Prasanna Puwanarajah

Director/Writer

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Photograph: Faye Thomas

Film, TV & Theatre

Agent: Dan Usztan

Dan Usztan

DUsztan@unitedagents.co.uk

Assistant: Phoebe O'Donnell

PODonnell@unitedagents.co.uk

Film, TV & Theatre

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Prasanna is a former NHS doctor who is now a director, actor and writer. He won the 2025 UK Theatre Award for Best Director for Twelfth Night.

★ ★ ★ ★

Director Prasanna Puwanarajah’s take on this tragicomedy seeps across the stage with a measured boldness that’s completely intoxicating

The Independent on Twelfth Night (Barbican Theatre)

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Puwanarajah has mined the text to find richer depths and alternative perspectives to its lines and sentiments. The result is a fresh, funny and surprising production, by turns wistfully melancholic and hopelessly romantic

The Stage on Twelfth Night (Royal Shakespeare Company)

★ ★ ★ ★

That mixture of nuanced details and broad strokes is of a piece with an evening that’s attentive to the text and seizes every chance to hold our interest … Puwanarajah gives us clarity and insight en route

The Telegraph on Twelfth Night (Royal Shakespeare Company)

★ ★ ★ ★

a superb, tinsel-inflected take on Shakespeare’s melancholy comedy

The Guardian on Twelfth Night (Royal Shakespeare Company)

★ ★ ★ ★

fresh, insightful, and explores the nuances of the text in an enlightening and compelling interpretation

WhatsOnStage on Twelfth Night (Royal Shakespeare Company)

Theatre

Production	Company	Notes
TWELFTH NIGHT 2025	Barbican Theatre/Royal Shakespeare Company	London Transfer
TWELFTH NIGHT 2024	Royal Shakespeare Company (Royal Shakespeare Theatre)	Director UK Theatre Award for Best Director
VENICE PRESERVED 2019	Royal Shakespeare Company (Swan Theatre)	Director By Thomas Otway
THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST 2018	NYT/Summerhall/Bradford Literary Festival	Director Revival Production The Lustrum Award, Summerhall Stage Debut Award for Best Actor for Akshay Sharan Nominated for the Carol Tambor Award Nominated for Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award
JOURNEY'S END 2018	RADA	Director By R.C. Sherriff
THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST 2017	NYT/The Yard	Director Revival Production
A BITTER HERB 2017	RADA	Director By Kwame Kwei-Armah
THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST 2016	National Youth Theatre/Finborough Theatre	Director Adapted from the novel by Mohsin Hamid by Stephanie Street
HEADSTART 2015	Headlong Theatre/Blacklisted Films	Headlong's Emerging Writers' Group
PEDDLING 2014	Arcola Theatre/HighTide Festival/59E59, New York	Dramaturg By Harry Melling
MOTH 2013	HighTide Festival/Bush Theatre	Director By Declan Greene
NIGHTWATCHMAN 2011	National Theatre (Paintframe)	Writer Part of DOUBLE FEATURE Nominated for Critics' Circle Awards: Best New Playwright
THE WAGES OF THIN 2010	Old Red Lion	Director By Trevor Griffiths Nominated for WhatsOnStage.com Award for Best Off-West End Production and for 5 OffWestEnd.com Awards (including Best Production)
ON THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF TOBACCO 2009	New End Theatre	Director By Anton Chekhov
SOMETHING I WROTE IN A HURRY 2008	Tabard Theatre	Director By Nick Gill Best Production, Lost Theatre Festival

Television

Production	Company	Notes
FEAR FATIGUE 2020	BBC4/Headlong	Writer, 1 x 18' Part of UNPRECEDENTED

Other

Production	Company	Notes
MICROSCOPE 2010	Fabric/Glastonbury/Latitude	Live Audio Visual show for the release of RIZ MC (Riz Ahmed)'s debut album "MICroscope"