English theatre director (1941–2020)
Terry Hands
Hands in 1972
Born Terence David Hands
(1941-01-09 ) 9 January 1941Died 4 February 2020(2020-02-04) (aged 79) Occupation Theatre director Spouse(s) Dame Josephine Barstow (1964–1967; divorced)Ludmila Mikaël (1974–1980; divorced) Julia Lintott Emma Lucia (2002–2020) Children 3
Terence David Hands , CBE (9 January 1941 – 4 February 2020[1] ) was a multi-award English theatre director . He founded the Liverpool Everyman Theatre and ran the Royal Shakespeare Company for thirteen years during one of the company's most successful periods; he spent 25 years in all with the RSC.[2] He also saved Clwyd Theatr Cymru from closure and turned it into the most successful theatre in Wales in his seventeen years as Artistic Director.[3] He received several Olivier, Tony and Molière awards and nominations for directing and lighting.[4]
Early years
Hands was born at Aldershot , Hampshire , England. He studied at Woking Grammar School and the University of Birmingham before attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , leaving with the gold medal for acting in 1964. He then established the Liverpool Everyman where he directed numerous productions,[5] including a prominent production of T.S. Eliot 's "Murder in the Cathedral ".[6]
Career
Hands was recruited by Peter Hall to the Royal Shakespeare Company two years later in 1966 to run the company's touring group Theatregoround . He became an associate director there in 1967, directing his first production for them, The Merry Wives of Windsor, in 1968 at the age of 27.[7] He became joint Artistic Director with Trevor Nunn in 1978, and in 1986 sole chief executive.[7] As Director Emeritus and Artistic Director he directed more productions during his 25 years there than any other director in the company’s history. These included the entire History Cycle with Alan Howard, Much Ado About Nothing [2] and Edmund Rostand 's Cyrano de Bergerac with Derek Jacobi and Sinéad Cusack (both productions transferred to Broadway),[2] Christopher Marlowe 's Tamburlaine with Sir Antony Sher , Loves Labours Lost with Ralph Fiennes , Anton Chekov 's The Seagull with Sir Simon Russell Beale , A Winter’s Tale with Jeremy Irons , Othello with Sir Ben Kingsley and David Suchet and the award-winning musical Poppy .
He was the first foreign director invited to direct at the Comédie-Française ; he was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres , and was appointed as a consultant director.
In 1997 Hands became Artistic Director of Theatr Clwyd (afterwards renamed Clwyd Theatr Cymru),[7] [5] which presents much of its work on tour in Wales and the rest of the UK, saving the theatre from closure.
He was appointed CBE in the 2007 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to drama. In October 2001 he resigned from his position as an advisory director of the RSC.
In 2015 Hands left his post as Artistic Director of Clwyd Theatr Cymru after seventeen years in the post, having turned the theatre into the most successful in Wales and leaving a legacy of a Welsh company of associate artists.[7]
His international directing credits include productions in Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, London, New York, Oslo, Paris, Tokyo, Vienna and Zurich. From 1975 to 1980 he was consultant-director of the Comédie-Française and was a Chevalier of Arts and Letters . His opera directing credits include "Otello " with Plácido Domingo (Paris Opera ) and Parsifal (Royal Opera House ).[7]
Personal life and death
Hands was married to soprano Dame Josephine Barstow (1964–1967),[7] and afterwards to actress Ludmila Mikaël (1974–1980),[7] with whom he had a daughter, César winning actress Marina Hands . He had two sons, Rupert who is also a director, and Sebastian.[5] In 2002 he married director Emma Lucia.[6] A chain smoker with an unhealthy diet, he once remarked "'I'm not a particularly good cook, but I’m quick" ... adding that he lived on a diet of meat. 'I virtually never eat vegetables, and I never eat a salad, ever.'"[8]
Hands died after a short illness, aged 79, on 4 February 2020.[9] [8]
Awards and nominations
Awards
Nominations
1985: Tony Award for Best Director of a Play – Much Ado About Nothing
1985: Tony Award for Best Lighting Design – Much Ado About Nothing
1985: Tony Award for Best Lighting Design – Cyrano De Bergerac[10]
Stage productions
Theatregoround – Touring RSC
RSC (Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Aldwych Theatre )
1968: The Merry Wives of Windsor
1968: The Latent Heterosexual , Paddy Chayefsky
1969: Bartholomew Fair , Ben Jonson
1969: Pericles, Prince of Tyre
1969: Women Beware Women , Thomas Middleton
1970: Richard III
1971: The Balcony , Jean Genet
1971: The Man of Mode , George Etherege
1971–72: The Merchant of Venice (Also on UK tour)
1972: Murder in the Cathedral , T. S. Eliot
1973: Romeo and Juliet
1973: Cries from Casement as His Bones are Brought to Dublin , David Rudkin
1974: The Actor , (RSC Australian Tour)
1974: The Bewitched , Peter Barnes
1975–76: Henry IV parts 1 and 2
1975–76: Henry V (Also International tour)
1975–76: The Merry Wives of Windor
1977: Old World , Aleksei Arbuzov
1977–78: Henry VI Parts 1,2 and 3
1978: The Changeling , Thomas Middleton and William Rowley
1978–79: Coriolanus (also international tour)
1979: Children of the Sun , Maxim Gorky
1979–80: Twelfth Night
1980–81: As You Like It
1980–81: Richard II
1980–81: Richard III
1981: Troilus and Cressida
1982–83: Arden of Faversham
1982–84: Much Ado About Nothing
RSC at the Barbican Theatres and Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Chichester Festival
1995: Hadrian VII , Chichester Festival Theatre
1995: The Visit , Chichester Festival Theatre
Clwyd Theatr Cymru
1997: Equus
1998: A Christmas Carol , Peter Barnes
1998: The Journey of Mary Kelly , Siân Evans
1998: Table Manners
1998: Living Together
1998: Round And Round The Garden
1999: Twelfth Night
1999: Macbeth
2000: Under Milk Wood , Dylan Thomas
2001: King Lear
2001: Bedroom Farce
2001: The Rabbit , Meredydd Barker
2002: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead , Tom Stoppard
2002: Romeo and Juliet
2002: The Four Seasons , Arnold Wesker
2002: Betrayal
2003: Blithe Spirit , Noël Coward
2003: The Crucible , Arthur Miller
2004: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , Ken Kesey
2005: Brassed Off
2005: Troilus and Cressida
2005: Brassed Off (Revival)
2005: Night Must Fall
2006: A Chorus of Disapproval
2006: Memory
2007: Arcadia
2007: Memory (Revival in New York)
2007: The Cherry Orchard
2008: Macbeth
2008: Memory (Revival in London and Wales tour)
2009: Noises Off
2009: Mary Stuart (featuring his daughter, Marina Hands as Mary)
2009: Pygmalion
2010: Arden of Faversham
2010: A Small Family Business
2010: Blackthorn
2011: The Taming of the Shrew
2012: As You Like It
2012: Boeing Boeing
2013: The Winslow Boy
2014: Under Milk Wood
2015: Hamlet
References
Further reading
Trowbridge, Simon: The Company: A Biographical Dictionary of the Royal Shakespeare Company , Oxford: Editions Albert Creed (2010); ISBN 978-0-9559830-2-3
External links
Jonathan Miller (1976)
Clifford Williams (1977)
Terry Hands (1978)
Michael Bogdanov (1979)
Trevor Nunn / John Caird (1980)
Peter Wood (1981)
Richard Eyre (1982)
Terry Hands (1983)
Christopher Morahan (1984)
Bill Bryden (1985)
Bill Alexander (1986)
Declan Donnellan (1987)
Deborah Warner (1988)
Michael Bogdanov (1989/1990)
Richard Jones (1991, musical)
David Thacker (1991, play)
Simon Callow (1992, musical)
Deborah Warner (1992, play)
Nicholas Hytner (1993, musical)
Stephen Daldry (1993, play)
Declan Donnellan (1994, musical)
Stephen Daldry (1994, play)
Scott Ellis (1995, musical)
Declan Donnellan (1995, play)
Trevor Nunn (1995)
Sam Mendes (1996)
Des McAnuff (1997)
Richard Eyre (1998)
Howard Davies (1999)
Trevor Nunn (2000)
Howard Davies (2001)
Michael Boyd (2002)
Sam Mendes (2003)
Michael Grandage (2004)
Nicholas Hytner (2005)
Richard Eyre (2006)
Dominic Cooke (2007)
Rupert Goold (2008)
John Tiffany (2009)
Rupert Goold (2010)
Howard Davies (2011)
Matthew Warchus (2012)
Marianne Elliott (2013)
Lyndsey Turner (2014)
Ivo van Hove (2015)
Robert Icke (2016)
John Tiffany (2017)
Sam Mendes (2018)
Stephen Daldry (2019)
Miranda Cromwell and Marianne Elliott (2020)
No Ceremony (2021)
Rebecca Frecknall (2022)
Phelim McDermott (2023)
Jamie Lloyd (2024)
International National People Other