NEIL SMITH

   Tel: 07901557411   

Email: n.d.smith@gmail.com

 

Accidentally born in the Netherlands before swiftly being taken to the UK, Neil trained to act but he really wasn't very good so he followed his nose to a high street gentlemen's tailor but soon realised inside leg measurements weren't his thing and so managed a Drama degree at Royal Holloway University where he first tried playwriting under the tutelage of Dan Rebellato. 

On graduating he quickly grounded himself in the arts culture by looking after a dog in Poole. But when an author dared him to, he left the dog behind (in good hands) and boarded a bus to spend two glorious years living and working in Poland teaching the rules of the future unreal tense (still no idea) and writing and directing his own work. 

Neil returned home disorientated and clueless, his application for Odeon ticket seller was rejected but he was accepted as Director of Drama at Malvern College where he spent four years directing shows, fostering the arts and stimulating impressionable minds and writing his first play. 

Realising four years is probably enough returned to Royal Holloway to do his Masters in Theatre Directing and now co-runs Fusion Opera with a librettist, writing and producing new operas as well as being resident playwright for Living Record.

        

OTHER WRITING

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LIBRETTOS

HEMOLYSIS

A gay couple's pact of love takes a tragic turn

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STRENGTH OF SPIRIT AND TIME

Time is called at the local but one regular sees it differently

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SCENES

MABLE

A homeless man with a ventriloquist's dummy gets lost in the memories of his dead wife, Mable,

when he's confronted by a teen out to cause trouble

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OTHER PLAYS

PARK LIVES (own play/devised): Interclub, Poland, March 2002

NEW YEAR’S PUNCH (own play/devised): Interclub, Poland, January 2002

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THE HERO (own play): Radom Theatre, Poland, June 2001

OPERATION: XMAS APOCALYPSE (own play): The laznia, Radom April 2001

SEVEN AGES OF LOVE (devised): Lublin Theatre, Shakespeare festival, January 2001, The laznia,

Radom, Poland, October 2000

        CABARET (devised): Radom Theatre, June 2000

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DIRECTING

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OPERA

EBB: Opera Room, One Act, Pemiered: Tete A Tete Opera festival 2015

FLAT PACK: Opera Room, One Act Comic Opera Premiered: Tete A Tete festival, 2014

THE INVITED: Opera Room, Premiere: 14th and 15th November 2013, St. Paul’s Church, Covent

      Garden. Co-Produced with Iris Theatre.

ALL TO PLAY FOR: Opera Room, New comic opera based around football’s Champion’s League

       Finals. Performance: Tete A Tete festival, Riverside Studios, August 16th and 17th 2012

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PLAYS

      THE COMIC by Norman Welch. New Play. On-going text development

              DOGGERLAND by Debbie Kent: New Diorama, Regents Place, London 6th-7th Nov 2010 (World

      Premiere) Barons Court Theatre, London 20thJuly-1st August 2010 http://doggerlandtheplay.com/

THE BLIND by Maurice Maeterlinck: Royal Holloway, Studio Theatre, May 2008

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=1FE8F46C51DCAB33&search_query=The+Blind+Neil+Smith

WEST SIDE STORY by Leonard Bernstein: Malvern College, Rogers Theatre, November 2006

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=5F82383388283C49&search_query=West+Side+Story+Neil+Smith

MACBETH by William Shakespeare: Malvern College, Rogers Theatre, November 2005

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=DBFD919B237FF43C&search_query=Macbeth+Neil+Smith

DON QUIXOTE by Keith Dewhurst: Malvern College, June 2005

AMADEUS by Peter Shaffer: Malvern College, November 2004

ALICE IN WONDERLAND by Adrian Mitchell: Malvern College, Rogers Theatre, June 2004

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=DE501B179857C48D&search_query=Alice+in+Wonderland+Neil+Smith

THE CRUCIBLE By Arthur Miller: Malvern College, Rogers Theatre, November 2003

MACBETH: Rzeszow, Poland, July 2001

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DEVISED

IN HER GESTURE: Devised project working with the Chiara Stampone and the film

      Maker Paul Kafno. Footfalls Theatre Company. Commissioned by LOST THEATRE for research

      And Development. Performance: Saturday 5th May 2012   

ECHOES OF WILLARD (own/devised): New Wimbledon Studio Theatre, 15th-18th April 2009

http://www.echoesofwillard.com/

 

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

      SECRETS (devised): (A.D.) Dir: Danielle Coleman. Premiered at The Cock Tavern, 17th November 2009

         HAMLETZAR (devised): (Assistant) Dir: Vahid Evazzadeh. Still in residency, 10th-23rd August 2009

         MISS JULIE by August Strindberg: (A.D.) Dir: James Farrell. Kings Head Theatre, 15th-19th July 2009

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QUALIFICATIONS

1ST CLASS DEGREE THEATRE AND DRAMA, ROYAL HOLLOWAY COLLEGE

MASTERS IN THEATRE DIRECTING, ROYAL HOLLOWAY COLLEGE

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WORKSHOPS

Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène-Estienne (exploring ‘The Man Who…’)

Max Stafford Clarke (rehearsing new texts);

Melly Still (devising with the body);

Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod (approaching classic texts);

Bella Merlin (Stanislavsky and active analysis);

Ian Rickson (directors working with text);

Irina Brown (tools for the director);

Adrian Noble (rehearsing with Shakespeare);

Paul Allain (Grotowski and the body);

Cheek by Jowl (bringing a classic to life)

Frantic Assembly (devising physical texts);

Paule Constable (lighting);

Mask; Puppetry

 

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