Robert David MacDonald (27 August 1929 – 19 May 2004) was a Scottish

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

and

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

Early life

Robert David MacDonald was born in Elgin, in Morayshire,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

on 27 August 1929, the son of a doctor and a tobacco company executive. He attended Wellington School, then read modern history at Magdalen College at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, and later trained as a conductor at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

and the Munich Conservatory.

Career as a director

MacDonald spent some years as a translator for

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

, where he met German director Erwin Piscator in 1957, leading to his involvement in theatre as a director. His collaboration with Piscator also led to his first significant success, when he translated Piscator's version of '' War and Peace'' in 1962. This was televised by

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

as well as being performed on Broadway for two years. He became assistant director at Glyndebourne and the Royal Opera at

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

, before becoming

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

of Her Majesty's Theatre at

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

. In 1970, he became co-artistic director of the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, until his retirement in May 2003. During that time, he directed 50 productions and wrote fifteen plays for the company, including ''The De Sade Show'' (1975), ''Chinchilla'' (1977), ''Summit Conference'' (1978 – later seen in the West End with Glenda Jackson, Georgina Hale and

Gary Oldman Sir Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an English actor and filmmaker. Known for his versatility and intense acting style, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Gary Oldman, various accolades, including an Academ ...

), ''A Waste of Time'' (1980), ''Don Juan'' (1980), ''Webster'' (1983), ''In Quest of Conscience'' (1994), ''Britannicus'' (2002) and ''Cheri'' (2003). In March 1989, he directed a production of John Home's '' Douglas'', with Angela Chadfield in the role of Lady Randolph.

Translations

MacDonald translated over 70 plays and

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s from ten different languages. In her obituary for MacDonald, Sarah Jones wrote "...it was for his translations, stemming from his ability to speak at least eight languages fluently, that MacDonald may well be best remembered. He brought a diet of

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

, Lermontov,

Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works " The Nose", " Viy", "The Overcoat", and " Nevsky Prosp ...

, Goldoni and Racine, not only to Glasgow audiences, but to those around Europe and America...". He translated five of

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

's plays, which led Michael Billington to write in 2005, "why is Schiller no longer box-office poison? The first crucial fact is that actable versions of the plays are now readily available. MacDonald was the great pioneer in this area, but Jeremy Sams, Francis Lamport, Mike Poulton and several others have also rid the plays of swagger and fustian." One of MacDonald's early successes was '' War and Peace'', which he had translated from Erwin Piscator's 1955 German stage adaptation of Tolstoy's novel. MacDonald's version reached Broadway in 1967. With Giles Havergal, he adapted

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

's novella '' Death in Venice'' for a one-man production in 1999. Following a run in Glasgow, the production has traveled to several theaters in Europe and the USA. His translation of Racine's ''Phèdre'', titled ''Phedra'', was produced at The Old Vic in November 1984, designed and directed by Philip Prowse and with Glenda Jackson in the title role and Robert Eddison as Theramenes.

Death

MacDonald died of a heart attack, aged 74.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Robert David 1929 births 2004 deaths Emmy Award winners Scottish dramatists and playwrights Scottish theatre directors Translators to English 20th-century Scottish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Scottish translators Translators of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe