“His genius is a visual poetry of suggestion, of material minimalism”
Professor Carol Chillington Rutter, University of Warwick
Nick Ormerod is co-founder and joint Artistic Director of Cheek by Jowl with director Declan Donnellan. He has designed set and costume for the company’s productions since its inception.
“In my view, the designer (in collaboration with the director) defines the space. The act of theatre is essentially a willing conspiracy between actor and audience – one performing feats of the imagination, the other suspending their disbelief – that begins when the houselights dim, and finishes when the cast take their final bow.”
Nick Ormerod, Making a Scene: The World of Theatre Design
After qualifying as a barrister, Nick Ormerod trained in Theatre Design at Wimbledon School of Art. His first job in theatre was a year as an assistant at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. From there he went on to work with Declan Donnellan on various productions for the Royal Court and Arts Educational Schools before forming Cheek by Jowl in 1981. Since then, he and Declan Donnellan have taken work to over 400 cities, and received awards across the world.
His credits also include Fuenteovejuna, Peer Gynt, Sweeney Todd, The Mandate, and both parts of Angels in America for the National Theatre; The School for Scandal, King Lear and Great Expectations (which he also co-adapted) for the Royal Shakespeare Company; The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny for the English National Opera, Martin Guerre for the Prince Edward Theatre, Hayfever for the Savoy Theatre, Antigone for The Old Vic, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet for the Bolshoi, Falstaff for the Salzburg Festival and The Revenger’s Tragedy for the Piccolo Teatro Milano. In 2012, Ormerod co-directed the feature film Bel Ami with Declan Donnellan.
Ormerod’s work is characterised by its simplicity and directness, an approach that has shaped the visual signature of the company’s work and led to winning the Corral de Comedias Award with Donnellan in 2008 and an Olivier Award nomination for Designer of the Year (1988) for A Family Affair, The Tempest and Philoctetes. In 2017, he was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for services to theatre design.
Date | Production | Playwright | Produced by |
---|---|---|---|
1981 | The Country Wife | Wycherley | Cheek by Jowl |
1982 | Othello | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
1983 | Vanity Fair | Thackeray | Cheek by Jowl |
1984 | Pericles | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
1985 | The Man of Mode | Etherege | Cheek by Jowl |
1985 | Bent | Sherman | Northcott Theatre |
1985 | A Midsummer Night’s Dream | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
1985 | A Masked Ball | Verdi | Opera 80 |
1985 | Andromache | Racine | Cheek by Jowl |
1986 | Twelfth Night | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
1986 | The Cid | Corneille | Cheek by Jowl |
1986 | Romeo and Juliet | Shakespeare | New Shakespeare Company |
1987 | Macbeth | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
1988 | A Family Affair | Ostrovsky | Cheek by Jowl * |
1988 | Philoctetes | Sophocles | Cheek by Jowl |
1988 | The Tempest | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
1989 | Lady Betty | Donnellan | Cheek by Jowl * |
1989 | Fuente Ovejuna | de Vega | National Theatre |
1990 | Sara | Lessing | Cheek by Jowl * |
1990 | Peer Gynt | Ibsen | National Theatre |
1991 | Hamlet | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
1991 | Big Fish | Donnellan | A short film |
1992 | Angels in America: Part One | Kushner | National Theatre |
1992 | As You Like It | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
1993 | The Blind Men | de Ghelderode | Cheek by Jowl * |
1993 | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Sondheim & Wheeler | National Theatre |
1993 | Don’t Fool With Love | de Musset | Cheek by Jowl |
1993 | Angels in America: Part Two | Kushner | National Theatre |
1994 | The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny | Weill & Brecht | English National Opera |
1994 | Measure for Measure | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
1995 | As You Like It (revival) | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
1996 | The Duchess of Malfi | Webster | Cheek by Jowl |
1997 | Out Cry | Tennesse Williams | Cheek by Jowl * |
1997 | The Winter’s Tale | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
1997 | Martin Guerre | Boublil & Schonberg | Prince Edward Theatre |
1998 | Much Ado About Nothing | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
1999 | Antigone | Sophocles | Old Vic Theatre |
1999 | Hay Fever | Coward | Savoy Theatre |
1999 | The School for Scandal | Sheridan | Royal Shakespeare Company |
2000 | Boris Godunov | Pushkin | Chekhov International Theatre Festival with Cheek by Jowl |
2001 | Falstaff | Verdi | The Salzburg Festival |
2002 | Homebody/Kabul | Kushner | Cheek by Jowl * |
2002 | King Lear | Shakespeare | Royal Shakespeare Company Academy |
2003 | Twelfth Night | Shakespeare | Chekhov International Theatre Festival with Cheek by Jowl |
2004 | Othello | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
2004 | Romeo and Juliet | Shakespeare | The Bolshoi Ballet |
2004 | The Mandate | Erdman | National Theatre |
2005 | Three Sisters | Chekhov | Chekhov International Theatre Festival with Cheek by Jowl |
2005 | Great Expectations | Dickens | Royal Shakespeare Company |
2006 | The Changeling | Middleton & Rowley | Cheek by Jowl |
2007 | Cymbeline | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
2007 | Andromaque | Racine | Bouffes du Nord with Cheek by Jowl |
2008 | Troilus and Cressida | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
2009 | Macbeth | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
2011 | The Tempest | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
2011 | ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore | Ford | Chekhov International Theatre Festival with Cheek by Jowl |
2012 | Bel Ami | Maupassant | Feature Film |
2013 | Ubu Roi | Jarry | Cheek by Jowl |
2013 | Measure for Measure | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
2014 | Shakespeare in Love | Lee Hall | Noël Coward Theatre |
2015 | Hamlet | Shakespeare | The Bolshoi Ballet |
2016 | The Winter’s Tale | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
2018 | Périclès, Prince de Tyr | Shakespeare | Cheek by Jowl |
2018 | The Revenger’s Tragedy | Middleton | Piccolo Teatro Milano |
2019 | The Knight of the Burning Pestle | Beaumont | Cheek by Jowl |
The dates represent the year each production premiered
* British première