Andrew Breakwell

Director, A Beginner’s Guide to Widowhood

Andrew has been an Associate Artist at Nottingham Playhouse since 2012 and prior to that was Director of Roundabout & Education from 1999. Before Nottingham Playhouse he was Associate Director at the Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich and also worked at York Theatre Royal, the Wilde Theatre in Bracknell and at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough.

At Nottingham Playhouse Andrew has directed The Silver Sword, The Railway Children, Children of the Crown, The Caretaker, Tom’s Midnight Garden and Roots (by Arnold Wesker). In the Neville Studio he directed Jack and Rapunzel, both by Mike Kenny, and over twenty other productions by the Roundabout TIE Company, which also toured to Nottinghamshire schools. His most recent production was The Underground Man, adapted by Nick Wood and produced by the Playhouse in association with AJTC, who toured it nationally.

Since leaving the Playhouse he has directed Twelve Miles from Nowhere by Kevin Dyer for Karen Simpson Productions (on tour) and You Can Always Hand Them Back by Roger Hall and Peter Skellern for The Mercury Theatre, Colchester. With writer Nick Wood he has created a suite of short plays at Lincoln Castle Prison as part of their visitor attraction programme. Many of the plays created with Nick Wood for Nottinghamshire audiences were toured in Europe, most notably A Girl with a Book, the story of Malala Yousafzai, which is still in the repertoire of notable German Theatres.

Andrew has also contributed to the Community Theatre course at East 15 Theatre School (University of Essex) for whom he has directed The Arrival, based on the book by Shaun Tan; Out of Sight, Out of Mind, an adaptation of the film Oranges & Sunshine; and Soap Opera, an immersive production exploring the ramifications of legislation concerned with adoption.

Andrew has also been mentor to three other theatre companies who work with and for young people, children and their families: Big Brum TIE (Birmingham); Red Earth (Derbyshire), who specialised in making work for audiences who are deaf/disabled; and Big Window, who created plays for Early Years audiences. All three companies toured regionally and nationally.

Most recently Andrew has re-discovered his interest and enjoyment in participating in Modern Dance classes, with other Senior citizens.

Diversity has been a continuing aspect of Andrew’s work, underlying his concerns for a democratic and equal society that respects the rights of all its members, manifested through the arts of theatre.