Draft:Judy Hegarty Lovett

Judy Hegarty Lovett (born 18 September 1968) is an Irish director of theatre and opera known for her interpretations of the works of Samuel Beckett, Will Eno and Herman Melville. Hegarty Lovett is co-artistic director with her husband Conor Lovett (actor) of the theatre company Gare St Lazare Ireland. In 2023 Judy Hegarty Lovett won the award for Best Director at the Irish Times Theatre Awards.

Early life
Hegarty Lovett was born in Cork, Ireland. Her father George Hegarty was the owner and director of Glen Marine Designs ltd. Monkstown, Cork. Her mother Teresa Hegarty, Florist owner of Blossoms Flower Shop, Cork. Judy Hegarty Lovett married her husband Conor Lovett in 1996, and they have three children. Judy Hegarty Lovett and Conor Lovett have lived in France for over 25 years.

Education
Judy was educated at The Ursuline Convent and Crawford College of Art & Design in Cork City where she was awarded a BA in Fine Art. She studied with Philippe Gaulier in London. Judy Studied at Hertfordshire College in the UK receiving a Postgrad in drama- therapy. In 2021 she obtained a PhD in philosophy from Reading University UK.

Theatre
In 1991 Hegarty Lovett lived in Paris and was mentored by Chicago-native and artist Bob Meyer with Gare St Lazare Players. In 1992 she directed Bouncers by John Godber at Théâtre Marie Stuart and the following year Waiting For Godot and Rockaby by Samuel Beckett.

In 1995 when living in London she directed Conor Lovett in Molloy adapted by from Beckett’s 1948 novel of the same name. The production was a hit an Edinburgh Fringe Festival and went on to tour internationally.

From 1996 to 2007, Hegarty Lovett and Conor Lovett staged works for Gare St Lazare Players, staging Beckett prose titles including Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable, Lessness (performed by Olwen Fouere), Texts For Nothing, Enough (performed by Ally Ni Chiarain), Worstward Ho (performed by Lee DeLong), First Love, The End and The Calmative. In 2003 she directed Irish playwright Michael Harding in a solo play written and performed by Harding entitled, Swallow. In 2006 in a co-production with RTE and Gare St Lazare Ireland she directed all six of Beckett’s radio plays and his translation of The Old Tune by Robert Pinge t for The Beckett Centenary Festival. In 2007 Lovett and Hegarty Lovett formed the company Gare St. Lazare Ireland. In 2009 she and Lovett adapted Moby Dick by Herman Melville as a show for a solo actor with musician (CaoimhÍn Ó’Raghallaigh) and toured it extensively. In 2011 the writer Will Eno approached Gare St Lazare Ireland with a new play Title and Deed written for the company. Directed by Hegarty Lovett and featuring Conor Lovett it premiered at Kilkenny Arts Festival in Ireland in August 2011 and the following year in a co-production with Signature Theatre, New York where it was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show. In 2014 it won The Stage Award for Acting Excellence at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

In 2013 Hegarty Lovett worked with Conor Lovett, Paul Clark (composer) and Caiomhín Ó’Raghallaigh (musician) to conceive Here All Night, a performance that includes text and music by Samuel Beckett with new compositions by Clark and improvisations by Ó’Raghallaigh. It premiered at Brighton Festival 2013 and later toured to Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival where Opera News called it ‘one of the highlights of the White Light Festival’. Here All Night went on to tour and play at The Paramount Theatre in Boston, The Abbey Theatre in Dublin and on a National tour in Ireland in 2016. In 2013 Judy directed a production of Waiting for Godot for the Dublin Theatre Festival playing at The Gaiety Theatre Dublin and going on to play The Lyric in Belfast, The Paramount Theater in Boston, The Skirball in NYC and The Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre in China. Tadgh Murphy played Lucky in this production and was nominated for Best Actor at the Irish Times Theatre Awards in 2014.