Thomas Jolly Director

Season 22/23 Artist

Thomas Jolly was born in Rouen in 1982. In 2003, after a period of professional training at ACTEA and a degree in Theatre Studies at the University of Caen, he integrated the École Supérieure d’Art Dramatique at the National Theatre of Brittany in Rennes, director Stanislas Nordey, where he worked with Jean-François Sivadier, Claude Régy, Bruno Meyssat and Marie Vayssière. In 2005, he took part in Splendid’s by Genet, directed by Cédric Gourmeton and in 2006, under the direction of Stanislas Nordey, he performed in Peanuts by Fausto Paravidino.

At the end of his training, he founded the company Piccola Familia with some of the actors with whom he had shared his apprenticeship years. In 2007 he directed Marivaux’s Arlequin poli par l’amour (revived in 2011 with a new cast), Toâ by Sacha Guitry in 2009 (Prix du public, Festival Impatience, Théâtre de l’Odéon in Paris) and Piscine (pas d’eau) by Mark Ravenhill, which was presented at the Festival “Mettre en Scène” in 2011 in Rennes.

He has also received commissions from Trident – Scène Nationale de Cherbourg-Octeville where he directed Une nuit chez les Ravalet, a promenade production with Piccola Familia, Pontormo in 2008 and Musica Poeta in 2011 and two musical productions with the baroque ensemble Les Cyclopes.

Since 2010, he has been working on William Shakespeare’s Henry VI, a theatrical saga lasting eighteen hours, the first two episodes of which were premiered at the Trident in 2012. The third episode saw the light of day at the National Theatre of Brittany in Rennes, at the Festival Mettre en Scène in 2013. That same year, Thomas Jolly directed Box Office, a play by the young author, Damien Gabriac. In July 2014, he directed the fourth and final episode of Henry VI. The production was performed in its entirety at the 68th edition of the Avignon Festival. In 2015 he undertook the direction of Richard III, bringing his Shakespearean tetralogy to a conclusion and received the Jean-Jacques Gautier – SACD prize and the Molière for the direction of a play for state theatre for his work on Henry VI.

Alongside his work as a director, Thomas Jolly teaches the advanced students at the École Supérieure d’Art Dramatique of the National Theatre of Brittany in Rennes. He also conducts workshops at the Conservatoire in Rouen and at ACTEA in Caen. In October 2014, he directed a Russian version of Arlequin poli par l’amour by Marivaux with the actors of the Gogol Centre in Moscow.

Since 1st January 2014, Thomas Jolly has been an associated artist of the National Theatre of Britanny in Rennes. In July 2016, he will become an associated artist of the National Theatre of Strasbourg. He is making his debut at the Paris Opera this season with a production of Eliogabalo by Francesco Cavalli.