Lucy Bailey (director)

Lucy Bailey is a British theatre director, known for productions such as Baby Doll at Britain's National Theatre and a notorious Titus Andronicus which had many members of the audience fainting. Bailey founded the Gogmagogs theatre-music group (1995–2006) and was Artistic Director and joint founder of the Print Room theatre in West London (2010-2012). She has worked extensively with Bunny Christie and other leading stage designers, including her husband William Dudley.

Bailey was born in Butleigh, Somerset, England. She has stated that her favourite films include anything by Pasolini. As a teenager Bailey studied the flute but finally gave up music to concentrate on theatre. Bailey studied English at St Peter's College, Oxford. She and her husband William Dudley have two sons.

Lucy Bailey became interested in theatre when she worked as a telephonist at Glyndebourne at the age of 17. As a university student aged 20 she had her first breakthrough when she wrote to Samuel Beckett requesting permission to stage his short story, Lessness. Beckett agreed to meet, and she showed him her design for a production. Although he said she had got it completely wrong, he gave her permission to stage it, which she did at The Oxford Playhouse 1982 Bailey started professional life as an assistant director at the Royal National Theatre, Glyndebourne Opera and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Bailey co-founded the Googmagogs musical theatre company in 1995, with Nell Catchpole and six other string players. Her return to straight theatre came when she was invited by Mark Rylance, then Artistic director of The Globe Theatre, to direct there in the late 90s, and her work there has included noted productions of Titus Andronicus and Macbeth. Bailey has also directed many productions of Shakespeare plays at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon including The Taming of the Shrew, A Winter's Tale and Julius Caesar with Greg Hicks in the title role.

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