William "Bill" Gaskill (24 June 1930 – 4 February 2016) was a British theatre director who was "instrumental in creating a new sense of realism in the theatre". Described as "a champion of new writing", he was also noted for his productions of

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

and Restoration comedy. Born in

Shipley, West Yorkshire Shipley is a historic market town and civil parish in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, north of Bradford. The population of the Shipley ward on Bradford City Council taken ...

, Gaskill was educated at Salt High School, Shipley, where he ran an amateur theatre with

Tony Richardson Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson (5 June 1928 – 14 November 1991) was an English theatre and film director and producer whose career spanned five decades. In 1964, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film ''Tom Jones''. Early ...

. He won a scholarship to attend

Hertford College Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colle ...

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, where he began directing, and he subsequently studied in Paris with

Étienne Decroux Étienne Decroux (19 July 1898 in Paris, France – 12 March 1991 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France) was a French actor who studied at Jacques Copeau's École du Vieux-Colombier, where he saw the beginnings of what was to become his life's obsess ...

. He received a nomination for the

Tony Award for Best Director The Tony Award for Best Director was one of the original 11 awards given in 1947 when the Tony Awards originated. The award was presented until 1960 when it was split into two categories: Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play and Tony Award for ...

in 1959 for his direction of '' Epitaph for George Dillon'' on Broadway. Gaskill worked alongside

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage ...

as a founding director of the National Theatre from its time at the

Old Vic Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...

in 1963. In 1962, he directed

Vanessa Redgrave Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, tw ...

and

Eric Porter Eric Richard Porter (8 April 192815 May 1995) was an English actor of stage, film and television. Early life Porter was born in Shepherd's Bush, London, to bus conductor Richard John Porter and Phoebe Elizabeth (née Spall). His parents hope ...

in ''

Cymbeline ''Cymbeline'' , also known as ''The Tragedie of Cymbeline'' or ''Cymbeline, King of Britain'', is a play by William Shakespeare set in Ancient Britain () and based on legends that formed part of the Matter of Britain concerning the early Celti ...

'' for the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

. He was the artistic director of 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 ...

between 1965 and 1972, where he directed premieres of plays by writers including David Hare,

John Arden John Arden (26 October 1930 – 28 March 2012) was an English playwright who at his death was lauded as "one of the most significant British playwrights of the late 1950s and early 60s". Career Born in Barnsley, son of the manager of a glass f ...

Edward Bond Edward Bond (born 18 July 1934) is an English playwright, theatre director, poet, theorist and screenwriter. He is the author of some fifty plays, among them ''Saved (play), Saved'' (1965), the production of which was instrumental in the abol ...

and

Arnold Wesker Sir Arnold Wesker (24 May 1932 – 12 April 2016) was an English dramatist. He was the author of 50 plays, four volumes of short stories, two volumes of essays, much journalism and a book on the subject, a children's book, some poetry, and oth ...

, as well as introducing many of

's works to British audiences. In 1974, he co-founded the Joint Stock Theatre Company with

Max Stafford-Clark Maxwell Robert Guthrie Stewart "Max" Stafford-Clark (born 17 March 1941) is a British theatre director. Life and career Stafford-Clark was born in Cambridge, England. the son of David Stafford-Clark, a physician, and Dorothy Crossley (née Old ...

, David Hare and

David Aukin David Aukin (born 12 February 1942) is a theatrical and executive producer as well as a qualified solicitor. He has been nominated many times for British Academy Television Awards and has won twice for producing films about Tony Blair: ''The Gove ...

. William Gaskill was an associate member of the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

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 (C1316/06) with William Gaskill in 2008 for its The Legacy of the English Stage Company collection held by the British Library.National Life Stories, 'Gaskill, William (1 of 7) National Life Stories Collection: The Legacy of the English Stage Company', The British Library Board, 2008
Retrieved 21 February 2018

Bibliography

* Gaskill, W. (1990), ''A Sense of Direction'', Limelight Editions,

References

External links

*
Royal National Theatre past productions 1963-70 (includes many by Gaskill)
* Archival material at 1930 births 2016 deaths English theatre directors People from Shipley, West Yorkshire {{UK-theat-stub