Damien Ryan

Managing Director and Artistic Director, Sport for Jove Theatre Company

Damien Ryan is managing director and artistic director of Sport for Jove Theatre Company (SFJ), now in its twelfth year, where he has directed more than 30 productions, written and developed three new works and adapted over a dozen plays. 

The company has a comprehensive education program developed by Damien, and works with tens of thousands of Australian students annually at secondary and tertiary levels.

Damien has worked extensively with Shakespeare, performing in or directing over 70 productions in Australia and overseas, and has worked as actor, director and writer across Australia’s major companies including STC, MTC, Bell Shakespeare, Belvoir, Sydney Festival, Canberra Theatre Centre, Brisbane Festival and Queensland Theatre, and in the independent sector in Sydney. 

Recent directing credits include: 

• Venus & Adonis, a feature film (SFJ) 
• Romeo & Juliet
• The Crucible (SFJ) 
• The Father (STC/MTC)
• Hamlet
• Henry V 
• Henry IV Parts 1&2 (with John Bell) 
• Romeo & Juliet (Bell Shakespeare) 
• Rose Riot
• Merchant of Venice
• Antigone
• Antony and Cleopatra
• The River at the End of the Road
• Cyrano de Bergerac
• No End of Blame
• Othello
• The Tempest
• Romeo & Juliet
• Away
• The Taming of the Shrew
• Macbeth
• Loves Labour’s Lost
• The Importance of Being Earnest
• The Crucible
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• All’s Well That Ends Well
• Twelfth Night
• The Libertine (SFJ)
• Look Back in Anger (Old Fitz with Lizzie Schebesta)

Acting credits include Venus & Adonis, Othello, Romeo & Juliet (SFJ), Life of Galileo, Twelfth Night, Nora (Belvoir); As You Like It, Antony and Cleopatra, Richard 3, Comedy of Errors, Hamlet (Bell Shakespeare); Crime and Punishment, Under Milk Wood (SAT); Mother Courage, Isolde and Tristan, Hamlet and King Lear (Harlos). 

Damien has two award-winning play adaptations (Antigone and Cyrano de Bergerac) published with Currency Press, and over a dozen Sydney Theatre, Green Room, Timeout and Glug awards as director and actor. He is a proud member of MEAA.