The actor and theatre director Phelim McDermott was born in Manchester in 1963 and made his screen debut as a jester in the 1991 film Robin Hood. He co-founded the theatre company Improbable in 1996. The company’s first production, 70 Hill Lane, was based on McDermott’s childhood experience of a poltergeist. He directs opera as well as theatre, including Satyagraha by Philip Glass, first staged in 2007 for the ENO. McDermott’s next show, in collaboration with the RSC, is an adaptation of 1988 Studio Ghibli film My Neighbour Totoro, previewing at the Barbican from 8 October.
