About Anna
Anna Pool is a British theatre director, composer & performer. She creates musicals, operas & inter-disciplinary projects that connect people to the places they live.
“the imaginative direction of the British Anna Pool result in a wonderfully escapist performance that mixes genres in a way that you rarely experience” ****
-NRC, Netherlands (Lady in the Dark, 2022)
Most recently her production of Weill’s Lady in the Dark (Opera Zuid) won Place de l’Opera’s Opera of the Year 2022 in the Netherlands. She is currently associate director of The Book Thief (Bolton Octagon/Leicester Curve) and writing a folk electronica score for Medieval Miracles (Eastern Angles).
Other directing includes Acis and Galatea** (Opera North), Dust Child (English Touring Opera), Trident Moon (Finborough Theatre) and a Wes Anderson inspired Bastien und Bastien/ Der Schauspieldirektor (Pop Up Opera UK), a finalist for a 2019 Off West End Award. Anna was associate director of Leeds Playhouse’s acclaimed production of A Little Night Music between 2021-2022.
“Something ingenious” - The Stage (Mozart Double Bill 2018)
Anna is passionate about creating projects which inspire powerful conversations and connections between music, history and identity. These projects include Apart/Mental (winner of the Bury Court Opera Prize and a Rolf Lieberman Fund award), These Wondering Stones (Barbican/Museum of London), Standing Together (Opera North/Huddersfield Holocaust Memorial Trust),
SCRAWW (Hall for Cornwall/Trebah Gardens), Sound Tracks (London Transport Museum/Guildhall School of Music and Drama), Boys of Paradise (workshOPERA/Tete a Tete) and 350 strong community music theatre work, Return of the Unknown (Marlowe Canterbury/Dover Marine Station). In 2021, Anna was awarded an Open Call Artists Award from Spitalfields Festival, creating sonic journey through faith, identity and East London, We Are But Shadows.
As a performer, Anna explores the boundaries between folk, jazz and musical theatre. She was a member of classical chart topping experimental early music group, Mediaeval Baebes, between 2017-2021. Her power folk ensemble, Wise Woman released their debut EP, Thread, in November 2022, and were recently named “On of the most exciting discoveries of 2022” by Tom Robinson’s Fresh on the Net music blog.
“Brilliant…. Hilariously funny”- The Guardian (Il Parnaso Confuso 2015)
Anna is a trustee of Music Theatre Wales as it develops New Directions, a pioneering music theatre creation programme aiming to address barriers to classical music making.
"You owe it to yourself to get out there and see this. Now"-
A Younger Theatre (Trident Moon, 2016)
Photo: Yellow Belly
** postponed in production week due to Covid-19