Kip Williams is an Australian Tony-nominated director and writer of theatre and opera.
Williams was artistic director of Sydney Theatre Company from 2016 to 2024. His appointment at age 30 made him the youngest artistic director in the company's history.
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Life and career
Williams is a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), and the University of Sydney. He is the grandson of actress Wendy Playfair, and the nephew of folk musician Sean Cullip.
Williams first joined Sydney Theatre Company (STC) in January 2012, when he was appointed Directing Associate by then Artistic Directors Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton. He was subsequently made Resident Director in 2013, before being named artistic director and Co-CEO in November 2016, a role in which he served until November 2024, marking 13 years with the company.
Williams won the 2015 Helpmann Award for Best Direction of a Play for his STC production of Tennessee Williams's Suddenly Last Summer.
He has won the Green Room Award for Best Director twice, first in 2016 for his production of Miss Julie for Melbourne Theatre Company, and again in 2023 with STC's The Picture of Dorian Gray.
He is a three-time winner of the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Director. His first win came in 2018 for his STC production of The Harp in the South, his second in 2021 for STC's The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his third in 2022 for STC's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Williams made his West End and Broadway debuts with his adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray, for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play, the Drama League Award for both Outstanding Direction of a Play and Outstanding Production of a Play, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play, and The Stage Debut Award for Creative West End Debut (Direction), and for which he won the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience.
Theatre
Williams has directed both on Broadway and in the West End, as well as for many leading theatre companies and festivals around the world, including Sydney Theatre Company, Donmar Warehouse, Melbourne Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre, Adelaide Festival, Perth Festival, Sydney Opera House, Auckland Arts Festival, Arts Centre Melbourne, and Rising Festival.
Williams' first production for Sydney Theatre Company came in 2012, where at age 25 he directed Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood, at the Sydney Opera House, starring Jack Thompson. In 2013 he adapted and directed a reimagining of Romeo and Juliet, focussing the text on Juliet, again at the Sydney Opera House; as well as an all female production of William Golding's Lord of the Flies at Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, as part of the Helium Festival. In 2014, for Sydney Theatre Company he directed productions of Macbeth starring Hugo Weaving and Maxim Gorky's Children of the Sun adapted by Andrew Upton.
In 2015, Williams directed a radical staging of Tennessee Williams's Suddenly Last Summer, using a blend of live video and stage action. The production earned him a Best Director nomination at the Sydney Theatre Awards, and won him the Helpmann Award for Best Direction of a Play. He also directed the Australian premiere of Caryl Churchill's Love and Information for Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, and the Sydney Theatre Company. The production garnered Williams a second nomination for the Helpmann Award for Best Direction of a Play, as well as Best Director nominations from the Sydney Theatre Awards, and Melbourne's Green Room Awards.
In 2016, for STC Williams directed a revival of the Australian classic The Golden Age by Louis Nowra, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Arthur Miller's All My Sons, for which he was nominated for Best Director at the Sydney Theatre Awards. He also adapted and directed a production of Miss Julie for the Melbourne Theatre Company. It was his second time combining live video and stage action. The production was nominated for eight Green Room Awards, winning Best Production, Best Digital Media Design and Integration, and Best Director for Williams.
In 2017, Williams directed the Australian premiere of Lucy Kirkwood's Chimerica for Sydney Theatre Company. The production featured an ensemble cast of 32, including a chorus of students from NIDA, with set design by David Fleischer. Hailed "a triumph" by The Australian, Chimerica was nominated for two Helpmann Awards; Jason Chong for Best Actor, and Williams for Best Direction of a Play. This was followed by a staging of Caryl Churchill's Cloud 9, Williams' second professional production of a Churchill play. The production was nominated for nine Sydney Theatre Awards, including Best Production and Best Director for Williams. It was also nominated for two Helpmann Awards, Best Director for Williams, and Best Supporting Actor for Harry Greenwood. Later in 2017 he directed an adaptation by Andrew Upton of Chekhov's Three Sisters for the STC.
Opera
Williams has directed opera for Opera Australia, Victorian Opera, Sydney Chamber Opera, Dark Mofo Festival, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Australian String Quartet, Ensemble Offspring, and Carriageworks. Williams has collaborated extensively with Sydney Chamber Opera Artistic Director Jack Symonds since 2011, including productions of Peter Maxwell Davies's The Lighthouse, Fausto Romitelli's An Index of Metals, and stagings of J. S. Bach's cantata Ich habe genug and Symonds' original work Nunc dimittis.
Williams staged a song cycle for SCO and the 18th Biennale of Sydney titled Through the Gates, consisting of works from Shostakovich to Bach.
In 2017 he co-directed with Elizabeth Gadsby a gender bending reinterpretation of Benjamin Britten's chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia. The production involved singers lip synching and performing multiple characters in a radical reframing of Britten's original piece. The production was a co-production between Victorian Opera, SCO, and Dark Mofo, and premiered in Sydney at Carriageworks. It was revived in June 2018 for Dark Mofo and played at the Theatre Royal, Hobart. In 2024 he directed the world premiere of Jack Symond's Gilgamesh, the first English language operatic adaptation of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The production received the Art Music Awards for Performance of the Year and Work of the Year: Dramatic.
Williams was set to direct Handel's Hercules for English National Opera in the autumn of 2020, but the production was unable to proceed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Williams will return to ENO to direct the European premiere of Angel's Bone by Du Yun and Royce Vavrek in May 2026, in collaboration with Factory International and BBC Philharmonic.