Emily Oulton

Emily is a UK-based theatre director who ranges from small-scale plays, to outdoor immersive audio experiences, to large ensemble musicals - often foregrounding live music, original compositions, actor-musicianship or soundscapes. She works across revivals, new musicals, adaptations and plays. Her work spans regional theatres across the UK as well as major West End productions. Alongside her directing, Emily is 1/2 of folk horror theatre-and-audio-making duo Obscura with sound designer/composer and writer Patch Middleton. Their new musical A Shanty for an Atomic Town is currently being developed with award-winning producers Cloudburst. 

Emily will direct Dundee Rep’s 2026 Christmas show The Snow Queen by award-winning Scottish writing duo Noisemaker (Ceilidh, Scots!).

Selected Directing credits: The Hills of California (Central School of Speech & Drama), Talking Heads (The White Bear), We Shadows (Royal Academy of Music), Songs and Stories from the Atomic Town (Obscura @ Theatre by the Lake), All the Boggles of Derwentwater (Obscura @ Theatre by the Lake), The Best Play Ever (Delicious Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe), Little Shop of Horrors (Delicious Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe), Private Lives (John Thaw Theatre).

Emily and her work has been featured on shortlists and longlists for awards including the Untapped Award, Pleasance Charlie Hartill Reserve, Evening Standard Future Theatre Fund and the JMK Award.

Emily frequently works as a visiting director at leading drama schools, such as the Royal Academy of Music, Arts Ed, Central School of Speech & Drama and Rose Bruford College.

Emily is an experienced and sought-after Associate Director, having collaborated with industry-leading directors, producers and creative teams. Having worked on large scale, award-winning productions in the West End and in leading theatres across the UK, her work ranges from supporting casting processes, pre-production research, leading recasts & revivals, directing child actors, to devising multi-role systems, cover matrices and artistic oversight across a run. 

Selected Associate Directing credits: Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical (Secret Cinema), Witness for the Prosecution (London County Hall), A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story (Alexandra Palace, Birmingham Rep, Nottingham Playhouse), Make It Happen (National Theatre of Scotland, Dundee Rep, Edinburgh International Festival), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Ambassadors Theatre, West End), RUM (Max Emmerson Productions UK Tour), Roman Holiday (Theatre Royal Bath).

Selected Resident/Assistant Directing credits: The History Boys (Theatre Royal Bath & UK Tour), Witness for the Prosecution (London County Hall), West Side Story (Curve), My Beautiful Laundrette (Curve & UK Tour), The Entertainer (Curve), Mixtape (Royal Exchange Theatre).

Emily trained on the Theatre Directing MFA at Birkbeck and as a Young Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester.