Alan Lyddiard

Alan Lyddiard (born Michael Hadland Kent in 1949 in London) is a theatre and film director, best known as an advocate of community arts and the ensemble theatre model in the UK. Lyddiard was Artistic Director of Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne (1992–2005), Artistic Director of TAG Theatre Company, Glasgow (1988–1992) and Associate Director at Dundee Rep (1984–1988).

Lyddiard is best remembered for his very successful productions of George Orwell's works. His production of Animal Farm (1993) stayed in the repertoire of Northern Stage for twelve years and toured in Spain, France, Netherlands, Israel and across the UK. In 2001 he made a version of 1984 (which has inspired subsequent productions of Lyddiard's adaptation in Paris, Freiburg, New York and New Zealand) and in 2003 he co-produced with Calixto Bieito a version of Orwell's memoir Homage to Catalonia.

Clockwork Orange made in the late 1990s, was another successful production of Lyddiard's with the Northern Stage Ensemble touring the UK for four years.

Lyddiard has always been a strong advocate of an internationalisation of the UK theatre scene. He worked closely and over many years with Lev Dodin, and repeatedly presented Robert Lepage and Peter Brook's work in Newcastle. He has also collaborated with and presented the work of the Belgian director Alain Platel, the Hungarian director Gabor Tompa and the Romani director from FRY Macedonia Rahim Burhan.

In 2003, Lyddiard initiated the Newcastle / Gateshead Gypsy Festival which presented the work of Eastern European and Spanish Romani artists as well as an original piece by the Northern Stage ensemble Black Eyed Roses (which he later reworked for a Romanian production).

Later that year, a Newcastle-based adaptation of Wim Wenders' film Wings of Desire was created by Alan Lyddiard with his ensemble and a community theatre group based at the theatre. Lyddiard was subsequently invited to do a Copenhagen-based adaptation of the film using the same model in 2005 at the Betty Nansen Theatre.

Since 2006 he has been working as a freelance writer/director on a number of film and theatre projects.

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