Trevor Nunn at Hunter
October 8 – 15, 2024
Meet one of the most influential figures in contemporary theater—a director and artistic leader who has shaped the way we experience Shakespeare, musicals, and modern drama. Sir Trevor Nunn’s career spans record-breaking Broadway musicals (including Cats and Les Misérables) and collaborations with some of the most celebrated (and most famous) actors and playwrights of the past 60 years. Now he’s coming to Hunter College for a series of intimate talks with students.
“From Cats to King Lear, Nunn can do it all.”
—The Guardian
Who is Trevor Nunn?
Known for taking classic works and making them resonate in today’s world, Nunn was born in 1940 in Ipswich, England. During his six-decade career, he has led some of the most influential theaters, shattering expectations and redefining theater as we know it. He has directed 17 shows on Broadway, as well as opera, television, and film.
Schedule of Events
Who Was Shakespeare?
Tuesday, October 8, 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Loewe Theater
Nunn will demolish theories that the plays were written by someone else, and explore all that we know about Shakespeare’s life and career.
Shakespeare & Musical Theatre
Wednesday October 9, 2:30 pm – 4 pm
Loewe Theater
Did Shakespeare invent the musical? Hear about Nunn’s experience directing Cats and Les Misérables.
Shakespeare & Language
Thursday, October 10, 4 pm – 5:30 pm
Loewe Theater
Examine Shakespeare's earliest known plays and explore how his writing style gradually changed, culminating in the great tragedies like King Lear.
Twelfth Night Workshop
Thursday, October 10, 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Loewe Theater
Join an open rehearsal for the Hunter Theatre Department’s production, where Nunn will work with students.
What's Next?
Tuesday, October 15, 1:30 pm – 3 pm
Loewe Theater
A look into the future of Shakespeare productions—and the theatre in general—from the groundbreaking director.
All events are free and open to all Hunter College students, faculty, and staff.
Watch Nunn direct
Musicals: Cats and Les Misérables
Nunn didn’t just dabble in musicals—he set a new standard. His productions of Cats and Les Misérables were global phenomena that changed the landscape of musical theater, and are still the fifth and sixth longest-running shows in Broadway history. (He won Tony awards for both, and for Nicholas Nickleby.)
Ever hear “Memory” from Cats? Nunn wrote the lyrics to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic anthem.
Read about how he directed the original production here.
Watch Nunn talk about directing Cats
"Shakespeare has more wisdom and insight about our lives, about how to live and how not to live, how to forgive and how to understand our fellow creatures, than any religious tract. One hundred times more than the Bible."
—Trevor Nunn
Read more
Royal Shakespeare Company
Nunn became the youngest-ever artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1968, when he was just 28. His 1976 production of Macbeth, starring Sir Ian McKellan (you might know him as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings) and Oscar winner Dame Judi Dench (famously M in eight James Bond films), is still considered a benchmark for how Shakespeare should be done.
His production of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby—an eight and a half-hour, 39-actor adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novel—was a groundbreaking moment in theater. Celebrated for its innovative storytelling, the hit production transferred to Broadway.
Nunn has spent his career ensuring that Shakespeare is for everyone—not just an elite audience—emphasizing the plays’ universal truths. He set a goal to direct all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays before he retires—and he has achieved it!
Read a short history of the Royal Shakespeare Company—”a theatrical revolution”—here.
Watch Nunn’s production of Macbeth
On arguments that Shakespeare didn’t actually write his plays: "Quite a lot of that is to do with English snobbery. It’s to do with an idea that a boy who grew up in a very small town and was educated at a grammar school and then did not go to university, how could he, how could he possibly have the range and the vocabulary and the understanding?"
—Trevor Nunn
Watch Nunn discuss this
“My dad was a carpenter and my mum was a seamstress and we lived in a little working class house [in Ipswich], but I always felt fortunate because my parents adored each other, and their children, so there was no sense of deprivation. But when I went to Cambridge I did have to get used to the idea that others had grown up with privilege. I sounded a bit like that,” he does a Cockney accent, “and I probably had a chip on my shoulder. But it was all changing because this was the Sixties and actors with accents, such as Albert Finney and Michael Caine, were becoming stars.”
—Trevor Nunn
Read more
The National Theatre
Nunn was Artistic Director of the National Theatre in London from 1997 and to 2003, where he continued to push boundaries of what theater could be. He directed a dark-themed version of the classic American musical Oklahoma!—a production that helped make Hugh Jackman a star—which later came to Broadway.
Watch Nunn’s Production of Oklahoma! With Hugh Jackman
Nunn’s Impact on Theater and the Arts
Trevor Nunn doesn’t just direct; he disrupts. He has mentored generations of theater-makers, ensuring his rebellious spirit lives on. His belief? Theater isn’t just for the elite—it’s for everyone. It’s a place where politics, society, and philosophy collide, offering new ways to see the world and challenge the status quo. Nunn sees theater as a radical conversation with echoes from the past that reverberate into the future.
He has directed new plays by David Hare and Tom Stoppard, as well as the world premiere of a lost Tennessee Williams play, Not About Nightengales, in 1998. He has worked with actors including Billy Crudup, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Angela Lansbury, Patti LuPone, Helen Mirren, Vanessa Redgrave, Patrick Stewart, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
At 84, Nunn continues to take on new challenges: Last fall, he directed a new play with Brian Cox (most famous for Succession). Earlier this year, he won raves for his first production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.
Watch Nunn on “What Theater Can Accomplish”
"Theatre responds to a contemporary world. Theater takes up issues—moral debate, political debate, of the time—frequently disguised in works of history… in works that refer to previous generations. The plays are saying: Does this ring a bell with you? Isn’t this what’s happening now?"
—Trevor Nunn
Trevor Nunn, Judi Dench, and Ian McKellan
Organized by the Office of Gregory Mosher, Senior Associate Dean of the Arts
Questions? Email chadhunterada@gmail.com