Francesca Goodridge

Francesca is a Welsh, working class theatre director.  She is Artistic Director of the Sherman Theatre and was previously Associate Artistic Director of Theatr Clwyd.

She trained at the National Theatre Directors Course and the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. She was the first recipient of the 18-month Carne Traineeship for directors in Wales, mentored by Tamara Harvey, and prior to that was Trainee Director at The Other Room in Cardiff.

She creates multi discipline, non-naturalistic theatre that champions unheard voices. She is interested in extraordinary real-life stories from everyday people. She enjoys working with new writing and reimagined classics and her work usually incorporates music and movement.

Francesca was selected for the inaugural Warner Brothers Discovery Access programme in partnership with Waterloo Road and the BBC, developing female directors for screen. Francesca was chosen as one of the Development Artists for the RSC being mentored by writer and director Robert Icke and renowned international theatre company Cheek by Jowl.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Goodridge’s staging […] leans into Wilder’s purposeful theatricality … a beautiful production of a great, wise play 
Financial Times on Our Town (Welsh National Theatre)

★ ★ ★ ★
Beautifully directed by Francesca Goodridge, it’s a potent statement of intent with a spiritual frisson
The Telegraph on Our Town (Welsh National Theatre)

★ ★ ★ ★
Francesca Goodridge’s assured production … It’s about life, in the most universal sense. And this production captures that expertly
The Independent on Our Town (Welsh National Theatre)

★ ★ ★ ★
With direction from Francesca Goodridge, this is a visually inventive, impressively realised revival of Patrick Hamilton’s classic thriller
The Stage on Rope (Theatr Clywd)

★ ★ ★ ★
Superbly staged, Francesca Goodridge’s incisive, focused direction confirms that she is one of Wales’s most exciting theatre directors
The Guardian on Sorter (Swansea Grand Theatre)

★ ★ ★ ★
Francesca Goodridge’s precise direction … the production conveys an evocative and powerful theatricality that adroitly abstracts its most dramatic moments without ever diminishing their impact
The Guardian on A Pretty Shitty Love (Theatr Clywd)