Cheek by Jowl is an international theatre company founded in the United Kingdom by director Declan Donnellan and designer Nick Ormerod in 1981. Donnellan and Ormerod are Cheek by Jowl’s artistic directors and together have directed and designed all but two of Cheek by Jowl’s productions. Cheek by Jowl's current productions are the French language Ubu Roi, by Alfred Jarry and the Russian language production of William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Cheek by Jowl is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.
The company has performed in the UK since 1981 and internationally since 1984, when its productions of Vanity_Fair_(novel) and Pericles were invited to the Almagro, Valladolid, and Jerusalem festivals. As of 2015, Cheek by Jowl has toured to over 390 cities in over 50 countries, including Peter Brook's Bouffes du Nord in Paris, the Chekhov International Festival in Moscow and New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music. Cheek by Jowl is an Associate Company of the Barbican Centre, London.
The core of Cheek by Jowl's work has always been Shakespeare. By the time of their production of Troilus & Cressida in 2008, Cheek by Jowl had produced thirteen of Shakespeare's plays. With their 1986 production of Twelfth Night, Cheek by Jowl were the first to bring a Shakespearean play to The Swan. The company has also consistently produced other classical works of European drama, both in translation and in their original language. Cheek by Jowl have given the British premiere of 10 works of European classics, including Le Cid, by Jean Racine and Andromaque, by Pierre Corneille. In 1989, Cheek by Jowl also produced Donnellan’s own play Lady Betty.
Cheek by Jowl is notable for producing work in English, French and Russian. In 1999, the Russian Chekhov International Theatre Festival commissioned Donnellan and Ormerod to form their own company of Russian actors in Moscow, this sister company performs in Russia and internationally. Cheek by Jowl’s latest Russian production Measure for Measure is the company’s first co-production with Moscow’s Pushkin Theatre.
In 2007, Paris based theatre director Peter Brook invited Donnellan and Ormerod to form a company of French actors; together with Paris’ Bouffes du Nord theatre, Cheek by Jowl co-produced Andromaque, which toured throughout Europe in 2008 and 2009. In 2012, using this same company of French actors Cheek by Jowl went on to produce Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi.