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Artistic director of the RSC, who co-founded the Liverpool Everyman theatre and revived the Clwyd Theatr Cymru
Terry Hands, who has died aged 79, spent more time with, and did more productions for, the Royal Shakespeare Company than either its founder, Peter Hall, or Hall’s successor, Trevor Nunn. He joined the company in 1966, acted as joint artistic director with Nunn from 1978 to 1986, then took on the top job alone before handing over to Adrian Noble, whom he had encouraged, in 1991. Immensely popular within the company, though often underrated outside it, Hands was a classicist who directed Alan Howard as most of the Shakespearean monarchs, including all of them in the seven-play history cycle running from Richard II through the three Henrys and Richard III.
He kept a far lower profile than either Hall or Nunn, and was passionately committed to every aspect of the company’s work; he became an especially good lighting designer of his own productions. A defining image of his style might be that of Howard, truculent and trumpet-tongued, stained in blood, sweat and tears, clad in black leather and isolated in a spotlight as Henry V. Continue reading...