William Campbell Rough Bryden (12 April 1942 – 5 January 2022) was a Scottish stage and film director and screenwriter.

Early life and career

He worked as a trainee with

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is th ...

before becoming assistant director at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, in 1965. He then worked as a director at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...

(1967–1971), the

Royal Lyceum Theatre The Royal Lyceum Theatre is a 658-seat theatre in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, named after the Theatre Royal Lyceum and English Opera House, the residence at the time of legendary Shakespearean actor Henry Irving. It was built in 1883 by a ...

, Edinburgh (1972–1975), Associate Director at the National Theatre (1975–1985); and as a visiting director in Glasgow and New York. In 1990, he directed

Leoš Janáček Leoš Janáček (, baptised Leo Eugen Janáček; 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic musics, including Eastern European f ...

's ''

The Cunning Little Vixen ''The Cunning Little Vixen'' (original title ''Příhody lišky Bystroušky'' or ''Tales of Vixen Sharp-Ears'' in English), is a three-act Czech-language opera by Leoš Janáček completed in 1923 to a libretto the composer himself adapted from a ...

'', at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal ...

. He was Head of Television Drama at

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Irela ...

(1984-1993) and has also done other work for film and television, as screenwriter, director and executive producer.

Personal life and death

In 1970 he married

the Hon. ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certain ...

Deborah Morris, a potter, who was a daughter of IOC President

Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, (30 July 1914 – 25 April 1999) was an Irish journalist, author, sports official, and the sixth President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He succeeded his uncle as Baron Killanin in the Peer ...

. They had two children, Dillon and Mary Kate. The couple divorced in 1988. In the same year, he met actress

Angela Douglas Angela Douglas (born 29 October 1940), born Angela McDonagh, is an English actress. Early life Douglas was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. Career Douglas started acting as a teenager, joining the Worthing, West Sussex repertory comp ...

at a dinner party arranged by mutual friend Marsha Hunt. They lived together in west

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and were married at

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, in February 2009.

National Life Stories National Life Stories is an independent charitable trust and limited company (registered as the ‘National Life Story Collection’) based within the British Library Oral History section, whose key focus and expertise is oral history fieldwork. S ...

conducted an oral history interview (C1316/11) with Bill Bryden in 2009 for its Legacy of the English Stage Company collection held by the British Library.National Life Stories, 'Bryden, Bill (1 of 6) National Life Stories Collection: The Legacy of the English Stage Company', The British Library Board, 2009
Retrieved 21 February 2018 Bryden died on 5 January 2022, at the age of 79.

Honours

Bryden was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

Work

Film director

*1983: ''Ill Fares the Land'' *1986: ''The Holy City'' *1987: ''

Aria In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

'' (segment) *1992: ''

Six Characters in Search of an Author ''Six Characters in Search of an Author'' ( it, Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore, link=no ) is an Italian play by Luigi Pirandello, written and first performed in 1921. An absurdist metatheatric play about the relationship among authors, the ...

Writer

*1975: '' Benny Lynch, Scenes from a Short Life : a Play'
Benny Lynch: Scenes from a Short Life : a Play
*1976: ''

Willie Rough ''Willie Rough'' is a play by Scottish writer and director Bill Bryden, which is often regarded as a landmark of Scottish drama. Originally a stage play produced by the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company in Edinburgh in 1972, a TV version was shown ...

'', a BBC ''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

'' *1977: ''Old Movies'' *1980: ''

The Long Riders ''The Long Riders'' is a 1980 American Western film directed by Walter Hill. It was produced by James Keach, Stacy Keach and Tim Zinnemann and featured an original soundtrack by Ry Cooder. Cooder won the ''Best Music'' award in 1980 from t ...

'' (film) *1981: ''Civilians'', a playStevenson, Randall (1981), ''Scottish Theatre Company: First Days, First Nights'', in Murray, Glen (ed.), '' Cencrastus'' No. 7, Winter 1981–82, pp. 10–13

Theatre director

*1972: ''Kidnapped'' – Royal Lyceum *1974: ''Romeo and Juliet'' - Old Vic *1974: ''Spring Awakening'' – Old Vic *1974: ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

'' – Old Vic *1975: ''

The Playboy of the Western World ''The Playboy of the Western World'' is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge and first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 26 January 1907. It is set in Michael James Flaherty's public house in County Mayo (o ...

'' – Old Vic *1976: ''Watch It Come Down'' – Old Vic then National Theatre *1976: ''Il Campiello'' – National Theatre *1976: ''Counting the Ways'' – National Theatre *1977 (with Sebastian Graham Jones): '' The Passion'' – National Theatre *1977: ''Old Movies'' – National Theatre *1977: ''

The Plough and the Stars ''The Plough and the Stars'' is a four-act play by the Irish writer Seán O'Casey that was first performed on 8 February 1926 at the Abbey Theatre. It is set in Dublin and addresses the 1916 Easter Rising. The play's title references the Sta ...

'' – National Theatre *1978 (with Sebastian Graham Jones): ''

Lark Rise ''Lark Rise'' is a 1939 semi-autobiographical novel by the English author Flora Thompson. It was illustrated by Lynton Lamb. In 1945, the book was republished as part of the trilogy ''Lark Rise to Candleford'', comprising the novels ''Lark Ri ...

'' – National Theatre *1978: ''American Buffalo'' – National Theatre *1978 (with Sebastian Graham Jones): ''The World Turned Upside Down'' – National Theatre *1978: ''The Long Voyage Home'' – National Theatre *1978: ''Dispatches'' – National Theatre *1979 (with Sebastian Graham Jones): '' Candleford'' – National Theatre *1980: ''Hughie'' – National Theatre *1980: ''

The Iceman Cometh ''The Iceman Cometh'' is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1946, the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 9, 1946, directed by Eddie Dowling, where it ran for 136 perf ...

'' – National Theatre *1980: ''The Nativity'' – National Theatre *1980: ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as ...

'' – National Theatre *1981: ''Civilians'' (writer & director) - Scottish Theatre Company *1982: ''Don Quixote'' - National Theatre *1982: ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' – National Theatre *1983: ''

Glengarry Glen Ross ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' is a play by David Mamet that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. The play shows parts of two days in the lives of four desperate Chicago real estate agents who are prepared to engage in any number of unethical, illegal acts ...

'' – National Theatre (World Premiere) then Mermaid Theatre, London *1983: ''Cinderella'' - National Theatre *1984: ''Golden Boy'' - National Theatre *1985: ''Doomsday'', presented with ''The Nativity'' and ''The Passion'', as the ''Mysteries'' from medieval ''

Mystery plays Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represe ...

'' in a version by

Tony Harrison Tony Harrison (born 30 April 1937) is an English poet, translator and playwright. He was born in Beeston, Leeds and he received his education in Classics from Leeds Grammar School and Leeds University. He is one of Britain's foremost verse w ...

– National Theatre *1989: ''A Life in the Theatre'' - Theatre Royal then Strand Theatre, London *1989: ''Op Hoop Van Zegen'' - Ro Theatre Rotterdam, The Netherlands *1990: ''The Ship'' (writer & director)

Harland & Wolff Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the W ...

Shed, Govan, Glasgow *1994: '' A Month in the Country'' by

Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dat ...

, starring

Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (born Helen Lydia Mironoff; born 26 July 1945) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, she is the only performer to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting in both the United States and the United Kingdom ...

and

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors. Director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in t ...

Yvonne Arnaud Theatre The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre is a theatre located in Guildford, Surrey, England. Named after the actress Yvonne Arnaud, it presents a series of locally produced and national touring productions, including opera, ballet and pantomime. The theatre h ...

and West End *1994: ''The Big Picnic'' (writer & director) -

, Govan, Glasgow *1995: ''Son of Man'' - The Pit, RSC, London *1996: ''Uncle Vanya'' - Minerva Theatre, Chichester then Albery Theare, London *1999: ''The Mysteries - The Nativity'' - National Theatre *1999: ''The Mysteries - The Passion'' - National Theatre *1999: ''The Mysteries - Doomsday'' - National Theatre *2001: ''The Good Hope'' – National Theatre *2005: ''

'' – Birmingham Repertory Theatre *2005: ''The Creeper'' – Theatre Royal Windsor

Opera director

*1988: ''

Parsifal ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival ...

'' by

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

, London *1990: ''

'' by

, London *2000: '' The Silver Tassie -

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...

, London

Awards and nominations

*1985:

Laurence Olivier Theatre Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

for Best Director, ''

The Mysteries ''The Mysteries'' is a version of the medieval English mystery plays first presented at London's National Theatre in 1977. The cycle of three plays tells the story of the Bible from the creation to the last judgement. Background It is based lar ...

''. *1985:

London Critics' Circle Theatre Awards The Critics' Circle Theatre Awards, originally called ''Drama'' Theatre Awards up to 1990, are British theatrical awards presented annually for the closing year's theatrical achievements. The winners, from theatre throughout the United Kingdom, ar ...

for Best Director for ''The Mysteries'' *1985: London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Director for ''The Mysteries''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bryden, Bill 1942 births 2022 deaths British theatre directors Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Laurence Olivier Award winners Scottish theatre directors People from Greenock