Tim Sheader

Tim Sheader is Artistic Director and Joint Chief Executive of the Donmar Warehouse. 

He was previously Artistic Director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. He took up his role there in 2007, where in the past 10 years alone, the company has won multiple awards, including seven Olivier Awards and The Stage’s London Theatre of the Year.

He has directed over 20 productions for the company, including the Olivier and Evening Standard Award-winning musicals Into the Woods (also Central Park’s Delacorte Theater), Hello Dolly, Crazy For You (also West End), and Jesus Christ Superstar which, following two sold out seasons at Regent’s Park and a transfer to the Barbican, has been touring the US for three years and embarks on a UK tour this September. His critically acclaimed production of To Kill a Mockingbird also toured the UK ending with a sell-out run at the Barbican. Committed to taking the company’s work to as wide an audience as possible, he has overseen further UK tours of productions including Pride and Prejudice, Lord of the Flies and Running Wild. Partnerships and co-productions have included work with the Barbican Centre, Chichester Festival Theatre, English National Opera, Leeds Playhouse, Roald Dahl Story Company and the Unicorn Theatre. 

The theatre has become a hotbed of directing talent, producing work made by Maria Aberg, Natalie Abrahami, Matthew Dunster, Nadia Fall, Rob Hastie, Ola Ince, Rachel Kavanagh, Jamie Lloyd, Lucy Moss and Max Webster amongst others. After expanding the repertoire beyond the historical presentation of Shakespeare, in recent years new writing has become central to the theatre’s mission, with commissioned writers including Samuel Adamson, Torben Betts, Inua Ellams, Carl Grose, Zinnie Harris, Chinonyerem Odimba and Holly Robinson.

Despite receiving no public subsidy, Sheader has ensured work at Regent’s Park has been accessible to all audiences, maintaining the theatre’s lowest ticket price of £25 for almost a decade, whilst significantly expanding the membership of the BREEZE scheme, which offers tickets to those aged 18-25 for £10. In addition to a comprehensive programme of access performances, the theatre has partnered with local charities, notably Camden Disability Action, Age UK Camden and Pimlico Musical Foundation, which gave children from one of London’s most complex communities the opportunity of appearing alongside professional singers in 2019’s co-production with English National Opera of Hansel and Gretel.

In August 2020, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre led the industry back to live performance with the first full-scale production to be produced in the UK after the reopening of our theatres.

Working alongside two consecutive Executive Directors, William Village and James Pidgeon, under his tenure the theatre has undergone major capital refurbishment. The production and administration teams moved from offsite into new purpose built offices, backstage facilities were made fit for purpose for modern working, a suite of onsite rehearsal studios were built, and this season 48 seats have been added to the auditorium. 

His other stage work includes The Monstrous Child (Royal Opera House), My Fair Lady (Aarhus Theatre), Barnum (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Magistrate (National Theatre), The Three Musketeers (Bristol Old Vic), Hobson’s Choice, Love in a Maze, The Clandestine Marriage (The Watermill Theatre), Piaf, Sweet Charity (Sheffield Theatres), Unless, The Star Throwers (Stephen Joseph Theatre), Achilles (Edinburgh Festival Fringe – Fringe First Award), La Maison Suspendue (RSC), and Streetcar to Tennessee (Young Vic).