Marc Sinden

Marc Sinden (born 9 May 1954) is an English film director, actor and theatre producer. His father is the actor Sir Donald Sinden.

Theatre
His decision to change from being an actor to a producer coincided with being offered the position in 1993 of artistic director at Bernard Miles' famous Mermaid Theatre in Blackfriars, London where he created the Bernard Miles Studio, but left after a year.

He then formed his own theatrical production company, presenting in 1996 the premiere of N.J. Crisp's That Good Night on a critically acclaimed national tour starring Donald Sinden, Patrick Ryecart and Nigel Davenport and directing his first commercial tour, Edward Hall.

During this period he also produced a highly successful series of audio tapes (re-released as CDs in 2010) including The Ballad of Reading Gaol read by Donald Sinden and The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde, with readings by Judi Dench, Jeremy Irons, Derek Jacobi, Joanna Lumley, Geoffrey Palmer and Elaine Stritch.

In 1997 Sinden was appointed associate producer for Bill Kenwright Ltd. As associate producer his West End credits are Lady Windermere's Fan (Haymarket); An Ideal Husband (Haymarket and Gielgud) and Pygmalion (Albery), which he cast and co-directed. Marc was responsible for the output of the Theatre Royal, Windsor, casting and producing such shows and subsequent tours as Catch Me If You Can; Canaries Sometimes Sing; My Fat Friend; Dangerous To Know; Huckleberry Finn; Aladdin; Pygmalion (tour); Lady Windermere's Fan (a co-production tour with the Royal Exchange, Manchester); Noël and Gertie; Passion (in concert at the Golders Green Hippodrome for CD recording); Fallen Angels; The Woman in Black; Move Over Mrs Markham and Time's Up. He also liaised between Bill Kenwright and the Peter Hall Company for which he cast and was associate producer on the tour of Just The Three Of Us by Simon Gray and helped organise the Australian co-production tour of An Ideal Husband.

In 1998 he resumed his independent career as Marc Sinden Productions and produced and co-directed Shakespeare's Villains (Haymarket) with Steven Berkoff, which was nominated for a Society Of London Theatre Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment.

He also produced the 25th anniversary revival of East, directed by the plays author Steven Berkoff, winning the Stage Award for Best Ensemble work at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, (Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh; Le Théâtre Silvia Monfort, Paris & Vaudeville). Other productions include The Glee Club (Duchess) following its transfer from the Bush Theatre; Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners, which he directed and also co-wrote with Carry On... writer Norman Hudis which is still touring; Asking For Trouble with Sheridan Morley; Sex Wars with Louise Jameson and Straker Sings Brel directed by Mel Smith.

He established The One Night Booking Company, which presents celebrity-led anthologies and recitals nationally and internationally on 'One Night Stands' and includes the successful An Evening with... series, showcasing famous actors and comedians, such as Julian Clary, Nicholas Parsons etc. and he created UK Theatre Availability.co.uk a membership-only website exclusively for Theatre Managers and Theatre Producers use.

He inaugurated the British Theatre Season, Monaco bringing star-led theatrical shows to the Théâtre Princesse Grace in Monte Carlo. On 17 October 2007, HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco awarded the British Theatre Season his High Patronage.

His next production is to be Jeffrey Archer's Prison Diaries by FF8282, the theatrical adaptation of all three of the best-selling diaries chronicling Lord Archer's time in jail.

He represents the UK on the Artistic Advisory Board of the Colorado Festival of World Theatre, is a Founder member of the Piccadilly Dance Orchestra's Honorary Advisory Development Board and broadcast a regular live monthly slot ‘UK Theatre News’ on ‘The Magazine’ programme for BBC Radio Guernsey.

Film & DVD
He is a producer, with his ex-wife Jo Gilbert, of the 40-part documentary series Great West End Theatres (currently in production) and was the producer of the DVD release An Evening with... Sir Donald Sinden, filmed at Pinewood Studios and Steven Berkoff's East, filmed in front of a live audience at the Vaudeville Theatre, London.

Theatre
Sinden co-directed Shakespeare's Villains (Haymarket) with Steven Berkoff, which was nominated for a Society Of London Theatre Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment and Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners, which he directed and also co-wrote with Carry On... writer Norman Hudis, which is still touring.

Film & DVD
Charles Spencer, the drama critic for the Daily Telegraph, reported that Sinden is currently directing the 40-part documentary series Great West End Theatres, in which Donald Sinden tells the history and stories associated with each of the main London theatres. In their review of the first 10 episodes of the series, the British Theatre Guide said "This film is as close as one can get to standing on the stage taking an ovation. This series is beautifully filmed and gets the balance exactly right between classy camera work, history, reminiscence and gossip."

He is a Professional member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain, a Director member of Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Virtual Studio and an Honorary member of Stunts Incorporated.

Theatre
Sinden's acting work in the theatre is extensive with over 40 regional tours or West End productions to his credit, including 'Charles Surface' in The School for Scandal (Duke of York's) with his father Donald Sinden. This was chosen as the British Council's 50th anniversary tour, playing in 21 cities in 10 countries. He also starred in Her Royal Highness (Palace) and Two Into One (Shaftesbury), both written and directed by Ray Cooney; ‘Squire Sullen’ in The Beaux' Stratagem (Lyttelton, Royal National Theatre) opposite Brenda Blethyn; Over My Dead Body (Savoy) with June Whitfield; Underground with Raymond Burr (Prince of Wales and Royal Alexandra, Toronto); Ross with Simon Ward (Old Vic and Royal Alexandra, Toronto); Ray Davies' first musical Chorus Girls (Theatre Royal, Stratford East) written by Barrie Keeffe and the première of Alan Bennett's Enjoy (Vaudeville) with Joan Plowright.

A season at the Chichester Festival Theatre included ‘Stephen Undershaft’ in George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara with Donald Sinden, directed by Christopher Morahan and as Assistant director, Sam Mendes; at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, ‘Broadbent’ in Shaw's rarely seen John Bull's Other Island with Cyril Cusack, directed by Joe Dowling; 'Cassius' in a well-received tour of Julius Caesar with the New Shakespeare Company, directed by David Conville and a very long national tour of Noël Coward's Private Lives with Gemma Craven.

Film & DVD
He appeared as 'Surveyor White' in the film version of Spike Milligan's novel Puckoon with Richard Attenborough filmed in Belfast; 'Senior Allied Officer White' in the comedy The Brylcreem Boys with Gabriel Byrne, Billy Campbell and Jean Butler filmed in the Isle of Man; 'Captain Dawson' in al-Mas' Ala Al-Kubra with Oliver Reed, filmed in Iraq by cinematographer Jack Hildyard; the French film Mangeuses d'Hommes filmed in Sierra Leone; Decadence with Steven Berkoff and Joan Collins filmed in Luxembourg; the Italian film Piccolo Grande Amore with Susannah York and David Warner filmed in Austria; 'Lord Dolman' in Michael Winner's The Wicked Lady with Faye Dunaway, Alan Bates and Sir John Gielgud with cinematography by Jack Cardiff; White Nights with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Helen Mirren and Isabella Rossellini (which was the Royal Film Performance of 1986); 'Captain Perez' in Carry On Columbus directed by Gerald Thomas, filmed by Alan Hume and produced by Sinden's godfather Peter Rogers and was 'Mr. Honeythunder' in Charles Dickens' The Mystery of Edwin Drood with Robert Powell.

Television
He is probably best known for playing Inspector Stokesay in Magnum, P.I. with Tom Selleck and as Martyn Price in the BAFTA and Emmy award-winning The Politician's Wife with Trevor Eve and Juliet Stevenson. He has appeared in Judge John Deed; the series Island set on Jersey and has also had roles in the BBC TV drama series' Century Falls and Country Boy; Against All Odds with Roy Marsden; Never the Twain; Bergerac; Peter Tinniswood's Home Front with Brenda Bruce; Barry Morse presents Strange But True; Rumpole of the Bailey with Leo McKern; Emmerdale; If You Go Down in the Woods Today with Eric Sykes; Desmond Elliott in the original series of Crossroads; Joss Melford, opposite Lindsay Duncan in the episode Deadlier Than the Male, in Dick Turpin with Richard O'Sullivan; All at No 20 with Maureen Lipman; Shoestring with Trevor Eve and Wolf to the Slaughter (the first of the Ruth Rendell/Inspector Wexford TV adaptations).

He was also nominated in 1981 for a Sony Award for his voice-overs for the Apple Computers TV advertisements.

"Hey Jude"
In 1968 he and his brother Jeremy were part of the "Na-Na" chorus on Hey Jude by the Beatles, filmed at Twickenham Film Studios.

Personal life
Marc Sinden is divorced from his film producer wife Jo Gilbert and has two children from that marriage: Hal Sinden (born 6 February 1980) who sings with his band Talanas and Bridie Sinden (born 1 September 1990). He is the son of actor Sir Donald Sinden and his late wife, actress Diana Mahony and the brother of the late actor Jeremy Sinden.

After leaving Stanbridge Earls school in 1971 aged 17, Sinden studied on the acting course at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School from 1971-73 alongside fellow students Trudie Styler and Pete Postlethwaite. Following this, he became a jeweller at H. Knowles Brown in Hampstead High Street, London for five years. Marrying in 1977, he returned to acting in 1978, working as an acting/ASM in weekly-repertory at the Whitby Pavilion Theatre, Yorkshire performing in 21 plays in 19 weeks.

He is an atheist and secularist, a supporter of the British Humanist Association and National Secular Society, a Fellow of the Zoological Society, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Innholders, a Freemason and was awarded the Freedom of the City of London by the Lord Mayor Sir Kenneth Cork.

In Debrett's People of Today he lists his recreations as "exploring Provence, clay pigeon shooting and polo" and is a member of the Noël Coward Society, London Rowing Club, the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association and Guards Polo Club.