He graduated from Cambridge University.
He trained with the National Youth Theatre and is an alumni of the National Student Drama Festival. Royal and Derngate
Sansom was appointed to be the new Artistic Director of the Royal & Derngate when it reopened in 2006 after a £14 million redevelopment. He took up the role in March 2006 and the venue reopened later that year.
Michael Billington of The Guardian newspaper named the Royal & Derngate the most exciting regional theatre of the decade.
In 2009, an adaptation of The Prime of Mission Jean Brodie directed by Sansom was successfully presented at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Sansom"s Festival of Chaos trilogy - consisting of new versions of The Bacchae, Blood Wedding and Hedda Gabler - featured as part of the London 2012 Festival.
National Theatre of Scotland
Sansom"s appointment as Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Scotland was announced in October 2012 and he took up the post in March 2013. His productions as a director at the National Theatre of Scotland include The James Plays, a co-production with Edinburgh International Festival and National Theatre of Great Britain.
Sansom also directed and wrote the first stage adaptation of Muriel Spark"s novella, The Driver"s Seat.
Achievements during Sansom"s tenure included the company winning the inaugural The Stage award for regional theatre of the year in 2010. Sansom"s productions of the rarely performed early plays Spring Storm by Tennessee Williams, and Beyond the Horizon by Eugene O"Neill, won him the 2010 Turnaround Management Association Award for Best Director and transferred to the United Kingdom"s National Theatre. The historical trilogy by Rona Munro won a Herald Angel Award and the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play 2014.
