Robert Kidd (23 Feb 1943 - 18 July 1980) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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 ...

. He is best known for his work 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 West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England.

Biography

Kidd collaborated several times with

Christopher Hampton Sir Christopher James Hampton (born 26 January 1946) is a British playwright, screenwriter, translator and film director. He is best known for his play Les Liaisons Dangereuses (play), ''Les Liaisons Dangereuses'' based on the Les Liaisons da ...

. In 1964 Kidd and Hampton began together at the Royal Court Theatre with ''When Did You Last See Your Mother'', which transferred to the Comedy Theatre. They later worked on ''

Total Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event which occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ...

'' (1969), '' The Philanthropist'' (1974), '' Savages'' (1974), and '' Treats'' (1975). Kidd then directed

David Storey David Malcolm Storey (13 July 1933 – 27 March 2017) was an English playwright, screenwriter, award-winning novelist and a professional rugby league player. He won the Booker Prize in 1976 for his novel '' Saville''. He also won the MacMillan F ...

¹s ''The Restoration of Arnold Middleton'' (1967). In 1968, one of his projects,

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

's ''

The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is an 1890 philosophical fiction and Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American period ...

'' with

James Fox James William Fox (born William Fox; 19 May 1939) is an English actor known for his work in film and television. Fox's career began in the 1960s through roles in films such as '' The Servant'' and ''Performance''. He is also known for his role ...

, fell through. However,

Jim Dine Jim Dine (born June 16, 1935) is an American artist. Dine's work includes painting, drawing, printmaking (in many forms including lithographs, etchings, gravure, intaglio, woodcuts, letterpress, and linocuts), sculpture, and photography. Educ ...

, who was working on drawings for the poster, came up with his famous series ''Bathrobes''. He returned to at the Royal Court Theatre in 1975 for two years as joint artistic director of the English Stage Company with Nicholas Wright and continued his association with Christopher Hampton and

. He directed Storey's ''Mothers Day'' (1976). When he left the Royal Court, he had assignments at the National Theatre with '' Lost Worlds'' (1978) and at

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

. '' Middle-Age Spread'', staged in 1979 at the Lyric Theatre, was still running when he died.

Personal life

Kidd was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in 1943 and educated at

Boroughmuir High School Boroughmuir High School is a non-denominational secondary school in the Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Buildings The school was founded in 1904, and located at 22–24 Warrender Park Crescent, overlooking Bruntsfield Links in a b ...

. He married Jennifer Sieff (later Johnson), step-daughter of Joseph Sieff.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kidd, Robert 1943 births 1980 deaths Scottish theatre directors People educated at Boroughmuir High School