Martin Duncan

Martin David Anson Duncan (born 12 July 1948) is an English director, actor, composer, and choreographer. Duncan was artistic director of Nottingham Playhouse from 1994 to 1999 and joint artistic director of Chichester Festival Theatre from 2003 to 2005 with Ruth Mackenzie and Steven Pimlott. He has composed the musical scores for over 50 theatre productions.

After training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Duncan began his career in repertory theatre in 1968. He continued to act on stage and screen until the late 1980s, becoming a director of theatre and opera. His many opera productions include performances at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Scottish Opera, English National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and the Berlin Staatsoper.

Early life and education Duncan was born in Chelsea, London on 12 July 1948. He is the son of Margaret Elizabeth Duncan (née Thurlow) and Ronald Francis Hamilton Anson Duncan , a Royal Naval captain and senior operations executive. Through his father, Duncan is a descendant of the British general Sir George Anson. He attended Durston House, a preparatory school in Ealing, and Westminster School from 1961 to 1966. While there, he was head of Wren's, one of the constituent school houses.

Theatre Acting Duncan's stage credits have included plays by William Shakespeare (as Rosencrantz in Hamlet, Gonzalo in The Tempest, Gower in Pericles, Time in The Winter's Tale, Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet, and Banquo in Macbeth), George Bernard Shaw (in Village Wooing and as Frank in Mrs. Warren's Profession), and Noël Coward (in Tonight at 8.30 and as Garry Essendine in Present Laughter). He has played Trepan in The Master and Margarita, Governor Bellingham in The Scarlet Letter (Chichester Festival Theatre), and has performed in many musicals, including The Boy Friend as Alphonse, Privates on Parade as Charlie, Happy End as The Professor, Kiss Me Kate as Hortensio, Sweet Charity as Vittorio Vidal, Anything Goes as Sir Evelyn Oakleigh, and Company as Harry.

In 1987, Duncan became an associate artist of the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, where his many roles included appearances in The History of Tom Jones, as Canon Chasuble in The Importance of Being Ernest, Antonio Salieri in Amadeus, Courtling in the British première of The Park by Botho Strauss, and Simeonov Pischik in The Cherry Orchard. For a year, he appeared in the acclaimed West End musical Happy as a Sandbag at the Ambassadors Theatre, later filmed for BBC Television. In 1984, he appeared as Brad Majors in the Italian Tour of The Rocky Horror Show. a piece originally written for actress Glynis Johns.

Composing In musical theatre, Duncan has written scores for over 50 productions. These include plays by John Arden (The Hero Rises Up and Armstrong's Last Goodnight), Bertolt Brecht's Drums in the Night, An Italian Straw Hat (1970), The Glass Menagerie (1973), She Stoops to Conquer, Edward Bond's Bingo starring Sir John Gielgud (Royal Court Theatre), R. D. Laing's Knots (London/ Brooklyn Academy of Music), Cowardice (1982) starring Sir Ian McKellen and Janet Suzman (Ambassadors Theatre), A Mad World, My Masters and The Taming of the Shrew (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Pericles (Stockholm City Theatre), plays at the Crucible Theatre (including Tom Jones, Uncle Vanya, The Winter's Tale, The Breasts of Tiresias, and The Park), The Lady from the Sea (Citizens Theatre), and School for Clowns at the Lilian Baylis Theatre (1988).

Choreographing Premiering on 12 October 1988, Duncan choreographed Stephen Lowe's Divine Gossip at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Pit Theatre. With the same company, he choreographed Eugène Ionesco's Macbett.

In 1986, Duncan staged the Masques for Nicholas Hytner's productions of Edward II (Manchester Royal Exchange) and The Tempest (Royal Shakespeare Company). At the Royal Exchange, he also staged the Masques for Ian McDiarmid's production of Don Juan.

Opera Writing and directing Duncan has written the libretti for and directed two short operas: Three Really Good Tea Parties with composer Jonathan Dove at the Salisbury International Arts Festival and Warning Bells with writer Jeremy Sams in 1989, Dartington.

For Opera North, Duncan has directed several operas. These include L'heure espagnole (1989), Gianni Schicchi (1990), The Thieving Magpie (1992) Orpheus in the Underworld (1992), The Adventures of Pinocchio (2007), and A Midsummer Night's Dream (2008), and Yolanta (Edinburgh International Festival). For Munich's Bavarian State Opera, he directed the Opernwelt award-winning Xerxes (1996), La clemenza di Tito (1999), The Rake's Progress (2002), and Die Entführung aus dem Serail (2003).

Other productions include Albert Herring (1991, Canadian Opera Company), The Magic Flute (1993, Scottish Opera/ Royal Opera House), H.M.S. Pinafore, Die Fledermaus (1994, D'Oyly Carte Opera Company), Ariadne auf Naxos (1997, Scottish Opera/ 2007, Garsington Opera/ 2010, Norwegian Opera Company), The Last Supper (2000, Berlin State Opera/ 2001, Glyndebourne Opera), The Love for Three Oranges (2001, Cologne Opera), Pagliacci and Cavalleria rusticana (2002, Royal Albert Hall), La traviata (2003, Flanders Opera), The Gondoliers (2006, English National Opera), The Original Chinese Conjuror (2006, Aldeburgh Festival), The Adventures of Pinocchio (2008, Chemnitz Opera/ 2009, Minnesota Opera/ 2011, Moscow), Mirandolina (2009, Garsington Opera), Artaxerxes (2009, Royal Opera House), Armida (2010, Garsington Opera), La forza del destino (2010, Opera Holland Park), Betrothal in a Monastery (2011, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse/ 2011, Opéra-Comique), Il turco in Italia (2011, Garsington Opera), Noye's Fludde (2013, Aldeburgh Festival), Vert-Vert (2014, Garsington Opera), Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (2013–17, Opera Holland Park), The Corridor and The Cure (2015, Aldeburgh Festival/ 2016, Holland Festival), and Fantasio (2019, Garsington Opera).

In 1992, Duncan was co-writer of the scenario for Matthew Bourne's The Nutcracker for Opera North and the Edinburgh International Festival, which he co-directed with Bourne. It received an Olivier Award nomination.

At the BBC Proms 2012, Duncan directed Gilbert and Sullivan's The Yeomen of the Guard.

Choreographing Duncan was choreographer for the Cassandro Theatre Sequence in Tim Albery's 1991 production of Benvenuto Cellini at the Netherlands Opera.

Film and television Duncan's film credits include appearances in The Children of Icarus (a German television film), Flying into the Wind (a 1983 television film) as the prosecuting counsel, Forever Young (a 1983 film) as John, Caprice (a 1986 film short directed by Joanna Hogg) as the film director, and the award winning Flying Into the Wind (a television film by David Leland).

On television, Duncan has appeared in multiple episodes on such shows as The Legend of Robin Hood as Blondin and When the Boat Comes In as Roddy. With single episode appearances, he has appeared in Omnibus (in the 1990 episode Van Gogh) as the Impressionist Man and The Two Ronnies (in 1977 on BBC1).

Other work Duncan has written lyrics for four Chrysalis Records albums by musician Brian Protheroe: "Pinball" in 1974, "Pick-Up" in 1975, and "I/You" in 1976. In 2005, he wrote an additional album for Protheroe: "Citysong" with Basta label.

Credits Theatre Year Title Director Writer Composer Choreographer Company Venue 1973 An Italian Straw Hat Lincoln Theatre Company Theatre Royal Lincoln Armstrong's Last Goodnight Northcott Theatre 1974 The Revels of Gargantua in Exile, Part II The Fireflies of the Boulevard Royal Court Theatre 1976 Kino Tata The Fireflies of the Boulevard London's Rock Garden Stringgames The Fireflies of the Boulevard Maximus Arena 1978 A Night in Old Peking The Fireflies of the Boulevard Theatre Royal Stratford East The Servant of Two Masters The Fireflies of the Boulevard Birmingham Repertory Theatre 1979 Stringgames The Fireflies of the Boulevard Gulbenkian Studio Newcastle 1980 Merrie Pranckés The Fireflies of the Boulevard Institute of Contemporary Arts 1982 All In All, Lenore! The Fireflies of the Boulevard Crucible Theatre Divine Gossip Royal Shakespeare Company Pit Theatre The Tempest Royal Shakespeare Company Barbican Theatre 1989 Warning Bells Royal Shakespeare Company Almeida Theatre 1993 Stringgames Royal Shakespeare Company The Other Place 1997 A Cow. A Mooon. A Full Stop The Fireflies of the Boulevard 2000 H.M.S. Pinafore D'Oyly Carte Opera Company Savoy Theatre The Blacks Market Theatre of Johannesburg 2007 Man of La Mancha Royal Lyceum Company Royal Lyceum Theatre

Opera Year Title Director Writer Choreographer Company Venue 1991 Benvenuto Cellini Netherlands Opera 1991 Albert Herring Canadian Opera Company

Radio Year Title Director Co-writer Station Company 2004 National Theatre Of Brent's Complete And Utter History Of The Mona Lisa BBC Radio 4 BBC 2018 The National Theatre Of Brent's Illustrated Guide To Sex And How It Was Done BBC Radio 4 CPL Productions 1976 I/You Brian Protheroe 2005 Citysong Brian Protheroe 1986 Amadeus Antonio Salieri Crucible Theatre

Film Year Title Role Notes 1977 Happy as a Sandbag BBC Television film 1983 Flying into the Wind Prosecuting counsel Television film Forever Young John 1986 Caprice Film director Short 1977 Romance Wedding guest Episode: Emily 1978 The Two Ronnies The Barbershop Quartet BBC 1990 Omnibus Impressionist Man BBC; Episode: Van Gogh

Vocalist credits Year Album Artist 1975 Pick-Up Brian Protheroe 1976 Happy As A Sandbag (Original London Cast Recording) Ken Lee