Biographies

Sir Trevor Nunn is regarded by many as the outstanding all-round stage director of his generation, and he served as leader of both the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and the National Theatre. He has won four Olivier Awards and three Tony Awards, and many other awards and nominations, including three Drama Desk Awards.

He went to Northgate Grammar School, Ipswich, and at age 13 got work with a local professional repertory company. He went on to study English at Downing College Cambridge, and was a “disciple” of F R Leavis. His stage career began at Cambridge University, and he was involved in 34 productions, acting, directing and writing. In 1962, he directed Macbeth for the Marlowe Society and he directed that year’s Footlights. He was contemporary with Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi.

In 1962, he won an ABC Director’s Scholarship to the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry as a trainee director, where as resident director, his productions included The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Peter Gynt, and a musical version of Around the World in 80 Days. In 1964 he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, and in 1968 he was appointed its youngest-ever Artistic Director and Chief Executive. In 1978, Terry Hands joined him as Joint Artistic Director, and Trevor remained as Chief Executive and Joint Artistic Director until 1986. During Nunn’s leadership, he opened The Other Place, the RSC’s studio theatre, in 1974. In 1977, he converted a fruit store in Covent Garden into the Donmar Theatre; in 1982 he opened the RSC’s new London home at the Barbican with Henry IV Parts I and II; and in 1986 he created and opened the RSC’s new Swan Theatre, with his production of The Fair Maid of the West (with Simon Russell Beale and Imelda Staunton).

His productions for the RSC – both of Shakespeare and other dramatists – were numerous and brilliant. Most notable perhaps were his legendary Macbeth (1976, with Judi Dench and Ian McKellen); The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1980, 5 Tony Awards, John Caird, co-director, with Ben Kingsley, Graham Crowden and Timothy Spall); the superb musical adaptation, with Guy Woolfenden, of The Comedy of Errors (with Judi Dench); Othello (1989, with Willard White, Ian McKellen and Imogen Stubbs); and of course the history-making musical Les Miserables (1985), co-directed by John Caird, which moved from the Barbican Centre into the West End – where it still is, 30 years later, as well as overseas. It won 8 Tony Awards and is the most performed musical in the world. His Les Miserables “legacy” brought the RSC tens of millions of pounds over the next 30 years.

In 1994, Trevor directed Arcadia at the National Theatre, with Rufus Sewell, Felicity Kendal, Emma Fielding and Harriet Walter.

He was the Artistic Director of the National Theatre from 1997 to 2003. His major productions there included four musicals: Oklahoma (1998), My Fair Lady (2001) South Pacific (2001) and Anything Goes (2002). His plays included: Summerfolk (1999, with Simon Russell Beale, Henry Goodman, Roger Allam); The Cherry Orchard (2000, with Vanessa Redgrave, Corin Redgrave, Roger Allam); and The Relapse (2001, with Imogen Stubbs and Brian Blessed); also Enemy of the People (1997), Troilus and Cressida (1999), Albert Speer (2000), A Streetcar Named Desire (2002), The Coast of Utopia trilogy (2002), and Love’s Labour’s Lost (2003). 

In 2003 he directed Natasha Richardson in The Lady from the Sea at the Almeida; in 2004, Ben Whishaw as Hamlet at The Old Vic; in 2006, Alun Armstrong and Paterson Joseph in Royal Hunt of the Sun at the National Theatre; in 2007, RSC productions of King Lear and The Seagull (which went on a world tour) with Ian McKellen, Frances Barber and Romola Garai. King Lear was also screened on TV on Boxing Day 2008.

In 2007, Trevor found time to return to Cambridge to direct the Marlowe Society undergraduate production of Cymbeline, with James Norton and Max Bennett, at the Cambridge Arts Theatre. In 2008, he returned to the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, where he directed Scenes from a Marriage, Gone with the Wind, and A Little Night Music (which transferred to Broadway with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury). In 2009, he directed Inherit the Wind at The Old Vic (with Kevin Spacey, Ken Bones and David Troughton). He became Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in 2011, where he directed Flare Path (2011); Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (2011); The Tempest (2011, with Ralph Fiennes); and The Lion in Winter (2012, with Robert Lindsay and Joanna Lumley). Also in 2012 he directed A Chorus of Disapproval at the Harold Pinter Theatre. In 2015, he staged a revival of The Wars of the Roses at The Rose Theatre, Kingston. Trevor recently directed Love in Idleness at the Menier Chocolate Factory and is directing Lettice and Lovage at the same Southwark venue this Summer.

In Opera, Trevor directed at the Royal Opera House: Porgy and Bess (1992), Katya Kabanova (1994), and Sophie’s Choice (2002). At Glyndebourne, he directed: Idomeneo (1983), Porgy and Bess (1986 revival), Cosi Fan Tutte (1991) and Peter Grimes (1992).

His Television work includes: Macbeth (1978); BBC2 Playhouse (1979); Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1979); The Three Sisters (1981); Nicholas Nickleby (1982, Emmy Award); Othello (1990); Porgy and Bess (1993); Oklahoma (1999, Emmy Award); The Merchant of Venice (2001); and King Lear (2008). His films included: Hedda (1976); Lady Jane (1986); and Twelfth Night (1996).

Trevor Nunn is internationally known for his direction of musicals. Over some 30 years he directed Cats (1981); Starlight Express (1984); Les Miserables (1985); Chess (1986); The Baker’s Wife (1988); Aspects of Love (1989); Sunset Boulevard (1993); Oklahoma (1998); My Fair Lady (2001); South Pacific (2001); Anything Goes (2004); The Woman in White (2004); Gone with the Wind (2008); and A Little Night Music (2008). Most of them were enormously successful and many transferred to Broadway and to other countries. At one point, Trevor was the director of the three longest running shows of all time; and at another stage he had half-a-dozen shows simultaneously in different theatres in the West End of London – musicals and drama. From 1994 to 1996 he was also a Member of the Arts Council of England. Sir Trevor is an Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company.