Editorial: Nicholas Wright

Dream List: what plays should we be reading, putting on and going to see?

See everything you can and make entirely intuitive decisions about what you do and don’t like. Read Sophocles, Chekhov and anything else you like the sound of. Put on plays by writers who you think will change the theatre.

Describe your first theatrical epiphany

“Fallen Angels” at the local rep when I was twelve years old.

Who would you invite to your fantasy theatrical dinner party?

I dislike people who hog the conversation, so no sacred monsters thanks very much. The cast of any play I’ve ever been connected with will suit me fine.

What are your career highlights so far?

On the last night of “Vincent in Brixton”, I sat in a box in Wyndham’s Theatre looking at a full house and a brilliant performance and I thought I was the luckiest man alive.

What's the strangest experience you've had in the theatre?

I often write plays about real people, and if they were recent enough I interview people who knew them. Sometimes they quote a few words that the subject said, mimicking the voice and intonation, and it’s as though the original speaker had suddenly materialised. Nothing is so strange for me as an entire personality sleeping in someone’s memory for thirty or forty years and being awakened in performance.

Who is your favourite actor of all time?

Anton Walbrook. He was Austrian, Jewish, gay and a regular house-actor for the Powell/Pressburger partnership. Pressburger wrote spellbinding anti-Nazi polemic for him to deliver, which Walbrook spoke with passion. But he also had a private, neurotic realm that fascinates me, along with incredible subtlety and style. I wish I had met him, and I’ve written several parts with him in mind.

Who is the greatest influence on your career?

William Gaskill gave me my first proper job at the Royal Court and he influenced my taste and judgment immensely for the next five years or so. He taught me to ask the most obvious questions I could think of and to answer them without fear.

Where do you want to be in 5 years time?

At my work-table having developed, in the twilight of my days, the habit of writing.

What' s the best thing you've ever seen at the theatre?

Bill Bryden’s production of “The Mysteries”.

What are you up to at the moment?

Exactly half-way through my new play.

Biography: Nicholas Wright

Nicholas Wright was born in Cape Town and trained as an actor at LAMDA. He was the first director of the Theatre Upstairs and joint Director of the Royal Court with Robert Kidd. He joined the National Theatre as Literary Manager in 1984 and was an Associate Director of the National until 1998. His plays include The Desert Air and The Custom of the Country (RSC), Mrs. Klein, Vincent in Brixton, The Reporter (National Theatre) and Cressida (Almeida). Adaptations include Three Sisters, Lulu, John Gabriel Borkman and Thérèse Raquin.