Tributes to theatre great Sir Peter Hall

Death: Director world renowned

Vanessa Redgrave has led tributes to Sir Peter Hall, the former director of the National Theatre and founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, who has died aged 86.

The theatre great died on Monday, in a London hospital surrounded by his family. Actress Redgrave worked with Sir Peter in Stratford, on Broadway, and with the Peter Hall Company.

She said: “He was a fascinating director. I remember his production in 1959 of Midsummer Night’s Dream with Charles Laughton as Bottom and Ian Holm as Puck and Albert Finney as Lysander, and in the same Stratford season of 1959 Coriolanus with Laurence Olivier.

“I was in both productions and I watched all the rehearsals. In 1989 he directed me on Broadway in Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams, and in 2004 my daughter Joely Richardson and I both played in his Peter Hall Company production of Lady Windermere’s Fan. I count myself very lucky to have worked with him.”

Sir Peter, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2011, founded the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 1960, aged just 30, and stayed there until 1968.

He was appointed the National’s director in 1973, a year after joining Lord Laurence Olivier as codirector.

Under his leadership, the theatre moved from the Old Vic to the South Bank, and Sir Peter re- mained with the National until 1988.

The National Theatre’s current director, Rufus Norris, said: “We all stand on the shoulders of giants and Peter Hall’s shoulders supported the entirety of British theatre as we know it.”

Sir Peter had an international reputation as the foremost authority on Shakespearean directing.

His most well-known theatre productions included the world premiere of Pinter’s The Homecoming in 1965 and the nine-hour production of John Barton’s Greek tale Tantalus.

His last production with the National was 2011’s Twelfth Night.

Sir Peter was also responsible for some 20 productions during his time as artistic director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera from 1984-1990.

The director, who founded the Peter Hall Company, was married four times.

ODD COUPLE: Paul Rogers and Judi Dench during filming of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1968, with director Peter Hall in the background

Sir Peter Hall has died aged 86