‘In the beginning was breath’

Declan Donnellan is riding high. His acclaimed production of the burlesque classic Ubu Roi has confirmed his membership of the elite group of British directors who enjoy renown across Continental Europe and beyond. The critics cheered his French-language production of Alfred Jarry’s anarchic satire when it reached Paris earlier this month. The show, created by Donnellan’s company Cheek by Jowl, is currently bunny-hopping between venues on either side of the Channel. It arrives at the Barbican on 10 April where it forms part of the Dancing around Duchamp season.

I meet Donellan in a Hampstead café. ‘My local,’ he says as two cappuccinos are clattered down in front us. He’s chunkily built, in his late 50s, with a large, clean-shaven head, a squashy nose and bulbous eyes that shine impishly in a soft, quizzical face. He looks like Socrates reinvented as a racing tipster from Sligo. His voice is a low, velvety purr, full of vitality and warmth.