Penny Woolcock

Penny Woolcock (born 1 January 1950) is an Argentine filmmaker, opera director, and screenwriter.

Early life

Penny Woolcock was born in Argentina and raised in a British community. In 1967, she performed in a play called "Liberty and other Intoxications", which was about dictatorship in Argentina; she was briefly arrested as a result. Her parents wanted to send her to Europe for safety; instead she fled to Spain with a man from the theatre group and had a baby in Barcelona.

In 1970, she moved to Oxford, England, as a single mother. There, she educated herself in the arts by visiting Modern Art Oxford. and the documentary One Mile Away (both of which illustrated gangland "postcode wars"). She is part of a social enterprise with Dylan Duffus, Shabba Thompson and other ex-gang members trying to bring about change in parts of Birmingham affected by gang violence.

In 2013, Woolcock released a new documentary, Storyville: From the Sea to the Land Beyond - Britain's Coast on Film, which was broadcast on the BBC. Based on archive movie footage from early cinematography to recent times it illustrated working-class life in the 20th century, with an original soundtrack by British indie-rock band Sea Power. It has since been performed at the BFI Southbank, Latitude Festival, Sundance London, at Doc/Fest 2013, and under the hull of the Cutty Sark.

In 2014, she directed a documentary for Channel 4 called Going to the Dogs, investigating inner city dog fighting in the UK. She is currently the executive director of Ackley Bridge, a television series broadcast on Channel 4.

In 2020, she directed a documentary called Who is Frances Aviva Blane? a profile of the artist in lockdown (camera Leo Regan, editing Alex Fry). In 2020, she directed a documentary entitled Two Metres Apart, a short film about the artist Frances Aviva Blane featuring psychotherapist and author Susie Orbach, (camera Leo Regan, editing Alex Fry).

Opera Woolcock's operas include a production of John Adams' Doctor Atomic which she directed for the Metropolitan Opera's 2008–2009 season. She had previously filmed Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer as a feature film. In 2014, she staged Bizet's The Pearl Fishers at English National Opera in London (English translation version), then recreated it in a highly acclaimed French version at The Metropolitan Opera in January 2016.

In 2016, she was invited by Streetwise Opera to direct a production of the Bach St Matthew Passion, performed predominantly by homeless people. Sir James MacMillan composed a new finale for the occasion, which was broadcast on BBC4 on Sunday 27 March 2016.