Trevor Nunn

Nunn was born in Ipswich, England, to Robert Alexander Nunn, a cabinetmaker, and Dorothy May Piper.[2] As a small boy he loved reading but his parents had little money for books. However an aunt had more books, including a complete Shakespeare which he read whenever the family visited her. In the end she gave it to him.[3]

He was educated at Northgate Grammar School, Ipswich and Downing College, Cambridge.[4] At Northgate, he had an inspiring English teacher, Peter Hewett, who also directed the school plays. Hewett encouraged him to sit the scholarship exam in Cambridge in the hope of studying under F. R. Leavis at Downing. Hewett also persuaded the headmaster to help with the cost of Nunn staying in Cambridge to take the exam. Nunn's father could not afford it and the headmaster had refused at first so Nunn was close to giving up.[3] At Downing, Nunn began his stage career and first met contemporaries Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi.[4] In 1962, he directed Macbeth for The Marlowe Society and he directed that year's Footlights.[5] He also won a Director's Scholarship, becoming a trainee director at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry.[4]

In 1964, Nunn joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and in 1968 he was appointed Artistic Director of the RSC, a position he held until 1986 (latterly with Terry Hands from 1978).[4]

His first wife, Janet Suzman, appeared in many of his productions, such as the 1974 televised version of his Antony and Cleopatra.[6] Nunn directed the RSC production of Macbeth starring Ian McKellen in the title role and Dame Judi Dench as Lady Macbeth in 1976.[7] Nunn staged the action of the drama with not only the paying audience, but also the audience of all of the actors in the production not in the ongoing scene—they sat on wooden crates just beyond the main playing space.[8]

Nunn became a leading figure in theatrical circles, and was responsible for many significant productions, such as the RSC's version of Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, co-directed with John Caird,[4] and a 1976 musical adaptation of the Shakespeare play The Comedy of Errors.[9][10]

A very successful director of musicals, in the non-subsidised sector, Nunn directed the musical Cats (1981),[11] formerly the longest running musical in Broadway's history, and the first English production of Les Misérables in 1985, also with John Caird, which has been running continuously in London since opening.[4][12] Nunn also directed the little-known 1986 Webber–Rice musical Cricket, at Windsor Castle.[13] Besides Cats and Les Misérables Nunn's other musical credits include Starlight Express[14] and Sunset Boulevard.[15] He became Artistic Director of the Royal National Theatre in September 1997,[4] a position he retained until 2003.

Later London credits include My Fair Lady,[16] South Pacific (at the Royal National Theatre),[17]The Woman in White,[18]Othello and Acorn Antiques: The Musical! (2005),[19]The Royal Hunt of the Sun, Rock 'n' Roll[20] and Porgy and Bess in 2006 at the Savoy Theatre (an abridged version with dialogue instead of recitatives, unlike Nunn's first production of the opera).[21]

He directed We Happy Few, a play by his second wife Imogen Stubbs, in 2004.[22] Stubbs often appears in his productions, including the 1996 Twelfth Night film. Nunn directed a modern production of Shakespeare's Hamlet in 2004, which starred Ben Whishaw in the title role, and Imogen Stubbs as Gertrude, and was staged at the Old Vic Theatre in London.[23]

In 2007, he directed the RSC productions of King Lear and The Seagull, which played at Stratford before embarking on a world tour (including the Brooklyn Academy of Music) and then playing at the New London Theatre from November 2007. The two plays both starred Ian McKellen, Romola Garai, Frances Barber, Sylvester McCoy, and William Gaunt.[24] Nunn's television production of King Lear was screened on Boxing Day, 2008 with McKellen in the title role.[25]

In 2008, he returned to The Belgrade Theatre in Coventry (the theatre where he started his career) to direct Joanna Murray-Smith's adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's film Scenes from a Marriage starring Imogen Stubbs and Iain Glen.[26] His musical adaptation of Gone with the Wind opened at the New London Theatre in April 2008 and, after poor reviews, closed on 14 June 2008 after 79 performances.[27] In December 2008, he directed a revival of A Little Night Music at the Menier Chocolate Factory, which transferred to the West End at the Garrick Theatre in 2009.[28] The production transferred to Broadway, opening in November 2009, with Catherine Zeta-Jones as Desiree Armfeldt and Angela Lansbury as Madame Armfeldt. Other members of the original London cast also transferred with the production. The production closed in January 2011 after 425 performances.[29]

In 2010, Nunn directed a revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Aspects of Love from July to September 2010 at the Menier Chocolate Factory[30] and the play Birdsong, which opened in September 2010 at the Comedy Theatre, based on the Sebastian Faulks novel of the same title.[31]

Nunn marked his debut as Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, with a revival of Flare Path (as part of the playwright, Terence Rattigan's, centenary year celebrations). The production, starring Sienna Miller, James Purefoy and Sheridan Smith, opened in March 2011 and closed in June 2011,[32] and was followed by productions of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, (June – August 2011)[33] and The Tempest, starring Ralph Fiennes (September – October 2011).[34] His final production at the Haymarket, The Lion in Winter (November 2011 – January 2012), stars Joanna Lumley and Robert Lindsay.[35]

Nunn returned to the Haymarket in 2014 to direct the play Fatal Attraction.[36]

For Christmas 2018, Nunn directed a revival of Fiddler on the Roof at the Menier Chocolate Factory, before transferring to the Playhouse Theatre in London's West End for a limited season in spring 2019. The production starred Andy Nyman as Tevye and Judy Kuhn as Golde.

In 2020 he will direct a new musical Identical which will open at the Nottingham Playhouse and Theatre Royal, Bath during the summer.

Nunn has been married three times. He was married to actress Janet Suzman from 17 October 1969 until their divorce in 1986. They have one child, Joshua. The Times reported in April 1986: "Janet Suzman, aged 47, the actress, was granted a divorce in London yesterday from Trevor Nunn, aged 46, the theatre director ... They have a son, Joshua, aged five."[40][41] He has another two children, Laurie and Amy, with his second wife, Sharon Lee-Hill; they divorced in 1991.[42][43][44]

In 1994, he married actress Imogen Stubbs with whom he has two children, Ellie and Jesse. The Press Association reported on 18 September 1994: "Director Trevor Nunn and actress Imogen Stubbs, who wed in secret at a London register office on Saturday, had their marriage blessed today in a low-key service at a village church."[45] In April 2011 Stubbs announced that she and Sir Trevor were to separate.[44]

In 1998 Nunn was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the Labour Party.[46] In 2002, he was knighted.[43]

As of May 2011, Nunn was in a relationship with Nancy Dell'Olio,[47] but by the end of the year it was reported the relationship had ended.[48]

In 2014, Nunn told the Telegraph that Shakespeare was his religion. "Shakespeare has more wisdom and insight about our lives, about how to live and how not to live, how to forgive and how to understand our fellow creatures, than any religious tract. One hundred times more than the Bible. I’m sorry to say that. But over and over again in the plays there is an understanding of the human condition that doesn’t exist in religious books".[49]

Sources: Internet Broadway Database Listing[50] Tony Awards Database (broadwayworld.com)[51] Drama Desk History[52] Olivier Awards, Past Nominees and Winners[53]

• 1975 Drama Desk Award Unique Theatrical Experience – London Assurance [winner]
• 1977 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director – Macbeth [nominee]
• 1979 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director – Once in a Lifetime [nominee]
• 1980 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director – The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby [winner]
• 1981 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director – Cats [nominee]
• 1982 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play – The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby [winner]
• 1983 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play – All's Well that Ends Well [winner]
• 1983 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play – All's Well that Ends Well [nominee]
• 1983 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical – Cats [winner]
• 1987 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical – Les Misérables [winner]
• 1987 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical – Starlight Express [nominee]
• 1989 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director – Othello [nominee]
• 1990 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical – Aspects of Love [nominee]
• 1994 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director – Arcadia [nominee]
• 1995 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical – Sunset Boulevard [nominee]
• 1995 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director – The Merchant of Venice / Summerfolk [winner]
• 1995 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical – Sunset Boulevard [nominee]
• 1995 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement[54][55][56]
• 1999 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play – Not About Nightingales [winner]
• 1999 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play – Not About Nightingales [nominee]
• 1999 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director – Oklahoma! [nominee]
• 2000 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director – Summerfolk / The Merchant of Venice / Troilus and Cressida [winner]
• 2001 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director – The Cherry Orchard [nominee]
• 2002 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement
• 2002 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical – Oklahoma! [nominee]
• 2002 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical – Oklahoma! [nominee]
• 2012 Induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame[57]
• 2020 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director – Fiddler on the Roof [nominee]

• Trowbridge, Simon: The Company: A Biographical Dictionary of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Editions Albert Creed (2010) ISBN 978-0-9559830-2-3

• Trevor Nunn at the Internet Broadway Database
• Trevor Nunn at IMDb
• Scenes from a Marriage preview
• Michael Jackson's Peter Pan obsession – by Trevor Nunn 2009