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Nicholas Ronald Ormerod OBE (born 9 December 1951) is a British theatre designer and co-founder of the international theatre company Cheek by Jowl.[1] In 1981 he founded Cheek by Jowl with Declan Donnellan, and they are the company's co-artistic directors. In addition to his Cheek by Jowl productions, Ormerod has made theatre, opera and ballet with companies across the world. He studied law at Trinity College, Cambridge before studying for BA in theatre design at the Wimbledon School of Art.[1]
Ormerod was born and grew up in London, England. He studied law at Trinity College, Cambridge before studying for a BA in theatre design at the Wimbledon School of Art.[1] In 1981 Ormerod founded Cheek by Jowl with Declan Donnellan. The company has performed across the world, working in over 400 cities in 40 countries spanning six continents. Since 2006 Cheek by Jowl have been part of the Barbican's International Theatre Program (BITE) resulting in co-productions of The Changeling (2006), Cymbeline (2007) and Troilus and Cressida (2008).[2]
In addition to his work with Cheek by Jowl, Ormerod designed the Royal Shakespeare Company’s productions of School for Scandal (1998) and King Lear (2002 Academy Production). In 2005, he co-wrote an adaptation of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations (2005) for the Royal Shakespeare Company with Declan Donnellan.[3] He designed Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida for the Burgtheater, Vienna in 2000, and Falstaff for the Salzburg Festival in 2001.[4] In London, Ormerod designed Hay Fever at the Savoy Theatre, and Shakespeare in Love (play) at the Noël Coward Theatre.
For the Royal National Theatre Ormerod designed both parts of Angels in America by Tony Kushner, as well as Sweeney Todd, Peer Gynt and Fuenteovejuna.[5]
In 2000 he and Donnellan formed a company of actors in Moscow, under the auspices of The Chekhov Festival, whose productions include Boris Godunov, Twelfth Night and Three Sisters. For the Bolshoi Theatre he has designed Romeo and Juliet in 2003, and Hamlet in 2015. Other work in Russia includes The Winter's Tale for the Maly Drama Theatre of St. Petersburg in 1997.[6] With Cheek by Jowl he and Donnellan have produced further work in Russian including The Tempest with the Chekhov Festival and Measure for Measure in a co-production with Moscow's Pushkin Theatre.[7]
Ormerod was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award Designer of the Year in 1988 for A Family Affair, The Tempest and Philoctetes and won the Corral de Comedias Award with Donnellan in 2008.[1] He directed the 2012 film Bel Ami, an adaption of the Maupassant novel.[8]
Ormerod was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to theatre design.[9]
