Christopher Haydon is a theatre and film director. He is currently artistic director of the Rose Theatre, Kingston.

Prior to this he was artistic director of the Gate Theatre from 2012-2017 and from 2008-2011 he was associate director at the Bush Theatre. He was a 2017 fellow of the Clore Leadership Programme. Christopher studied and Cambridge University and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, the National Theatre Studio, the Lincoln Center in New York and with Cicely Berry at the RSC. He has been included in the Stage 100 list of the most influential people in British Theatre three times, most recently in 2026. His work as a director has won or been nominated for numerous awards including What’s On Stage Awards, Off West End Awards and Fringe Firsts as well as multiple awards at film festivals around the world.

As well as directing, he has worked extensively as a journalist. He has written for The Scotsman, The Financial Times, The Independent, The Guardian, The New Statesman, The Stage and Prospect Magazine. Publications include The Art of the Artistic Director (Methuen – nominated for the Theatre Book Prize) Conversations on Religion, Conversations on Truth (Continuum), Identity and Identification (Wellcome Collection/Black Dog). He was a contributor to Adapting Translation for the Stage (Routledge). His report Where are the Workers? – Class Diversity in British Theatre Audiences was funded by the AHRC and can be downloaded from the Clore Leadership Programme’s website.