Lucy Jane Atkinson

Lucy is an award-winning theatre director and dramaturg and graduate of LAMDA’s Postgraduate Director’s course, whose passion lies in new writing, musical theatre, devising, and immersive performance. Her talent was recognised early on when she was named No. 1 in The Stage’s “Top Talents to Watch” in 2018.

Her production of Tatty Hennessy’s A Hundred Words For Snow (UK tour; Trafalgar Studios) earned four Offie nominations, including Best Director and Best New Play. She directed Sheila Atim’s debut Anguis (BBC Arts, Avalon), and continues to work with exciting writers and performers such as Gill Greer, Richard Marsh, Barry McStay, Rachel Hammond, and Lauren Gunderson.

In 2022, Lucy made her National Theatre debut directing Barrier(s), the winning play of National Theatre New Views by 17-year-old Eloise Pennycott which was staged bilingually in English and BSL in the Dorfman. That same year she directed Tatty Hennessy’s adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s The Sleeping Sword at the Watermill Theatre, working collaboratively with visually impaired actors. Her direction of Kieron Barry’s Spy for Spy at Riverside Studios also earned widespread acclaim. Lucy made her screen directing debut with Testament, a theatrical film set in modern day America which re-imagines four oft-forgotten Bible characters against a haunting score of gospel and blues.

Alongside her directing, Lucy is a sought-after dramaturg, collaborating with writers and directors from the earliest stages of development through to production. Her work ranges from shaping new plays and adaptations to supporting directors in articulating and refining their theatrical vision. She has provided directorial dramaturgy for Diyan Zora’s productions of English (Royal Shakespeare Company/Kiln Theatre) and Roots (Almeida Theatre), working across text, design, sound, lighting and costume to help develop a cohesive artistic language. 

Selected Directing credits include: God Bless The NHS (Orangetree Theatre), Evening All Afternoon (Associate - Donmar Warehouse), All the Happy Things (Soho Theatre/tour), Mansfield Park (Guildford School of Acting), The Sweet Science of Bruising (LIPA), Radio, I and You  (Burning Coal), The Voysey Inheritance (ArtsEd), A Monster Calls (Rose Bruford), Girls & Boys (Here For Now Theatre, Canada), Joshua (& Me) (Hope Theatre, UK tour), Testament (ViaBrooklyn), The Snow Queen (Brighton Open Air Theatre), Meat (Theatre503), Phoenix, The Lost Art of Lost Art (Edinburgh Fringe), Something Awful, Vespertilio, Cause, Secondbests, Oil and Matter (Bunker Theatre), Cov (Old Red Lion), Boom (Lindbury Studio), Albert’s Boy (Brighton Fringe), The Enchantment (HERE Arts Centre, New York), The One (York Lane Art Collective, Ontario), and of course A Hundred Words For Snow (reprises at Trafalgar Studios).

Screen credits: Testament (ViaBrooklyn).

Selected Dramaturgy credits include: English (RSC/Kiln Theatre); Roots (Almeida Theatre); Joshua (and Me) by Rachel Hammond; Rhesus by Jack Baldwin; All the Happy Things by Naomi Denny; Mansfield Park by Louis Emmitt-Sterns; KEEP IN MIND by Fran Bushe; Spy for Spy by Kieron Barry; The Sleeping Sword, A Great Big Woolly Mammoth Thawing From the Ice, The Snow Queen, Something Awful and A Hundred Words for Snow by Tatty Hennessy; MEAT by Gillian Greer; Whack by Mark Weatherley; Vespertilio by Barry McStay; Anguisby Sheila Atim; Phoenix by Richard Marsh; The Collection and Testament by Tristan Bernays; and CAUSE by James Huntrods.

Lucy was the New Work Resident Director at the National Theatre in 2025.