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Trevor Nunn named as next Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor at Oxford

27 August 2010

Director Trevor Nunn has been named as the next Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre, based at St Catherine's College, Oxford. He will succeed the writer and playwright Michael Frayn in October 2010.

Trevor Nunn's illustrious career running first the Royal Shakespeare Company and then the National Theatre has seen him firmly in the centre of British cultural life since he became the youngest ever Artistic Director of the RSC. Whilst there, he directed most of the Shakespeare canon, alongside historic productions such as Nicholas Nickleby and Les Miserables.

From 1996 until 2003, he was Director of the National Theatre, where his productions included world premieres of plays by Tom Stoppard and Tennessee Williams, revivals of plays by Shakespeare, Chekhov and Gorki, and of great musicals such as Oklahoma! and Anything Goes. He directed the original productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, Starlight Express, Aspects of Love and Sunset Boulevard. He has also directed operas, films and television adaptations.

Trevor Nunn said, "Having been invited to fulfil this role on two previous occasions, I am so pleased that this time the dates have worked out. The prospect of working with University students is immensely stimulating, and the year of work will give me the opportunity to get a lot of things off my chest. I expect to learn every bit as much as I teach."

The Chair of Contemporary Theatre, founded through a grant from the Mackintosh Foundation to St Catherine's College, aims to promote interest in, and the study and practice of, contemporary theatre. The Visiting Professorship has previously been held by actors, writers, directors, and producers including Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Miller, Alan Ayckbourn, Richard Eyre, Phyllida Lloyd, Patrick Stewart and Kevin Spacey.

The Master of St Catherine's College, Professor Roger Ainsworth, said: "We are really pleased that Trevor Nunn has agreed to take on this role for a year. Despite his 18 years with the RSC he has never tried to summarize the strong views he has formed on how approaches to Shakespeare develop in the context of productions. He has already indicated to me how enthusiastic he feels about the opportunity to share some of these views, and the interaction with Trevor in Oxford is anticipated with great relish".

His inaugural lecture will take place at St Catherine's College at 5pm in the Bernard Sunley Theatre on Monday 18 October.

For more information, please contact Megan Parry, St Catherine's College, 01865 271762, megan.parry@stcatz.ox.ac.uk OR the Press Office, University of Oxford,  01865 270046

Notes to Editors:

The Mackintosh Foundation was established by Sir Cameron Mackintosh in 1988 to promote and develop theatre and the performing arts; to provide relief for the homeless, to relieve suffering of and promote research into the causes and treatment of AIDS; and to provide for medical research and relief of sickness.
The Cameron Mackintosh Drama Fund for Contemporary Theatre has helped some of the University's brightest young actors, directors, producers and writers stage shows during the annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Sir Cameron Mackintosh was knighted for services to the British Theatre in 1996 and is an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine's College.

The Professorship is for one academic year only. It is expected that the incumbent gives an inaugural lecture at the start of the new academic year in October. After that, it is very much up to the individual concerned as to how they approach their tenure as Cameron Mackintosh Professor. No teaching obligation is attached to the role.