Llanelli-born Ceri Sherlock has just been appointed to a leading role with the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. Professor Sherlock, renowned as an international director and producer of theatre, music theatre, opera, film and television, has been elevated to Dean of Drama at the HKAPA.
He is the first non-Oriental Dean of Drama in 27 years at the HKAPA. “It’s a wonderful achievement and all of his family in Llanelli are very proud of him and overjoyed at his success,” his mum Velda said from her home in New Road, Llanelli.
Professor Sherlock, 53, is an honorary Professor of Drama at Kingston University, London, and a Visiting Professor in Media and Performance at the University of Glamorgan.
He was educated at Ysgol Dewi Sant, Llanelli, and Llandovery College. He studied philosophy and theology at King’s College and at the Institute of Education, University of London. He was a Fulbright Scholar in directing and screenwriting at the School of Theatre, Film and Television at the University of California, Los Angeles; and a Nipkow Fellow in Berlin.
He gained his PhD in Performance Studies (myth and ritual in theatre and film) at the Cardiff Centre for Creative and Cultural Industries. He has taught at Palmers Green High School, London, and has been a Lecturer in Drama at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth; Judith E. Wilson Fellow in Drama at the University of Cambridge, Faculty of English and Fellow of Churchill College. He was a Visiting Fellow in Drama at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh; College ‘Mentor’ in Drama, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Professor Sherlock was Artistic Director of the award-winning Actors Touring Company (London) and Artistic Director of the classical theatre company THEATRIG and was Head of Drama at Ffilmiau Elidir. He has also worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre in London where he worked with Anatoli Vasiliev. He was a staff director at the Welsh National Opera, and an assistant to Peter Stein of the Schaubuhne am Lehniner Platz, Berlin, and his Associate Director at the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels.
He was Associate Director of Theatr Cymru and of the National Youth Theatre of Wales. Professor Sherlock has directed several international award-winning films – Dafydd, Fallen Sons, Branwen and the feature Cameleon, which won a number of awards including a Golden Gate at the San Francisco Film Festival; the Golden Torch ‘Spirit of the Festival’ at the Celtic Film and Television Festival and the Publikumspreis at the Wurzburg Filmwochende in Germany.
He was the first Expert Advisor in Arts and Culture for the National Assembly of Wales (2000-2002); Commissioning Editor for Music and Performance at S4C and Commissioning Executive Arts and Entertainment (Multiplatform) at BBC Wales and an Executive Producer for BBC 4. His directing expertise and practice cover a spectrum of platforms and expressions from Classical Western Text theatre; Non Naturalistic work; Site Specific or Site Sympathetic production; music and lyric theatre; music theatre, opera, oratorio and musicals; film and television; and experimental expression; installation, video and film, live and recorded, and time and place displacement. Aside from the performing arts, Ceri has produced and directed a number of television documentaries and features – including the series Painting Flowers and The Private Life of a Masterpiece for BBC 2.
