March 8, 2011 | Theatre,

Meet theatre legend Hayley Carmichael (FRAGMENTS)

By Jason Rabin

Hayley Carmichael is a founding “Idiot,” as much a clown as she is an innovative producer and director. Her London-based company, Told By An Idiot, was once described by Time Out as “Theatre about as inventive, imaginative, and fantastical as it gets.” Collaboratively, the group creates plays that embrace artifice, revel in heightened physicality and seek to blur the line between comedy and tragedy.

Despite not taking herself too seriously,Carmichael is, according to British newspaper The Independent, “recognized as among the country’s most distinctive acting talents.” In addition to performing in Theatre Bouffes Du Nord’s international tour of Fragments, she’s performed at the Royal National and the Young Vic, with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Cirque Du Soleil. She’s won two Time Out Best Actress Awards, has appeared both in film and on British television, sometimes voicing animated characters.

Check out this extensive interview she gave to www.theatrevoice.com in 2004.