About

Mark is an Olivier-nominated writer and director for stage and screen. He is represented by Katie Haines at The Agency, London.

He has worked as a freelance theatre director across the UK and internationally since 1998, directing productions at Shakespeare’s Globe, the National Theatre, Sheffield Theatres, Northampton Theatres, Leeds Playhouse, the Edinburgh Festival, for HighTide Festival Theatre, at the Young Vic, in the West End, off-Broadway and Tokyo, to name a few.

Mark was also full-time Associate Director at Leeds Playhouse from 2013-16 and an Associate Artist there till 2020, directing nine mainhouse productions. Before that, he was the Associate at the National Theatre Studio from 2011 to 2013 where he ran the Directors Department and developed new work. 

His debut play, GIANT, premiered to great acclaim, selling out the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs from September to November 2024. It was directed by Nicholas Hytner and starred John Lithgow as Roald Dahl with Elliot Levey, Romola Garai, Rachael Stirling. Tessa Bonham-Jones and Richard Hope. The production will transfer to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End for a limited season in April 2025. It has been nominated for five Olivier Awards, including Best New Play, Best Actor (John Lithgow) and Best Director (Nicholas Hytner).

He wrote & directed the multi-award-winning short film GANEF, which sold to HBO Europe and Oscar-qualified for the Live Action Short category in 2022. He also co-wrote Dominic Dromgoole’s feature film debut MAKING NOISE QUIETLY, adapted (with Nick Drake and Robert Holman from Holman’s play of the same title). It was released in UK cinemas by Verve Pictures in 2019. Mark is currently writing a feature film for Good Chaos, Film 4 & MUBI.

As a theatre director, his extensive freelance credits include: Frank McGuinness’ adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s DE PROFUNDIS starring Simon Callow (Vaudeville Theatre & Edinburgh Festival), co-directing Heather Christian’s ANIMAL WISDOM (Bushwick Starr), WAITING FOR GODOT (Tobacco Factory, Bristol), THE COUNTRY by Martin Crimp (Gorch Brothers, Tokyo), Shakespeare & Fletcher’s pageant-play HENRY VIII and Jack Shepherd’s epic HOLDING FIRE! (both Shakespeare’s Globe), THE TEMPEST (National Theatre), Jack Thorne’s adaptation of Alexander Masters’ STUART: A LIFE BACKWARDS(Hightide & Sheffield Theatres), WILD OATS (Bristol Old Vic), and his acclaimed production of THE CIRCLE by Somerset Maugham (Oxford Stage Company). 

In 2001, he founded Dumbfounded Theatre to rediscover forgotten classics from the international repertoire, which included his acclaimed productions of CP Taylor’s BREAD AND BUTTER (Traverse, Dundee Rep, Tricycle) and Arthur Schnitzler’s PROFESSOR BERNHARDI, adapted by Samuel Adamson (Arcola Theatre).

In 1999 he won the JMK Award for Young Directors to direct The Dybbuk at BAC.  He served on the JMK Trust’s board and then as Vice-Chair for sixteen years, stepping down in 2022.