Elin Schofield

Elin Schofield is an award-winning theatre director, writer and movement director whose work spans the National Theatre, West End, Sheffield Theatres, Donmar Warehouse, Chichester Festival Theatre and leading stages across the UK.

Elin has established a reputation for directing major new plays, reviving contemporary classics and developing ambitious ensemble productions. Her work combines theatrical scale with emotional intimacy, making the political feel personal, and is defined by its thoughtfulness, rigour and humanity.

Elin received the UK Theatre Award for Best Director for Scissors, the concluding production in Chris Bush’s ambitious Rock / Paper / Scissors trilogy. Created for Sheffield Theatres’ 50th anniversary, the three plays were staged simultaneously across the Crucible, Lyceum and Studio theatres, with Elin leading the Scissors company as part of the project’s intricate, large-scale theatrical undertaking. She subsequently reunited with Chris Bush to direct a new production of A Doll’s House at Sheffield Crucible.

Her more recent directing credits include the world premiere of Stephanie Street’s a small and quiet light, a Chichester Festival Theatre and Orange Tree Theatre co-production. Her work at the Donmar Warehouse includes serving as Associate Director to Felix Barrett on Chloë Moss’s real-time thriller The Guilty, starring Russell Tovey. Other major productions include James Graham’s Olivier Award-winning Dear England, for which she served as Revival Director at the National Theatre and on its UK tour; the West End transfer of Till the Stars Come Down, also as Revival Director; and the Olivier Award-winning musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge at Sheffield Theatres, the National Theatre and in the West End.

Elin has also worked extensively with internationally acclaimed writer-director Alexander Zeldin, including on the Off-Broadway production of LOVE.

As a writer-director, Elin co-wrote and directed her debut play Screwdriver, which premiered at the Lyric Hammersmith and Sheffield Theatres. She has developed her writing through the Royal Court and Sheffield Theatres’ playwriting programmes and also works as an accomplished movement director.

Selected Directing Credits

A Small and Quiet Light (Chichester Festival Theatre/Orange Tree Theatre); A Christmas Carol, A Doll’s House, Scissors (Sheffield Theatres); Till the Stars Come Down (West End, Revival Director); Dear England (National Theatre/UK Tour, Revival Director); Robin Hood and the Christmas Heist (Rose Theatre); Screwdriver (Lyric Hammersmith/Sheffield Theatres); This Is Not a Demo (Sheffield Young Company); Signals and Daniel (Footprint Theatre/UK Tour).

Associate and Assistant Director Credits

The Guilty (Donmar Warehouse, dir. Felix Barrett); Dear England (National Theatre and West End, dir. Rupert Goold); LOVE (Off-Broadway, dir. Alexander Zeldin); Standing at the Sky’s Edge (National Theatre, Sheffield Theatres and West End, dir. Robert Hastie); The Narcissist (Chichester Festival Theatre, dir. Josh Seymour); Talent (Sheffield Crucible, dir. Paul Foster); Stick Man (Leicester Square Theatre/UK Tour, dir. Sally Cookson and Mark Kane); Hang (Crucible Studio, dir. Taio Lawson); Pop Music (Paines Plough/UK Tour, dir. James Grieve).

Movement Direction Credits

Seagulls (Bolton Octagon); The Changing Room (Sheffield Theatres); The Snow Queen and The Nutcracker (Theatr Clwyd).