‘Who needed sets, when Rayner effectively had six pieces of human scenery to play with? [...] It was fantastically detailed stuff, intrinsic to the storytelling.’
- Erica Jeal, The Guardian, SERSE (Director)
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Hello - I’m Sam.
As a director, I create playful, highly physical productions - from acrobatic adaptations of classics to genre-bending new writing. My work has been named as a Critic’s Pick in Playbill and The New York Times, and featured in The Guardian’s “Readers’ Favourite Stage Shows of 2022”.
Recent directing includes:
- A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM and SERSE for Opera Holland Park (“fantastically detailed” - The Guardian / “a tremendous success” - Broadway World)
- MAN OF 100 FACES (listed in The Guardian’s “Readers’ Favourite Shows of 2022”)
- FIVE YEARS WITH THE WHITE MAN (published by Nick Hern Books / “Rayner directs with a sure hand and clear vision” - Salterton Arts Review).
- THE MAN WHO THOUGHT HE KNEW TOO MUCH with Voloz Collective (“physical theatre at its most immaculate” - The Scotsman)
- THE LIFE SPORADIC OF JESS WILDGOOSE with Voloz Collective (“staged with style” - The Guardian).
You can read a full list of my work, training and teaching here.
- Erica Jeal, The Guardian, SERSE (Director)
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Hello - I’m Sam.
I’m a director and movement director - working across theatre, opera and stand-up comedy. Currently, I’m Resident Director of Back to the Future (West End) and Joint Artistic Director of award-winning, international physical thatre company Voloz Collective.
As a director, I create playful, highly physical productions - from acrobatic adaptations of classics to genre-bending new writing. My work has been named as a Critic’s Pick in Playbill and The New York Times, and featured in The Guardian’s “Readers’ Favourite Stage Shows of 2022”.
As a movement director, I’ve worked with Tiger Aspect, Netflix, HBO and A24 - collaborating with comedians including Jack Whitehall, Leo Reich, Liam Williams and Richard Gadd. This work has been described as “The Best Comedy Show of 2022” (The Guardian), an “intensely funny razzle-dazzle song-and-dance opener” (The Guardian), and “a fearless display of physicality that shape shifts from ludicrous tomfoolery to raw menace” (The List).
Recent directing includes:
- A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM and SERSE for Opera Holland Park (“fantastically detailed” - The Guardian / “a tremendous success” - Broadway World)
- MAN OF 100 FACES (listed in The Guardian’s “Readers’ Favourite Shows of 2022”)
- FIVE YEARS WITH THE WHITE MAN (published by Nick Hern Books / “Rayner directs with a sure hand and clear vision” - Salterton Arts Review).
- THE MAN WHO THOUGHT HE KNEW TOO MUCH with Voloz Collective (“physical theatre at its most immaculate” - The Scotsman)
- THE LIFE SPORADIC OF JESS WILDGOOSE with Voloz Collective (“staged with style” - The Guardian).
I am fluent in French and Spanish. I speak and read basic Arabic.
You can read a full list of my work, training and teaching here.