Sean Foley (director)
| Sean Foley | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 21, 1964 [1] Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire |
| Known for | Theatre director, writer, actor, comedian |
Sean Foley is a British theatre director, writer, comedian and actor. Following early success as part of the comedy double act The Right Size, and their long-running stage show The Play What I Wrote, Foley has more recently become a director of successful West End comedy productions.
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Early career and The Right Size [edit]
Foley and Hamish McColl formed The Right Size in 1988.[2] They devised and performed in the shows, with regular creative team collaborators such as director Jozef Houben,[3] designer Alice Power,[4] and songwriter Chris Larner.[5][6] Their style combined elements of clowning, physical comedy, mime, slapstick,[7] vaudeville and variety.[8][9] The Right Size's major successes were Do You Come Here Often?, about two strangers stuck in a bathroom for 25 years, and The Play What I Wrote, a tribute to Morecambe and Wise.[1] The Right Size were active until 2006.
Acting [edit]
Foley has played some major parts in traditional scripted roles, including Freud in Hysteria by Terry Johnson at Birmingham Rep in 2007,[10] and the single role in the film of Samuel Beckett's Act Without Words I directed by Karel Reisz.[11] He appeared alongside Mark Rylance in I Am Shakespeare at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester in 2007.[12]
Leading comedy theatre director [edit]
Foley made his directorial debut in 2007 with Pinter's People.[1] He then directed several stage shows by stand-up comedians including Joan Rivers, Nina Conti and Armstrong and Miller.[13] He achieved significant West End success in 2012, when he directed productions of The Ladykillers (for which he was nominated for the 2012 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director) and Joe Orton's What the Butler Saw. He also, with Patrick Barlow, co-directed and co-wrote a four-actor stage adaptation of Ben Hur at the Watermill Theatre, a regional English theatre.[14]
In 2013, Foley will make his Royal Shakespeare Company debut, directing Thomas Middleton's A Mad World, My Masters.[15] He has also been announced as the director of the X Factor stage musical, X Factor - It's Time To Face The Musical!, scheduled to premiere in 2014.[16][17] Foley has plans for a theatrical adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster stories, to be titled Perfect Nonsense.[18]
Awards and nominations [edit]
Olivier Awards [edit]
- Winner
- 1999 Best Entertainment, Do You Come Here Often
- 2002 Best Comedy, The Play What I Wrote
- Nominations
- 2002 Best Actor (with Hamish McColl), The Play What I Wrote
- 2006 Best Entertainment, Ducktastic
- 2010 Best Entertainment, Arturo Brachetti: Change
- 2012 Best Director, The Ladykillers
- 2012 Best New Play, The Ladykillers
(The Ladykillers received five nominations in total)
Tony Awards [edit]
- Nominations
- 2003 Best Special Theatrical Event, The Play What I Wrote
Selected other work [edit]
Television [edit]
Radio [edit]
- The Remains of Foley and McColl
- Foley and McColl Again
- The Goldfish Bowl
Film [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ a b c Caroline Ansdell, "20 Questions With... Sean Foley - Interviews", Whatsonstage.com, 22 January 2007. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- ^ Noor Hayati, "Three's The Right Size", New Straits Times, Jul 1, 1989. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
- ^ "Spymonkey's Moby Dick". Retrieved 2012-10-20.
- ^ "The Agency - Clients - Individuals", the agency. Retrieved 2012-10-19.
- ^ "Chris Larner: CV: Acting: Stage". Retrieved 2012-10-19.
- ^ "Chris Larner: CV: General". Retrieved 2012-10-20.
- ^ Nick Curtis, "THE FRINGE / Not as funny as all that: Nick Curtis on the caperings of Penny Dreadful and the calm Song for a Bluefoot Man", The Independent, 6 October 1993. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
- ^ Brian Logan, "How stupid can they get?", The Guardian, 12 July 1999. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
- ^ Fiachra Gibbons, "The play what is breaking West End theatre records", The Guardian, 22 December 2001 . Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- ^ Terry Grimley, "Terry Grimley meets Sean Foley, co-creator of The Play What I Wrote, now playing Sigmund Freud at Birmingham Rep.", The Birmingham Post, April 25, 2007. Retrieved 2012-10-19.
- ^ Karel Reisz, "Beckett on Film", The Guardian, 25 June 2001. Retrieved 2012-10-21.
- ^ Michael Billington, "Theatre review: I Am Shakespeare / Minerva, Chichester | Stage", The Guardian, 3 September 2007. Retrieved 2013-04-12.
- ^ "The Agency - Clients - Individuals", the agency. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
- ^ "The Watermill Theatre - Ben Hur", The Watermill Theatre. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
- ^ "A Mad World My Masters", Royal Shakespeare Company. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
- ^ "X Factor - It’s Time To Face The Musical!", Stage Entertainment, 15 March 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-04.
- ^ Alice Vincent, "X Factor the musical, written by Harry Hill, to launch in Spring 2014", The Telegraph, 15 March 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-04.
- ^ "Sean Foley". Retrieved 2012-10-14.
External links [edit]
- Sean Foley at the Internet Broadway Database
- Sean Foley at the Internet Movie Database
- Sean Foley at the Internet Movie Database
- (video) A conversation with the cast and director of "The Play I Wrote". Interview with Charlie Rose. 22 May 2003. Charlie Rose. PBS. http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/1964. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
