Sir Gregory Doran (born 24 November 1958)^[1] is an English theatre director known for his Shakespearean work.The Sunday Times called him "one of the great Shakespearians of his generation".^[2]

Doran was artistic director of theRoyal Shakespeare Company (RSC), succeedingMichael Boyd in September 2012. In an interview, announcing his appointment, Doran said that whilst Boyd had concentrated on the "Company", he would be concentrating on the "Shakespeare" in theRoyal Shakespeare Company logo.^[3] Since April 2022, he is director emeritus at the Royal Shakespeare Company.^[4]

His notable productions include a production ofMacbeth starringAntony Sher, which was filmed forChannel 4 in 2001,^[5][6] as well asHamlet in 2008, starringDavid Tennant andPatrick Stewart.

Doran was born inHuddersfield, but his family moved toPreston, Lancashire when he was six months old, for his father to take a post with theUnited Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority.^[7][8] He has a twin sister Ruth, to whom he is very close.^[7]

He was educated at St Pius X Catholic Preparatory School andPreston Catholic College.^[9] He attendedBristol University studying English and Drama, where he set up his own theatre company with fellow student Chris Grady, presenting Shakespeare and related classics. He then trained as an actor at theBristol Old Vic Theatre School.^[7]

He received an honorary doctorate from Bristol University in July 2011^[10] and an Honorary Degree from theUniversity of Warwick in July 2013.^[11]

Doran left the Bristol Old Vic School early having been invited to directA Midsummer Night's Dream at Jamestown Community College in upstate New York. He then went toNottingham Playhouse as an actor, before becoming Assistant Director then Associate Director, directing his own productions, includingWaiting for Godot andLong Day's Journey into Night.

After a very brief acting career in TV, he joined theRoyal Shakespeare Company in 1987 initially as an actor (as Solanio inThe Merchant of Venice and Octavius Caesar inJulius Caesar) then became Assistant Director the following season.

He directed his first RSC production in 1992,^[12] commissioningDerek Walcott to write an adaptation ofHomer'sOdyssey which was performed atThe Other Place.

In 1995 he directed his partnerAntony Sher in the lead role ofTitus Andronicus at theMarket Theatre, Johannesburg, South Africa. This controversial production, which toured to theNational Theatre, is the subject of their book,Woza Shakespeare!

He returned to the RSC in 1996, becoming an Associate Director, and directingJane Lapotaire,Ian Hogg andPaul Jesson inAll is True (orHenry VIII), his first Shakespeare for the company. Since then, Doran has directed over half of Shakespeare's plays for the RSC.

Doran took compassionate leave from his role at the RSC in September 2021 to care for his husband, Antony Sher, who was terminally ill. His deputy,Erica Whyman, became acting artistic director.^[13] The RSC announced Doran was formally stepping down as artistic director in April 2022, becoming artistic director emeritus until the end of 2023.^[4]

Doran contributed toMichael Wood's BBC seriesIn Search of Shakespeare, and filmed a documentary for BBC Four, calledA Midsummer Night's Dreaming.

In 2009, Doran'sShakespeare Almanac was published.^[14][15]

He and frequent collaborator SirAntony Sher had, when they entered into acivil partnership in 2005, been together since 1987.^[16] They married 10 years after their civil partnership, on 30 December 2015. Sher died in December 2021.^[17][18]

Doran was appointedKnight Bachelor in the2024 New Year Honours for services to the Arts.^[19]

He appeared as a castaway on theBBC Radio 4 programmeDesert Island Discs on 29 June 2025.^[20]

Doran has directed productions outside the RSC including:

• TheYork Mystery Plays in the Millennium production inYork Minster, 2000
• The Real Inspector Hound andBlack Comedy, 1998, Comedy Theatre, London
• Mahler's Conversion by Ronald Harwood, Aldwych Theatre, London
• The Giant by Antony Sher, Hampstead Theatre, London
• Anjin: the English Samurai by Mike Poulton
• The Merchant of Venice, Galaxy Theatre, Tokyo
• The Two Gentlemen of Verona,Oxford Playhouse, Oxford, 2024^[26]

• "Who's Who in British Theatre: Gregory Doran".The Guardian. London. 6 July 2002. Retrieved29 October 2008.
• Gregory Doran atIMDb
• An audio biography of Gregory Doran

• 1958 births
• Actors awarded knighthoods
• Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
• Alumni of the University of Bristol
• English gay actors
• English male stage actors
• English male television actors
• English television directors
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• Knights Bachelor
• Laurence Olivier Award winners
• LGBTQ people from Yorkshire
• Living people
• Male actors from Huddersfield
• Male actors from Preston, Lancashire
• People educated at Preston Catholic College
• Royal Shakespeare Company members
• Shakespearean directors

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