Director & Dramatist

Lisa
Forrell

Director · Writer · Books & Screenplays

Current Projects

Film & Television

Six Days in Rome

Television Series · Six Parts

Written by Lisa Forrell and Myriam Cyr. A six-part television series set in Occupied Rome. The untold story of Nazi stolen art and the round-up of Jews, all during one week in October 1943.

69

Television Series · Six Parts · Pilot Written

A six-part series created by Lisa and written by Lisa and Helen Serafinowicz (Motherland and Amandaland). Pilot written. Producers: Parkville Pictures.

Letters of a Portuguese Nun

Film Treatment

Film treatment of the French classic.

Theatre

Paris by Night

2024

A play adapted by Lisa based on a work by Jean-Marie Besset.

Writing

David

Book · In Progress

Lisa's book on the true story of her involvement with the model of Michelangelo's David. Interest from film companies.

A Garden in Potsdam

Play · In Progress

A play based on Lisa's real-life experience in East Berlin and Potsdam. Currently writing.

Past Credits

A career spanning the West End, Off-Broadway, and Europe's finest stages

Theatre — Direction

  • American JusticeArts Theatre, London
  • Dark at the Top of the StairsBelgrade Theatre, Coventry — First UK production for over a generation
  • A Shayna MaidelKing's Head / Ambassadors Theatre, West End — starring Anita Dobson
  • The Slow DragFreedom Theatre / Whitehall Theatre, West End — starring Kim Criswell
  • AbundanceRiverside Studios — British Premiere — starring Myriam Cyr & Maryam D'Abo
  • Three SistersMinerva Theatre, Chichester Festival — with Greg Hicks & Suzan Sylvester
  • Waiting for GodotPlymouth Theatre Royal / Lyric Studio, Hammersmith — starring Nadim Sawalha
  • Look Back in AngerPlymouth Theatre Royal
  • Total EclipseGreenwich Theatre — with Greg Hicks & Oliver Milburn
  • A Day in the Death of Joe EggKing's Head Theatre — with Clive Owen & John Warnaby
  • Time and the RoomGate Theatre — British Premiere — Time Out Critics' Choice
  • Suzannah AndlerBattersea Arts Centre — starring Susan Hampshire
  • The Day You'll Love MeHampstead Theatre — British Premiere — starring Greg Hicks
  • Slow Dance on the Killing GroundGreenwich Theatre — British Premiere — starring David Burke
  • CharlemagneOld Fire Station, Oxford — with Sarah Miles & Greg Hicks
  • Johnson is LeavingRSC The Swan, then on tour
  • Doomsday GirlLondon New Play Festival / Finborough Arms & Gielgud Theatre
  • Unsuspecting Susanwith Celia Imrie — Nominated Best Play, What's On in London
  • Hospitalitywith Lesley Joseph — British Premiere
  • ShockingTristan Bates Theatre — with Patricia Hodge, Celia Imrie & Lesley Joseph
  • The Real World?Soho Poly — directed and translated — Sunday Times Theatre Choice
  • Best of MotivesTricycle Theatre — co-authored with Marcel Berlins
  • Among UsCo-authored with Marcel Berlins

New York & International

  • CartasCulture Project, New York (Off-Broadway)
  • Tabloid CaligulaArcola Theatre / 59th Street Theatre, New York — also dramaturg
  • Unsuspecting SusanBrits Off Broadway, 59th Street Theatre, New York
  • Total EclipseThéâtre de L'Oeuvre, Paris — staged reading in French with Robinson Stevenin
  • Love Exposed & Thoughts Round MidnightPizza on the Park, The Pheasantry, Don't Tell Mama (NY) & Chicago tour
  • DragonslayerNew York Workshop / London workshop with Julie-Alannah Brighton & Martin Crewes
  • YahwehSoho Theatre — by Josh Goldstein
  • BabyloneBelgrade Theatre, Coventry — translated by Lisa

Musicals & Devised Work

  • Rue MagiqueKing's Head Theatre — original musical, book by Lisa Forrell, music & lyrics by Brett Kahr
  • Motortown BluesHer Majesty's & Hampstead — co-authored with Felix Cross — with Sharon D. Clarke & Clive Rowe
  • Espresso TrashoArts Theatre — Mercury Musical Workshop
  • Couples in CounterpointLinbury Studios, Royal Opera House — with Kim Criswell
  • The Ida ProjectBased on life of Ida Rubinstein — with Lynn Seymour & Matthew Hart (Royal Ballet) — Arts Council funded
  • The Corporate WitchesPlayground Company — devised
  • The Measures TakenDrama Studio — Brecht production

Translations

  • Rue de Babylone & Les GrecsJean-Marie Besset
  • Les SoeursMarie Laberge
  • Le Vrai MondeMichel Tremblay

Assistant Director

  • In the Jungle of the CitiesBerliner Ensemble — German production
  • La CelestinaWeimar Nationaltheatre — German production

Reviews

What the critics have said

American Justice

"Director Lisa Forrell keeps everything spinning suspensefully. I can already envisage a Hollywood film."

Evening Standard ★★★★

"Under Lisa Forrell's careful direction the three central performances convince… Gripping."

The Times ★★★★

"A psychological thriller that grips — the play never relaxes its hold in Lisa Forrell's sharp production."

Daily Telegraph

"Lisa Forrell's powerfully acted production — tense, thought-provoking."

The Independent

"Full of surprises and a superb cast — American Justice is not to be missed."

West End Frame ★★★★

Dark at the Top of the Stairs

"Lisa Forrell's darkly compelling production."

Daily Telegraph ★★★★

"Forrell's production captures the bruising intimacy."

The Guardian

"For the Belgrade Theatre — this was not just another feather in its cap but a peak."

The Stage

A Shayna Maidel

"Exquisitely acted and given a sensitively paced production by Lisa Forrell."

The Times

"Lisa Forrell's company plays with piercing emotional accuracy."

The Independent on Sunday

"Lisa Forrell has obtained minutely realised performances."

Financial Times

The Passion of Marianne

"Lisa Forrell's production establishes a powerful visual rhythm, focusing just often enough on the letters to remind us of the epistolary form, but never becoming static."

Evening Standard

The Day You'll Love Me

"Lisa Forrell's direction splendidly creates an almost Chekhovian mood."

Evening Standard

"Lisa Forrell directs with amused sensitivity and the result is a captivating production."

The Observer

"I invite you to join me on an amazing theatrical discovery."

Daily Mail

"Lisa Forrell's superb production."

Time Out — Critics' Choice

The Real World?

"Good urgent writing and gripping performances."

The Sunday Times — Theatre Choice

Total Eclipse

"Gets a sharp, tough production from Lisa Forrell, as ruthless as the writing."

Sunday Times

"Lisa Forrell's production is first-rate."

What's on Stage

Slow Dance on the Killing Ground

"Lisa Forrell's well-paced direction and three fine performances."

The Sunday Times

"Extremely well-played."

The Independent

Time and the Room

"An impressively bald staging."

Evening Standard

"Lisa Forrell boldly presents as Pirandellian farce."

Mail on Sunday

"Lisa Forrell's scrupulous and faithful production."

Time Out — Critics' Choice

Charlemagne

"Lisa Forrell directs meticulously."

Financial Times

"Carefully directed by Lisa Forrell — these are strong performances."

The Guardian

Unsuspecting Susan

"Savvy direction by Lisa Forrell."

The New York Times

"Under Lisa Forrell's direction, Celia Imrie takes the audience into her snooty confidence right from the off."

Time Out

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

"In Lisa Forrell's fine revival."

The Guardian — Choice

"Total Eclipse last month and now Peter Nichols' Joe Egg — the last two (so dissimilar) have been excellently directed by Lisa Forrell."

Financial Times

Projects Archive

Production photography

Drum Theatre Drama Season — What Drama! 1993
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs — Belgrade Theatre Coventry
Harold Sanditen — Thoughts Round Midnight
Unsuspecting Susan with Celia Imrie — Brits Off Broadway, 59E59 Theaters New York
Suzanna Andler with Susan Hampshire — Battersea Arts Centre
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg with Clive Owen — King's Head Theatre
Time and the Room — Gate Theatre
Rue Magique — A New Musical, King's Head Theatre
Slow Dance on the Killing Ground — Greenwich Theatre
Total Eclipse — Greenwich Theatre
The Slow Drag — Whitehall Theatre
Tabloid Caligula — 59E59 Theaters New York, Brits Off Broadway 2005

About Lisa

Lisa Forrell

A theatre director of approximately 24 plays in England since 1989, Lisa Forrell has — in recent years — broadened her creative activity to include playwriting, musicals, translations and adaptations from French, and screenplay writing including the Euro Media award-winning screenplay, The Journey Home, for producers True North (Iceland).

Currently she is concentrating on her film and television projects. Her television series (with Myriam Cyr) Six Days in Rome and her television series 69 (with Helen Serafinowicz) have been commissioned by producers Parkville Pictures.

She was on the Board of the Bush Theatre and is currently an artistic associate with the Playground Theatre.

Lisa studied as a young actor with Stella Adler and Uta Hagen in New York. She studied directing first at Brandeis University Theatre Arts department, and subsequently at the Berliner Ensemble in East Berlin as a guest artist.

She has written, among others, for the Guardian and the Times.

Lisa is fluent in French and German and is also an English barrister.

Bush Former Board Member
Playground Artistic Associate
Euro Media Award-Winning Screenplay

Contact

Direct

Lisa Forrell

lforrell@gmail.com

Agent

Dan Marks

The Theseus Agency

29 Rosslyn Hill, London NW3 5UJ

07887 570179
dan@theseus.agency

Acting Agent

Hilary Gagan & Associates

0207 404 8794
hilary@hgassoc.freeserve.co.uk