Marc Sinden
Marcus Andrew Sinden is an English actor, director and producer.
Sinden has worked in film and theatre as both actor and producer and directed the documentary series Great West End Theatres, detailing the history of ten of the forty major playhouses in London. He was artistic director of the Mermaid Theatre and inaugurated the British Theatre Season in Monaco, which was awarded a Royal Warrant by Prince Albert of Monaco. His first West End production was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment and another won the Stage Award for Best Ensemble work at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He is also the director and co-author of the touring anthology Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners and was nominated for a Sony Award for his voice-overs for Apple Computer's TV advertisements.
His father was the actor Donald Sinden.
In 1968, he and his older brother, actor Jeremy Sinden, were part of the "Na-Na" chorus on "Hey Jude" by the Beatles.
As producer
Theatre
In 1993, Sinden became the artistic director at Bernard Miles' 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 première of N.J. Crisp's That Good Night on a national tour starring Donald Sinden, Patrick Ryecart and Nigel Davenport and Edward Hall. During this period he also produced a series of audio tapes 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 ; An Ideal Husband and Pygmalion, which he cast and co-directed. Marc was responsible for some of the output of the Theatre Royal, Windsor. He also cast and produced such shows and subsequent tours as Catch Me If You Can; Canaries Sometimes Sing; My Fat Friend; Dangerous To Know; Huckleberry Finn; Aladdin; Pygmalion ; Lady Windermere's Fan ; Noël and Gertie; Passion ; Fallen Angels; The Woman in Black; Move Over Mrs Markham and Time's Up. He liaised between Bill Kenwright and the Peter Hall Company, for which he cast and was associate producer on the tour of the première 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 with Steven Berkoff, which was nominated for a Society of London Theatre Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment. In 2000 the production won the LA Weekly Theater Award for Solo Performance. 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,. Sinden is also the producer of Berkoff's An Actors Lament, Berkoff's first verse-play since Decadence in 1981.
Other productions include The Glee Club 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 internationally; Asking For Trouble with Sheridan Morley; Sex Wars with Louise Jameson and Straker Sings Brel directed by Mel Smith.
He inaugurated the British Theatre Season, Monaco, bringing English-language theatrical shows to the Théâtre Princesse Grace in Monte Carlo. On 17 October 2007, Prince Albert II of Monaco awarded the British Theatre Season his High Patronage.
File:World War I - Vimy sector tunnel.jpg|thumb|right|upright|One of the tunnels in Vimy Ridge where the mines were laid
Film and documentaries
Sinden is co-producing the new thriller The Athena Syndrome, currently in pre-production at Elstree Film Studios, filming in 2026 with release due at the end of that year.He is a producer with his former wife Jo Gilbert and director of the 40-part documentary series Great West End Theatres 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 in 1999.
He is the co-producer of the film version of N.J. Crisp's That Good Night filmed in Portugal starring John Hurt and Charles Dance and released in 2017.
In August 1998, Sinden was producing a documentary at Vimy Ridge in Arras, northern France about the First World War underground mines when Lt-Col Mike Watkins, the Head of Explosive Ordnance Disposal and the British Army's leading bomb disposal expert who was in charge of the decommissioning of the huge bombs in the 20-mile subterranean complex, was killed in an accident underground. Sinden said that Lt-Col Watkins was "A hero who had saved countless lives through his bomb disposal work. His work was often secretive and undercover and it would have put him in danger to publicise his action while he was alive, but now he is dead it does not matter. I admired him more than anyone I have ever met."
As director
Theatre
Sinden co-directed Shakespeare's Villains 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 and documentaries
, the drama critic for the Daily Telegraph, reported that Sinden was "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 the event, only ten episodes were completed. In their review of those ten episodes, 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." The Daily Telegraph review stated that the "lovely documentary series is made by the director Marc Sinden. Its star, and – it transpires – the best documentary frontman of all time, is his actor-father: Sir Donald Sinden. Sir Donald has been let loose, offering anecdotes and memories apparently as they occur to him and the effect is enchanting beyond belief. It is also, at times, incredibly funny. It seems to me rather important that the series should be completed: this is popular history at its best."
The series was broadcast in 2013 in the UK on Sky Arts 2.
Sinden is a Professional member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain and Directors UK and a Director member of Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Virtual Studio, where he has a private office.
As actor
Theatre
Sinden's acting work in the theatre includes over 40 regional tours or West End productions to his credit, including 'Charles Surface' in The School for Scandal with his father Donald Sinden and directed by John Barton. 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? and Two into One, both written and directed by Ray Cooney; 'Squire Sullen' in The Beaux' Stratagem opposite Brenda Blethyn and Stephen Dillane; Over My Dead Body with June Whitfield; Underground with Raymond Burr ; Ross with Simon Ward ; Ray Davies' first musical Chorus Girls written by Barrie Keeffe and the première of Alan Bennett's Enjoy with Joan Plowright, directed by Ronald Eyre.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 national tour of Julius Caesar for the New Shakespeare Company and a 12-month national tour of Noël Coward's Private Lives with Gemma Craven.