Sir Trevor Robert Nunn
CBE (born 14 January
1940) is an English
theatre- and film
director.
Biography
Early years
Nunn was
born in Ipswich
, England to Robert
Alexander Nunn, a cabinetmaker, and Dorothy May Piper.
He was
educated at Northgate Grammar School, Ipswich and Downing College,
Cambridge
, where he began his stage career before becoming a
trainee director at the Belgrade Theatre
in Coventry
.
Career
In 1968, Nunn was appointed Artistic Director of the
Royal Shakespeare Company, a
position he held until 1986.
He was also Artistic Director of the Royal National
Theatre
, following in the footsteps of Sir Peter Hall. His first
wife,
Janet Suzman, appeared in many of
his productions. Nunn became a leading figure in theatrical
circles, and was responsible for many ground-breaking productions,
such as the RSC's version of
Dickens's
Nicholas
Nickleby, co-directed with
John Caird, and a musical adaptation
of the Shakespeare play
The Comedy of
Errors.
A very successful director of musicals, in
the non-subsidised sector, Nunn was responsible for Cats (1981), formerly the longest
running musical in Broadway's
history, and the first English production of
Les
Misérables in 1985, also with John Caird.
Nunn has
also directed opera at Glyndebourne
, and began directing for television with
Antony and Cleopatra
(starring Suzman) in 1974. He re-staged his highly
successful Gyndebourne production of
Gershwin's
Porgy and
Bess for television in 1993, and it was more favorably
received than the 1959
Samuel Goldwyn
-
Otto Preminger film version of the
opera. He has occasionally ventured into film directing, such as
Lady Jane (1986),
Hedda, an adaptation of
Hedda Gabler, and a
1996 film
version of Shakespeare's
Twelfth
Night. He is currently married to actress
Imogen Stubbs, whose play
We Happy
Few he directed, and who often appears in his productions,
including the
Twelfth Night mentioned above.
Besides
Cats and
Les Misérables Nunn's other
musical credits include
Starlight
Express and
Sunset Boulevard.
His
current London production Les Misérables, has been
running for nearly 24 years, whilst recent London credits include
My Fair Lady, South Pacific (at the Royal National
Theatre), The
Woman In White, Othello
and Acorn Antiques The
Musical, The
Royal Hunt of the Sun, Rock
'N' Roll (starring Alice Eve,
Sinéad Cusack, Brian Cox and Rufus
Sewell) and Porgy and
Bess (an abridged version with dialogue instead of
recitatives, unlike Nunn's first production of the
opera).
Nunn's most famous production is quite possibly his production of
Macbeth with the RSC starring
Ian
McKellen in the title role and Dame
Judi
Dench as the ever spotted Lady Macbeth. Nunn's production was
not only important due to its cast of virtuosic proportions, but
also due to several avenues he explored through direction. He
staged the action of the drama with not only the paying audience,
but also the audience of all of the actors in the production not in
the ongoing scene—they sat on wooden crates just beyond the main
playing space.
Nunn
returned to the bard from Stratford, directing a modern production
of William Shakespeare's Hamlet in
2004, which starred Ben Whishaw in the
title role, and was staged at the Old Vic
Theatre in
London, England. In 2007 his RSC productions of King Lear and The
Seagull played at Stratford before embarking on a world
tour and playing at the New London Theatre
from November 2007. The two plays both
starred
Ian McKellen,
Romola Garai,
Frances
Barber,
Sylvester McCoy, and
William Gaunt. Nunn's
television production of King
Lear is to be screened on
Boxing
Day, 2008. In 2008 he returned to The Belgrade Theatre in
Coventry (the theatre where he started his career) to direct
Joanna Murray-Smith's adaptation
of
Ingmar Bergman's film
Scenes from a Marriage starring
Imogen Stubbs and
Iain Glen.
His
musical adaptation of Gone With The Wind, opened
at the New London
Theatre in April 2008 and, after slating reviews, closed on
14 June 2008 after just 79 performances. In December 2008 he
directed a revival of A Little
Night Music at the Menier Chocolate Factory
. The production will transfer to Broadway,
opening late November 2009, with Catherine Zeta-Jones taking on the
role of Desiree Armfeldt, and Angela Lansbury taking on the part of
Madame Armfeldt. Other members of the original London cast will be
transferring with the production.
Personal life
Nunn is married to actress
Imogen
Stubbs with whom he has two children, Ellie and Jesse. With his
first wife, actress
Janet Suzman, he
has one child, Joshua, and another two, Laurie and Amy, with his
second wife Sharon Lee-Hill. He was knighted in 2002.
Politics
In 1998 Nunn was named in a list of the biggest private financial
donors to the
Labour Party .
Credits
Broadway
- Rock 'n' Roll - 4 November 2007 – 9 March 2008
- Les Misérables (revival) - 9 November 2006 – 6 January
2008
- The Woman in White
- 17 November 2005 – 19 February 2006
- Chess - 22 September 2003 – 22
September 2003
- Vincent in Brixton - 6 March
2003 – 4 May 2003
- Oklahoma! - 21 March 2002 – 23 February 2003
- Noises Off (as original producer) - 1
November 2001 – 1 September 2002
- Rose (as original producer) - 12
April 2000 – 20 May 2000
- Copenhagen (as original
producer) - 11 April 2000 – 21 January 2001
- Amy's View (as original producer) -
15 April 1999 – 18 July 1999
- Closer (as original producer) - 25
March 1999 – 22 August 1999
- Not About Nightingales -
25 February 1999 – 13 June 1999
- Arcadia - 30 March 1995 – 27
August 1995
- Sunset Boulevard - 17 November 1994 – 22 March 1997
- Aspects of Love - 8 April 1990 –
2 March 1991
- Chess - 28 April 1988 – 25 June 1988
- Starlight Express - 15 March
1987 – 8 January 1989
- Les Misérables - 12 March 1987 – 18 May 2003
- The
Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby - 24 August 1986 – 12
October 1986
- André DeShield's Harlem Nocturne
(Featuring songs with lyrics by Trevor Nunn) - 18 November 1984 –
30 December 1984
- Cyrano de Bergerac (as
original producer) - 16 October 1984 – 19 January 1985
- Much Ado About Nothing
(as original producer) - 14 October 1984 – 16 January 1985
- All's Well that Ends
Well - 13 April 1983 – 15 May 1983
- Good (as original producer) - 13
October 1982 – 30 January 1983
- Cats - 7 October 1982 – 10 September 2000
- The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby - 4 October 1981 –
3 January 1982
- Piaf - 5 February 1981 – 28 June 1981
- London Assurance (as original
producer) - 5 December 1974 – 12 January 1975
- Sherlock Holmes (as
original producer) -12 November 1974 – 4 January 1976
- Old Times (as original
producer) - 16 November 1971 – 26 February 1972
- A Midsummer Night's
Dream (as original producer) - 20 January 1971 – 13 March
1971
West End
- A Little Night Music - 2009
- Gone with the Wind - 2008
- King Lear - 2007
- The Seagull - 2007
- Porgy and Bess - 2006
- Acorn Antiques: The Musical! - 2005
- The Woman in White - 2004
- Anything Goes - 2002
- South Pacific - 2001
- My Fair Lady - 2001
- Oklahoma! - 1998
- Sunset Boulevard -1993
- The Baker's Wife - 1989
- Aspects of Love - 1989
- Chess - 1986
- Les Misérables - 1985
- Starlight Express - 1984
- Cats - 1981
Film
Television
- King Lear (2008 TV Movie)
- The Merchant of Venice (2001 TV movie)
- Oklahoma! (1999 TV movie)
- Porgy and Bess (1993 TV movie)
- Othello (1990 TV movie)
- The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1982 TV
mini-series)
- The Three Sisters (1981 TV movie)
- BBC2 Playhouse (TV series) - (1 episode, 1979)
- Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1979)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
[nominee]
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search