Sir Peter Hall, CBE's Biography

Sir Peter Hall, CBE's Professional Career

Career

director and producer of plays, films and operas; dir: Oxford Playhouse 1954-55, Arts Theatre London 1955-57; fndr Int Playwrights' Theatre 1957, md RSC 1960-68 (created the RSC as a permanent ensemble, and opened the RSC's London home at the Aldwych Theatre), co-dir RSC 1968-73, dir Nat Theatre of GB 1973-88, artistic dir Glyndebourne Festival Opera 1984-90, formed own prodn co Peter Hall Co Ltd 1988, artistic dir Old Vic 1996-; assoc prof of drama Univ of Warwick 1966-; memb Arts Cncl of GB 1969-72, fndr memb Theatre Directors' Guild of GB 1983; chllr Kingston Univ 2000-; Hon DLitt Univ of Reading 1973; Hon LittD: Univ of Liverpool 1974, Univ of Leicester 1977, Univ of Essex 1995, Univ of Cambridge 2003; Hon DUniv York 1966, Hon DUniv Cornell USA; Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France); Theatre has directed over 150 major prodns in London, Stratford-upon-Avon and New York, including 19 Shakespeare plays, and the premieres of plays by Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, Jean Anouilh, Peter Shaffer, John Mortimer, John Whiting, Alan Ayckbourn; first prodns incl: Waiting for Godot (Arts Theatre London) 1955, Gigi 1956, Love's Labour's Lost 1956, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1958; RSC prodns incl: Twelfth Night 1958, 1960 and 1991, A Midsummer Night's Dream 1959 and 1963, Beckett 1961, The Collection 1962, The Wars of the Roses 1964 (televised for BBC 1965), The Homecoming 1965 and 1973, Macbeth 1967 and 1982, A Delicate Balance 1969, All's Well That Ends Well, The Gift of the Gorgon (also Wyndhams), Julius Caesar 1995; NT prodns incl: Bedroom Farce 1977, The Cherry Orchard 1978, Betrayal 1978 and 1980, The Importance of Being Earnest 1982, Yonadab 1985, Entertaining Strangers 1987, Antony and Cleopatra 1988, The Winter's Tale 1988, Cymbeline 1988, The Tempest 1988; Peter Hall Co prodns incl: Orpheus Descending (NY) 1988, The Merchant of Venice 1989, The Wild Duck (Phoenix) 1990, The Homecoming (Comedy Theatre) 1991, The Rose Tattoo (Playhouse) 1991, Tartuffe (Playhouse) 1991, Sienna Red 1992, An Ideal Husband (Globe) 1992, Four Baboons Adoring the Sun (NY) 1992, Lysistrata (Old Vic, Wyndhams) 1993, Separate Tables (Queens) 1993, Piaf (Piccadilly) 1993, An Absolute Turkey (Globe) 1993, On Approval (Playhouse) 1994, Hamlet (Gielgud Theatre) 1994, The Master Builder (Haymarket) 1995, Mind Millie for Me (Haymarket) 1996, The Oedipus Plays (Epidaurus and RNT) 1996, School for Wives 1996, A Streetcar Named Desire (Haymarket) 1997, Waste (Old Vic) 1997, The Seagull (Old Vic) 1997, Waiting For Godot (Old Vic) 1997, King Lear (Old Vic) 1997, The Misanthrope (Piccadilly) 1998, Major Barbara (Piccadilly) 1998, Filumena (Piccadilly) 1998, Kafka's Dick (Piccadilly) 1998, Amadeus (Old Vic) 1999, Measure for Measure 1999, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Ahmanson Theatre Los Angeles) 1999, Lennie (Queen's Theatre London) 1999, Amadeus (CTG/LA, Music Box NY) 1999, Cuckoos (CTG/LA) 2000, Tantalus (DCPA/Denver) 2000, Romeo and Juliet (MTA/LA) 2001, Japes (Haymarket) 2001, Tantalus (UK tour, Barbican RSC) 2001, Troilus & Cressida (TFNA/NY) 2001, Lady Windermere's Fan (Haymarket) 2002, Bacchi (NT, Epidaurus, Newcastle) 2002, Mrs Warren's Profession (Strand Theatre) 2002 (UK tour) 2003, Where There's A Will (UK tour) 2003, Betrayl (Theatre Royal Bath, UK tour) 2003, Design For Living (Theatre Royal Bath, UK tour) 2003, As You Like It (Theatre Royal Bath, UK and USA tour) 2003, Cuckoos (Barbican, Theatre Royal Bath, Happy Days (Arts Theatre London) 2003, Summer and Smoke (London) 2004, The Dresser (Duke of York's) 2005; Operas incl: The Magic Flute (Covent Garden) 1966, Eugene Onegin (Covent Garden) 1971, The Marriage of Figaro (Glyndebourne) 1973 and 1989, A Midsummer's Night Dream (Glyndebourne) 1981 and 1989, Macbeth (Metropolitan Opera NY) 1982, The Ring (Bayreuth) 1983, Figaro (Geneva) 1983, Carmen (Glyndebourne) 1985, Albert Herring (Glyndebourne) 1985 and 1986, (Covent Garden) 1989, Salome (LA 1986, Covent Garden 1988 and 1992, Chicago 1988), New Year (world premiere, Houston) 1989, The Magic Flute (LA) 1993, Simon Boccanegra (Glyndebourne) 1998, Midsummer Night's Dream (Glyndebourne), 2001, Othello (Glyndebourne) 2001, Othello (Chicago Lyric Opera) 2001, Albert Herring (Glyndebourne) 2002, The Marriage of Figaro (Lyric Opera of Chicago) 2003; Films and Television Work is a Four Letter Word 1968, A Midsummer Night's Dream 1969, Three into One Won't Go 1969, Perfect Friday 1971, The Homecoming 1973, Akenfield 1974, She's Been Away 1989, Orpheus Ascending 1991, The Camomile Lawn (Channel 4) 1991, Jacob (TNT/LUX) 1993, Never Talk to Strangers (TriStar Pictures) 1994-95, The Final Passage (Channel 4) 1995; Awards Tony Award: 1967 for Pinter's Homecoming, 1981 for Shaffer's Amadeus; Hamburg Univ Shakespeare Prize 1967, Standard Special Award 1979, Standard Award for Best Director 1981 and 1987, Standard Award for outstanding achievement in Opera 1981, Sidney Edwards Award for NT prodn of The Oresteia 1982, Olivier Theatre Award for lifetime achievement 1999

Sir Peter Hall, CBE's Publications

Books and Publications

The Wars of the Roses (with John Barton, 1970), translation of Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman (with Inga-Stina Ewbank, 1975), Peter Hall's Diaries (1983), adaptation of George Orwell's Animal Farm (1986), adaptation of Ibsen's The Wild Duck (with Inga-Stina Ewbank, 1990), Making an Exhibition of Myself (autobiography, 1993), translation of Feydeau's An Absolute Turkey (with Nicki Frei, 1993), translation of Ibsen's The Master Builder (with Inga-Stina Ewbank, 1995), translation of Feydeau's L'Occupe toi d'Amelie - Mind Millie for Me (with Nicki Frei, 1996), The Necessary Theatre (1999), Exposed by the Mask (2000), Shakespeare's Advice to the Players (2003)

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