Artistic Director

Rupert Goold is Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre.

He was appointed in February 2013 and took up the post full-time in September 2013.

Rupert’s association with the Almeida Theatre Company began in 2008 when he directed Stephen Adly Guirgis’ The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.

His World Premiere production of American Psycho: A new musical thriller was based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis and co-produced with Headlong and Act 4. Although programmed by Michael Attenborough, it was Rupert’s first directorial Almeida production as Artistic Director and ran from 3 December 2013 – 1 February 2014.

In 2014 Rupert directed the World Premiere of Mike Bartlett’s new play King Charles III. Following a sold-out run at the Almeida, King Charles III transferred to the Wyndham’s Theatre from 2 September – 29 November 2014, and embarked on a Broadway run in the autumn of 2015.

Rupert’s Headlong Theatre Company co-produced with the Almeida to present the World Premiere of Lucy Kirkwood’s Chimerica, directed by Lyndsey Turner. The show transferred to the West End in autumn 2013 and subsequently won five 2014 Olivier Awards, including Best New Play.

Other notable productions as Artistic Director include Richard III, which was broadcast live to cinemas around the world in July 2016, Medea and The Merchant of Venice.

Rupert was Artistic Director of Headlong Theatre from 2005 until 2013. He was Associate Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company from 2009 to 2012. Previously he was Artistic Director of Northampton Theatres from 2002 to 2005. He has twice been the recipient of the Olivier, Critics’ Circle and Evening Standard awards for Best Director.

As a freelance director Rupert has directed revivals, opera, musicals, new plays, farce, pantomime, youth theatre, installation work, comedy and Shakespeare (including two films) around the world and for a wide range of commercial and subsidised organisations. These projects include Richard II (BBC, Neal Street) Macbeth (Chichester Festival, The Gielgud Theatre, on Broadway and for the BBC), No Man’s Land (Gate and Duke of York’s theatres), The Glass Menagerie (Apollo Theatre), Time and The Conways (National Theatre), Sunday Father, Gone to LA (Hampstead Theatre) Turandot (English National Opera), Le Comte Ory (Garsington Opera) and Oliver! (Theatre Royal Drury Lane).

In 2015 Rupert’s first feature film, True Story, starring James Franco and Jonah Hill for Plan B and Fox Searchlight in New York, was released.

Rupert was awarded a CBE in the 2017 New Years Honours for services to drama.