Marcelo Dos Santos

Writer

Agent

Simon Blakey
  • +44 207 908 0977

Marcelo is an award-winning Latinx British-Brazilian-Australian writer.

He has been a writer on attachment at the National Theatre, the Bush Theatre, HighTide Festival Theatre as well as the Royal Court Theatre.  In 2014 he adapted the critically acclaimed best-selling Zizou Corder novel Lionboy for Complicité which toured extensively in the UK and internationally, including to the New Victory Theater on Broadway where it was Critics Choice in the New York Times.

In 2022, Marcelo won a Scotsman Fringe First award for Excellence in New Writing for his monologue Feeling Afraid as if Something Terrible is Going to Happen directed by Matthew Xia, starring Tony and Olivier-nominated Samuel Barnett (The History Boys, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency) produced by Francesca Moody, producer of Pheobe Waller Bridges’ Fleabag and Richard Gadd’s Baby Reindeer.  Critics hailed the play as ‘A masterclass in comic delivery’ (WhatsOnStage), ‘razor sharp(Scotsman) and ‘Frank, funny and occasionally filthy… following in the footsteps of Fleabag‘ (The Independent).  The production will transfer to London’s The Bush Theatre in November of 2023.

Previous theatre work includes Trigger Warning (Camden People’s Theatre), The End of History (A site-responsive play staged at St Giles In The Fields in Soho), Open Plan (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama), Knights (directed by Michael Longhurst, Tristan Bates Theatre) and New Labour, (RADA, directed by Richard Wilson).

Marcelo was also a member of the BBC Drama Room and is developing several television projects with companies including Avalon TV, Mam Tor Productions and Drama Republic

Plays include:

BACKSTAIRS BILLY
Dir. Michael Grandage
Starring Penelope Wilton and Luke Evans
Duke of York’s Theatre, from 27 October until 27 January, tickets available here.

★★★★★
‘The best royal drama in decades…perfect’The Daily Telegraph

★★★★                                                             ★★★★
‘Full of delight’The Independent                                ‘A hard hitting comedy drama’Time Out

★★★★
I News, The Sunday Times, The Observer, Theatre Weekly, Broadway World,
London Theatre, The Arts Desk

PLAY WITHOUT A TITLE
Dir. Mark Maughan
Started by Federico Garcia Lorca, finished by Marcelo Dos Santos
Presented by The Oxford School of Drama
New Diorama Theatre July 12th – 15th 2023

FEELING AFRAID AS IF SOMETHING TERRIBLE IS GOING TO HAPPEN
Dir. Matthew Xia
Developed for the actor Samuel Barnett
Paines Plough Roundabout, Francesca Moody Productions, Edinburgh Fringe Festival August 2022
Runs at London’s Bush Theatre from November 10th, tickets available here.

★★★★★
‘Big questions about identity and intimacy leap out like jack-in-the-boxes – but it’s the attention to detail that captivates’
– The Telegraph

               ★★★★              ★★★★                   ★★★★
                       The Times        The Stage         The Independent

★★★★★
‘It’s a very funny show and it confirms Dos Santos as a really interesting writer, using an examination of the mechanisms of comedy to peer closely into the workings of the human heart’ – WhatsOnStage                       

SUBVERTS
Dir. Debbie Hannan
Royal Court Theatre, April 2021
Living Newspaper – Edition 5, Royal Court Theatre (Digital)

TRIGGER WARNING
Dir. Natasha Nixon
Camden People’s Theatre, 22 October – 9 November 2019
Recipient of the Jerwood Home Run Award Commission.

THE END OF HISTORY
Dir. Gemma Kerr
High Hearted Theatre & Soho Theatre, 5 – 23 June 2018
A site-responsive play with songs staged at St Giles In The Fields Church in Soho.

OPEN PLAN
Dir. Mark Maughan
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, 5 – 17 February 2017
Originally written on attachment with HighTide

LIONBOY
Adaptation of the bestselling novel by Zizou Corder
Dir. Annabel Arden
Complicité
National & International tour, 2014-15

Praise for Lionboy:

★★★★    The Guardian       ★★★★ ‘A roaring success’ Mail on Sunday

★★★★ ‘It twinkles with…magical possibility… invention and effortless appeal’ The Times

★★★★ ‘A wonderfully imaginative adventure‘  The Evening Standard

★★★★ ‘…Spellbinding…’ Financial Times

NEW LABOUR
Dir. Richard Wilson
RADA

THE CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE
Dir. Natasha Nixon
NYT, Toynbee Studios

CHEER UP THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
Co-writer
Dir. Gemma Kerr
Liverpool Everyman PlayhouseCommission for the Liverpool Everyword Festival developed in collaboration with Chloe Moss and Helen Blakeman.

WRECKED (re-developed as KNIGHTS)
Dir. Michael Longhurst
Tristan Bates Theatre
Part of the 2011 Ignition Festival

LOVERS WALK
Co-writer
Dir. Gemma Kerr
Southwark Playhouse & Brighton Festival

MOSHING LYING DOWN
Dir. Rachel Briscoe
Green Man Festival, Shunt & Ipswich Pulse Festival
Developed with Fanshen Theatre

OUR LADY OF SOHO
Rehearsed reading
Dir. Gemma Kerr
Wilson Studio, Royal Court Theatre
Cast included Eleanor Bron and Luke Treadaway

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Not to be reproduced in any form without permission of the Copyright holder.

Call Simon to discuss Marcelo or other Writers

+44 207 908 0977