David Cumming (actor)
British stage actor born 1987
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David Cumming (born 16 January 1987)[1] is a British writer and actor best known for the musical Operation Mincemeat, which is currently running on both the West End and Broadway.
David Cumming | |
|---|---|
Cumming in 2025 | |
| Born | 16 January 1987 |
| Occupations | Actor, writer |
Early life and education
Cumming was born in Newcastle upon Tyne.[2] His mother was born in Scotland and his father was a Pakistani immigrant.[3] He attended the University of Warwick, where he studied Theatre and Performance Studies.[2][4]
Career
Cumming co-founded the comedy group Kill the Beast in 2012 alongside Natasha Hodgson, Zoë Roberts, Ollie Jones, and Clem Garritty.[5] Kill the Beast produced four stage productions, including The Boy Who Kicked Pigs[6] (2013), He Had Hairy Hands[7] (2014), Don't Wake The Damp[8] (2016), and Director's Cut[9] (2019).
Hodgson, Cumming, and Roberts, with newcomer Felix Hagan, split off the group in 2017 to form SpitLip with the intention of creating "big dumb musicals."[10] SpitLip's first musical, Operation Mincemeat, eventually transferred to the West End[11] and later Broadway,[12] winning the 2024 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical.[13] He also received three Tony Award nominations for his creative work on the show for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical & Best Original Score.[14] In addition to co-writing and co-composing the musical, Cumming also originated the role of "Charles Cholmondeley & Others," which he has played in every production of the show and was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance.[15]
In 2018, Cumming and Conrad Murray, in collaboration with Battersea Arts Centre's Beatbox Academy, co-directed the critically acclaimed production of Frankenstein: How to Make a Monster.[16] The production was later adapted for television by BBC Four.[5][17]
Cumming joined drag performance group Sink the Pink for two holiday-themed shows including How to Catch a Krampus in 2018[18] and Escape From Trash Planet in 2019.[19] In 2021, Cumming and Sink the Pink collaborator Ginger Johnson wrote and directed Dog Show, a canine-themed queer cabaret which ran at the Pleasance for a month.[20]
In 2023, Cumming took up the role of Guest Artistic Director at the King's Head Theatre, where he presented "QUEER FUTURES: A FESTIVAL OF THE NOW WHICH IS YET TO COME."[21] He returned in 2024 to join the cast of Outings, an anthology of coming out stories performed as a fundraiser for the LGBTQ+ Switchboard charity.[22]
Personal life
One week before Operation Mincemeat premiered at Riverside Studios, Cumming broke his collarbone in a biking accident. His replacement in the role of Charles Cholmondeley, Seán Carey, had to learn the entire musical in a week.[23][24]
Cumming is queer.[25]