was chosen by Variety as one of the ten best films at the Toronto International Film Festival 2017.^[9][10] His latest film,The Courier, starringBenedict Cumberbatch,Merab Ninidze,Rachel Brosnahan, andJessie Buckley, premiered atSundance in January 2020.^[11] It was released in the US byLionsgate andRoadside Attractions.^[12] He is slated to direct a movie of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's musicalFollies.^[13]

Cooke's civil partner is the actor and playwrightAlexi Kaye Campbell.^[3] They have been together since 1997.

Cooke is Jewish.^[14]

• Dominic Cooke atIMDb

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