HAL CHAMBERS
THEATRE DIRECTOR
'THE TALENTED HAL CHAMBERS' The Guardian
stage director
education facilitator
I am an award-winning director based in Crystal Palace, south London. I have a huge passion for new writing, theatre for young audiences, as well as adapting novels and classical texts. I have a strong record of making work with firm sense of place and a spirit of co-creation with a community. I am known for visually powerful work, fuelled by bold movement, vivid music and a tangible sense of spirit. My best work is made when working in a collaborative atmosphere.
My early years were spent in High Wycombe, Bucks. Theatre was a haven for me and I was a proud member of the Wycombe Swan Youth Theatre. My artistic soul was forged in the fires of Brighton, where I went to university and immersed myself in the city's vibrant cultural scene.
My career has taken me across this wonderful country and has led me to meet brilliant people along the way. I have directed work around the UK, for the likes of Theatre by the Lake, Hull Truck, RADA, Rabble Theatre - Reading, Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough, York Theatre Royal, Eastern Angles, Polka Theatre and The Barn Theatre Cirencester. Between 2020-2021 I spent two epic years working as an Assistant Director with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
I was the Winner of the Young Angels Award for York Theatre Royal & Boundless Theatre in 2014. I proudly sit on the board of the Equity Charitable Trust.
I am a recent recipient of a Development Your Creative Practice Grant from ACE. As well as working with a number of mentors, Hal is spending time in residency with Executive teams at Lyric Hammersmith, Theatre by the Lake, Hull Truck and Theatre Royal Stratford East. His aim is to better understand the role of the Artistic Director in this current cultural and financial climate.
I am the Associate Director of RABBLE in Reading, with whom I directed HENRY THE FIRST OF ENGLAND by Beth Flintoff for in the Summer of 2023. It was selected at one of five productions in The Telegraph's 2023 Theatre shows of the year.
I recently directed THE HOLLY KING AND THE OAK KING for Battersea Arts Centre & Wild Rumpus.
Finally, my production of YIPPEE KI YAY by Richard Marsh has recently toured the United States, Canada and Australia. It was featured in The New York Times. It recently won Best Comedy Performance at the London Pub Theatre Awards.
Press for the show: ★★★★The Guardian, Daily Mail, The Times, The Telegraph, The Stage, The Scotsman, The Mail on Sunday
I am an experienced facilitator and feel the nurturing of new talent is incredibly important. I have made many years of working with young people at Shakespeare's Globe Education, Eton College, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School's Youth Company, Mountview and many others.
drama school director
I have a passion for acting training and have led projects and directed shows for a number of leading drama schools across the UK. Credits include: Oxford School of Drama, RADA, LAMDA, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, ALRA, Year Out Drama Company, Identity School of Acting, Rose Bruford College and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
puppetry director
I've been lucky enough to work extensively with puppetry elements in my productions. I enjoy working collaboratively with puppet designers and puppeteers. I have also led puppetry direction on musicals, stage plays and education workshops.
I was the Artistic Director of critically-acclaimed touring puppetry company, Tucked In, for 14 years.
CV
cv
training
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University of Sussex
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Directing Course at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
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National Theatre Studio Directing Course 09
recent directing credits
The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown
Director
Reading Rep / The Barn Theatre Cirencester
Yippee Ki Yay by Richard Marsh
Director & Dramaturg
Seabright Productions / UK, Canada, USA, Australia
As We Face the Sun by Kit Withington
Director
Rose Bruford College London Season
The Holly King and the Oak King by Hal Chambers and the company.
Director and Lead Writer
Battersea Arts Centre / Wild Rumpus
Around the World in 80 Days by Laura Eason, adapted from Jules Verne
Director
Theatre by the Lake & Hull Truck co-production
Henry I by Beth Flintoff
Director
RABBLE at Ready Abbey Ruins, Winchester Great Hall & Actor's Church, Covent Garden
* Selected in The Telegraph's Top 5 Shows of 2023
The Ballad of Maria Marten by Beth Flintoff
Director
Eastern Angles in association with Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough & Matthew Linley Creative Projects. Wilton's Music Hall and major UK Tour
The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
Assistant Director to Phillip Breen
Royal Shakespeare Company. Garden Theatre - Stratford, UK Tour & Barbican.
*The RSC's first major production after Covid
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Director
RABBLE / Reading Minster Church (Site-Specific)
The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart by David Greig
Director
Eastern Angles / Tour
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens in a version by Michael Wicherek
Director
Box Clever - UK Tour
Henry V by William Shakespeare
Director
Barn Theatre Cirencester
The Bear Adapted from the book by Raymond Briggs by Pins and Needles
Co-Director with Emma Earle
Pins and Needle / Polka Theatre, Extensive UK and World Tours
Ragnarok by Charles Way
Director
Eastern Angles at the Hush House
Leaper: A Fish Tale by Hal Chambers, devised by Tucked In
Creator, Producer & Director
Tucked In in association with Lyric Hammersmith / Greenpeace / UK Tour
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Director
RADA / Gdansk Shakespeare Festival, Poland
Matilda: The Empress by Beth Flintoff
Director
RABBLE / St James' Church, Reading (Site-Specific)
Helver's Night By Ingmar Vilquist
Director
Company of Angels/York Theatre Royal
*WINNER OF YOUNG ANGELS AWARD 2014
Finding Victoria by Beth Flintoff
Creator, Director & Producer
Tucked In / Historic Royal Palaces
Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs: The Magic Cutlass
Director
Let Petit / Queen Elizabeth Hall @ Southbank Centre, UK Tour and West End
Huis Clos by Jean Paul Satre
Assistant Director to Paul Hart
Donmar Warehouse
press
'An extraordinary adventure... a joyful production'
★★★★
The Guardian on Around the World in 80 Days
‘A visually impressive, cosily immersive co-production with the ecologically minded Wild Rumpus, it's adeptly directed by Hal Chambers’ ★★★★★ The Stage on The Holly King and the Oak King
'Superbly directed...A revolutionary and ambitious production of Much Ado'
★★★★★
The Stage on Much Ado About Nothing
'Move over War Horse, this polar puppet is magic....a sumptuous production'
The Guardian on The Bear
'Hal Chambers’s fleet-footed, verve-filled and lucid account of the play achieves an Agincourt-like victory’
★★★★
The Telegraph on Henry V
'A lively, feminist take on historical true crime'
★★★★
The Times on The Ballad of Maria Marten
‘The history books are re-written in this luminous, compassionate production. Unexpectedly joyous.’
★★★★
The Guardian on The Ballad of Maria Marten
“A glorious piece of folk theatre... a beautifully honed, all-female ensemble”
★★★★
The Telegraph on The Ballad of Maria Marten
'Shakespeare for the OMG generation? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes, when it’s as good as this’.'
★★★★★
The Times on Romeo & Juliet
'Intoxicating… I was as bewitched as was my four-year-old'
Simon Stephens, Playwright, on Tim & Light
'Hal Chambers has a natural affinity for visual storytelling.'
The Scotsman
'The talented Hal Chambers'
Lyn Gardner
video content:
The Ballad of Maria Marten (2020)
education facilitator
I am an experienced drama facilitator and have worked all around the country with a young people between the ages of 3 - 21.
I feels my work is equally as important as my professional work and I find young people very inspiring.
I have worked for numerous education companies, highlights include:
- Shakespeare's Globe Education (Lively Action Workshops, Southwark Projects, Young Actor's Summer Schools, International Workshops, Globe Youth Theatre, New Zealand Young Company, Jeremy Lemmon Project)
- Bristol Old Theatre School (The co-leader of the popular Summer Youth Company Programme for over 10 years)
- Royal Shakespeare Company (multiple workshops with education and events department, chaired post-show Q&A's, talks and discussion panels)
- Box Clever (I am an Associate Director for this NPO funded company that tour work to teenage audiences across the country)
- Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts (Director, Young Performer's Company)
- Director-in-Residence at Eton College in 2009-10 where I directed
Cymbeline, Lords of the Flies and new play, Robbie Wakes. As well as managing a football team I also ran regular workshops in New Writing, Shakespeare and Devised Theatre Also led the Chinese Summer Schools.
video content:
Shakespeare's Globe Youth Theatre
