James David Sharman (born 12 March 1945) is an Australian director and
writer for film and stage with more than 70 productions to his credit.
He is renowned in Australia for his work as a theatre director from
the 1960s to the present, and is best known internationally as the
director of the 1973 theatrical hit The Rocky Horror Show, its film
adaptation The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and the film's
follow-up, Shock Treatment (1981).Sharman was born in Sydney, the son
of boxing tent impresario and rugby league player James Michael
"Jimmy" Sharman Jr. (1912â€"2006) and Christina McAndleish Sharman
(1914â€"2003). He was educated in Sydney, though his upbringing
included time spent on Australian showgrounds, where his father ran a
travelling sideshow of popular legend, founded by his father, Jimmy
Sharman Snr, called Jimmy Sharman's Boxing Troupe. This brought him
into contact with the world of circus and travelling vaudeville.
Developing an interest in theatre, he graduated from the production
course at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney in
1966.Sharman created a series of productions of experimental theatre,
many for the Old Tote Theatre Company, culminating in a controversial
staging of Mozart's Don Giovanni for Opera Australia when he was 21
years old. Over the following decade, he directed three rock musicals:
Hair in 1969 (Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo, Boston) (he also designed the
original Sydney production); Jesus Christ Superstar in 1972 (Australia
and Palace Theatre, London) and created the original production of The
Rocky Horror Show with Richard O'Brien in 1973 (Royal Court Theatre,
London â€" subsequently in Sydney, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York
City). He co-wrote the screenplay and directed the international cult
hit film The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) for Twentieth Century
Fox and directed its loosely based sequel, Shock Treatment,in 1981. In
1985, he directed third year students at the National Institute of
Dramatic Art (NIDA) in a production of A Dream Play.
writer for film and stage with more than 70 productions to his credit.
He is renowned in Australia for his work as a theatre director from
the 1960s to the present, and is best known internationally as the
director of the 1973 theatrical hit The Rocky Horror Show, its film
adaptation The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and the film's
follow-up, Shock Treatment (1981).Sharman was born in Sydney, the son
of boxing tent impresario and rugby league player James Michael
"Jimmy" Sharman Jr. (1912â€"2006) and Christina McAndleish Sharman
(1914â€"2003). He was educated in Sydney, though his upbringing
included time spent on Australian showgrounds, where his father ran a
travelling sideshow of popular legend, founded by his father, Jimmy
Sharman Snr, called Jimmy Sharman's Boxing Troupe. This brought him
into contact with the world of circus and travelling vaudeville.
Developing an interest in theatre, he graduated from the production
course at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney in
1966.Sharman created a series of productions of experimental theatre,
many for the Old Tote Theatre Company, culminating in a controversial
staging of Mozart's Don Giovanni for Opera Australia when he was 21
years old. Over the following decade, he directed three rock musicals:
Hair in 1969 (Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo, Boston) (he also designed the
original Sydney production); Jesus Christ Superstar in 1972 (Australia
and Palace Theatre, London) and created the original production of The
Rocky Horror Show with Richard O'Brien in 1973 (Royal Court Theatre,
London â€" subsequently in Sydney, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York
City). He co-wrote the screenplay and directed the international cult
hit film The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) for Twentieth Century
Fox and directed its loosely based sequel, Shock Treatment,in 1981. In
1985, he directed third year students at the National Institute of
Dramatic Art (NIDA) in a production of A Dream Play.
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