Opinion: Why Simon Stone is the director of the moment

The visionary Australian auteur is putting a contemporary twist on The Oresteia at the Bridge Theatre this summer.

Summary

• Simon Stone is directing a new version of The Oresteia at the Bridge Theatre
• He is renowned for his bold adaptations of classic work
• His successes include Yerma with Billie Piper and Phaedra with Janet McTeer
• Stone is also making his mark on film

One of the buzziest shows of the year is the star-studded new production of The Oresteia at the Bridge Theatre. This almighty Greek tragedy is being given a new contemporary twist by the Australian film and theatre director Simon Stone, who is on an incredible run right now.

The Oresteia, which begins performances in July, features an amazing cast, including Tony winner Mary-Louise Parker, David Morrissey, Tom Glynn-Carney, Rosie Sheehy, and Archie Madekwe. But it’s hardly surprising that performers are lining up to work with Stone, whose recent projects on both stage and screen demonstrates his range, boundless creativity, showcasing of talented actors, and ability to bring classic work bang up to date.

Learn more about this exciting artist ahead of your trip to The Oresteia.

Book The Oresteia tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

His adaptations are revelatory

Many London audience members had their first experience of Stone’s work in 2016 with his explosive adaptation of Lorca’s 1934 play Yerma, at the Young Vic. This bold, visceral reworking moved the story (about a woman who is desperate to have a child) from rural Spain to contemporary London, and transformed the lead character into a lifestyle blogger. It featured a shattering performance by Billie Piper, who rightly won a Best Actress Olivier Award.

Stone has performed this magic trick – finding a thoughtful, witty and poignant modern framing for a well-known period drama, one which allows audiences to experience it anew – in multiple productions. Ibsen’s The Wild Duck at the Barbican in 2014 was likewise revelatory, as was his version of Euripides’ Medea, also at the Barbican, in 2019. London Theatre’s five-star review of the latter called Marieke Heebink “one of the single most astonishing Medeas I’ve ever seen”.

More recently, we had a blistering Phaedra at the National Theatre in 2023, starring Janet McTeer as a desperately flawed politician battling a dangerous attraction to the son of her former lover, rather than the original’s monstrous antiheroine. McTeer’s version of Phaedra, Helen, became a modern figure of great complexity: partly yearning to reconnect with her younger self, and resenting how women post-menopause become invisible, partly fuelled by a reckless, egotistical desire to reclaim her sexual power.

Last year, Stone adapted Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea for the Bridge Theatre in a memorable production featuring Alicia Vikander, Andrew Lincoln, and Joe Alwyn. London Theatre’s review praised how this version foregrounded “the very real, unravelling family” at the heart of the drama.

We will doubtless see another electrifying fresh take, showcasing an incredible cast, as Stone brings us his version of Aeschylus’s The Oresteia this summer. Stone has spoken about the work’s eternal themes, such as the burden of inherited trauma and intergenerational conflict, and said that “as long as humankind wages wars and as long as families tear themselves apart this story will remain painfully, cathartically relevant”.

His productions feature bold designs

Stone’s fearless modern updates are brilliantly complemented by the equally audacious set designs. The Wild Duck, Phaedra and Yerma were notable for placing the actors in a claustrophobic glass box, turning the audience into voyeurs and sticking the characters under a microscope. Medea, meanwhile, took place on a completely white stage, reflecting the protagonist’s world (she is a dedicated research scientist who is committed to a psychiatric hospital), and, as the action ramped up, black ash rained down from the sky.

The Lady from the Sea had one of the most talked-about designs of the year, thanks to the coup de théâtre created via Lizzie Clachan’s in-the-round set. It switched from bright white to black as the drama also darkened, and rain soaked the cast, explained London Theatre’s reviewer, leaving the characters “literally drowning in their emotions”.

It’s exciting to think about what Stone might conjure up for The Oresteia, along with the ever-ingenious Clachan, who is back for this latest production. Since Stone noted the cycle of inherited trauma as a key concept, and as the show description says this production sees “a contemporary family wake up in a Greek myth, unable to find a way out of their hellish destiny”, we could well see the actors trapped in some way, adding intensity to this gripping play.

His film work is remarkable too

Stone has impressed on screen as well, making his film directorial debut in 2013 with the Australian anthology film The Turning, and then creating a screen version of The Wild Duck with 2015’s The Daughter, starring Geoffrey Rush, Paul Schneider, Miranda Otto, and Sam Neill. IndieWire’s reviewer called the movie “a quiet, immensely affecting triumph”.

In 2021 Stone had a great success with the beautiful British historical drama The Dig, about the excavation of Sutton Hoo in 1939. The excellent cast featured Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, and Johnny Flynn, and the well-received film – which The Times, in a five-star review, called “serious, intellectually committed, and emotionally piercing cinema” – was nominated for five Baftas.

Stone switched gears and directed a riveting psychological thriller in 2025, The Woman in Cabin 10, starring Keira Knightley as a journalist investigating a murder aboard a superyacht. Next he is making a biographical drama about the legendary Scottish actor Ian Charleson, who was battling AIDS while performing his final Hamlet at the National Theatre, with Scott starring as Charleson and Olivia Colman playing his doctor. The accomplished cast also features Billie Piper, Luke Thompson, Juliet Stevenson, and Joe Locke.

Whether on stage or screen, Stone is clearly the man of the moment: a visionary director whose work is stirring, creative, deeply engaged with the great canon of drama, but also sharply funny, fresh, and alert to contemporary concerns. I can’t wait to see him work his magic with The Oresteia.

Book The Oresteia tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Main photo credit: Phaedra (Photo by Johan Persson). Inset: Yerma, The Lady from the Sea, The Dig (Photos by Johan Persson, coutesy of the movie)