Rupert Goold (born 18 February 1972) is an English director who works primarily in theatre. He is the artistic director of the Almeida Theatre, and was the artistic director of Headlong Theatre Company (2005–2013). Since 2010, Goold has been an associate director at the Royal Shakespeare Company.rsc.org.uk He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 for services to drama.

Goold is known for his extensive work in theatre. For his work in the West End he won two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Director for Macbeth (2008) and Enron (2010). He was Olivier-nominated for King Charles III (2015), Ink (2018), and Dear England (2024). He received Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play nominations for King Charles III (2016) and Ink (2019). He made his directorial film debut with True Story (2015).

Life and career Early years and education Goold was born in Highgate, England, a suburb of north London. His father was a management consultant, and his mother was an author of children's books. He attended the independent University College School, graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1994 with a First in English literature and studied performance studies at New York University on a Fulbright Scholarship. He was trainee director at Donmar Warehouse for the 1995 season, and assisted on productions including 'Art' and Speed-the-Plow in the West End.

Career Goold was artistic director of the Royal and Derngate Theatres in Northampton from 2000 to 2005. Prior to that, he was an associate at the Salisbury Playhouse in 1996–97. In addition to his work as a director he has co-authored three adaptations for the stage. Goold directed Sir Patrick Stewart (whom he had previously directed as Prospero, and later in Richard II) as Macbeth in his acclaimed Minerva Studio staging of Macbeth at the Chichester Festival Theatre in May 2007.

In September 2007, the production transferred to the Gielgud Theatre in London, then the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York and then to the Lyceum Theater on Broadway. At the 2007 Evening Standard Theatre Awards, Macbeth won two awards: Stewart won the Best Actor Award, while Goold won The Sydney Edwards Award for Best Director. It also won Goold a 2008 Olivier Award for Best Director. He says he was not concerned with thoughts of a career anti-climax. "I came home to an empty house after the Olivier Awards, clutching my trophy for Best Director and I realised that I'd peaked. It was now going to be downhill all the way. But I still felt quite comfortable with the realisation that nothing could get better after this." He later directed a 2010 BBC 4 television film version of Macbeth using Soviet-era Russian-type uniforms and weapons.

In 2008, he directed the UK premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis's The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and a radical re-interpretation of Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author at the Chichester Festival which he co-authored with Ben Power. This production subsequently transferred to the West End and toured the UK and later Australia. In 2009 he directed a hugely acclaimed West End revival of Lionel Bart's Oliver! Produced by Cameron Mackintosh, Goold recreated Sam Mendes' direction for the London Palladium production, which was nominated for three Olivier Awards. In 2009, Goold directed a revival of Shakespeare's King Lear at the Young Vic. Goold set his Lear in Northern England during the 1970s, and approached the play with a drastically different view, and as a result this production received mixed reviews. In 2009, he again won Best Director at the Evening Standard Awards for ENRON. His opera credits include productions at Batignano Opera Festival and Garsington.

In the following years he directed a string of plays for the Almeida Theatre, which include the musical American Psycho (2013), the new play King Charles III (2014), the revivals Medea (2015) and Richard III (2016), as well as the new play Ink (2017). Goold returned to Broadway with the transfer of King Charles III. He earned a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play. The following year he directed the musical transfer, American Psycho based on the 1991 novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis. In 2019 he directed the Broadway transfer for the James Graham play Ink about the rise of Rupert Murdoch which ran at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Goold received his second nomination for the Tony Award for Best Direction. That same year he directed the Almeida Theatre production of The Hunt (2019) starring Tobias Menzies by David Farr which was based on the 2012 film of the same name directed Thomas Vinterberg. In 2021 he directed the musical revival of Spring Awakening on the West End.

In 2022 he directed the Peter Morgan play Patriots about the rise of Vladimir Putin and the Elton John musical Tammy Faye about the American evangelist Tammy Faye Messner. The following year he directed the play Dear England about the England football manager Gareth Southgate and Cold War a musical based on the 2018 film of the same name directed by Paweł Pawlikowski, the former of which earned Goold a nomination for the Olivier Award for Best Director. In 2024 he directed the New York transfer of The Hunt which ran at St. Ann's Warehouse.

In February 2025, Goold directed William Shakespeare's Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company starring Luke Thallon, Jared Harris, Nancy Carroll, Elliot Levey and Anton Lesser. The production will also tour the UK in 2026. It is the second production of the play that Goold has directed following his 2005 production at the Royal & Derngate.

On 24 November 2024, Goold was named as the next artistic director of The Old Vic taking over from Matthew Warchus in September 2026.

Personal life Goold is married to actress Kate Fleetwood. The couple met while working together on a production of Romeo and Juliet. They have one son, Raphael, and a daughter, Constance.

Works Theatre Directing YearNameTheatre Ref. 1997 Travels with My Aunt Salisbury Playhouse / UK Tour rowspan=24 1997 The End of the Affair Salisbury Playhouse / Bridewell Theatre 1998 Romeo and Juliet UK Tour 1998 Dancing at Lughnasa Salisbury Playhouse 1998 Summer Lightning Salisbury Playhouse 1999 Habeas Corpus Salisbury Playhouse 1999 The Colonel Bird Gate Theatre 1999 Broken Glass Salisbury Playhouse/ Watford Palace Theatre 2000 Gone To LA Hampstead Theatre 2001 Privates on Parade New Vic Theatre 2001 Scaramouche Jones International Tour 2001 The Wind in the Willows Birmingham Rep 2002 Arcadia Northampton 2002 Betrayal Northampton 2003 Waiting for Godot/ The Weir Northampton 2003 Sunday Father Hampstead Theatre 2003 Othello Northampton/ Greenwich Theatre 2004 Insignificance Northampton 2004 Summer Lightning Northampton 2005 Hamlet Northampton 2005 Speaking Like Magpies RSC 2006 The Tempest RSC 2006 Restoration Headlong/ Bristol Old Vic: UK Tour 2006 Faustus Headlong/ Hampstead Theatre 2007 The Glass Menagerie Apollo Theatre 2007 Macbeth Chichester Festival Theatre/ West End/ NYC rowspan=11 2007 Rough Crossings Headlong: Lyric Hammersmith/ Birmingham Rep, Liverpool Everyman/ WYP 2008 The Last Days of Judas Iscariot Headlong: Almeida Theatre 2008 Six Characters in Search of an Author Headlong: Chichester / West End 2008 No Man's Land Gate Theatre, Dublin/West End 2008 King Lear Headlong: Liverpool Everyman/Young Vic 2009 Oliver! Theatre Royal Drury Lane 2009 ENRON Minerva Theatre / Royal Court Theatre 2010 Romeo and Juliet Royal Shakespeare Theatre 2010 Earthquakes in London National Theatre 2011 The Merchant of Venice Royal Shakespeare Theatre 2014 Almeida Theatre 2011 Decade Headlong rowspan=4 2012 The Effect National Theatre 2013 American Psycho Almeida Theatre2016Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre2026Almeida Theatre 2014 King Charles III Almeida TheatreWyndham's Theatre2015UK tour 2014 Made in Dagenham Adelphi Theatre 2015 Medea Almeida Theatre rowspan=1 2016 Richard III Almeida Theatre 2017 Albion Almeida Theatre 2017 Ink Almeida Theatre Duke of York's Theatre 2019 Samuel J. Friedman Theatre 2019 Shipwreck Almeida Theatre 2019 The Hunt Almeida Theatre 2024 St. Ann's Warehouse 2021 Spring Awakening Almeida Theatre 2022 The 47th The Old Vic rowspan=7 2022 Patriots Almeida Theatre2023 Noël Coward Theatre 2022 Tammy Faye Almeida Theatre2024 Palace Theatre, Broadway 2023 Women, Beware the Devil Almeida Theatre 2023 Dear England National TheatrePrince Edward Theatre2025National Theatre 2023 Cold War Almeida Theatre 2025 Hamlet Royal Shakespeare Theatre rowspan=1 2026UK tour2026Dog Day AfternoonAugust Wilson Theatre

Writing

The End of the Affair (1997) – a play with music, adapted with Caroline Butler, from the novel by Graham Greene. The first production included music played by a pianist at the side of the stage, underscoring the text with some period songs sung by the cast. Goold and Butler removed the music from later productions and the play was published without musical interpolation in 2001. Faustus (2004) – adapted with Ben Power from Dr Faustus by Christopher Marlowe Six Characters in Search of an Author (2008) – adapted with Ben Power from the play by Luigi Pirandello

Film and television Directing Macbeth (TV, 2010) Richard II (TV, 2012) True Story (2015) King Charles III (TV, 2017) Judy (2019) Dear England (TV, 2026 Episode 1)

Award and nominations Award Year Category Nominated work Result Ref. British Academy Television Award 2013 Best Single Drama The Hollow Crown: Richard II 2018 King Charles III Laurence Olivier Award 2008 Best Director Macbeth 2010 Enron 2015 King Charles III 2018 Ink 2024 Dear England Tony Awards 2016 Best Direction of a Play King Charles III 2019 Ink

References

External links

Profile at Headlong's Official site.