Simon Dormandy is anEnglishtheatre director,teacher andactor. As an actor, he worked withCheek by Jowl and theRoyal Shakespeare Company (RSC), as well as atThe Donmar Warehouse,The Old Vic,Chichester Festival Theatre andThe Royal Exchange, amongst many others. He is perhaps best known on screen for his performances inLittle Dorrit andVanity Fair. Between 1997 and 2012, he taught drama atEton College,Berkshire, and held the posts of Director of Drama, Head of Theatre Studies and Deputy Head of English.^[1][2] He worked as a freelance theatre director until 2019^[3] and has been Head of Academic Drama atSt Paul's School, London since 2020.^[4] His directing credits includeJulius Caesar at theBristol Old Vic andMuch Ado About Nothing at theRose Theatre, Kingston, and his own adaptations ofA Passage to India and theCoen Brothers' filmThe Hudsucker Proxy.

Simon Dormandy was born on 13 December 1957.^[2] He attendedMarlborough College and studied English Language and Literature atOxford University between 1976 and 1979.^[3] Dormandy studied withPhilippe Gaulier atÉcole Philippe Gaulier.^[5]

Simon Dormandy was, as an actor, known largely for his work with theRoyal Shakespeare Company between 1988 and 1995. Over the period, he worked with many well known directors, includingAdrian Noble,Sam Mendes,Deborah Warner,Katie Mitchell andMax Stafford-Clark. He also took part in several films and television series. He was perhaps best known for his performances inLittle Dorrit (as Sparkler) andVanity Fair (as Dobbin). He was also known for his work with the theatre company Cheek By Jowl.^[6]

He taught Drama and English at Eton College for fifteen years from 1997 to 2012, where he was Director of Drama, Head of Theatre Studies and Deputy Head of English.^[1][2] His pupils included the actorsTom Hiddleston,Eddie Redmayne,Harry Lloyd andAdetomiwa Edun, directorJames Dacre and comedians Tom Palmer and Tom Stourton of comedy duoTotally Tom andHumphrey Ker. School productions includeHenry VI with Eddie Redmayne,Waiting for Godot with Harry Lloyd,King Lear (where he directedEdward Stourton's son in the title role^[7]),Three Sisters, Pool, No Water,Henry IV, (a joint version of both Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2),^[8]Joseph K andSpring Awakening.

Since January 2013, he has been working as a freelance theatre director. In 2013, he was assistant director on the world premiere ofThe Low Road byBruce Norris atThe Royal Court Theatre. In 2014 he directed the UK Premiere ofEldorado by Marius von Mayenburg and a production ofWaiting for Godot with young comedians in the leading roles, both at The Arcola Theatre in London. In 2015, he co-directed his own stage adaptation of theCoen Brothers' filmThe Hudsucker Proxy with Toby Sedgwick at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton and the Liverpool Playhouse in association withComplicite. The production won Best Design at the 2015 UK Theatre Awards. He was also an artistic collaborator onSimon McBurney'sThe Encounter for Complicite at the Edinburgh International Festival and subsequently at the Barbican, London and on tour. In 2016, he directedMel Giedroyc in the highly acclaimed UK Premiere ofLuce by J. C. Lee at Southwark Playhouse. In 2017, he directedJulius Caesar at theBristol Old Vic, and developed and co-directed his own adaptation ofA Passage to India, which toured early in 2018 before a five-week run at The Park in London. His production ofMuch Ado About Nothing opened at theRose Theatre, Kingston in April 2018.^{[citation needed]}

He returned to teaching in 2019 atCity of London Freemen's School^[9] and has served as Head of Academic Drama at St Paul’s School, London since 2020.^[4] He also teaches and directs atShakespeare's Globe,Royal Academy of Dramatic Art,Drama Centre,Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and theBritish American Drama Academy.^{[citation needed]}

• Death and the King's Horsemen, Royal Exchange, 1990 (dir.Phyllida Lloyd)^[10]
• Adam Was a Gardener, Minerva Studio, Chichester, 1991^[11]
• Losing Venice (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh 1992)^[12]
• The Threepenny Opera (Donmar Warehouse, London, 1994)

All Royal Shakespeare Company performances taken from theShakespeare Birthplace Trust archive history^[13]

• Eton College
• Royal Shakespeare Company

• Simon Dormandy atIMDb
• The Guardian - Eton at odds with the RSC
• Giving the Boys at Eton Something to Think About - NY Times article
• Random House - RSC Stagings (Simon Dormandy references)

• Living people
• English male film actors
• English male stage actors
• English male television actors
• Royal Shakespeare Company members
• 1957 births
• People educated at Marlborough College

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