Actor, writer and director
Clint Dyer
Actor, writer and director Clint Dyer has a distinguished career in film and television and is now becoming known as one of the leading lights in British theatre.
Today Deputy Artistic Director of The Royal National Theatre, Clint has worked in the entertainment industry for over three decades, boasting an impressive CV with numerous awards and accolades to his name.
He became the first black British artist to have written, directed, and starred in a full-scale production at the National Theatre when Death of England: Face to Face opened in February 2020. The play was nominated for Best Single Drama at the 2022 BAFTAs, and Best Single Drama at the Broadcast Awards 2023.
He was also the first black man to direct a Shakespeare tragedy at a major British venue when he took on Othello, which was described by The Times as ‘a visceral piece of theatre’, with the Guardian commenting ‘Clint Dyer makes this tragedy feel utterly new’.
His drive behind the piece came from a desire to see an Othello that he actually believed in and “a production that felt like it articulated the black experience,” as Clint explained in an interview with Channel 4.
Championing diversity and representation in theatre, he explained: “we should always, as artists, reflect back at the world what is offered. There’s a fair bit of the black experience and my black experience that I’m trying to talk about.”
His interest in theatre began when he appeared in play called Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'be at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, playing a character called Horace. “Horace had about three scenes, and every time I finished my last scene, in about four or five shows that we did, I got clapped off,” said Clint, speaking with Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
Buoyed by his success, he began attending workshops at the theatre every Saturday morning. “I fell in love with the polities behind Theatre Royal Stratford East,” he explained.
“It was run by a gentleman called Philp Headley then and he just had such an ability and a desire to reflect the society and to challenge the society that we lived in which was so appealing to me, there was a place that my politics and my talent could flourish.
“It was emboldening and gave me a sense of belonging.”
Clint’s more recent projects include the much-celebrated show Get Up Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical, telling the powerful story of one of the most influential musical figures of the 20th Century.
The musical won the 2022 Olivier Award for the Best Original Score or New Orchestrations for Simon Hale, as well as being nominated in three other award categories – Best New Musical, Best Actor in a Musical and Best Supporting Actress in a Musical.
Directed by Clint, it was also nominated for Best Actor in a Musical and Best Musical Director at the Black British Theatre Awards, as well as for Best Musical and Best Actor in the Evening Standard Theatre Awards.
He has also received a nomination for Best Actor for Ferryman at the Central Alberta Film Festival 2022.
A tenant of De Beauvoir Workshops since 2013, Clint enjoys the community, vibrancy and connectivity of De Beauvoir Town.
“I have lived here for 19 years and before that visited the area through friends that lived here. I have always found its closeness to Dalston and its Caribbean community a real draw, whilst still only being a 35-minute bus ride to Soho where a lot of my work is conducted,” Clint explained.
“In the last decade, having so many great restaurants, cafes and bars open here has made it a destination place and keep it vibrant in a way I was not expecting. My studio is in the heart of everything yet quiet enough to not feel compromised. I love it here, and feel very lucky indeed.”
Find out more about Clint’s work at www.clintdyer.co.uk.
Quotes from Channel 4 News interview, November 2022, ‘Stories aren’t told in a way I want to tell them’.
