Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes CBE (born 1 August 1965) is an English film and stage director, producer and screenwriter. In theatre, he is known for his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret (1994), Oliver! (1994), Company (1995), and Gypsy (2003). He directed an original West End stage musical for the first time with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013).
For directing the play The Ferryman, Mendes was awarded the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play in 2019.
Breaking Baz: West End Hitmaker Sam Mendes Is Right On Cue With Richard Burton, John Gielgud & Elizabeth Taylor In London’s Hottest New Play; Take That Pray ‘Greatest Days’ Film Will Shine
deadline.comEXCLUSIVE: Sam Mendes has a mammoth hit on his hands with The Motive and the Cue, which has been playing to packed houses on the National Theatre’s 890-seater Lyttelton proscenium stage.
Breaking Baz can reveal that discussions are ongoing with the play’s cast, including stars Johnny Flynn, Mark Gatiss and Tuppence Middleton — who portray Richard Burton, John Gielgud and Elizabeth Taylor, respectively — to transfer the acclaimed work into the West End.
Broadway surely will follow. Mendes (Empire of Light, 1917, Skyfall) came up with the idea for The Motive and the Cue after reading firsthand accounts from William Redfield and Richard L.
Sterne of the time Gielgud opted to direct hot star Burton in Hamlet on Broadway in 1964. Burton had just married Taylor for the first time — her fifth, his second; the actress shredded her schedule to be with him in New York.
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