Yaël Farber - BIO
Yaël Farber is a multiple award-winning director, creator and playwright of international acclaim. Her productions have toured extensively worldwide, earning her a reputation for hard-hitting, controversial works of the highest artistic standard.
UPCOMING
Jenufa, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, 2027
Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Royal Ballet and Opera, 2028
Developing two unannounced projects for the West End, London
Developing an adaptation of THE GIVER for Marc Platt Productions
Writing a book on her theatre practice for Nick Hern Books
RECENT
Farber most recently directed acclaimed productions of AMADEUS for Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, Shanghai (2026); THE WINTER’S TALE for The Royal Shakespeare Company, UK (2025); KING LEAR for The Almeida Theatre, London, UK (2024).
PAST PRODUCTIONS SELECTION
Farber’s acclaimed TRAGEDY OF MACBETH for The Almeida Theatre, London (2023), starring 4 time Oscar Nominee Saoirse Ronan, was nominated for an Olivier Best Revival Award; she directed MY BRILLIANT FRIEND for the National Theatre of Iceland in Reykjavik (2022); Her revisioning of HAMLET, starring Oscar and Tony nominee Ruth Negga at The Gate Theatre, Dublin, toured to St Anne’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, NYC (2020) to great critical acclaim. Farber directed Lorca’s BLOOD WEDDING adapted by Marina Carr for The Young Vic, London, UK (2019); Athol Fugard’s BOESMAN & LENA in NYC, USA at Signature Theater (2019); David Harrower’s KNIVES IN HENS at Donmar Warehouse in London (2017). Farber reworked and directed Loraine Hansberry’s unfinished final work LES BLANCS for the National Theatre in London, UK (2016)to critical acclaim; Her SALOMÉ (written and directed by Farber) for Washington’s Shakespeare Theater Company (2015) was nominated for 10 Helen Hayes Awards and won 7, including Best Director and Best Play 2015, transferring to the National Theatre in London (2017).
Farber’s production of Arthur Miller’s THE CRUCIBLE for The Old Vic (2014)at London’s West End garnered ten 5-star reviews from the UK’s top national press, an Evening Standard Award Nomination for Best Director and an Olivier nomination for Best Revival. NIRBHAYA (directed and written by Farber) in India (2013)won a slew of international awards at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival. In 2012, Farber’s MIES JULIE (a rewrite of Strindberg’s “Miss Julie” (2012) took the Edinburgh Festival by storm. It won multiple international awards and toured internationally for several years. She has published several original plays with OBERON BOOKS, including such critically acclaimed earlier testimonial works as A WOMAN IN WAITING ; AMAJUBA and HE LEFT QUIETLY, as well as MOLORA, her adaptation of Sophocles’ Oresteia.
Her productions have toured across the major cities of the USA, the UK, Europe, Africa, Canada, Australia, Japan, Europe, Canada, Asia and India, United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Hong Kong. She has been an invitee at the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab (NYC), a guest artist at Mabou Mines Theatre Company (NYC), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), The Public Theater (NYC) and the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab (Utah). Farber served as Head of the Directing Program at the National Theatre School of Canada between 2009 and 2012.
In the crucible of relentless heat, Precious metal is distilled into fiery liquid – ready take on any form.
It is the actor, the story, the audience - that longs foR the engagement of such a heat…
Because we long to be transformed. Let us settle then for nothing less than a theatre That promises the fiery possibility to face ourselves And one another
In our true and unconfined form.”
Yaël Farber
SIGNIFICANT NOMINATIONS
Olivier Award Nomination; Best Revival of a Play 2022
Macbeth - Almeida Theatre; London UK
Olivier Award Nomination; Best Revival of a Play 2014
The Crucible - Old Vic Theatre; London UK
Awards
Helen Hayes Award Best Director of a Play 2016 Washington, USA ~ “SALOME”
Helen Hayes Award Best Play 2016 Washington, USA ~ “SALOME”
Helen Hayes Award Best Ensemble in a Play 2016 Washington, USA ~ “SALOME”
Olivier Award Best Revival *Nomination 2015 London, UK ~ “THE CRUCIBLE”
Evening Standard Best Director *Nomination 2014 London, UK ~ “THE CRUCIBLE”
BroadwayWorld UK/West End Best Director 2014 London, UK ~ “THE CRUCIBLE”
Asian Media award Best Live Event 2014 London, UK ~ “NIRBHAYA”
Dora Mavor Moore Award 2014 Toronto, Canada ~ “MIES JULIE”
Elliot Norton Award 2013 Boston, USA ~ MIES JULIE
Naledi Best Director Award 2013
South Africa ~ “MIES JULIE”
Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award 2013
Edinburgh, Scotland ~ “NIRBHAYA”
Scotsman Fringe First Award 2013
Edinburgh, Scotland ~ “NIRBHAYA”
Angel Herald Award 2013
Edinburgh, Scotland ~ “NIRBHAYA”
Best Of Edinburgh Award 2012
Edinburgh, Scotland ~ “MIES JULIE”
Scotsman Fringe First Award 2012
Edinburgh, Scotland ~ “MIES JULIE”
Angel Herald Award 2012
Edinburgh, Scotland ~ “MIES JULIE”
Fleur de Kap Best Director Award 2012
Cape Town, South Africa ~ “MIES JULIE”
Naledi Best Director Award 2008
South Africa ~ "MOLORA"
Naledi Best Cutting Edge Production 2008
South Africa ~ "MOLORA"
TMA Best Director Nomination 2008
United Kingdom ~ "MOLORA"
Drama Desk Award Nomination 2007
New York, USA ~ “AMAJUBA"
Angel Herald Award 2003
Edinburgh, Scotland ~ "AMAJUBA"
FNB Vita Best Director 2001
South Africa ~ "SEZAR"
FNB Vita Best Production 2001
South Africa ~ "SEZAR"
BBC Gold Sony Award 2001
London, UK ~ "WOMAN IN WAITING"
Scotsman Fringe First Award 2000
Edinburgh, Scotland ~ "WOMAN IN WAITING"
FNB Vita Best Director Award 1999
South Africa ~ "SHOPPING & FUCKING"
FNB Vita Best Production Award 1999
South Africa ~ "SHOPPING & FUCKING"
FNB Vita Best Actress in a supporting actress 1996
South Africa ~ Performance in "Kafka Dances"
