Trevor Nunn Biography Quotes 26 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Trevor Nunn was born on 14 January 1940 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. He was educated at Northgate Grammar School, where an early fascination with drama drew him into school productions and local repertory. He went on to study at Downing College, Cambridge, immersing himself in student theatre and sharpening his skills as a director as well as a dramaturg. Cambridge at that time was a fertile training ground for future British stage luminaries, and Nunn's early exposure to rigorous textual analysis and ensemble practice laid the foundations for a career that would bridge classical theatre and large-scale musical spectacle.

Royal Shakespeare Company
Nunn joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960s and, still in his late twenties, became its Artistic Director in 1968, succeeding Peter Hall. Working alongside colleagues such as John Barton and, later, Terry Hands (with whom he would serve as joint artistic director from 1978), he reshaped the RSC into a powerhouse of ensemble-based classical theatre. His RSC work emphasized clarity of language, muscular storytelling, and intimate relationships with the audience, qualities evident in landmark productions like Macbeth with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench, staged with stark austerity at The Other Place before reaching wider audiences via a celebrated television recording. Nunn also championed ambitious adaptations, notably The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, adapted by David Edgar and co-directed with John Caird, which turned Charles Dickens's novel into an epic theatrical event and made a star of Roger Rees. The RSC during his stewardship nurtured actors including Patrick Stewart and Ben Kingsley, and forged long-lasting creative partnerships between directors, writers, and designers.

Breakthrough in Musical Theatre
Although rooted in Shakespeare and the classics, Nunn became internationally synonymous with redefining the possibilities of musical theatre. Collaborating closely with producer Cameron Mackintosh, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, choreographer Gillian Lynne, and designer John Napier, he directed Cats in 1981. The show's fluid, poetic staging, sung-through score, and transformative design altered the West End and Broadway landscape and turned Elaine Paige into an iconic Grizabella. In 1985 he and John Caird brought Les Miserables to the stage, working with the creators Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg. Initially met with mixed reviews, the production, anchored by performers such as Colm Wilkinson, Patti LuPone, and Frances Ruffelle, became a global phenomenon remembered for its revolve-driven storytelling and emotional sweep.

Nunn also staged Starlight Express, another Lloyd Webber collaboration that fused kinetic spectacle with narrative invention, and directed Chess, working with lyricist Tim Rice and ABBA's Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus to shape a concept album into a theatrical narrative. These projects confirmed his versatility: he could find psychological stakes in classical verse while also crafting musical worlds where design, movement, and music carried as much weight as spoken text.

National Theatre Leadership
From 1997 to 2003 Nunn served as Artistic Director of the Royal National Theatre, succeeding Richard Eyre and preceding Nicholas Hytner. His tenure balanced canonical revivals with new writing and large-scale enterprises. He directed the revival of Oklahoma! that introduced Hugh Jackman to London audiences, and later reimagined My Fair Lady with Martine McCutcheon and Jonathan Pryce, marrying accessible popular classics to high production values and detailed acting. He also championed ambitious literary projects: Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia trilogy, a sweeping meditation on 19th-century Russian thinkers, was mounted under his leadership, signaling that the National could accommodate epic dramaturgy as well as musical spectacle. The period sparked debate about the place of large musicals in a national repertoire, yet it demonstrated Nunn's conviction that high craft and broad audiences need not be at odds.

Film and Television
Nunn translated stage instincts to screen with a focus on clarity of text and atmosphere. He directed the feature film Lady Jane (1986), with Helena Bonham Carter and Cary Elwes, bringing historical drama to cinema with a stage director's eye for character. His Twelfth Night (1996), featuring Imogen Stubbs, Ben Kingsley, and Nigel Hawthorne, preserved Shakespeare's language while exploiting cinematic vistas, making the pastoral world feel both intimate and expansive. Several of his stage productions have been recorded or adapted for television, ensuring that signature interpretations, most notably the RSC Macbeth with McKellen and Dench, reached audiences far beyond the theatre.

Later Career and Collaborations
After the National, Nunn continued to alternate between classics and musicals, often returning to collaborations that defined his voice. He directed Porgy and Bess in the West End, explored Sondheim's intricate lyricism in A Little Night Music, and revisited Shakespeare with seasoned insight. In 2011 he became Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company, curating seasons that foregrounded star performers and finely tuned revivals. Productions included Terence Rattigan's Flare Path, with Sienna Miller and Sheridan Smith, and a return to Shakespearean romance and magic with The Tempest, continuing a tradition of pairing major actors with text-centered direction. His circle of collaborators remained a hallmark: producers like Cameron Mackintosh, designers such as John Napier, choreographers including Gillian Lynne and Arlene Phillips, and a roster of actors from Elaine Paige and Roger Rees to Ralph Fiennes and Hugh Jackman.

Personal Life
Nunn's personal and professional worlds often intersected with the theatre community. He was married to the actor and director Janet Suzman, with whom he shared deep ties to classical theatre, and later to actor and writer Imogen Stubbs, who starred in a number of his projects. Their family life remained interwoven with the stage, and their daughter Ellie Nunn pursued acting. These relationships, along with long-standing professional partnerships with John Caird and others, created a network of artists who shaped and were shaped by his rehearsal rooms.

Style, Influence, and Honors
Nunn's rehearsal process is frequently described as text-driven and actor-centered, while his productions, especially the musicals, showcase an appetite for visual innovation and rhythm. He is known for encouraging ensemble cohesion, trusting design to carry metaphor, and insisting that clarity of storytelling guide even the grandest effects. His approach has influenced generations of directors who aim to bridge the divide between classical rigor and popular appeal.

Recognition followed in both Britain and America. He received a CBE in 1978 and was knighted in 2002. On both sides of the Atlantic he earned major awards, including multiple Tony Awards linked to Cats, Les Miserables, and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, as well as Olivier Awards and other honors for productions spanning Shakespeare, Dickens adaptations, and modern musicals. Across decades, he has remained a central figure in British theatre, an interpreter of Shakespeare, a maker of blockbuster musicals, and a leader of institutions, whose collaborators, from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh to Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, and Tom Stoppard, testify to a career built on artistic partnerships and a sustained belief in theatre's capacity to move large audiences without sacrificing depth.

Our collection contains 26 quotes who is written by Trevor, under the main topics: Motivational - Music - Leadership - Writing - Art.

Other people realated to Trevor: Ian Mckellen (Actor), Clive Barnes (Journalist), Elaine Paige (Musician), Derek Jacobi (Actor)