Richard Carroll
Richard Carroll is a director, writer and producer based in Sydney. He has been Co-Artistic Director of Hayes Theatre Co since 2022.
Richard directed an acclaimed production of Calamity Jane at Hayes Theatre Co in 2017 starring Virginia Gay, which toured to five cities in 2018-19 including a mainstage season at Belvoir and a 5-week commercial run at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre. He won a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Production of an Independent Musical, and was nominated for Best Director of a Musical.
His production of Once debuted at Darlinghurst Theatre Company in 2019, then transferred to Merrigong Theatre Co. Once had subsequent seasons at Black Swan State Theatre Company and the Comedy Theatre in Melbourne, as well as return seasons at Darlinghurst Theatre Company in 2021 and 2022.
Richard has directed a new production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! for Black Swan, and The Boy, George, starring comedian Joel Creasey. He co-directed The Boomkak Panto for Belvoir, and An Act of God for Darlinghurst Theatre Co, starring Mitchell Butel.
Other directing work at Hayes Theatre Co includes Murder For Two, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Godspell, Monty Python’s Spamalot (followed by an Australian tour), Side Show, and Gypsy.
Richard is co-creator and director of Every Musical Ever at the 2022 Adelaide Cabaret Festival, and The Show Goes On starring Bernadette Robinson, at Sydney Opera House and Arts Centre Melbourne. For Neglected Musicals, he has directed presentations of Mame and Meet Me in St Louis, as well as the first incarnation of his Calamity Jane.
Other directing work includes Rewired for Sydney Festival & Hayes Theatre Co, A Night at the Speakeasy for Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and opening night variety gala concerts for Adelaide Cabaret Festival, The Art House, and The Pavilion Performing Arts Centre. Richard’s cabaret work includes: Everybody Loves Lucy (co-writer); Dahlesque (co-writer); ¡Hispanic Attack! (writer/director, national tour); and Don’t Bother To Knock (co-writer/director, Hayes/Adelaide Cabaret Festival).
Richard’s producing work includes Darlinghurst Nights and High Society for Hayes Theatre Co; Calamity Jane, Side Show, and Monty Python’s Spamalot for One-Eyed Man Productions; Sweet Charity and Miracle City for Luckiest Productions, and Gypsy for Luckiest Productions & One Eyed Man Productions. In 2010, Richard co-wrote and was associate producer of the FOXTEL documentary David Campbell On Broadway.
Statement
I live and work primarily on Gadigal land, as well as on the lands of other Aboriginal peoples across the place we now call Australia. Although I call this land my home, it was never ceded by its traditional custodians, but was taken through violence, criminality, and other human rights abuses of the worst kind. The atrocities of colonialism are an unresolved injustice in need of redress.
I wholeheartedly support the goals of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and the urgent implementation of the reforms it sets out, as a starting point for the reparation of wrongs done to First Nations people, both historically and through to the present day.
I believe it is our greatest privilege that we live and work on Aboriginal land, home to the oldest storytelling culture in the world. May we always remember this, and be honoured to tell stories on this land.
Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
- Richard