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Edward Wilson |
A great and inspirational director of the National Youth Theatre
EDWARD Wilson, the former artistic director of the National Youth Theatre (NYT), has died aged 60.
Mr Wilson led the acclaimed youth theatre from 1986 to 2003; his passion and energy for the stage inspired the company’s development into one of the UK’s foremost stables of fresh talent.
Little Britain’s Matt Lucas and David Walliams, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Orlando Bloom all benefited from his tutelage.
And then there were the Bonds. Early on in Mr Wilson’s tenure, when the NYT was penniless and holed up in King’s Cross, Sean Connery arrived to present Wilson and the NYT with a £50,000 cheque for the sterling work he had witnessed firsthand with his son, Jason, who attended the company.
From being saved by Bond Mr Wilson went on to produce a Bond, bringing Daniel Craig, the current 007, up through the ranks of the NYT, based in more recent years on the Holloway Road.
Craig was to remain a close friend of Wilson until his death; Dame Helen Mirren, Sir Ian McKellen (whose one-man show, A Knight Out in LA, he directed) and Sir Derek Jacobi were also close confidantes.
Wilson began his own career as an actor in the National Youth Theatre in 1965, and made his name in television on the long-running series When the Boat Comes In (alongside James Bolan) and Rockliffe’s Babies.
Wilson’s vision and implacable belief in the young people he worked with engendered grand productions on a scale the company had never previously seen. His revival of TS Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral was performed by a cast of 100, which the company took to Moscow.
Paul Roseby, the NYT’s current artistic director, described him this week as a “great, inspirational, and talented man.” He added: “Not only did he lead the NYT with such passion and energy fighting so tirelessly on its behalf for so many years, he became a true and loyal friend to so many who would not be where they are today without his love, support and wonderful wit.”
Elsewhere, as artistic director for the Royal Jubilee Trust’s 40th anniversary celebrations, he used St Paul’s Cathedral to stage The Way of Light, transmitted live by the BBC. Tours with the British Council and the Shakespeare Foundation of Spain were frequent.
Since leaving the NYT in December 2003, Wilson moved to California to run the Los Angeles Young Actors Company at the Ivar Theatre.
He passed away last weekend at his LA home following a three year battle with cancer. He is survived by his sister, Jean.
SIMON WROE |
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