Sir Trevor Nunn Biography

Trevor Nunn was born in Ipswich, England. At age 11, his high score on the national standardized exams enabled him to attend the Northgate Grammar School, where he received the college preparation unavailable to most young people in his community. At 13, he began acting with a local company, at 17 he directed his own youth theater group. A scholarship to Cambridge University brought him into contact with some of the most talented young actors and theater people of his generation, from the Shakespearean actors Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi, to comedians like John Cleese, founding member of the Monty Python troupe. At Cambridge, Nunn hurled himself into theatrical activities, directing classical productions as well as musicals and revues.

After Cambridge, his career progress was rapid. He received an ABC director's scholarship to subsidize his work as director-trainee at the Belgrade Theatre, in Coventry, England, where he directed productions of The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Peer Gynt and a musical based on Around the World in Eighty Days. In 1964 he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, and was made Associate Director in 1965. In 1968, just shy of his 28th birthday, he was named Artistic Director, the youngest person ever to hold the post.

During his 18-year tenure as head of the RSC, he directed productions of The Revenger's Tragedy, The Relapse, The Alchemist, Henry V, The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, The Winter's Tale, Henry VIII, Hamlet, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors, As You Like It, All's Well That Ends Well, Once in a Lifetime, Three Sisters, Juno and the Paycock, Othello, The Blue Angel and Measure for Measure.

With his collaborator John Caird, he co-directed the epic eight-hour long stage version of Nicholas Nickleby, as well as productions of Peter Pan and Les Miserables, which has become the most-performed musical in the world.

In 1982, he directed Henry IV, Parts I and II as the inaugural production at the Royal Shakespeare Company's new London quarters at the Barbican Theatre. In 1986 he oversaw the opening of a new theater he had conceived himself, the Swan, at Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon. Nunn directed the Swan's inaugural production, The Fair Maid of the West. At the end of 1986, he resigned his leadership of the RSC to pursue ventures in film and the commercial theater.

Away from the RSC, Nunn has directed many of the most successful musical plays of our time, including the premieres of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, Starlight Express, Aspects of Love and Sunset Boulevard. His other productions include the musical Chess and The Baker's Wife, Timon of Athens, Heartbreak House and Arcadia. For the operatic stage he has directed productions of Idomeneo, Porgy and Bess, Cosi fan tutte and Peter Grimes.

For television, Trevor Nunn has directed productions of Antony and Cleopatra, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, The Three Sisters, Nicholas Nickleby, Word of Mouth, Othello and Porgy and Bess. He has also directed three motion pictures, Hedda, Lady Jane and Twelfth Night.

In 1996, ten years after leaving the Royal Shakespeare Company, he agreed to become Artistic Director of Great Britain's National Theatre. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2002, shortly after announcing his retirement from the National Theatre. Since his retirement became effective in 2003, he has continued a highly successful career in the commercial theater. His production of Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical The Woman in White was a great success of the London season in 2004, winning praise for its innovative integration of video projections into theatrical set design. Nunn brought the show to New York in November 2005. Forty years into his professional career, Sir Trevor Nunn is still breaking new ground.