Biographie
Gregory Doran has been hailed as "one of the great Shakespearians of his generation" (The Sunday Times), "one of the supreme Shakespeare directors of our era" (The Financial Times), and "one of the finest present-day directors of Shakespeare" (The Sunday Telegraph).
He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company as an actor in 1987 and became its Artistic Director in 2012, launching his first season in September 2013. He directed David Tennant in Richard II, the inaugural production of the RSC's "Live From Stratford-upon-Avon" series—a project committed to broadcasting all Shakespeare plays to cinemas nationally and internationally.
Among his notable RSC productions are Antony and Cleopatra starring Harriet Walter and Patrick Stewart; Hamlet with David Tennant; All's Well That Ends Well featuring Judi Dench; a puppet masque of Venus and Adonis; and an innovative digital staging of The Tempest with Simon Russell Beale.
His 2012 RSC production of Julius Caesar, featuring an all-Black British cast, was praised by veteran critic Michael Billington as one of the top ten productions in the RSC’s 60-year history and one of Billington’s ten best theatre experiences ever.
Doran’s longstanding partnership with his husband, Sir Antony Sher, resulted in numerous acclaimed productions including Titus Andronicus, Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale, Othello, Henry IV Parts One and Two, Cyrano de Bergerac, Death of a Salesman, and King Lear.
In 2016, Greg delivered the prestigious Richard Dimbleby Lecture on BBC1. He received the Sam Wanamaker Prize for pioneering contributions to Shakespearean theatre in 2012 and a special Olivier Award for outstanding achievement for a Jacobean season in 2002. In 2023, he was honored with the esteemed Pragnell Shakespeare Prize at the annual Birthday Lunch in Stratford-upon-Avon.
He holds honorary titles as an associate of the British Shakespeare Association, senior research fellow at the Shakespeare Institute, and trustee of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
In 2022, Greg directed Richard III starring Arthur Hughes, the first disabled actor to play the role for the RSC; his 2023 production of Cymbeline marked his 50th for the company. He stepped down as Artistic Director in 2022.
For the 2023-24 academic year, he assumed the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professorship at Oxford University, where he directed The Two Gentlemen of Verona with students.
His writing includes Woza Shakespeare!, co-authored with Antony Sher about their 1995 South African Titus Andronicus production; Shakespeare’s Lost Play: In Search of Cardenio; and The Shakespeare Almanac.
His most recent book, My Shakespeare: A Director's Journey Through the First Folio, was published by Bloomsbury in April 2023.
He was knighted in the 2024 New Year’s Honours List.
