Tributes to ‘giant of theatre’ Sir Peter Hall after his death at the age of 86
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 later, with her daughter Joely Richardson, with the Peter Hall Company.
She said in a statement: “I send his family lots of love. 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 co-director.
Under his leadership, the theatre moved from the Old Vic to the South Bank, and Sir Peter remained 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. All of us are in his debt. His legendary tenacity and vision created an extraordinary and lasting legacy for us all.”
In a statement posted on Facebook, the Royal Shakespeare Company included a quote from Julius Caesar and said it was “greatly saddened by the news”.