Toby Sedgwick (born 16 August 1958) is a British movement director, actor and Choreography. He achieved critical acclaim for his expressive "puppetry" for life-size puppets used in War Horse (2007), which played at West End's New London Theatre, Broadway theatre's Vivian Beaumont Theater and Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre.[Database (undated). "War Horse" London Theatre Database. Accessed 20 January 2010.][ "Hairspray Wins Four 2008 Laurence Olivier Awards Including Best Musical" playbill.com, 9 March 2008.] and a 2012 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Choreography in a Play or Musical.[ "Black Canadian theatre company cleans house at Dora awards", Globe and Mail, 25 June 2012] Due to its success, the play went on a 30-city tour in the United States and was also produced in Australia and in Germany, opening late in 2013, just before the centenary of the first world war.
Early life and training
Toby Sedgwick was born in England in 1958 and attended
Bryanston School in
Dorset. He trained at the Arts Educational (drama course). He later studied for two years at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq
[ "Toby Sedgwick", Who's Who, playbill.com, accessed 28 February 2011.] in Paris, where he co-founded "
Mime"'.
[ "Toby Sedgwick", National Theatre, London.] in London.
Career
Early work and subsequent career
Sedgwick made a directorial debut with
Pidgin Macbeth (1998) at the National Theatre in London.
In 2006, he choreographed
Hergé's Adventures of Tintin at the Playhouse Theatre and
Dick Whittington And His Cat at the
Barbican. He also directed a
Manchester production of
The Taming of the Shrew.
Sedgwick's first major credit was providing co-direction for The 39 Steps (Criterion Theatre, West End, 2006).[ "Animal Crackers", This Is London, 16 March 1999.]
Sedgwick has served as movement director for British productions of The Nativity, Cinderella, King Lear, The Government Inspector, Marat/Sade, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
Other work
Sedgwick's theatrical work outside England is limited; besides the Broadway transfer of
War Horse, Sedgwick's lone New York movement-directorial credit is
The 39 Steps, produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company starting in 2008.
Billed as
Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, it opened on
Broadway theatre at the American Airlines Theatre, later transferring to the Cort Theatre (and later the Helen Hayes Theatre) for an extended run.
[Jones, Kenneth. "The Chase Is Back On! 39 Steps Begins at Broadway's Helen Hayes" , playbill.com, 21 January 2009]
Sedgwick assisted Danny Boyle with the choreography for the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.
Film and television
In addition to theatre work, Sedgwick's film credits include
28 Days Later,
Laissez-passe, and
Shrooms.
In addition to serving as movement director in films, he has also appeared in small acting roles, such as "Thompson" in
Safe conduct (2002), "Infected Priest" in
28 Days Later (2002), "Black Brother" in
Shrooms (2007), and "Enemy Pilot" in
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (2010).
[ "Toby Sedgwick", Internet Movie Database.] Sedgwick's first
television role was as "Mummy" on
Monster Café, which aired from 1994 to 1995 on
CBBC.
External links
- Credits
