Loyal Audience

Simon Stone (born 19 August 1984) is an Australian film and theatre director, writer and actor. In 2007 Stone founded the independent theatre company The Hayloft Project and adapted and directed their inaugural production of Frank Wedekind's Frühlings Erwachen. This production was remounted in 2008 at Belvoir St Theatre and was described in The Sydney Morning Herald as "a lean, contained, ultimately furious, liberating production that is well-attuned to Wedekind's poetic rhythms, wit and pubescent discoveries." Other productions Stone adapted and directed for The Hayloft Project include Platonov, 3xSisters, The Suicide and The Only Child, a new version of Henrik Ibsen's Little Eyolf which won the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Independent Production. In 2009 he directed Aleksei Arbuzov's The Promise for Belvoir, starring Ewen Leslie, Alison Bell and Chris Ryan. In 2010 he directed and co-wrote with Mark Leonard Winter, Thomas Henning and Chris Ryan a version of Seneca's Thyestes for the The Hayloft Project and Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne. This production won Green Room Awards for Best Production, Best Adaptation and Best Ensemble. In 2011 Stone became the Resident Director at Belvoir. In his first year in the role he wrote and directed The Wild Duck, after Henrik Ibsen, which won the 2011 Helpmann Award for Best Play and was staged in London at the Barbican in 2014. Also in 2011 he also directed Robyn Nevin in Lally Katz's Neighbourhood Watch for Belvoir and adapted and directed Bertolt Brecht's Baal for the Sydney Theatre Company.