Nick Wright

Nicholas Wright was born in South Africa in 1940. He started in the theatre as a child actor, working extensively in radio as well as on the stage, especially with Gwen ffrancon-Davies and Marda Vann. He was educated at Rondebosch Boys School.

He came to England to train at LAMDA and joined the Old Vic company as an actor, touring to Australia with Vivien Leigh. After working in repertory, he became an assistant director in films and television. He joined the Royal Court as casting director. In 1969 he was invited to open and run the Theatre Upstairs, one of the first, if not the first, studio theatre in the UK. He remained as director for five years, presenting a radically influential programme of new plays by many who became major figures in the British and international theatre.

He was appointed Artistic Director of the Royal Court and served from 1975 to 1977. During this time he directed many new works including plays by Ken Campbell, N F Simpson, John Antrobus and Michael Hastings as well as the first important stage plays of Caryl Churchill and Heathcote Williams.  His productions abroad include works by Athol Fugard, Edward Bond and Brecht.  Following a period as Director of Theatre at the Institute of Contemporary Art, he was appointed Literary Manager of the National Theatre. He held this position between 1984 and 1989 and then was appointed an Associate Director, a role he filled during the artistic directorships of Peter Hall, Richard Eyre and Trevor Nunn. 

He served on the board of the Royal Court from 1992 to 2002 and has been on the Board of the National Theatre since 2002.

As well as his work as a theatre director and literary manager, he has had a distinguished career as a playwright.

Plays for the theatre:

CHANGING LINES (produced at the Royal Court 1969); TREETOPS (Riverside 1978, won the George Devine Award); THE GORKY BRIGADE (Royal Court 1979); ONE FINE DAY (Riverside 1980); THE CRIMES OF VAUTRIN (Joint Stock 1983); THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY (RSC 1983); THE DESERT AIR (RSC 1985); MRS KLEIN (RNT 1988); CRESSIDA (Almeida at the Albery 2000); VINCENT IN BRIXTON (RNT/Wyndhams 2002, Broadway 2003, Playhouse 2003, won the Olivier Award for Best New Play 2003, nominated for a Tony for Best Play); THE REPORTER (RNT 2007, nominated for Evening Standard and Olivier Awards); HE’S TALKING (for New Connections 2008 at the National Theatre); TRAVELLING LIGHT (RNT 2011); Rattigan’s NIJINSKY (Chichester Festival Theatre 2010).

Adaptations and translations:

SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR (adaptation of Pirandello, RNT, 1987); THERESE RAQUIN (adaptation of Emile Zola, Chichester 1991, subsequently RNT 2006); JOHN GABRIEL BORKMANN (adaptation of Ibsen, RNT 1996); NAKED (adaptation of Pirandello, Almeida, 1998); LULU (adaptation of Wedekind, Almeida 2001), THREE SISTERS (adaptation of Chekhov RNT 2003); HIS DARK MATERIALS (adaptation of Philip Pullman RNT 2004/5); Caroline Blackwood’s THE LAST DUCHESS (2010), Patrick Hamilton’s THE SLAVES OF SOLITUDE (2017) and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizelas’s A HUMAN BEING DIED THAT NIGHT (2013) for Hampstead Theatre; Pat Barker’s REGENERATION in Northampton and on tour in 2014,

Libretti: 

THE LITTLE PRINCE, an opera based on the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, music by Rachel Portman (Houston Grand Opera 2003 and touring).

BUZZ ON THE MOON, an opera for television with music by Jonathan Dove (Channel 4 2006).

Nico Muhly’s MARNIE for the English National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera.

Television:

MORE TALES OF THE CITY (adapted from Armistead Maupin (Channel Four, 1998; Emmy nomination).

Books:

99 PLAYS - a personal selection of and introduction to key plays since the Oresteia

CHANGING STAGES - a view of British Theatre in the Twentieth Century co-written with Richard Eyre.