He read English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. His early directing credits included a series at Leeds Playhouse. He was associate director of the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester (1985/89), as well as associate director (1989/1997) and director of the National Theatre, London (2003/15). He has directed on Broadway, in London’s West End, for Almeida Τheatre and Royal Shakespeare Company, among many others. In 2017 he co-founded The Bridge Theatre, where he has directed Young Marx, Alys, Always, Julius Caesar and Allelujah!. He made his Royal Opera House (Covent Garden, London) debut in 1987 directing Sallinen’s Kuningas lähtee Ranskaan and has since directed Tippett’s The Knot Garden and Verdi’s Don Carlo (the latter revived in the 2019/20 season). He has also directed opera for ENO, Glyndebourne Festival, Bavarian State Opera, Opéra national de Paris, Grand Théâtre de Genève and Théâtre du Châtelet. He was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2009 and knighted in 2010. // Last update: December 2019 - The list of the productions below is complete.