Mike Leigh
Director
Mike Leigh director trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, at the Camberwell and Central Art Schools, and at the London Film School.
His stage plays include Bleak Moments (Open Space), Wholesome Glory (Royal Court), Babies Grow Old (RSC), Abigail’s Party, Ecstasy, Goose-Pimples and Smelling a Rat (Hampstead), Greek Tragedy (Belvoir Street Theatre Sydney, Edinburgh Festival and Stratford East), It’s a Great Big Shame! (Stratford East), and Two Thousand Years and Grief (National Theatre).
His television films are Hard Labour, Nuts in May, The Kiss of Death, Who’s Who, Grown-Ups, Home Sweet Home, Meantime and Four Days in July. Studio plays: The Permissive Society, Knock for Knock and Abigail’s Party.
His feature films are Bleak Moments, High Hopes, Life is Sweet, Naked, Secrets & Lies, Career Girls, Topsy-Turvy, All or Nothing, Vera Drake, Happy-Go-Lucky, Another Year, Mr Turner and his most recent film Hard Truths which will be released in January 2025. He is Honorary President of both the W. S. Gilbert Society and the Sir Arthur Sullivan Society.
Apart from a short film, A Sense of History, written and performed by Jim Broadbent, The Pirates of Penzance is the first production directed by Mike Leigh of a work other than his own since the disastrous Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht for the Bermuda Arts Festival of 1970.
Last updated: 10th December 2024
