Renny O’Shea

Renny co-founded Quarantine in 1998 and is co-Artistic Director with Richard Gregory. 

Whatever she’s working on, she’s always interested in the relationship between politics and poetics. Her recent work for Quarantine includes as dramaturg on 12 Last Songs (2021), Wallflower (2018) and Summer. Autumn. Winter. Spring. (2016). She co-edited the book Summer. Autumn. Winter. Spring.: Staging life and death (Manchester University Press 2020). 

Renny directed Something a Taxi Driver in Liverpool said… (2002); EatEat (2003); Rantsoen (a co-production with Victoria, Belgium, 2004); Playing Field (2005), a sound installation connecting schools in Manchester, Eritrea, India and Trinidad; and Susan & Darren (with Richard Gregory, 2006).  In 2009, she made The Soldier’s Song, a karaoke video installation with and about currently serving soldiers.  She co-created No Such Thing (2012 to present) and Kitchen Project (2012) with Beijing-based artists Rania Ho and Wang Wei.  

She curated (with Richard Gregory) Coming & Going, a large-scale project for Liverpool Capital of Culture 2008, developed with artists, academics, activists and ‘ordinary people’ from Liverpool, Marseille, Istanbul, Naples and Gdansk, and Quarantine’s programme as BMW Tate Live Creative Researchers at Tate Modern in 2013/14.

Before Quarantine, Renny worked with Enrique Vargas and Teatro de Los Sentidos for over 3 years at LIFT London, Modena and Rimini, Italy amongst other things.  Renny’s first full-time job was as director of Contact Youth Theatre, Manchester.

Contact Renny via renny@qtine.com