Training

James Macdonald studied at Oxford University and École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq.

Theatre

For the National Theatre: The Welkin, John, Dido Queen of Carthage, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, Exiles and Infinite Life (also Linda Gross Theater for Atlantic Theater Company)

As Associate Director at the Royal Court (1992-2006): What If If Only, Glass Kill Bluebeard Imp, One for Sorrow, Escaped Alone, The Children, The Wolf from the Door, Circle Mirror Transformation, Love and Information, Cock, Drunk Enough to Say I Love You, Dying City, Fewer Emergencies, Lucky Dog, Blood, Blasted, 4.48 Psychosis, Hard Fruit, Real Classy Affair, Cleansed, Bailegangaire, Harry and Me, Simpatico, Blasted, Peaches, Thyestes, Hammett’s Apprentice, The Terrible Voice of Satan and Putting Two and Two Together

In London’s West End: Night of the Iguana, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Father, Glengarry Glen Ross and The Changing Room

On Broadway: True West, The Children and Top Girls (also for Manhattan Theatre Club)

Other theatre includes: The Cherry Orchard for Yard Theatre/ETT; Dolls House Part Two, The Way of the World and Roots for the Donmar; Bakkhai, A Delicate Balance, Judgment Day and The Triumph of Love at the Almeida; The Chinese Room for Williamstown Theater Festival; Wild, And No More Shall We Part and #aiww – The Arrest of Ai Weiwei at Hampstead; The Father at Bath and the Tricycle; John Gabriel Borkman at the Abbey, Dublin; The Tempest and Roberto Zucco for the RSC; Troilus und Cressida and Die Kopien at Schaubühne, Berlin; 4.48 Psychose at Burgtheater, Vienna; Love’s Labour’s Lost and Richard II at the Royal Exchange; Escaped Alone and John Gabriel Borkman at BAM; Cloud Nine at Atlantic Theater; Cock at The Duke; Love and Information and A Number for New York Theatre Workshop; King Lear, The Book of Grace and Drunk Enough to Say I Love You at The Public; Dying City for the Lincoln Center; and 4.48 Psychosis at St Anne’s Warehouse

Opera

A Ring A Lamp A Thing at Linbury Studio; Eugene Onegin and Rigoletto at Welsh National Opera; Die Zauberflöte at Garsington; Wolf Club Village and Night Banquet at the Almeida; Lives of the Great Poisoners for Second Stride.

Film

A Number for HBO and BBC

(Updated November 2023.)