Richard Eyre

Abstract

Richard Eyre was appointed Assistant Director at the Phoenix Theatre, Leicester, in 1966. He moved to the Royal Lyceum Theatre In Edinburgh, where he was Associate Director, 1967–70, and Director of Productions, 1970–72. During his time as Artistic Director of the Nottingham Playhouse, 1973–78, he nurtured some of the most important talents of the day, including Howard Brenton. David Hare, Ken Campbell, and Trevor Griffiths. From 1988 to 1997 he was Director of the National Theatre in London. Under him, the National prospered both throuyh productions of such musicals as Cuys and Doth (revived 1996, first produced by Eyre, 1982), and through new works by Alan Bennett, David Hare, and Tom Stoppard. He was responsible for first performances of all three plays In the Hare trilogy at the National, and directed the memorable first production of Bennett’s Kafka’s Dick at the Royal Court. For television, he has directed Ian McEwan’s The Imitation Came, Bennett’s The Insurance Man, and Hare’s The Absence of War, among others. He was awarded a CBE In 1992, and knighted in 1997.