Tim Supple

Biography

Former director of London’s Young Vic Theatre, Tim has directed, adapted, researched and taught theatre across the world over four decades in a wide range of languages – including in Europe, India, North Africa and the near East, Iran, Turkey, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Russia and the post-Soviet States, and North and South America. In the UK he has worked regularly at the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and in London’s West End, as well as directing work for theatres and tours across the country. His extensive, award-winning directing experience includes several plays by Shakespeare; other classical works by Sophocles, Goldoni, Wycherley, Lorca, and Ostrovsky; and contemporary plays. Tim’s adaptations for theatre include works based on The Grimms’ Tales , The Jungle Book, Ted Hughes’ Ovid, Salman Rushdie, and Dario Fo. For his own company, Dash Arts, he created the celebrated multi-lingual Indian production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (London’s Roundhouse, RSC Stratford, and international tour 2006-2008) and a six-hour adaptation of The One Thousand and One Nights, with artists from the Arabic-speaking world (Edinburgh International Festival, 2011). His most recent production was The Tempest in Mandarin for Beijing’s NCPA. After teaching at Drama Centre London early in his career, Tim has developed his approach to training actors through short courses and workshops. As well as his grounding in the classical and contemporary theatre of the UK, he has researched and learned from the traditions, practices and approaches of performing artists worldwide, notably those of Russia, Europe, India, Japan, China, South America and East Asia.