Edward Hall (director)
Encyclopedia
Edward Hall is an English
theatre director and an associate director at The National Theatre
. Hall is known for directing Rose Rage, a stage adaptation of Shakespeare's
three Henry VI
plays. He also runs an all-male Shakespeare company, Propeller
. He is currently artistic director of the Hampstead Theatre
in London
.
and The Comedy of Errors
. In 1996 he directed Sir Donald Sinden, Patrick Ryecart
and Nigel Davenport
in N. J. Crisps drama That Good Night
for a UK tour.
In 2002, Hall directed Rose Rage at the Haymarket Theatre. This was an ambitious adaptation of all three Shakespeare's Henry VI
plays. It was described by The Guardian
as "an exhilaratingly surreal and bloody take on Shakespeare."
Although he has for the most part worked in the theatre, Hall has also done some directing for radio and television. He has directed Into Exile for BBC
Radio 4. For television, Hall directed episodes of Trial and Retribution and Marple
.
Hall took over as Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre
in February 2010.
and brother-in-law of screen writer and producer Glenn Wilhide
. Hall studied at Leeds University and Mountview Theatre School. He is married to Issy van Randwyck
, a British comedienne and actress, with whom he has one daughter.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
theatre director and an associate director at The National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
. Hall is known for directing Rose Rage, a stage adaptation of Shakespeare's
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
three Henry VI
Henry VI
Henry VI may refer to:* Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor .* Henry VI of Luxembourg, Count of Luxembourg, * Henry VI of England...
plays. He also runs an all-male Shakespeare company, Propeller
Propeller (theatre company)
Propeller is a theatre company which presents the plays of William Shakespeare in the UK and around the world. The director is Edward Hall, and the casts are exclusively male actors.-Background:...
. He is currently artistic director of the Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Career
He began his professional career as a theatre director at the Watermill Theatre in the early 1990s. At the Watermill, Hall directed a number of Shakespeare plays, including Henry VHenry V (play)
Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
and The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...
. In 1996 he directed Sir Donald Sinden, Patrick Ryecart
Patrick Ryecart
Patrick Geoffrey Ryecart is an English actor.Ryecart was born in Leamington Spa. He has predominantly acted on British television shows since the mid-seventies including Lillie, Romeo and Juliet, The Professionals, Minder, Rumpole of the Bailey, Lovejoy, Coming Home, and Holby City...
and Nigel Davenport
Nigel Davenport
Nigel Davenport is an English stage, television and film actor.- Early life :Davenport was born Arthur Nigel Davenport, however he goes by the first name of Nigel. Davenport was born in Shelford, Cambridgeshire, the son of Katherine Lucy and Arthur Henry Davenport. Davenport's father was a bursar...
in N. J. Crisps drama That Good Night
That Good Night
That Good Night is a play by NJ Crisp, written with the intention of it being performed by Sir Donald Sinden and his son Marc Sinden playing the central characters of the father and son...
for a UK tour.
In 2002, Hall directed Rose Rage at the Haymarket Theatre. This was an ambitious adaptation of all three Shakespeare's Henry VI
Henry VI
Henry VI may refer to:* Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor .* Henry VI of Luxembourg, Count of Luxembourg, * Henry VI of England...
plays. It was described by The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
as "an exhilaratingly surreal and bloody take on Shakespeare."
Although he has for the most part worked in the theatre, Hall has also done some directing for radio and television. He has directed Into Exile for BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Radio 4. For television, Hall directed episodes of Trial and Retribution and Marple
Marple (TV series)
Marple is a British television series based on the Miss Marple and other murder mystery novels by Agatha Christie. It is also known as Agatha Christie's Marple. The title character was played by Geraldine McEwan from the first to third series, until her retirement from the role. She was replaced...
.
Hall took over as Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...
in February 2010.
Personal life
Hall is the son of the theatre director Sir Peter Hall by his second marriage. He is half-brother of actress Rebecca HallRebecca Hall
Rebecca Maria Hall is an English actress.In 2003, Hall won the Ian Charleson Award for her debut stage performance in a production of Mrs. Warren's Profession...
and brother-in-law of screen writer and producer Glenn Wilhide
Glenn Wilhide
Glenn Wilhide is a British television screenwriter and producer.Wilhide was born in Maryland USA to American parents. His first production was The Road Home, a feature film which he produced in Poland for Channel 4 as a young man in his early twenties...
. Hall studied at Leeds University and Mountview Theatre School. He is married to Issy van Randwyck
Issy Van Randwyck
Issy van Randwyck is an English singer and actress of Dutch descent. She is a former member of British comedy singing group and satirical cabaret act Fascinating Aida, she has since acted on stage and television.-Biography:...
, a British comedienne and actress, with whom he has one daughter.
Director
- Victoria StationVictoria Station (play)Victoria Station is a short play for two actors by the English playwright Harold Pinter.-Summary:Victoria Station consists of a radio dialogue between a minicab controller and a driver who is stopped by the side of "a dark park" in Crystal Palace, supposedly waiting further instructions. The...
(Theatr Mwldan, Wales) - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Theatre Royal Windsor and tour)
- An Ideal HusbandAn Ideal HusbandAn Ideal Husband is an 1895 comedic stage play by Oscar Wilde which revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour...
(Theatre Royal Windsor and tour) - Decadence (Bratislava and Oslo Nye Theatre)
- Chambers of Glass (Minerva Studio, Chicheser)
- Cain (Minerva Studio, Chichester)
- Lysistrata (West End, Richmond Theatre and Epidavros)
- Bare-Knuckle Selling (Edinburgh Festival)
- No Remission (Edinburgh Festival - Mobil Prizewinner)
- The Hanuman (RNT Studio)
- Richard IIIRichard III (play)Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
(Tokyo, Globe) - OthelloOthelloThe Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
(Watermill, Newbury, and world tour) - Henry VHenry V (play)Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
(Watermill, Newbury, and world tour) - The Comedy of ErrorsThe Comedy of ErrorsThe Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...
(Watermill, Newbury, and world tour) - Twelfth Night (Watermill, Newbury, and world tour)
- That Good NightThat Good NightThat Good Night is a play by NJ Crisp, written with the intention of it being performed by Sir Donald Sinden and his son Marc Sinden playing the central characters of the father and son...
(Marc Sinden Productions tour) - Celaine (Hampstead)
- Sacred Heart (Royal Court Upstairs)
- Tantalus (Co-director: Denver Theatre Company and UK tour)
- The Two Gentlemen of VeronaThe Two Gentlemen of VeronaThe Two Gentlemen of Verona is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1590 or 1591. It is considered by some to be Shakespeare's first play, and is often seen as his first tentative steps in laying out some of the themes and tropes with which he would later deal in more...
(RSCRoyal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
) - Henry VHenry V (play)Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
(RSCRoyal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
)
Assistant Director
- King LearKing LearKing Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
in New York (Chichester Festival Theatre) - Venus Observed (Chichester Festival Theatre)
- The Sisterhood (Chichester Festival Theatre)
- Arsenic and Old LaceArsenic and Old Lace (play)Arsenic and Old Lace is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. It has become best known through the film adaptation starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra. The play was directed by Bretaigne Windust, and opened on January 10, 1941. On September 25, 1943, the...
(Chichester Festival Theatre) - She Stoops to ConquerShe Stoops to ConquerShe Stoops to Conquer is a comedy by the Irish author Oliver Goldsmith, son of an Anglo-Irish vicar, first performed in London in 1773. The play is a great favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in Britain and the United States. It is one of the few plays from the 18th...
(Chichester Festival Theatre) - Preserving Mr Panmure (Chichester Festival Theatre)
- I Thought I Heard a Rustling (Theatre Royal Stratford East)
- The Comedy of ErrorsThe Comedy of ErrorsThe Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...
(RSCRoyal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
world tour) - The Winter's TaleThe Winter's TaleThe Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics, among them W. W...
(RSCRoyal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
world tour) - Lysistrata (RSC)
Filmography
- Kingdom (TV series)
- Trial & Retribution XI: Closure (TV movie)
- Marple: Sleeping Murder (TV movie)
- Safari Strife (Cutting Edge)
- Richard III (NHK Japan)
External links
- British Theatre Guide biography
- The Guardian
- Edward Hall talks about directing the all male Shakespeare Company Propeller on The Interview Online