Jamie Harper
Production: A Lie of the Mind by Sam Shepard
Jamie studied English Literature at the University of Sheffield. He then spent two years in America directing at various theatres including the Actors’ Studio in New York and the Boston Directors’ Lab. He returned to the UK to train at LAMDA where he continues to teach and direct.
His directing credits include The Hundred We Are (Hobo Theatre at The Yard); Archipelago (Hobo Theatre at Camden People’s Theatre); Hunger (Hobo Theatre at E5 Bakehouse); Heaven in Berlin (Hobo Theatre at Testbed1); The Return of Colmcille (Derry, UK City of Culture Festival); La Turista: Cafe Duende (Hobo Theatre at Morito Tapas); Roundabout (Hobo Theatre at The Bush); The Wolf (Network Theatre); Invasion! (Tooting Arts Club – Time Out Critics’ Choice); Our Town (Rose Theatre, Kingston); Beyond the Pale (Southwark Playhouse); A Real Humane Person Who Cares and All That (Arcola); Invisible Storms (Cock Tavern – Time Out Critics’ Choice); Sound Dust (Theatre 503) The Six-Days World (Finborough); The Things Good Men Do (Lyric Hammersmith); The Vanek Plays (Tristan Bates Theatre); The Infant (Old Red Lion); A Lie of the Mind (BAC); and Left, an improvised play for BBC Radio 4.
Assistant director credits include Oedipus The King (National Theatre Studio), Mother Courage and Her Children (English Touring Theatre), Merry Christmas Betty Ford (Lyric Theatre, Belfast), Love and a Bottle (Young Vic) and The hour we knew nothing of each other (National Theatre).
He was the recipient of the 2006 John S. Cohen Bursary. Jamie also received a Winston Churchill Trust Travelling Fellowship to research game design at the University of Miami and was recently selected to participate in Zecora Ura’s 2015 DRIFT International Residency for interactive media artists.
The JMK Award gave me the opportunity to direct a play on a much larger scale than had previously been possible for me, and the challenge of putting together a big team for a big show was a fantastic new experience which taught me a great deal and continues to inform my directing – Jamie Harper
Jamie Harper takes on one of Shepard’s most challenging numbers with panache for this, his James Menzies-Kitchin Award-winning show. Strong performances make this a production that certainly stays in the mind – The Stage
An exiting and provocative piece of theatre with some powerful performances. You feel involved, even implicated, in this bleak family drama – UK Theatre Web
It is good to see a complex play tackled with such gusto and Harper deserves the encouragement of the JMK Award – British Theatre Guide
Finalists in 2006 were Harun Morrison, Polly Findlay, Christopher White, Fiona Morrell, Nick Blackburn, Ranya Weisteen and Richard Twyman.
