Gregory Doran

Sir Gregory Doran (born 24 November 1958)^[1] is an English director known for his Shakespearean work. The Sunday Times called him 'one of the great Shakespearians of his generation'.^[2]

Doran was artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), succeeding Michael Boyd in September 2012. In an interview, announcing his appointment, Doran said that whilst Boyd had concentrated on the 'Company', he would be concentrating on the 'Shakespeare' in the Royal Shakespeare Company logo.^[3] Since April 2022 he is director emeritus at the Royal Shakespeare Company.^[4]

His notable productions include a production of Macbeth starring Antony Sher, which was filmed for Channel 4 in 2001,^[5][6] as well as Hamlet in 2008, starring David Tennant and Patrick Stewart.

Doran was born in Huddersfield, but his family moved to Lancashire when he was six months old.^[7] He was educated at St Pius X Catholic Preparatory School and Preston Catholic College.^[8] He attended Bristol University studying English and Drama, where he set up his own theatre company with fellow student Chris Grady, presenting Shakespeare and related classics. He then trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

He received an honorary doctorate from Bristol University in July 2011^[9] and an Honorary Degree from the University of Warwick in July 2013.^[10]

Doran left the Bristol Old Vic School early having been invited to direct A Midsummer Night's Dream at Jamestown Community College in upstate New York. He then went to Nottingham Playhouse as an actor, before becoming Assistant Director then Associate Director, directing his own productions, including Waiting for Godot and Long Day's Journey into Night.

After a very brief acting career in TV, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1987 initially as an actor (as Solanio in The Merchant of Venice and Octavius Caesar in Julius Caesar) then became Assistant Director the following season.

He directed his first RSC production in 1992,^[11] commissioning Derek Walcott to write an adaptation of Homer's Odyssey which was performed at The Other Place.

In 1995 he directed his partner Antony Sher in the lead role of Titus Andronicus at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, South Africa. This controversial production, which toured to the National Theatre, is the subject of their book, Woza Shakespeare!

He returned to the RSC in 1996, becoming an Associate Director, and directing Jane Lapotaire, Ian Hogg and Paul Jesson in All is True (or Henry VIII), his first Shakespeare for the company. Since then, Doran has directed over half of Shakespeare's plays for the RSC.

Doran took compassionate leave from his role at the RSC in September 2021 to care for his husband, Antony Sher, who was terminally ill. His deputy, Erica Whyman, became acting artistic director.^[12] The RSC announced Doran was formally stepping down as artistic director in April 2022, becoming artistic director emeritus until the end of 2023.^[4]

Doran contributed to Michael Wood's BBC series In Search of Shakespeare, and filmed a documentary for BBC Four, called A Midsummer Night's Dreaming.

In 2009, Doran's Shakespeare Almanac was published.^[13][14]

He and frequent collaborator Sir Antony Sher had, when they entered into a civil partnership in 2005, been together since 1987.^[15] They married 10 years after their civil partnership, on 30 December 2015. Sher died in December 2021.^[16][17]

Doran was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to the Arts.^[18]

Doran has directed productions outside the RSC including:

• The York Mystery Plays in the Millennium production in York Minster, 2000
• The Real Inspector Hound and Black Comedy, 1998, Comedy Theatre, London
• Mahler's Conversion by Ronald Harwood, Aldwych Theatre, London
• The Giant by Antony Sher, Hampstead Theatre, London
• Anjin: the English Samurai by Mike Poulton
• The Merchant of Venice, Galaxy Theatre, Tokyo
• The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Oxford Playhouse, Oxford, 2024^[24]

• "Who's Who in British Theatre: Gregory Doran". The Guardian. London. 6 July 2002. Retrieved 29 October 2008.
• Gregory Doran at IMDb
• An audio biography of Gregory Doran