Simon Stone

Simon Stone (born 1984) is an Australian film and theatre director, writer and actor.

Early life and education Simon Stone was born in 1984 in Basel, Switzerland. He grew up in Melbourne, Australia, and Cambridge, England, where he was educated.

He decided to be an actor at the age of 15, and set to reading the complete works of Shakespeare in chronological order. Other productions Stone adapted and directed for The Hayloft Project include Platonov, 3xSisters, The Suicide and The Only Child, a new version of Henrik Ibsen's Little Eyolf, which won the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Independent Production.

In 2009 he directed Aleksei Arbuzov's The Promise for Belvoir. In 2010 he directed and co-wrote with Mark Leonard Winter, Thomas Henning and Chris Ryan a version of Seneca's Thyestes for The Hayloft Project and Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne. He directed The Cherry Orchard for Melbourne Theatre Company in 2013.

In 2011 Stone became the resident director at Belvoir. In his first year he wrote and directed The Wild Duck, after Henrik Ibsen, which has become his calling card production and has played internationally, including at the Holland Festival. In 2011 he also directed Robyn Nevin in Lally Katz's Neighbourhood Watch for Belvoir and adapted and directed Bertolt Brecht's Baal for the Sydney Theatre Company.

For Theater Basel, where he was a house director from 2015, he has directed Angels in America, John Gabriel Borkman (for which he won the 2015 Nestroy Theatre Prize), Three Sisters, and Korngold's opera Die tote Stadt. A companion project with the works of August Strindberg, Hotel Strindberg, premiered at Theater Basel in 2018.

For Ivo van Hove's company Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, he has directed Euripides' Medea in his own new adaptation, Husbands and Wives, Ibsen House, a new play by Stone which threads together the plots of several of Ibsen's plays in a new modern scenario, and Flight 49, inspired by the novel Op Hoop van Zegen by Herman Heijermans.

In 2016, Stone premiered an adaptation of Federico García Lorca's Yerma at the Young Vic in London. The production starred Billie Piper in the title role, and was well reviewed, returning for a second run in 2017 before transferring to the Park Avenue Armory in New York in 2018. It won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival in 2017.

Stone directed Luigi Cherubini's opera Médée at the 2019 Salzburg Festival, returning there in 2023 for Martinů's The Greek Passion sung in English. He took his production of Euripides' Medea, with Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale, to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2020. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2022 with Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, set in present-day America's Rust Belt.

In 2023, he directed Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele for the opening night of the new season of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma in Rome, Italy.

His updated adaptation of Phaedra was produced at the National Theatre in London from February to April 2023; the company included Mackenzie Davis, Assaad Bouab and Janet McTeer.

Film Stone appeared in the films Kokoda (2006), Jindabyne (2006), and Balibo (2009), before turning to theatre direction.

He directed the British drama film The Dig in 2021. It focuses on an archaeological dig in Sutton Hoo in 1939.

Television Stone has acted in the television series John Safran's Music Jamboree, MDA, Blue Heelers, Rush, City Homicide, and the films Jindabyne, Kokoda, Balibo, Blame, and The Eye of the Storm.

Philosophy and style

Stone likes to take pieces from the standard theatre canon which, with the help of his cast, he reworks into intimate, almost cinematic performances. He often works from improvisation creating an entirely new script through which the original play nevertheless shines. This practice is sometimes referred to as "over-writing".

Stone believes in theatre as a place for polemic: "One can't make theatre based on fear and compromises. Without argument, there is no art."

Yet, at the same time, he acknowledges that his own art has its roots in finding a language for the trauma of his father's death. "I certainly couldn't talk to people about what had happened to me. Especially at a young age, people are very confronted by 'how on earth do I even talk about that absurdly dark thing that happened to Simon?'. Of course, in cinema and literature, you find conversation partners. They're not talking back but they kind of are because they're telling you you're not the only person who's been through that thing".

Personal life Stone married Jessamy Dyer in 2004

Works and performances Film Director The Turning (2013) (segment "Reunion") The Daughter (2015) (also writer) The Dig (2021) The Woman in Cabin 10 (2025) Elsinore (2026)

Stage director Verdi: La Traviata (2019) (Direct-to-video) Die Teufel von Loudun (2022) (Direct-to-video)

Acting roles Year Title Role Notes2006 Kokoda: 39th Battalion Max Scholt Jindabyne Billy 'The Kid' 2008 Nice Shootin' Cowboy Cormac Short film 2009 Balibo Tony Maniaty 2010 A Love Story Robin Short film Blame Nick 2011 The Eye of the Storm Peter 2012 Being Venice Lenny

Television Director National Theatre Live: Yerma (2017) (TV movie)

Stage director Year Title Notes 2021 Korngold: Die Tote Stadt TV movie 2022 The Metropolitan Opera HD Live Episode "Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor"

Acting roles Year Title Role Notes 2002–2003 MDA Jason Henderson 5 episodes 2002–2005 Blue Heelers Mary Farris / Clayton Sanders 2009 City Homicide Billy Pierce / Will Fenech 1 episode 2009 Rush Ted Holston 1 episode

Theater

Dramaturge Year Title Venue 2010–2011 Human Interest Story Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney

Acting roles