John Caird (director)

Infobox actor
name = John Caird

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imagesize = 180px
caption =
birthname = John Newport Caird
birthdate = birth date and age|1948|09|22|df=y
birthplace = Canada
spouse = Frances Ruffelle (m. 1990)
yearsactive = 1970s-present
tonyawards = Best Direction of a Musical
1987 "Les Misérables"

John Newport Caird (September 22, 1948) is an English stage director and writer of plays, musicals and operas.

Biography

Early years

Caird was born in Canada to British subject, Oxford theologian, and Principal of Mansfield College, G. B. Caird. He is Honorary Associate Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company where he has staged and directed more that 20 plays, both classic (Brecht, Shakespeare and Strindberg) as well as a great deal of contemporary work.

Career

Together with Trevor Nunn he directed the celebrated production of Charles Dickens' "Nicholas Nickleby" at the Aldwych Theatre in June 1980 (later also TV) as well as the internationally successful "Les Misérables" in 1985.

At London's Royal National Theatre he has staged productions of Chekhov's Seagull with Dame Judi Dench, his own version of Bernstein's "Candide", "Stanley" by Pam Gems and "Hamlet" with Simon Russell Beale. He has also directed Macbeth, with Simon Russell Beale in the title role, at the Almeida Theatre in London.

In opera, John Caird directed Mozart's "Zaide" at the Batignano Opera Festival and Verdi's "Don Carlos" at the Welsh National Opera, a production that was remounted by the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto in October 2007. He has also recently finished writing the libretto for an opera version of the Noël Coward screenplay, "Brief Encounter" with composer André Previn.

In recent years John Caird has become an appreciated guest director at Sweden's national stage, the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm where he has staged "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (2000), "Twelfth Night" (2002) and most recently both parts of Strindberg's "The Dance of Death" (2007) with great success. He directed his first Swedish production, Shakespeare's "As You Like It", in 1984 at Stockholm City Theatre.

Caird has also worked extensively in Japan, where he has recently directed Japanese language productions of "Les Miserables", "The Beggar's Opera" and "Midsummer Night's Dream" and is now working on his own adaptation of Teru Miyamoto's famous novel "Kinshu".

Personal life

Caird was married to Frances Ruffelle, daughter of Sylvia Young, founder the Sylvia Young Theatre School. They have two children–Eliza and Nathaniel.

References

External links

*ibdb|14350|John Caird
*imdb|129035|John Caird