CV

Mark writes and directs for theatre and screen.

From 2013 to 2016, Mark was the Associate Director at Leeds Playhouse, and Associate Artist from 2017 to 2021. He was Studio Associate at the National Theatre from 2011 to 2013 and ran Dumbfounded Theatre from 2001, which specialised in the revival of neglected European classics. In 1999 he won the JMK Award for Young Directors – he served as a Trustee and Vice-Chair of the JMK Trust from 2006 until 2023.

He is a member of BAFTA Connect.

CURRENT PROJECTS (Theatre & Screen)

GIANT (PLAY, as writer) - to premiere at the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs in September 2024, directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring John Lithgow as Roald Dahl, alongside Elliot Levey.

PAST PROJECTS

SCREEN

TO LIFE (TV Series, co-creator with Sasha Hails) - optioned/developed with Quay Street/ITV Studios

GANEF (short film, writer-director/producer) —- Oscar-Qualified, Best Live Action Short 2022

Official Selection at over 35 film festivals worldwide, including multiple Oscar, BAFTA and BIFA qualifiers. Winner, Best UK Short at New Renaissance and Nottingham International Film Festivals; Special Mention at UK Jewish Film Festival; Awards Shortlisted, LA Shorts International. Sold to HBO Europe, viewed 50,000 times on the short film platform Omeleto. Also screenings at Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York and LA Holocaust Museum.

MAKING NOISE QUIETLY (Feature Film, Open Palm Films, dir. Dominic Dromgoole)
Screen adaptation of the Robert Holman play, co-written with Robert Holman and Nick Drake. Released theatrically in the UK by Verve Pictures (2019).

CLEOPATRA (Short Film, writer/adapter-director)

Adaptation of Shakespeare’s Anthony & Cleopatra, shot on location at the Red Pyramid, Cairo, and starring Eleanor Matsuura and Katy Stephens. Producer: Shakespeare’s Globe/BFI & presented as part of The Complete Walk, an epic celebration of Shakespeare’s 400th Anniversary.

NEWBORN (Short Film, writer/adapter-director)

Adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, shot on location at Hampton Court and starring Danny Sapani, Pauline McLynn and David Calder.Produced by Shakespeare’s Globe/BFI and presented as part of The Complete Walk, an epic celebration of Shakespeare’s 400th Anniversary.

THE CONSTANT WIFE & THE CIRCLE (Writer/Feature filmcommissions/Brilliant Films)
Screen adaptations of two W. Somerset Maugham plays. (2008-10)Producers: Joseph Abrams & Rory Gilmartin

PAST PROJECTS (THEATRE, all as director)

2020

MISSING PEOPLE by Brad Birch. New National Theater, Tokyo; Kani Public Arts Theater; Leeds Playhouse. Co-directed with Nobuhiro Nishikawa.

2018

THE FRUIT TRILOGY by Eve Ensler (US Premiere)
Abingdon Theatre at Lucille Lortel Theater, New York

DE PROFUNDIS, in a new adaptation by Frank McGuinness
Classic Spring Company at the Vaudeville Theatre, London & Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Festival

2017
WAITING FOR GODOT
Tobacco Factories Theatre, Bristol & tour

ANIMAL WISDOM by Heather Christian
Co-directed with Emilyn Kowaleski
Bushwick Starr Theater, Brooklyn, New York

THE COUNTRY by Martin Crimp (Japanese premiere)
Gorch Brothers Productions at DDD Aoyama Cross Theater, Tokyo

2016
VILLETTE, adapted from Charlotte Brontë’s novel by Linda Marshall Griffiths
Courtyard Theatre, Leeds Playhouse

THE FRUIT TRILOGY
By Eve Ensler
World Premiere at WOW Festival, Southbank Centre London & Leeds Playhouse

2015
RICHARD III
Quarry Theatre, Leeds Playhouse

AVOCADO
World Premiere, Leeds Playhouse & Latitude Festival
By Eve Ensler

UNCLE VANYA
Leeds Playhouse
A new version by Samuel Adamson

2014
UNTOLD STORIES
The Courtyard, Leeds Playhouse
Adapted from the Alan Bennett book

OF MICE AND MEN
The Quarry, Leeds Playhouse
Adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel

2013
Alexander Masters’ STUART: A LIFE BACKWARDS by Jack Thorne
(Hightide Festival Theatre and Sheffield Theatres co-production at Topside, Underbelly, Watford Palace & Sheffield Crucible)
Stage Acting Excellence Award Nomination – Fraser Ayres
Carol Tambor Award Best of the Festival Nomination

2012
WILD OATS by John O’Keefe
(Bristol Old Vic)

2011
66 BOOKS
‘Micah’ and ‘Ephesians’
(The Bush Theatre)

MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS by Ron Hutchinson
(The Watermill Theatre)

FOUR PLAYS ABOUT FREEDOM by Ryan Craig, Eve Ensler, Amy Rosenthal and Arnold Wesker (The Tricycle)

2010
24 HOUR PLAYS (Dark but Full of Diamonds by Lucy Kirkwood)
(The Old Vic)
HENRY VIII
(Shakespeare’s Globe)

2009
JUST BETWEEN OURSELVES by Alan Ayckbourn
(Theatre Royal, Northampton, Ayckbourn at 70 Season)

2008
SNAKE IN THE GRASS, by Alan Ayckbourn
(Matrix Theatre, L.A) US Premiere.
Nominated for three 2008 Ovation Awards

2007
HOLDING FIRE!, by Jack Shepherd
(Shakespeare’s Globe)
SONGS OF THE SOUTH by Samuel Barber
(Young Vic/ENO)
THE UNKNOWN KURT WEILL by Brecht & Weill
(Young Vic/ENO)
VOICES OF ABOLITION devised by Mark Rosenblatt
(Shakespeare’s Globe at The Palace of Westminster)

2006
THE LENINGRAD SIEGE by Jose Sanchis Sinisterra
(Tron, UK Tour and Wilton’s Music Hall.)

2005
PROFESSOR BERNHARDI by A. Schnitzler, new version by Samuel Adamson
(Dumbfounded & Oxford Stage Company/Arcola Theatre), as part of THE LAST WALTZ SEASON

2003
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
(Thelma Holt Ltd & Theatre Royal, Plymouth, UK No 1 Tour)
THE TEMPEST
(National Theatre ‘Shakespeare Unplugged’ Tour and Cottesloe)

2002
THE CIRCLE by W Somerset Maugham
(TEG and Yvonne Arnaud, Guildford in association with Oxford Stage Company UK No 1 Tour)
A PASSIONATE WOMAN by Kay Mellor
(Royal Theatre Northampton)

2001 – 2004
BREAD AND BUTTER by CP Taylor
(Dumbfounded Theatre & Oxford Stage Company/Southwark Playhouse, Scottish
tour & Tricycle Theatre)

2000/1
THE CIRCLE by W Somerset Maugham
(Oxford Stage Company/Salisbury Playhouse/Tour)
Revived in 2001 with new cast for OSC/Northampton & Richmond

1999
THE DYBBUK by S Anski, adapted by Mark Rosenblatt (BAC)
Winner, JMK TRUST YOUNG DIRECTORS AWARD

Radio

2007
PROFESSOR BERNHARDI by Arthur Schnitzler
(BBC Radio 3)

2000/1
ROMEO AND JULIET, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, HAMLET, MACBETH (Kartouche Audio)