1982 – The Tempest (starring Derek Jacobi, Mark Rylance), RSC; 1984 – Hamlet (starring Roger Rees, Kenneth Branagh, Frances Barber, Brian Blessed), RSC; 1989 – Hamlet (starring Mark Rylance), RSC; 2010 – Il Postino (starring Plácido Domingo), LA Opera, Theatre an der Wien, in Vienna, the Châtelet in Paris.
Daniels was born in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil born 1942.[1] He studied at Fundação Brasileira de Teatro, Rio de Janeiro.[5][7]
In 1959 Daniels performed in Sangue no Domingo by Walter Hugo Durst, Boca de Ouro by Nelson Rodrigues, directed by Ziembinski.[8]
As a founding member of the Teatro Oficina, São Paulo, 1959–1963
A Incubadeira; Fogo Frio; Todo Anjo é TerrívelLook Homeward, Angel with Henriette Morineau, directed by José Celso Martinez Correa;[9]A Vida Impressa em DolarAwake and Sing; José do Parto à Sepultura by Augusto Boal) Quatro num Quarto; Um Bonde Chamado DesejoA 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.[1]
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;[14]Ghosts; Drums in the Night; The Samaritan; Time Travelers; The Recruiting Officer.[5][15]
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.[16]
II Postino (with Plácido Domigo and Charles Castronovo, LA Opera – LA, Vienna, Paris, Mexico City, International Festival Cervantino in Guanajuato, Santiago, Chile, Madrid)[63]
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.[71]
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.[79]
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.[80]
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.[80]
Publications and media
Daniels is the author of Encontros com Shakespeare,[81] published 22 May 2019.
He is also known for his translations, with Marcus Daud, of Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear and Measure for Measure (published by SESC, São Paulo) into Portuguese.[82][83]
Contributions
Daniels' work with playwright Naomi Wallace is extensively referenced and discussed in The Theatre of Naomi Wallace: Embodied Dialogues[27] 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'.[84][85]
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.[86] The book, Shakespeare Comes to Broadmoor[87] 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.[87]
Daniels' work as a director, with emphasis on his Shakespeare work, is heavily referenced and studied in An A–Z Guide to Shakespeare[2] by Stanley Wells (2013); while his contribution to theatre is discussed and referenced further in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance[1] by Dennis Kennedy (2003), The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance[1] by Dennis Kennedy (2010), and The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre[4] by Colin Chambers (2006); his Portuguese production and work is mentioned and studied in Flavio Imperio[9] by Renina Katz (2005).
In 1990, the BBC Late Show featured an interview with director Ron Daniels, about his production of A Clockwork Orange at the Royal Shakespeare Company, designed by Richard Hudson and featuring music by Bono and The Edge.[90] The feature, along with interviews with Hudson, production manager Mike Arnold, and theatre critic Tom Sutcliffe, discuss the design and the development of the production for a 90's audience.
↑ Trowbridge, Simon (2008). Stratfordians. Kidlington, England: Simon Creed. pp.53–4. ISBN9780955983016.
↑ "From the New York Theatre". The Times. No.57273. 10 June 1968. The [Aldwych] season begins with the world premiere of Arthur Kopit's play Indians, directed by Jack Gelber.
1 2 Cox, Murray, ed. (1992). Shakespeare comes to Broadmoor: "The actors are come hither"; the performance of tragedy in a secure psychiatric hospital (1. publed.). London: Kingsley. ISBN978-1-85302-121-3.
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