Cheek by Jowl

Cheek by Jowl logo.

Cheek by Jowl is an international theatre company founded in the United Kingdom by director Declan Donnellan and designer Nick Ormerod in 1981.[1] Donnellan and Ormerod are Cheek by Jowl's artistic directors and together direct and design all of Cheek by Jowl's productions. The company's recent productions include an Italian-language version of Thomas Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy, Russian-language productions of William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure and Francis Beaumont's The Knight of the Burning Pestle, an English-language production of The Winter's Tale[2] and a French-language production of Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Cheek by Jowl is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation[3] and an Associate Company of the Barbican Centre, London.[4]

The company has performed in the UK since 1981 and internationally since 1984, when its productions of Vanity Fair and Pericles were invited to the Almagro, Valladolid, and Jerusalem festivals. Between 1985 and 1993, Cheek by Jowl performed 13 productions at the Donmar Warehouse.[5] This marked the company's West End debut, which led Cheek by Jowl to receive 4 Laurence Olivier awards out of 10 nominations.[6] As of 2017, Cheek by Jowl has performed in over 400 cities in over 40 countries,[7] including Peter Brook's Bouffes du Nord in Paris, the Chekhov International Festival in Moscow and New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music.

The core of Cheek by Jowl's work has always been Shakespeare; by the time of their production of The Winter's Tale in 2015, Cheek by Jowl had produced thirteen of Shakespeare's plays. The company has also consistently produced other classical works of European drama, both in translation and in their original language. Cheek by Jowl have given the British premiere of 10 works of European classics, including Le Cid, by Pierre Corneille and Andromaque, by Jean Racine. In 1989, Cheek by Jowl also produced Donnellan's own play Lady Betty, which was based on the true story of a hangwoman in the West of Ireland around the time of the French Revolution.[8]

Cheek by Jowl is notable for producing work in English, French and Russian.

  1. ^ "Cheek by Jowl, theatre company: records, 1981–1999". Theatre Collections. London: Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  2. ^ "Cheek by Jowl Website: Company Information". information. London: Cheek by Jowl Theatre Company. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  3. ^ "Cheek by Jowl Website: Company Information". information. London: Cheek by Jowl Theatre Company. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  4. ^ "Cheek by Jowl Website: Company Information". information. London: Cheek by Jowl Theatre Company. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  5. ^ Kabatchnik, Amnon (14 August 2017). Blood on the Stage, 1600 to 1800: Milestone Plays of Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781538106167.
  6. ^ "Awards". Cheek by Jowl. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  7. ^ Kirwan, Peter (2019). Shakespeare in the Theatre: Cheek By Jowl. Great Britain: The Arden Shakespeare. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-4742-2328-7. OCLC 1128105766.
  8. ^ "Cheek by Jowl Website: Company Information". information. London: Cheek by Jowl Theatre Company. Retrieved 24 October 2017.