Name Gregory Doran Role Director | Education University of Bristol | |
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Books Shakespeare's Lost Play: In Search of Cardenio Awards Laurence Olivier Outstanding Achievement Award Similar People | ||
Interview with gregory doran written on the heart royal shakespeare company
Gregory Doran (born 24 November 1958) is a British director known for his Shakespearean work. The Sunday Times called him 'one of the great Shakespearians of his generation'.
Contents
- Interview with gregory doran written on the heart royal shakespeare company
- Extended interview with gregory doran new rsc artistic director
- Background
- Career
- Non RSC productions
- TV
- Books
- Personal life
- References
Doran is currently Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), succeeding Michael Boyd in September 2012. In an interview, announcing his appointment, Doran said that whilst Boyd had concentrated on the 'Company', he would be concentrating on the 'Shakespeare' in the Royal Shakespeare Company logo.
His notable productions include a production of Macbeth starring Antony Sher, which was filmed for Channel 4 in 2001, as well as Hamlet in 2008, starring David Tennant and Patrick Stewart. His most recent production has been The Tempest, in collaboration with Intel and The Imaginarium Studios.
He is on the Board of Governors for The Royal Shakespeare Company.
Extended interview with gregory doran new rsc artistic director
Background
Doran was born in Huddersfield, but his family moved to Lancashire when he was six months old. He was educated at St Pius X Catholic Preparatory School and Preston Catholic College. He attended Bristol University studying English and Drama, where he set up his own theatre company with fellow student Chris Grady, presenting Shakespeare and related classics. He then trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He received an honorary doctorate from Bristol University in July 2011 and an Honorary Degree from the University of Warwick in July 2013.
Career
Doran left the Bristol Old Vic School early having been invited to direct A Midsummer Night's Dream at Jamestown Community College in upstate New York. He then went to Nottingham Playhouse as an actor, before becoming Assistant Director then Associate Director, directing his own productions including Waiting for Godot, and Long Day's Journey into Night.
After a very brief acting career in TV, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1987 initially as an actor (as Solanio in The Merchant of Venice and Octavius Caesar in Julius Caesar) then became Assistant Director the following season.
He directed his first RSC production in 1992, commissioning Derek Walcott to write an adaptation of Homer's Odyssey which was performed at The Other Place.
In 1995 he directed his partner Antony Sher as Titus Andronicus at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, South Africa. This controversial production, which toured to the National Theatre, is the subject of their book, Woza Shakespeare!
He returned to the RSC in 1996, becoming an Associate Director, and directing Jane Lapotaire, Ian Hogg and Paul Jesson in All is True (or Henry VIII), his first Shakespeare for the company.
Since then, Doran has directed over half the canon of Shakespeare's plays for the RSC.
Non-RSC productions
Doran has directed various productions outside the RSC including:
TV
Doran contributed to Michael Wood's BBC series In Search of Shakespeare, and filmed a documentary for BBC Four called A Midsummer Night's Dreaming.
Books
In 2009, Doran's Shakespeare Almanac was published.
Personal life
He and frequent collaborator Sir Antony Sher have been together since 1987, and entered into a civil partnership in 2005. They married on the 10th anniversary of their civil partnership on 21 December 2015.