Ian trained as a clown at École Philippe Gaulier, and as a director at the National Theatre Studio, and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He was Laboratory Associate Director at Nuffield Southampton Theatres in 2017/18. He was Physical Comedy Consultant on Comedy of Errors for Grosvenor Open Air Theatre. His comedy production of The Ingenious Gentleman: Don Quixote of La Mancha (Jacksons Lane & international tour) for Little Soldier Productions, won The Stage Award and Vaults Festival Awards. He directed award-winning comedian Elf Lyons in a recent production of Medusa for Nuffield Southampton Theatres. He has also worked with the international physical comedy company, Spymonkey, on their productions Oedipussy, Every Last Trick, Jekyll and Hyde(ish) and Love In, and with comedy director Cal McCrystal, as an assistant director.
Recent directing credits include: Phoenix and Turtle (Little Angel Theatre); Othello (Unicorn Theatre, London); Nude (Forest Forge Theatre); Arabian Nights (The Egg, Bath); Tender Loving Care (New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth); The Last March (Bike Shed Theatre, Exeter).
He was Associate Director for the National Theatre on we’re here because we’re here, created by Turner Prize Winner Jeremy Deller, and Rufus Norris. He was also Associate Director for Nuffield Southampton Theatres’ productions of The Audience and David Walliams’ Billionaire Boy. He has previous worked as an assistant director for Samuel Hodges, Luke Sheppard, Emma Rice, Sean Holmes and Paul Hunter.