Top Five Nunn plays

Macbeth, The Other Place, Stratford, 1977  A landmark RSC production dominated by the partnership of Ian Mckellen and Judi Dench as Macbeth and Lady M.

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Aldwych, 1980 Crowning glory of Nunn’s time at the helm of the RSC: Dickens’s novel, filleted into two fourhour chunks, featuring a career-making performance from Roger Rees.

Les Misérables, Barbican, 1986 The subject of critical sneers when it opened, Nunn’s ceaselessly inventive (and ever-revolving) staging of this musical adaptation of Victor Hugo has clearly had the last laugh.

The Merchant of Venice, National Theatre, 1999 Henry Goodman gave a career-best performance as Shylock in Nunn’s cuspof-the-nazi era interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s most problematic plays.

Hamlet, Old Vic, 2003 Nunn showed his formidable instinct for talent-spotting by catapulting an unknown 23-year-old called Ben Whishaw into the limelight as the youngest Prince of Denmark the Old Vic had ever seen.