Olivier Award nominee Jeremy Herrin is the man who will replace Rupert Goold as the Artistic Director of acclaimed theatre company Headlong.
The former Deputy Artistic Director of the Royal Court, who received an Olivier Award nomination earlier this year for his work on National Theatre political hit This House, will take up his new position from September following Goold’s departure to become Artistic Director of the Almeida theatre.
Speaking about his appointment, Herrin said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be Headlong’s next Artistic Director and excited to be following in the footsteps of John Retallack, Dominic Dromgoole and Rupert Goold. It’s a bold company of vision and reach and I can’t wait to work with the Headlong board and staff as well as all the writers, actors, creatives and other theatre partners to lead it through its next phase. It’s a fantastic company with an exceptional record, and I’m honoured to join the team. These are challenging times and I can’t think of a better company with which to make the timely argument that theatre is of national consequence.”
A graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Herrin’s Royal Court productions include Polly Stenham’s trio of acclaimed works, That Face, Tusk Tusk and No Quarter, David Hare’s The Vertical Hour and Michael Wynne’s Olivier Award-winning The Priory. Elsewhere recent Herrin-directed productions include Shakespeare’s Globe’s Much Ado About Nothing, starring Eve Best and Charles Edwards, and Chichester Festival Theatre’s South Downs, which transferred to the West End.
His production of The Tempest, which stars Colin Morgan and Roger Allam, can currently be seen at Shakespeare’s Globe, while he returns to Chichester to direct Another Country in September. Later this year he will direct the Royal Shakespeare Company’s adaptations of Hilary Mantel’s Booker Prize-winning novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies.
Commenting on Herrin’s appointment, outgoing Artistic Director Goold said: “Headlong is passing into the most capable hands with Jeremy’s exciting appointment. He’s a director of proven flair and originality as well as having shown a sustained commitment to regional theatre over his career. I can’t wait to see where he’ll take this wonderful company in the future.”