Theatre Work

After early work at Battersea Arts Centre, Soho Poly and Chichester Festival Theatre Ian joined the Royal Court Theatre in the early 1990's, directing in the Young Writers' Festival in 1992.

As Associate Director he directed the following plays:

'Some Voices' by Joe Penhall (1994),

'Ashes and Sand' by Judy Upton (1994),

'Pale Horse' (1995) by Joe Penhall,

'Mojo' by Jez Butterworth (1995),

'The Lights' by Howard Korder (1996), and

'The Weir' by Conor McPherson.

He re-directed 'Mojo' for the Duke of Yorks and Steppenwolf Theatre Chicago; whilst 'The Weir' went on to the Duke of Yorks, the Gate Theatre Dublin, the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway and a UK Tour.

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Ian became Artistic Director of the Royal Court in 1998 overseeing the opening of the redeveloped theatre in 2000. 

Whilst Artistic Director he directed

'Dublin Carol' by Conor McPherson (2000),

'Mouth to Mouth' by Kevin Elyot (2001),

'Boy Gets Girl' by Rebecca Gilman (2001),

'The Night Heron' by Jez Butterworth (2002),

'Not Not Not Enough Oxygen' and 'This is a Chair' by Caryl Churchill (2002),

'Fallout' by Roy Williams (2003),

'The Sweetest Swing in Baseball' by Rebecca Gilman (2004),

'Alice Trilogy' by Tom Murphy (2005),

'The Winterling' by Jez Butterworth (2006) and

'Krapp's Last Tape' by Samuel Beckett, with Harold Pinter (2006).

His final show as Artistic Director, 'The Seagull' by Anton Chekhov, in a new version by Christopher Hampton, (2007), transferred to Broadway in 2008.

Ian returned to the Royal Court to direct two plays by Jez Butterworth: 'Jerusalem', (2009), and 'The River' (2012), both of which transferred to Broadway. 'Jerusalem' has also returned to the Apollo Theatre in the West End several times.

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Ian has worked at the National Theatre, directing

'The Day I Stood Still' by Kevin Elyot (1997),

'The Hothouse' by Harold Pinter (2007),

'The Red Lion' by Patrick Marber (2015),

'Evening at the Talk House' by Wallace Shawn (2015),

'Translations' by Brian Friel (2018/19),

'Paradise' by Kae Tempest (2021) and

'All of Us' by Francesca Martinez (2022).

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In the West End he has also directed

'Endgame' by Samuel Beckett (2009);

'The Children's Hour' by Lilian Hellman (2011);

'Betrayal' by Harold Pinter (2011);

'Old Times' by Harold Pinter (2013);

'The Goat' by Edward Albee (2017);

'Rosmersholm' by Henrik Ibsen (2019);

'Uncle Vanya' by Anton Chekhov (2020) and

'Walden' by Amy Berryman (2021).

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At the Almeida he has directed 'Parlour Song' by Jez Butterworth (2009) and 'Against' by Christopher Shinn (2017).

At the Young Vic he has directed 'Hamlet' by William Shakespeare, 'Now We Are Here' (2016), a project with refugees, and 'The Nest' by Franz Xavier Kroetz (2016). He also directed Sophocles' 'Electra' at the Old Vic Theatre  in 2014.