John Dexter (Director)

John Dexter (born August 2, 1925 in Derby (Derbyshire) , † March 23, 1990 in London ) was a British director for theater, film and opera.

Dexter left school at fourteen to volunteer in the British Army. He became an actor after World War II, but then turned to production and direction, and from 1957 was Associate Director of the English Stage Company. His first major success was the 1959 staging of Roots by Arnold Wesker with Joan Plowright . In 1960 he directed Toys in the Attic by Lillian Hellman with Wendy Hiller and in 1963 Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw . In 1964 he was associate director of the National Theater of Great Britain and produced The Royal Hunt of the Sun by Peter Shaffer for the conquest of Peru by Pizarro. He also directed Shakespeare's Othello in 1964, starring Laurence Olivier , Frank Finlay and Maggie Smith , which became a great success (there was a record on RCA and a film adaptation of the Stuart Burge production in 1965 ).

Further successes were his Hamlet from 1969 (with the music of Conrad Susa ) and Equus by Peter Shaffer, one of his greatest successes. In 1973 he directed The Party of Jane Arden (the last stage appearance of Laurence Olivier), 1975 Phaedra Britannica (with Diana Rigg ), 1979 As You Like It with the Music of Harrison Birtwistle, 1977 The Merchant (aka Shylock), 1980 The Life of Galilei von Brecht with Michael Gambon and in 1988 Julius Caesar.

From 1963 he also directed on Broadway. For example, Equus 1974, The Royal Hunt of the Sun 1965, Black Comedy / White Lies 1967, the Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams (1983 with Jessica Tandy ), Madame Butterfly by Puccini in 1988 (also a great success) and the last ever production of his productions Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill 1989 (with Sting as Macheath).

His film debut was The Virgin Soldiers with Lynn Redgrave (1969), followed by The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker (aka The Pidgeons 1970) with Elaine Stritch and I want what I want (1972). He also directed Twelfth Night for Granada Television 1969 (with Alec Guinness , Ralph Richardson ).

He staged his first opera in 1966 in Coven Garden ( Benvenuto Cellini with Nicolai Gedda ). From 1969 to 1973 he staged several operas at the Hamburg State Opera (including Verdi's Masked Ball in 1973 with Luciano Pavarotti and Sherrill Milnes ) and he was the chief director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York from 1974 to 1981 (Director of Production) and then a consultant until 1984. In 1973 he staged The Devils of Loudon at Sadler's Wells Theater in London, he staged for the Paris Opera and the Zurich Opera (Nabucco 1986).

In 1958 he was sentenced to six months in prison for homosexual approach to a boy who starred in one of his plays.

In 1975 he received the Tony Award for directing in Equus and again in 1988 for Madame Butterfly (he was also nominated in 1967 for Black Comedy / White Lies). In 1978 he received the Hamburg Shakespeare Prize .

His autobiography The Honorouble Beast was published posthumously in 1993 in London.

Web links

• IMDB
• Broadway Database