Profile
Katie Mitchell has directed over 100 productions in a career spanning 30 years. She directs mainstream text-based theatre, opera and live cinema productions (a unique combination of video and theatre techniques). In the UK she has directed 9 productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, 19 for the National Theatre and 12 for The Royal Court - and she has been an Associate Director at all three organisations. Her opera work includes productions for English National Opera, the Royal Opera House, The Staatsoper (Berlin) and Opera Comique (Paris).
Since 2008 she has split her time between working in the UK and on mainland Europe in countries including Germany, France, Holland and Scandinavia. She is currently a resident director at the Schaubuhne (Berlin), the Deutsches Schauspielhaus (Hamburg) and she has just finished a seven-year residency at the Aix-en-Provence Festival (France). In 2015 the Stadsschouwburg Theatre in Amsterdam hosted a retrospective of her work, presenting 8 productions from across Europe.
Her many awards in the UK include 2 Time Out Awards (1990 & 1991), The Evening Standard Best Director Award (1996) and a Tonic Award for her representations of woman and nurture of female talent (2018). Her awards in Europe and beyond include 3 Theatertreffen prizes (Germany) in 2008 & 2009, an Obie Award (US) in 2009, 2 Golden Mask Awards (Russia) in 2011 & 2019, the Stanislavsky Internation Prize (Russia) in 2014, The New Theatrical Realities, Europe Prize in 2014 and Best Director for 2019 at the International Opera Awards.
She was presented with the Order of the British Empire (OBE) 2009 and the British Academy’s President’s Medal in 2017 for her services to theatre.
She is currently a Professor in Theatre Directing at Royal Holloway University where teaches on an MA directing course and she is also a Visiting Professor at Columbia University.