Paul O’Mahony is artistic director of Out of Chaos with whom he created UNMYTHABLE, which won the Three Weeks Editors’ Award in Edinburgh 2012. UNMYTHABLE has toured to more than 80 theaters across the UK, Europe, and New Zealand. He devised Out of Chaos, which in 2008 won Bilbao’s ACT Festival and the 100° Festival in Berlin and he wrote Norsesome with co-founder Mike Tweddle. They recently toured a two-man Macbeth in the UK, a production which will be performing at Off the Map Festival in Utah in 2018.
Paul’s work as an actor has included stints with companies such as The Orange Tree Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company, and English Touring Opera, among many others. He has toured extensively in the United States with leading roles in Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Actors From The London Stage). He is an Associate Director of Actors From The London Stage and was associate producer at Jermyn Street Theatre where his credits included All That Fall (starring Michael Gambon and Eileen Atkins), St John’s Night and Mother Adam.
In 2011, Paul adapted three Greek tragedies to create The House of Atreus, which was produced at the Barbican in London. With Rob Castell, he recently completed his first full-length musical, Delphi, based (once again!) on Greek mythology. In 2015, he directed Much Ado About Nothing in his role as Eminent Artist-in-residence at the University of Wyoming. Paul studied Classics at Oxford University where he twice won the Cawkwell Prize for Classics and was awarded an ancient history scholarship. He is Director of Outreach at Kallos Gallery in London.
His visit to CHS is to research Out of Chaos’s next show Crossing the Sea which will be based on the Aeneid. He’ll be using his time here to talk to the resident fellows and read up on migration and sea travel in the ancient world. Crossing the Sea will eventually include stories relating to the refugee crisis in Europe today, sharing the stories of those who have made similar journeys (and sacrifices) to Aeneas. The show will also be supported by The Playground Theatre in London and the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama in Oxford.