Yaël Farber - BIO

Yaël Farber is a multiple award-winning director 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. 

Farber most recently directed KING LEAR to critical acclaim at The Almeida Theatre in London (2024). Other directing credits include an adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s MY BRILLIANT FRIEND for the National Theatre of Iceland in Reykjavik (2022); THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH (2021) at The Almeida Theatre starring 4 time Oscar Nominee Saoirse Ronan & nominated for a Best Revival Olivier Award; A revisioning of HAMLET, starring Oscar and Tony nominee Ruth Negga at The Gate Theatre, Dublin  and St Anne’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, NYC (2020). Lorca’s BLOOD WEDDING adapted by Marina Carr for The Young Vic, London (2019); Athol Fugard’s BOESMAN & LENAin NYC at Signature Theater (2019); David Harrower’s KNIVES IN HENS at Donmar Warehouse in London (2017). Loraine Hansberry’s unfinished final work LES BLANCS, reworked and directed for the National Theatre (2016) in London to powerful critical acclaim; SALOMÉ (both 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, and an Olivier nomination for Best Revival. NIRBHAYA, directed and written by Farber in India (2013) based on real life events 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. She is currently writing a new book on theatre making: PLAY WITH FIRE. 

Her productions have toured across the major cities of the USA, the UK, Europe, Africa, Canada, Australia, Japan, Europe, Canada, Asia and the 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. Read full length Curriculum Vitae >>>

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"