Theatre News

Director Roger Michell has died aged 65

The director has overseen some era-defining films and stage shows

Alex Wood

| London |

23 September 2021

Director Roger Michell has died aged 65.

Prolific on both stage and screen, the creative worked on some iconic films including Notting Hill and Venus.

Assisting the likes of John Osborne, Max Stafford-Clark, and Samuel Beckett while attached to the Royal Court (where he also worked with then-stage manager, a certain Danny Boyle). He moved into freelancing, writing and director Private Dick for the Lyric Hammersmith, which later transferred to the West End.

From 1985, he was the resident director at the RSC for six years, overseeing a variety of productions. Into the 1990s and '00s he helmed some decade-defining productions including Blue/Orange with Bill Nighy, Andrew Lincoln and Chiwetel Ejiofor and Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood.

More recently Michell directed the 2010 Tribes with Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Michelle Terry, 2015 National revival of Harley Granville Barker's Waste with Olivia Williams and Charles Edwards, as well as Penhall's Mood Music, which had its world premiere at the Old Vic.

On film, he directed the likes of The Mother, Enduring Love, My Cousin Rachel and Changing Lanes. He also worked with Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins and Judi Dench on the hit documentary Nothing Like A Dame.