Phyllida Lloyd gives performers room to be exuberant without treating them as a joke. We value that generosity, though Mamma Mia shows how faith in actors can fail to compensate for awkward staging and busy editing.
Fi1m perspective
Phyllida Lloyd lets the performers in Mamma Mia (2008) make a spectacle of themselves without treating them as a joke. We were moved by Meryl Streep’s singing, which finds more feeling in the ABBA songs than the wedding plot seems to need. The warmth is enough to make the film good company. We like it, with reservations about how often enthusiasm is expected to compensate for awkward staging.
Lloyd directed the stage version of Mamma Mia in 1999, then made the film her feature debut. She has continued to work across theatre, opera and cinema, rather than treating the stage as something to leave behind. Her all-female Shakespeare Trilogy at the Donmar Warehouse (2012–2017) was set in a women’s prison and also filmed. Those productions show why it would be limiting to judge her only as a director of popular musicals.
In Mamma Mia, cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos makes the locations inviting, while production designer Maria Djurkovic gives the wedding a welcome informality. Lloyd is less assured when she has to arrange the singers within that space. Lesley Walker’s busy editing interrupts movement instead of giving us time to see the performers together. The larger numbers can become tiring, and the cast’s enjoyment cannot quite disguise the effort of working out who is where.
The Iron Lady (2011) reunited Lloyd with Streep, working from Abi Morgan’s screenplay, while her third feature, Herself (2020), concerns a woman building a home. Women remain central across these changes of subject. With its community-focused story, Herself offers another setting for her interest in people working together. For a first encounter, though, we recommend Mamma Mia, whose affection for its cast survives the untidy filmmaking and gives the evening its pleasure. A fondness for ABBA will make the cutting easier to forgive.
Biography
Phyllida Lloyd is an English film and theatre director. She directed the 2008 film adaptation of the musical Mamma Mia!, her feature debut, and the 2011 biopic The Iron Lady.
Lloyd trained at Birmingham University and worked in BBC Television Drama before directing in regional theatre and opera. Her stage credits include productions at the Royal Court Theatre, Royal National Theatre, Donmar Warehouse and Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as opera for Opera North and the Royal Opera House. She was appointed CBE in the 2010 New Year Honours.
Her other film work includes directing Herself (2020). She has also directed the stage musicals Tina: The Tina Turner Musical and multiple productions of Mamma Mia!.
