AN INDEPENDENT CREATIVE.
CAPTURING YOUR STORY UNIQUELY.
"To be human is to have a story to tell, and the stories we tell reveal us in remarkable ways."
I trained as an actor at the Guildhall school of Music & Drama, London because I wanted to be a good director.
For three decades I've worked as a director, my life shaped by the rich tapestry of theatre and film, guiding actors through the nuanced layers of character development and performance. I've worked with actors from Italy, France, Germany, Greece, Malta, Iran, Tunisia, Israel, Palestine and the US, often in languages other than English. I've taught at some of Europe's leading conservatoires; the Guildhall, Mountview, the Manchester School of Theatre, The European school for the art of the actor, whose collaborating partners include: the Guildhall; the Russian Academy of Drama, Moscow; ENSATT, Lyon; ACT San Francisco, CentroSperimentale di Cinematografia Rome & Milan and L'Accademia Nazionale D'Arte Drammatica "Silvio d'Amico", Scuola Mestieri dello spettacolo Teatro Biondo, Palermo. I've worked in theatre and film. At Britain’s National Theatre I worked with: Sir Trevor Nunn, Sir Richard Eyre, Sir Howard Davies, Vanessa Redgrave, Eileen Atkins, Paul Scofield, Judy Dench and Patrick Marber on “Closer.”
I've directed new and classical plays, adaptations and educational projects, including Hamlet, The Tempest, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, Shakespeare’s sonnets at The Grotowski theatre, Wroclaw, The Conference of The Birds and a multi disciplinary work based on Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway. In 2012 my play “In the Forest” was invited to New York for the PAM international festival. I wrote the screenplay for “The Unloved” based on the Arnost Lustig novel of the same name. Arnost Lustig was an Auschwitz survivor and was nominated for the Pulitzer and Man Booker.
For 10 years I was artistic director of j33tre European Theatre Ensemble, responsible for the development, production and direction of the company’s artistic output, directing plays and workshops across Italy, wider Europe and the US. In 2017 scenes from my new play Colour in the Darkness where shown at the National Portrait Gallery, London. The company included Ann Mitchell and Ian Reddington. My screenplay for the feature film "What happened to Madeleine?" is currently in development with me as both writer and director.
All this experience is intertwined, allowing me to gently reveal character through dialogue and collaboration. I am a fervent believer that subjects are treated with respect and honesty, giving voice to people who may not always have a voice.
all images (c) 2024 Giles Smith