Elayce Ismail
Director
Film, TV & Theatre
Film, TV & Theatre
Elayce is a theatre and opera director, RTYDS Associate Director at Northern Stage and an Associate Artist of Boundless Theatre.
Elayce was Resident Director at the NT Studio in 2014/15 as the winner of the JP Morgan Award for Emerging Directors. She assisted directors including Lyndsey Turner, Michael Buffong, Simon McBurney, Bijan Sheibani and Amy Hodge. Under the award Elayce directed Andrew Whaley’s The Rise and Shine of Comrade Fiasco at the Gate. It was nominated for 5 Off West End Theatre Awards, including Best Director.
She has created puppetry as a director and performer for companies including Kneehigh, Oily Cart, RSC, UnicornTheatre and Complicite/ENO.
Elayce directed Girls by Theresa Ikoko, which opened at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the British Council Showcase, before a UK tour. Elayce directed Girls in 2016, where it premiered at HighTide Festival, and played at Birmingham Rep and in a 5-week sell-out run at Soho Theatre. The production was nominated for the Alfred Fagon Audience Award 2017.
Recent credits include: Jude Christian’s Nanjing (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe); The War of the Worlds, adapted by Laura Lindow (Northern Stage and North Eastern Tour); Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas (Northern Stage).
Theatre
| Production | Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|
2020 | Royal Court Theatre | Written by Jude Christian |
2020 | The Gate Theatre, London | Directed and Adapted by Elayce Ismail |
2019 | LAMDA | Writer: Nina Raine |
2018 | Northern Stage | A Play for Voices written by Dylan Thomas; |
2018 | Shakespeare's Globe | Written and Performed by Jude Christian; |
2018 | Northern Stage | By H.G. Wells; |
2017 | Edinburgh Fringe Festival / UK Tour / High Tide | Written by Theresa Ikoko; Part of the British Council Edinburgh Showcase 2017 |
SPOOKY ACTION AT A DISTANCE 2017 | Royal Court / Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama / Gate Theatre | Written by Eve Leigh |
WHEN I AM A QUEEN 2017 | Almeida Theatre | |
GIRLS 2016 | HighTide / Talawa / Soho Theatre | Writer: Theresa Ikoko |
2016 | Young Vic / St Martin-in-the-Fields High School for Girls / London Nautical School for Boys | Musical Direction: Matthew Floyd Jones |
2016 | Gate Theatre | Writer: Chris Thorpe |
NANJING 2016 | Yard Theatre / NOW '16 Festival | Writer: Jude Christian |
THE TRIAL OF HAMLET 2016 | Wyndham’s Theatre (Shakespeare Schools Festival Gala) | |
2015 | National Theatre / Deutsches Theater Berlin / Mitos21 | Devised production Elayce created with actors George Siena and Janna Horstmann in response to Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's 1779 play, NATHAN THE WISE |
2015 | Gate Theatre | Writer: Andrew Whaley |
SIMPATICO | Young Vic | Part of the 5 Directors, 5 Plays, 5 Days project |
BED & BREAKFAST 2011 | Hot Ice Theatre / Brighton Festival Fringe / UK Tour | |
As Associate/Assistant Director | ||
2014 | Young Vic | As Associate Director |
2013 | Young Vic | Jerwood Assistant Directors Programme; |
COMING HOME 2010 | Arcola Theatre | As Assistant Director; Director - Cordelia Monsey; Author - Athol Fugard |
As Dramaturg | ||
2018 | Lyric Hammersmith / HOME | Directed by Jude Christian |
Opera
| Production | Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|
2019 | Opera Montpellier | (As assistant director) |
2018 | Royal Opera House | (As assistant director) |
2015 | Royal Opera House / Opera North / Aldeburgh Music | (As Assistant Director) |