Anthea Williams is an award-winning theatre director. Her work aims to foreground marginalised experiences by creating space for new and diverse voices. She often works with radical dramaturgies in order to privilege the relegated or forgotten. She has a particular interest in how silent histories impact upon the present
Awards
Since Ali Died by Omar Musa, directed by Anthea Williams for Griffin Theatre Company
Best Cabaret - Sydney Theatre Awards 2018
Hir by Taylor Mac, directed by Anthea Williams for Belvoir
Best Director - Sydney Theatre Awards 2017
Best Mainstage Production - Sydney Theatre Awards 2017
Best Design - Sydney Theatre Awards 2017
Best Supporting Actor in a Mainstage Production - Sydney Theatre Awards 2017
Nominations
Mother’s Ruin, A Cabaret about Gin
Best Cabaret - Sydney Theatre Awards 2017
From 2011 to 2017 Anthea worked at Belvoir Theatre in Sydney, first as Literary Manager, then Associate Director - New Work. Over her time at this beloved company the production of new plays increased fourfold and many Australian writers received their first mainstage productions.
Anthea commissioned and developed many new works while at the company. Shows she has directed for Bevoir include: Winyanboga Yuringa by Andrea James (2019), Hir by Taylor Mac (2017), Kill the Messenger by Nakkiah Lui (2015), Cinderella by Matt Whittet, concept by Anthea Williams (2014), Forget Me Not by Tom Holloway (2013) and Old Man by Matt Whittet (2012)
As a freelance director Anthea has worked at Griffin Theatre, The Court Theatre Christchurch (NZ), The National Theatre of Parramatta, Carriageworks, Red Stitch at the Old Fitz, and the National Institute of Dramatic Art.
Works she has directed include Pony by Eloise Snape, musical The Hen House by Josipa Draisma and Mara and Sime Knezevic, Sleeplessness which she co-wrote with Kaz Therese, Love and Information by Carol Churchil Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again by Alice Birch, The Humans by Stephen Karam, The Pink Hammer by Michele Amas, Flight Paths by Julian Larnach, #KillAllMen by Nakkiah Lui, The Colby Sisters of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, by Adam Rapp and A Question by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm.
From 2007 to 2011 Anthea worked at London’s Bush Theatre as Associate Director - bushfutures. She directed for the company and created development programs for emerging artists and to foster community networks.
Show she directed at The Bush include 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover and 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover at Christmas by Leah Chillery, Ben Ellis, Stacey Gregg, Lucy Kirkwood, Ben Schiffer and Morgan Lloyd-Malcolm, Two Cigarettes by Jack Thorne, Sudden Loss of Dignity by Zawe Ashton, James Graham, Joel Horwood, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm and Michelle Terry and The Great British Country Fete by Russell Kane.
Reviews:
Winyanboga Yurringa
“Masterful direction from Anthea Williams reveals a production in proper command of its important subject matter.”
Lisa Thatcher
Hir
“Belvoir’s holistic approach to Hir is what allows it to succeed. It’s an outlandish black comedy, but it’s grounded in realism, and Williams cultivates a real sense of empathy for every character…Hir is an unstoppable, overwhelming, genuinely exciting play. It’s a family story for the 21st century, a riot of ideas, a socio-political tragicomedy. It’s unmissible.”
Time Out Sydney *****
“This production brilliantly keeps changing form in Taylor Mac’s writing and Anthea Williams’s direction. It starts out like an absurdist farce, becomes at times a serious family drama, then feels like a madly gothic revenge tale. The script and performance are by turns outrageously funny and absorbingly real. Williams has a great cast that plays the shifts seamlessly.”
The Australian
Flight Paths
“Under Williams’ direction, Larnach’s text has been realised in a thoroughly enjoyable and terrifically executed production. If this serves as any indication of what the nascent company has in store for 2018, it’s safe to say that this year will be NTofP’s most exciting to date.”
Theatre People
Kill the Messenger
“Kill the Messenger is an extraordinary play in so many ways: poignant and hilarious, it's uniquely Australian and uniquely Lui.”
Arts Hub *****
Cinderella
“Having worked together on Old Man at Belvoir, director Anthea Williams (Forget Me Not) and writer/actor Matthew Whittet (School Dance) have re-teamed to create a new version of Cinderella….what they’ve created is ultimately far more mysterious and oblique than we’ve come to expect from the genre. It’s not just the story and the characters that are being reimagined, but even the telling of the tale.”
Time Out ****
Forget Me Not
“A small masterpiece from the frontline of humanity”
Time Out ***** and Critic’s Choice
“this is one of Belvoir’s finest productions in a while. (And that’s saying something, right?) In fact, it’s probably one of Belvoir’s best-ever… this director stakes everything on the audience’s capacity to think and feel, as much as the playwright’s. She deploys a feather, where some might’ve wielded a sledgehammer. It shows faith in herself. And her audience.”
Crikey