Ron Daniels (director)
Ron Daniels is a theatre and opera director. He is an Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company; former Artistic Director of The Other Place, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon; former Associate Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and former Head of Acting and Directing Programs of the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University. He is also a founding member of the Teatro Oficina, São Paulo, in his native Brazil.
Early years and acting
Daniels was born in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil born 1942. He studied at Fundação Brasileira de Teatro, Rio de Janeiro.In 1959 Daniels performed in Sangue no Domingo by Walter Hugo Durst, Boca de Ouro by Nelson Rodrigues, directed by Ziembinski.
As a founding member of the [Teatro Oficina], São Paulo, 1959–1963
A Incubadeira; Fogo Frio; Todo Anjo é Terrível ''Look Homeward, Angel with Henriette Morineau, directed by José Celso Martinez Correa; A Vida Impressa em Dolar Awake and Sing; José do Parto à Sepultura by Augusto Boal) Quatro num Quarto; Um Bonde Chamado Desejo A Streetcar Named Desire directed by Augusto Boal); Os Pequenos Burguêses "Les Petits Bourgeois" by Gorki – with Eugenio Kusnet, Raul Cortez, Celia Helena, directed by José Celso Martinez Correa.In 1964, aged 21, Daniels moved to the UK and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1968, playing Metellus Cimber in John Barton's Julius Caesar and John Grass in Indians'' by Arthur Kopit, directed by Jack Gelber.
Directing 1969–1974
In 1969 Daniels became a director and worked for five years directing for the following institutions:1969–1972
Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent: The Pot of Gold; Electra; She Stoops to Conquer; Coriolanus; Major Barbara; Fighting Man; Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf; Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street; Ghosts; Drums in the Night; The Samaritan; Time Travelers; The Recruiting Officer.1972–1974
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art: Measure for Measure; Fear and Miseries of the Third Reich; The Insect Play; Twelfth Night; A Midsummer Night's Dream; Pillars of the Community.Drama Centre London: ''The Word''
As a freelance director
The Long and Short and the Tall; The Samaritan by Peter Terson, with Timothy Dalton; The Children's Crusade by Paul Thompson featuring Daniel Day-Lewis; Female Transport by Steve Gooch; Sergeant Musgrave's Dance by John Arden; Into the Mouth of Crabs; By Common Consent by Paul Thompson; The Motor Show; Made in Britain; Bang by Howard Barker; Ashes by David Rudkin, with Ian McKellen, Gemma Jones; The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B by JP Donleavy, with Simon Callow; Across from the Garden of Allah by Charles Wood, with Nigel Hawthorne and Glenda Jackson; The Feast of Snails by Olaf OlafssonRoyal Shakespeare Company 1974–1991
In 1974, Daniels returned to the RSC, where he directed 34 productions until he moved to the US in 1991.Productions directed
Afore Night Come, The Other Place 1974Destiny, The Other Place 1976, Aldwych Theatre 1977T'is Pity She's a Whore, The Other Place 1977, Warehouse, London 1978The Lorenzaccio Story, The Other Place 1977, Warehouse 1978- Winter's Tale The Sons of Light, The Other Place 1977The Women-Pirates Ann Bonney and Mary Read, Aldwych Theatre 1978Hippolytus, The Other Place 1978, Warehouse, 1979Pericles, The Other Place 1979, Warehouse 1980The Suicide, Aldwych Theatre 1981, Warehouse 1980Romeo and Juliet, The Other Place 1979, Royal Shakespeare Theatre 1980, Aldwych Theatre 1981Timon of Athens, The Other Place 1980, Warehouse 1981Hansel and Gretel, The Other Place 1980, Warehouse 1981A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Other Place 1979, Royal Shakespeare Theatre 1980, Aldwych Theatre 1981Peer Gynt, The Other Place 1982, Pit, London 1983The Tempest, Royal Shakespeare Theatre 1982, Barbican Theatre 1983Maydays, Barbican Theatre 1983The Mistake, Pit, London 1984Unpersons, Pit, London 1984Julius Caesar, Royal Shakespeare Theatre 1983, Barbican Theatre 1984Hamlet, Barbican Theatre 1985, Royal Shakespeare Theatre 1984Breaking the Silence, Mermaid Theatre 1985, Pit 1984Camille, The Other Place, Comedy Theatre 1985Real Dreams, Pit, London 1986The Danton Affair ; Barbican Theatre 1986Much Ado About Nothing, Tour 1986They Shoot Horses Don't They, Mermaid Theatre 1987The Plain Dealer, Pit 1989, Swan Theatre 1988Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Theatre 1989, Barbican Theatre, London 1989Playing with Trains, Pit 1989A Clockwork Orange, The Royalty Theatre, London 1990, Barbican Theatre 1990Earwig, Pit 1990Richard II, Royal Shakespeare Theatre 1990, Barbican Theatre 1991Slaughter City, Pit 1996Henry V, Royal Shakespeare Theatre 1997
US years
In 1991, Daniels moved stateside, where he resided for 30 years, until recently moving back to the UK in 2021.While in New York he directed Richard II, Richard III and Macbeth for the Theatre for a New Audience and Naomi Wallace's One Flea Spare for the Public Theatre He also directed Much Ado about Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew at the Old Globe in San Diego and most recently, Othello at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC.
Productions
ART and Institute for Advanced Theatre Training 1991–1996
Hamlet The Seagull As You Like ItThe Dream of The Red Spider Silence, Cunning, Exile Cakewalk Henry IV parts I and II The Cherry Orchard Henry V The Threepenny OperaThe TempestSlaughter City- ''Long Day's Journey into Night''
As a freelance director in the US
Afore Night Come Bingo Ivanov Man is Man Puntila and His Servant Matti, Romeo and Juliet Camille Anthony and Cleopatra One Flea Spare Richard II, Richard III, Macbeth Hedda Gabler Points of Departure The Suitcase Trilogy Havana is Waiting The Front Page Kingdom The Taming of the Shrew Much Ado About Nothing OthelloHowever during his time in the US Daniels still continued to direct some productions in the UK. Namely:
National Theatre
Blinded by the Sun- ''Remember This''
Opera
Daniels has worked on Madama Butterfly, La Bohème, Carmen, and Don Giovanni.Productions
The Shepherd King Madama Butterfly Carmen The Turn of the Screw Tosca Cosi Fan Tutti La Forza del Destino II Postino Die Entführurg aus Dem Serail Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street La Boheme Pagliacci Il Tabarro Orfeo and Euridice,Brazil and Japan
In his native Brazil, Ron directed King Lear, Hamlet, Macbeth, Measure for Measure and Colm Tóibín's The Testament of Mary and in Japan, Titus Andronicus and Hamlet.Brazil
Rei Lear ToscaHamlet, Macbeth, Measure for Measure O Testamento de Maria- Quem está aí?
- A Peste
Japan
Titus Andronicus- ''Hamlet''
Film
Director
- ''The War Boys''
Executive producer
- ''Lawn Dogs''
Move back to the UK
In 2021 Daniels moved back to the UK. In summer of 2022 he directed Naomi Wallace and Marcus Rediker's The Return of Benjamin Lay, starring Mark Povonelli at the Finborough Theatre, produced by Arsalan Sattari-Hicks. The Return of Benjamin Lay was restaged again in Pittsburgh in February 2025, under the banner of the Quantum Theatre, and later in New York and Philadelphia, produced by Playhouse Creatures Theatre Company, in association with Quintessence Theatre Groups.Acting coach
Daniels runs a weekly 'salon' for actors from across the United States, who continue to work with him to refresh their notions of Shakespeare, examine new ideas and to prepare for auditions and roles. The members of these salons range from Tony winners to early career actors trying to work on their craft.Since his return to the UK, Daniels has established himself as an acting coach with his teaching based in the work of Shakespeare. Daniels offers his expertise to UK actors looking to train further in Shakespeare through workshops, courses and one off top-up sessions.
Publications and media
Daniels is the author of Encontros com Shakespeare, published 22 May 2019.He is also known for his translations, with Marcus Daud, of Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear and Measure for Measure into Portuguese.
Contributions
Daniels' work with playwright Naomi Wallace is extensively referenced and discussed in The Theatre of Naomi Wallace: Embodied Dialogues by Scott T Cummings and Erica Abbitt Stevens; in which he is also a contributing author in the chapter titled 'Naomi is in my head'.In 1989 Daniels took his Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet, starring Mark Rylance, to Broadmoor Hospital, a high security psychiatric unit. It was one of a series of Shakespeare tragedies presented to the patients, along with workshops that took place after the performances. The book, Shakespeare Comes to Broadmoor by Murray Cox with a foreword from Sir Ian Mckellen offers insights into the impact of such drama performed in the central hall of Broadmoor Hospital between 1989–1991, upon the actors and audiences. Daniels contributed an interviewed chapter to this publication.
Daniels' work as a director, with emphasis on his Shakespeare work, is heavily referenced and studied in An A–Z Guide to Shakespeare by Stanley Wells ; while his contribution to theatre is discussed and referenced further in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance by Dennis Kennedy, The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance by Dennis Kennedy, and The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre by Colin Chambers ; his Portuguese production and work is mentioned and studied in Flavio Imperio by Renina Katz.