LONDON (CelebrityAccess) — Peter Hall, a celebrated stage director and Director of the British National Theatre and founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, has died, the theatre said. He was 86.<\/p>\n

Hall, whose career spans more than half a century, found his first major success when he staged the staged the English language premiere of Samuel Beckett\u2019s play Waiting for Godot.<\/p>\n

In 1960, at the age of 29, Hall founded the Royal Shakespeare Company which he led until 1968. In 1973, he was appointed as the Director of the National Theatre and oversaw the company’s move from the Old Vic to a new, purpose-built facility on the South Bank of the Thames.<\/p>\n

After leaving the National Theatre in 1988, he formed the Peter Hall Company (1988 \u2013 2011) and in 2003 became the founding director of the Rose Theatre Kingston.<\/p>\n

His work as a director include e world premieres of Harold Pinter\u2019s The Homecoming (1965), No Man\u2019s Land (1975) and Betrayal (1978), Peter Shaffer\u2019s Amadeus (1979), John Barton\u2019s nine-hour epic Tantalus (2000); and the London and Broadway premieres of Alan Ayckbourn\u2019s Bedroom Farce (1977). Other landmark productions included Hamlet (1965, with David Warner), The Wars of the Roses (1963), The Oresteia (1981), Animal Farm (1984), Antony and Cleopatra (1987, with Judi Dench and Anthony Hopkins), The Merchant of Venice (1989, with Dustin Hoffman), As You Like It (2003, with his daughter Rebecca Hall) and A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream (2010, with Judi Dench). His last production at the National Theatre was the Twelfth Night in 2011.<\/p>\n

He was also an internationally recognized opera director, and oversaw the world premiere of Michael Tippett\u2019s The Knot Garden (1970) and was Artistic Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera (1984 \u2013 90) where he directed more than twenty productions. Hall worked at many of the world\u2019s leading houses including The Royal Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, and Bayreuth where, in 1983, he staged Wagner\u2019s Ring Cycle to honor the 100th anniversary of the composer\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Peter was diagnosed with dementia in 2011. He is survived by his wife, Nicki, and children Christopher, Jennifer, Edward, Lucy, Rebecca and Emma and nine grandchildren. His former wives, Leslie Caron, Jacqueline Taylor and Maria Ewing also survive him. There will be a private family funeral and details of a memorial service will be announced at a later date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON (CelebrityAccess) — Peter Hall, a celebrated stage director and Director of the British National Theatre and founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, has died, the theatre said. He was 86. Hall, whose career spans more than half a century, found his first major success when he staged the staged the English language premiere of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stc_notifier_status":"","_stc_notifier_sent_time":"","_stc_notifier_request":false,"_stc_notifier_prevent":false,"_stc_subscriber_keywords":"","_stc_subscriber_search_areas":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry_news","category-obituaries"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n