Hi people. Here’s me.
I’m a Director and Dramaturg working in theatre, audio, film and XR. I also occasionally work as a writer and verrrrry occasionally (mostly for love, not for money) as a sound artist. I co-founded Sleepdogs with Timothy X Atack and I’m a resident at Pervasive Media Studio, Watershed, Bristol. I won the 2024 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award.
I’ve been Associate Director to Dominic Cooke in the West End on GOOD (Harold Pinter Theatre), MEDEA (@sohoplace theatre) and on the new musical adaptation of ROCK FOLLIES (Chichester Festival). I was the National Theatre’s Staff Director on Max Webster’s production of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST.
“Director Tanuja Amarasuriya orchestrates the production with a quiet brilliance, crafting a world that feels both expansive and crushingly small. Nothing is overstated, yet each detail is honed, from Lawther’s voice, brimming with youthful longing, drifting through the void, to James’ every measured movement.”
– Kris Hallett (Life as theatre) on DELAY.
Here are some production stills from work I’ve directed:
If you’re interested in working with me, please drop me a line.
Complete CV available on request.
Here’s a selection of what you’ll find on it:
DIRECTING CREDITS include:
PRIVATE LIVES by Noël Coward (forthcoming, UK tour). Co-produced by Bolton Octagon, Colchester Mercury, Rose Theatre and Northern Stage, also touring to Bristol Old Vic.
DELAY by Timothy X Atack (Bristol Old Vic). Produced by Amanda Fawcett Productions and Bristol Old Vic.
JULIUS CAESAR by William Shakespeare (Malcolm X Centre, Bristol). Produced by Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
WE ANCHOR IN HOPE by Anna Jordan (LAMDA Linbury Theatre). Produced by LAMDA.
ABSOLUTE SCENES by Timothy X Atack (The Marble Factory, Bristol). Commissioned and produced by Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Performed by a cast of 28 actors. Presented site-specifically at the Marble Factory, Bristol.
OUT OF SORTS by Danusia Samal (Theatre503). Produced and presented by Theatre503.
Winner of the Theatre503 International Playwriting Prize.
THE PAPER MAN (Improbable) Presented by Tobacco Factory Theatres, Soho Theatre.
OCEAN CONFESSIONS (Sura Medura, Sri Lanka) site-specific augmented audio piece, created by Sleepdogs.
CHECK THE LABEL (Bristol Old Vic) written and performed by Eno Mfon.
THE BULLET AND THE BASS TROMBONE (Bristol Old Vic and national touring) written and performed by Timothy X Atack. Produced by MAYK. UK tour including: National Theatre, New Wolsey Theatre, Butterworth Hall, Manchester Royal Exchange, Brighton Festival.
WRITING/DRAMATURGY includes:
ARCH (dramaturg) performance/action created by Kaleider. Toured UK & internationally.
SALTSEA CHRONICLES (character creation & worldbuilding collaborator) story-led computer game for Die Gute Fabrik
YOU HEARD ME (dramaturg) performance by Luca Rutherford.
FOREST 404 (dramaturg), radio drama podcast. Written by Timothy X Atack, for BBC Sounds
ICE ROAD and THE STICK HOUSE (dramaturg), site-specific/immersive theatre for Raucous
SAM HALMARACK & THE MISERABLITES (dramaturg)created by Sam Halmarack. Produced by Bristol Old Vic Ferment. Toured UK & internationally.
COMPOSING/SCORING includes:
OCEAN CONFESSIONS site-specific, augmented audio piece, Sura Medura, Sri Lanka.
LNK_A short album of electro-pop made entirely from field recordings of Sri Lanka. Created by Sleepdogs and available to buy on bandcamp.
RESIDUE Short film. Directed by Sookie Greene. Commissioned by Channel 4 Random Acts.
I spent a couple of years trying my hand at sound design for theatre, and though it’s not something I offer any longer, I’m proud that my work included: SALT. by Selina Thompson, directed by Dawn Walton; STATUS by Chris Thorpe & Rachel Chavkin; THE HALF GOD OF RAINFALL by Inua Ellams, directed by Nancy Medina.
Fellowships/Awards include:
– WINNER: RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award 2024.
– Industry Fellowship: Expanded Performance (2020-21) researching how XR technologies can deepen people’s experience of live performance. Awarded by Bristol & Bath Creative R&D
– Leverhulme Arts Scholarship (2017) attached to Bristol Old Vic
I have given talks, guest lectures, workshops and masterclasses for events and organisations including: the Dramaturg’s Network, Bristol Old Vic theatre School, Storyfutures Academy ‘Training the Trainers” programme, Hello Culture/BBC Digital Cities, JMK Regional Directors Programme, Seoul Performing Arts Market (with the British Council). My published talks and essays include: Breaking theatre is more fun than making theatre for Watershed Pervasive Media Studio; Wrong Kind of Asian, Wrong Kind of Work for the Sleepdogs Notebook and republished in the Stages of Resistance salon series; Feeling Being, a collection of essays on performance and technology for Watershed/Bristol & Bath Creative R&D, and other essays for D.I.Y (Ed. Robert Daniels, University of Chichester, UK, 2014), An Audience (R)evolution (Ed. Caridad Svich, Theater Communications Group, USA, 2016), Towards A Future Theatre (Ed. Caridad Svich, 2022) and on theatrebristol.net
My essay: is published on the Sleepdogs Notebook, as are the collected essays I wrote exploring ’emotional immersion’ in tech/performance work, under the title: Feeling Being.
And back in the mists of time, I was co-Director of Theatre Bristol; Associate Producer at In Between Time; Live Art and Dance co-ordinator at Arnolfini; and served on the boards of Uninvited Guests, the Mike Atack Trust, and New Work Network. I also sold books at Waterstones (back when they still mostly sold books) and vinyl (plus also duvets, for some reason) at Replay Records (gone, but always in my heart).
Some words by other people about my work:
“Delay is a marvel of theatrical alchemy—intimate yet vast, tender yet epic. It transcends its modest scale with vivid theatricality and grand ideas, wrapping itself around a love story that defies the constraints of time and distance.”
– Kris Hallett (Life as theatre) on DELAY“Tanuja Amarasuriyaʼs production brings out the playʼs warmth and humour,
[…] a sense of tenderness permeates the whole piece.”
– The Stage on OUT OF SORTS“This layered, nuanced piece of writing is worthy of the 2018 Theatre503 International Playwriting Award. Itʼs brought to life through Amarasuriyaʼs vision, who maintains a breakneck pace typical of the familiar and familial environment – conversations interrupted, things unsaid because of shared understandings, rivalries and quarrels all too recognisable in the parent- daughter, sibling or squabbling best friend dynamic… Out Of Sorts is an ensemble effort of thought-provoking, emotionally wrenching theatre.”
– Miro Magazine on OUT OF SORTS“It’s highly unlikely you’ll experience a more unforgettably visceral, immersive, darkly intense
and mesmerisingly beautiful theatrical 105 minutes this year.”
– 365Bristol.com on DARK LAND LIGHT HOUSE“What an incredible piece. So vulnerable and exposing and confronting and hilarious and brave.
It’s not what you think it will be all. Thank you SO MUCH for this important work.”
– @LouLouMason on THE PAPER MAN“It’s theatre at its most demanding, its most uncomfortable, its most evocative, its most primal, its most human, its most complex, and its most brilliant.”
– 365bristol.com on DARK LAND LIGHT HOUSE“Utterly transported by The Bullet & The Bass Trombone: haunting, spellbinding & exhilarating.”
– @jonathanwakeham on THE BULLET AND THE BASS TROMBONE“This isn’t a show you see. This is a show you breathe, you hear, you feel in your arteries.
It’s almost impossible to describe.”
– Emma Geraghty on THE BULLET AND THE BASS TROMBONE“What starts out as ludicrous standup in feathers and claw feet carries with it a startling emotional trajectory, moving from savage humour to a haunting final scene.”
– the Guardian, on BUZZARD.