Declan Donnellan

Though not trained in any of the art schools, he mesmerized the audience with his performance. Apart from knowledge in English, he didn't have any academic experience in directing, but still he is one of the best directors. He is Declan Donnellan. Declan Donnellan was born on August 4, 1953, in Manchester, England. He went to St. Benedict's School. He studied English and Law at Queens College, Cambridge. He completed his studies by 1978. His education at Cambridge was a turning point in his life as an actor, writer, and director. During his stay at the college, he decided to spend much of his time at theatres and worked accordingly. During their European tour with the team of ‘ Macbeth Click to look into! >> Read More... ’, he met Nick Ormerod. Nick Ormerod is a senior to Declan Donnellan and both of them became close during rehearsals in the tour. Though both of them hailed from different backgrounds, they made their friendship into a duo. After their studies, both of them lived together in London. He expressed his opinion of becoming an actor to his friend Nick Ormerod. But both of them had to spend three to four years of depressing and disappointing time, where Declan Donnellan worked as a guide to the tourists in London and used to write scripts for the plays in theaters. With the money both of them could manage to put in, they started the company, Cheek By Jowl, in 1981.

From their own company, Cheek by Jowl, they had thirty productions. They also performed their productions across different continents in four hundred cities. Not just from their company, they also produced for other companies. They produced Shakespeare's plays, The School For Scandal, King Lear, etc. For the Royal Shakespeare Company. Apart from the above, he produced Romeo And Juliet for Bolshoi company. He staged and wrote many plays. After 300 years of their written scripts, Declan Donnellan made an attempt to make them into plays. In 1987, Lady Betty was a play written and enacted by their company.

Declan Donnellan is also a writer. He wrote a book, The Actor and The Target, which released in Russian, and later it got translated into English in 2002. Barbican's International Theatre Program incorporated Cheek By Jowl from 2006. He even tried his hand in films too. He directed the 2012 movie, Bel Ami Click to look into! >> Read More... . He received many awards from all over the world. He received the Best Director Award for the play, As You Like It, in 1995. The company, Cheek by Jowl, got a credit that it enacted most of the Shakespearean plays. They also received The Observer Award in 1989.