Wikipedia

Ron Daniels (director)

Ron Daniels (born Ronald George Daniel, 1942) is a theatre and opera director.[1][2] He is an Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company;[3] former Artistic Director of The Other Place, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon; former Associate Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theatre (ART),[4][5][6] Cambridge, Massachusetts; and former Head of Acting and Directing Programs of the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University.[5] He is also a founding member of the Teatro Oficina,[1] São Paulo, in his native Brazil.[7]

Ron Daniels
Born
Ronald George Daniel

1942
Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
NationalityBrazilian
EducationFundação Brasileira de Teatro, Rio de Janeiro.
Known forTheatre, film and opera director
Notable work1982 - The Tempest (starring Derek Jacobi, Mark Rylance), RSC; 1984 - Hamlet (starring Roger Rees, Kenneth Branagh, Frances Barber, Brian Blessed), RSC; 1989 - Hamlet (starring Mark Rylance), RSC; 2010 - Il Postino (starring Plácido Domingo), LA Opera, Theatre an der Wien, in Vienna, the Châtelet in Paris.
Websitewww.rondanielsdirector.com

Early years and acting edit

Daniels was born in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil born 1942.[1] He studied at Fundação Brasileira de Teatro, Rio de Janeiro.[5][7]

In 1959 Daniels performed in Sangue no Domingo by Walter Hugo Durst, Boca de Ouro by Nelson Rodrigues, directed by Ziembinski.[8]

As a founding member of the Teatro Oficina, São Paulo, 1959–1963 edit

A Incubadeira; Fogo Frio; Todo Anjo é Terrível Look Homeward, Angel with Henriette Morineau, directed by José Celso Martinez Correa;[9] A Vida Impressa em Dolar Awake and Sing; José do Parto à Sepultura by Augusto Boal) Quatro num Quarto; Um Bonde Chamado Desejo A Streetcar Named Desire directed by Augusto Boal); Os Pequenos Burguêses "Les Petits Bourgeois" by Gorki - with Eugenio Kusnet, Raul Cortez, Celia Helena, directed by José Celso Martinez Correa.[1]

In 1964, aged 21, Daniels moved to the UK and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1968, playing Metellus Cimber in John Barton's Julius Caesar[10] and John Grass in Indians by Arthur Kopit, directed by Jack Gelber.[11][12][13]

Directing 1969–1974 edit

In 1969 Daniels became a director and worked for five years directing for the following institutions:

1969–1972 edit

Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent: The Pot of Gold; Electra; She Stoops to Conquer; Coriolanus; Major Barbara; Fighting Man; Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf; Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street;[14] Ghosts; Drums in the Night; The Samaritan; Time Travelers; The Recruiting Officer.[5][15]

1972–1974 edit

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art: Measure for Measure; Fear and Miseries of the Third Reich; The Insect Play; Twelfth Night; A Midsummer Night's Dream; Pillars of the Community.[16]

Drama Centre London: The Word[7][15]

As a freelance director edit

The Long and Short and the Tall; The Samaritan by Peter Terson, with Timothy Dalton; The Children's Crusade by Paul Thompson featuring Daniel Day-Lewis;[17] Female Transport by Steve Gooch; Sergeant Musgrave's Dance by John Arden; Into the Mouth of Crabs; By Common Consent by Paul Thompson; The Motor Show; Made in Britain; Bang by Howard Barker;[18] Ashes by David Rudkin, with Ian McKellen, Gemma Jones;[19] The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B by JP Donleavy, with Simon Callow;[20] Across from the Garden of Allah by Charles Wood,[21] with Nigel Hawthorne and Glenda Jackson; The Feast of Snails by Olaf Olafsson [22]

Royal Shakespeare Company 1974–1991 edit

In 1974, Daniels returned to the RSC, where he directed 34 productions until he moved to the US in 1991.[7]

[3]

[23][24]

Productions directed edit

US years edit

In 1991, Daniels moved stateside, where he resided for 30 years, until recently moving back to the UK in 2021.[15]


While in New York he directed Richard II, Richard III and Macbeth for the Theatre for a New Audience[28] and Naomi Wallace's One Flea Spare for the Public Theatre[29] He also directed Much Ado about Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew at the Old Globe in San Diego[30] and most recently, Othello at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC.[31]

Productions edit

ART and Institute for Advanced Theatre Training 1991–1996 edit

As a freelance director in the US edit

However during his time in the US Daniels still continued to direct some productions in the UK. Namely:

National Theatre edit

Opera edit

Daniels has worked on Madama Butterfly, La Bohème, Carmen, and Don Giovanni.[55][56]

Productions edit

Brazil and Japan edit

In his native Brazil, Ron directed King Lear, Hamlet, Macbeth, Measure for Measure and Colm Tóibín's The Testament of Mary and in Japan, Titus Andronicus and Hamlet.[72]

Brazil edit

Japan edit

Film edit

Director edit

Executive producer edit

Move back to the UK edit

In 2021 Daniels moved back to the UK and has recently began curating and directing digital art.[15]

[79] in June 2023. The Return of Benjamin Lay will be seen again in Pittsburgh in February 2025, under the banner of the Quantum Theatre, and later in New York, produced by Playhouse Creatures.[80]

Acting coach edit

Daniels runs a weekly 'salon' for actors from across the United States, who continue to work with him to refresh their notions of Shakespeare, examine new ideas and to prepare for auditions and roles. The members of these salons range from Tony winners to early career actors trying to work on their craft.[81]

Since his return to the UK, Daniels has established himself as an acting coach with his teaching based in the work of Shakespeare. Daniels offers his expertise to UK actors looking to train further in Shakespeare through workshops, courses and one off top-up sessions.[81]

Publications and media edit

Daniels is the author of Encontros com Shakespeare,[82] published 22nd May, 2019.

He is also known for his translations, with Marcus Daud, of Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear and Measure for Measure (published by SESC, São Paulo) into Portuguese.[83][84]

Contributions edit

Daniels' work with playwright Naomi Wallace is extensively referenced and discussed in The Theatre of Naomi Wallace: Embodied Dialogues[27] by Scott T Cummings and Erica Abbitt Stevens; in which he is also a contributing author in the chapter titled 'Naomi is in my head'[85].[86]

In 1989 Daniels took his Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet, starring Mark Rylance, to Broadmoor Hospital, a high security psychiatric unit. It was one of a series of Shakespeare tragedies presented to the patients, along with workshops that took place after the performances.[87] The book, Shakespeare Comes to Broadmoor[88] by Murray Cox with a foreword from Sir Ian Mckellen offers insights into the impact of such drama performed in the central hall of Broadmoor Hospital between 1989–1991, upon the actors and audiences. Daniels contributed an interviewed chapter to this publication.[88]

Daniels' work as a director, with emphasis on his Shakespeare work, is heavily referenced and studied in An A-Z Guide to Shakespeare[2] by Stanley Wells (2013); while his contribution to theatre is discussed and referenced further in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance[1] by Dennis Kennedy (2003), The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance[1] by Dennis Kennedy (2010), and The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre[4] by Colin Chambers (2006); his Portuguese production and work is mentioned and studied in Flavio Imperio[9] by Renina Katz (2005).

Media edit

The South Bank Show edit

In 1989, Ron Daniels was interviewed on The South Bank Show with Melvyn Bragg, alongside Richard Eyre and Yuri Lyubimoy, regarding the three simultaneous productions of Hamlet at Royal National Theatre, on tour, and Daniels' production featuring Mark Rylance at the RSC.[89] [90]

BBC Late Show edit

In 1990, the BBC Late Show featured an interview with director Ron Daniels, about his production of A Clockwork Orange at the Royal Shakespeare Company, designed by Richard Hudson and featuring music by Bono and The Edge.[91] The feature, along with interviews with Hudson, production manager Mike Arnold, and theatre critic Tom Sutcliffe, discuss the design and the development of the production for a 90's audience.

References edit

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External links edit

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