Dominic Symonds
BA (Hons) Drama and Theatre Studies (London), PG Dip Actng for Musical Theatre (Mountview Theatre School), MRes, Drama and Theatre Studies (London), PhD, 'The Relationship Between Spoken Dialogue and Song in Musical Theatre' (London).
Dominic is a freelance writer and director for musical theatre, whose shows have toured throughout the UK. He is a member of Mercury Musical Developments, Musical Theatre Matters and the Young Vic Genesis Directors’ Scheme. As a writer, he has written books for a number of small-scale compilation pantomimes and shows including Pack Up Your Troubles, Winter Wonderland, Millennium, Lets Go To the Movies and The Roaring Twenties; the 80s compilation show Dragula was produced to acclaim on the London Fringe in 2002-3, whilst Spectacular Spectacular is being performed at the Café de Paris in May 2009; the premiere of his new musical Sweet FA (book, music and lyrics) takes place at the New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth, in the autumn of 2009. He has directed shows as diverse as the cult fringe hit Dragula and the first ever production of The Magic Flute to be staged in Moldova (with the State Chamber Orchestra and Choir, funded by the British Embassy). Dominic is also director of the Centre for Music Theatre at the University of Portsmouth, and co-editor of the academic journal, Studies in Musical Theatre. He has recently addressed audiences at Chichester Festival Theatre, the ‘Sondheim: Collaborator and Auteur’ conference marking Sondheim’s 75th birthday, ‘Song, Stage and Screen’ conferences in Portsmouth, Leeds and New York, and International Federation for Theatre Research conferences in Washington DC and Helsinki.
2009 Sweet FA (The New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth), Writer / Director
2009 Spectacular Spectacular (Café de Paris, London), Writer / Director
2006 The Magic Flute (Sala cu Orga, Chisinau, Moldova), Director
2004 Life After George (Vienna’s English Theatre), Music
2004 Making Dickie Happy (The Rosemary Branch Theatre, Islington), Music
2004 The ‘Ouses In-Between (Commissioned by the Thomas Ellis Owen Festival, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund; the Third Floor Arts Centre, Portsmouth), Director
2003 Dragula (The Rosemary Branch Theatre, Islington), Writer / Director
2003 Orpheus: excerpts (Teatro Technis, Camden), Writer
2003 Quartet (Vienna’s English Theatre), Musical consultant
2002 Dragula (The Rosemary Branch Theatre, Islington), Writer / Director
2002 Machinal (Central School of Speech and Drama), Writer / MD / Director
