Natalie Abrahami

Natalie Abrahami is a theatre, opera and film director.

Natalie started out at the Royal Court Theatre as a Graduate Trainee before training with the Young Vic and National Theatre Studio  where she met Carrie Cracknell. Two years later they applied as a duo, to run the Gate Theatre, Notting Hill, which is where her collaborative practice began.

As joint Artistic Directors Natalie and Carrie commissioned Tom Basden, Nancy Harris, Sam Holcroft, Lucy Kirkwood, Nick Payne, and Alexandra Wood to pen radical re-interpretations of European classics. During their tenure they were awarded the Paul Hamlyn Breakthrough Fund for Creative Entrepreneurs for their cross-artform dance-theatre work.

Natalie went on to become an Associate Director at the Young Vic where she directed Juliet Stevenson inHappy DaysandWings,George Mackay inAh, Wilderness! andNatalie Dormer inAfter Miss Julie.

Natalie collaborated with playwright Ella Hickson to createSwive[Elizabeth] for the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe, and to directANNAthe immersive binaural sound piece created by sound designers Ben and Max Ringham at the National Theatre. 

Climate conscious practice sits at the heart of Natalie’s work and was the abiding principle forRusalka(Royal Ballet & Opera) andThe Trials(Donmar Warehouse).

Recent projects include:Good Grief(online),The Meeting(Chichester Festival Theatre),Machinal(Almeida),Queen Anne(Royal Shakespeare Company and Theatre Royal Haymarket). 

Film credits includeMayday,The RoofandLife’s a Pitch.

Natalie is a regular guest lecturer for Birkbeck University’s Master of Fine Arts Directing and was a judge for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2021.