David Pugh (born 14 May 1959) is a West End and Broadway theatre producer. [1]
Born in Stoke-on-Trent in 1959, Pugh agreed with his parents to train as a drama teacher, and, at the start of his career, was a theatre producer three days a week and a supply teacher in Hackney in London for four days a week. [2]
Between 1996 and 2019 Pugh produced a number of important plays in the UK and worldwide with his production partner, Dafydd Rogers. [3]
David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers first produced 'Art' (1996) by Yazmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton, starring Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay and Ken Stott at the Wyndhams Theatre in the West End of London. It subsequently ran for eight years with twenty-six cast changes, winning the Evening Standard Theatre Award and the Olivier Award. [4] [5]
The production of 'Art' starring Alan Alda, Victor Garber and Alfred Molina opened on Broadway in 1998 at the Royale Theatre, winning the Tony Award for Best Play. [6]
Pugh and Rogers produced the jukebox musical The Blues Brothers, which played in London's West End for four separate seasons, toured throughout the world for fifteen years and was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Entertainment. [7]
Pugh and Rogers produced The Play What I Wrote by Hamish McColl and Sean Foley, directed by Kenneth Branagh at the Wyndham's Theatre, which won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. [8] It opened at the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event. [9]
This was followed by Tom Stoppard's adaptation of Gérald Sibleyras' play Heroes starring Richard Griffiths, John Hurt and Ken Stott at the Wyndham's Theatre in 2005, which also won the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. [10]
Pugh and Rogers then produced Equus in London's West End, which starred Richard Griffiths and Daniel Radcliffe and played a sell-out season at the Gielgud Theatre. [11]
The production of God of Carnage by Yazmina Reza, again translated by Christopher Hampton, played at the Gielgud Theatre and starred Ralph Fiennes, Tamsin Greig, Janet McTeer and Ken Stott, also won the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. [12] [13]
In 2008 Pugh and Rogers originated and produced Kneehigh Theatre's production of Noël Coward's Brief Encounter , which played in an old cinema on the Haymarket in London and at Studio 54 on Broadway following a season at St. Ann's Warehouse in New York. [14] The UK tour subsequently won the TMA Award for Best Touring Production 2009. [15]
God of Carnage opened on Broadway at the Jacobs Theatre in 2009 starring James Gandolfini, Marcia Gay Harden, Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis, winning Pugh and Rogers another Tony Award. [16] Subsequent casts included Lucy Liu and Jimmy Smits.
Pugh and Rogers' production of Calendar Girls by Tim Firth, opened in 2009 in London's West End and became the most successful UK touring play of all time, grossing over 35 million pounds and winning the Whatsonstage Theatre Award. [17]
Deathtrap by Ira Levin followed in 2010 at London's Noël Coward Theatre starring Simon Russell Beale, Jonathan Groff and Claire Skinner, where it played for a five-month season.
On 2 February 2013, Pugh and Rogers' production of a new play adaptation of the film The Full Monty by its original writer, Simon Beaufoy, opened at the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield to enormous critical success, [18] and followed by a tour of the UK and Ireland which continued through until May 2019 having won the UK Theatre Award for Best Touring Production [19] [20] [ circular reference ]
Pugh and Rogers' new musical, The Girls, by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth was tried out at Leeds Grand Theatre and The Lowry, Manchester, where it received five star reviews and broke box office records. The Girls opened in London's West End, where it ran for six months and now, retitled Calendar Girls The Musical, the production has embarked on a 60-week national tour. [21]
The Band , the Take That musical, written by Tim Firth and co-produced by Pugh and Rogers with Take That, opened at Manchester Opera House in September 2017, becoming the fastest selling musical of all time and received rave reviews and toured very successfully throughout the United Kingdom until March 2019, including a season at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London's West End. [22]
Just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pugh and Rogers had produced a highly acclaimed production of Willy Russell's Educating Rita , which was curtailed by lockdown. But as soon as open air theatre was allowed, Pugh presented his production at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall, making worldwide news as at that time he was the only producer anywhere in the world producing a play.
He won the Olivier Award for his production of Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) by Isobel McArthur after Jane Austen, at the Criterion Theatre in London's West End in 2021. The critically acclaimed production subsequently broke box office records around the UK.
Most recently, Pugh produced Willy Russell's Shirley Valentine , starring Sheridan Smith, at the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End. During the 16-week season from February 2023 until June 2023 [23] every seat and every standing place was sold at every performance, and the show was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Revival and Best Actress for Sheridan Smith. [24]
Janet McTeer is an English actress. She began her career training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before earning acclaim for playing diverse roles on stage and screen in both period pieces and modern dramas. She has received numerous accolades including a Tony Award, a Olivier Award, a Golden Globe Award and nominations for two Academy Award and Primetime Emmy Award. In 2008 she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to drama.
'Art' is a French-language play by Yasmina Reza that premiered in 1994 at Comédie des Champs-Élysées in Paris. The play subsequently ran in London in 1996 and on Broadway in 1998.
Dave Willetts is an English singer and actor known for having leading roles in West End musicals.
Yasmina Reza is a French playwright, actress, novelist and screenwriter best known for her plays 'Art' and God of Carnage. Many of her brief satiric plays have reflected on contemporary middle-class issues. The 2011 black comedy film Carnage, directed by Roman Polanski, was based on Reza's Tony Award-winning 2006 play God of Carnage.
David Bedella is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in Jerry Springer: The Opera, In The Heights, and & Juliet. He has won three Olivier Awards.
Tracie Bennett is an English singer and stage and television actress. She trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in Clapham, London. She played the role of Sharon Gaskell in Coronation Street from 1982 to 1984, returning to the role in 1999 and again in 2021.
Summer Peta Vaigncourt-Strallen is an English actress who has performed various roles on stage and screen. Her most notable theatre credits include Meg Giry in the West End production of Love Never Dies and Maria von Trapp in Andrew Lloyd Webber's revival of The Sound of Music at the London Palladium.
Janie Dee is a British actress. She won the Olivier Award for Best Actress, Evening Standard Award and Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Play, and in New York the Obie and Theatre World Award for Best Newcomer, for her performance as Jacie Triplethree in Alan Ayckbourn's Comic Potential.
Debbie Kurup is an English actress.
The Play What I Wrote is a comedy play written by Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben, starring Foley and McColl, with Toby Jones, directed by Kenneth Branagh and produced in its original production by David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers. The show is a celebration of the British comedy double act Morecambe and Wise, and an irreverent and farcical exploration of the nature of double acts in general.
God of Carnage is a play by Yasmina Reza that was first published in 2008. It is about two sets of parents; the son of one couple has hurt the son of the other couple at a public park. The parents meet to discuss the matter in a civilized manner. However, as the evening goes on, the parents become increasingly childish and the meeting devolves into chaos. Originally written in French, the play was translated into English by translator Christopher Hampton, and has enjoyed acclaim in productions in both London and New York.
Jamie Lloyd is a British director, best known for his work with his eponymous theatre company The Jamie Lloyd Company. He is known for his modern minimalism and expressionist directorial style. He is a proponent of affordable theatre for young and diverse audiences, and has been praised as "redefining West End theatre". The Daily Telegraph critic Dominic Cavendish wrote of Lloyd, "Few directors have Lloyd’s ability to transport us to the upper echelons of theatrical pleasure."
Alex Gaumond is a Canadian actor, singer, songwriter and filmmaker best known for his involvement in West End theatre. He plays series regular gendarme Caron, the chief of police in Sainte Victoire, in the Channel 5 television series The Madame Blanc Mysteries, starring Sally Lindsay.
Killian Donnelly is an Irish tenor singer and stage actor. He has appeared in musicals such as Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, and Kinky Boots.
Top Hat the Musical is a 2011 stage musical based on the 1935 film of the same name, featuring music & lyrics by Irving Berlin with additional orchestration by Chris Walker. The show opened on 16 August 2011 at the Milton Keynes Theatre, touring the United Kingdom before transferring to the Aldwych Theatre in London's West End. Top Hat won multiple 2013 Laurence Olivier Awards after receiving seven nominations. The musical closed in London on 26 October 2013, with a UK and Ireland tour commencing in August 2014.
The Full Monty is a comedy play written by Simon Beaufoy, from his original screenplay for the 1997 film The Full Monty. It made its world premiere at the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield in February 2013, before touring the United Kingdom. A West End production was launched at the Noël Coward Theatre in February 2014. Followed by UK Tours in 2014/15 and 2016/17.
People, Places and Things is a play by the British playwright Duncan Macmillan.
Calendar Girls The Musical is a musical by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth, based on the 2003 film Calendar Girls, which is in turn based on a true story, and the original 2008 play adaptation by Firth.
The Height of the Storm is a play by Florian Zeller which follows a couple looking back at 50 years of marriage and realising their relationship may not be as perfect as they expected.
Life of Pi is a play based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Yann Martel adapted for the stage by Lolita Chakrabarti.