Peter Dews (26 September 1929,Wakefield,Yorkshire,England – 25 August 1997) was anEnglishstage director.
Born and educated in Wakefield, Yorkshire he then took anM.A. atUniversity College, Oxford. After two years teaching history he joined theBBC, in Birmingham, working first in radio (it is thought that he was the director of the episode of The Archers which featured the death of Grace Archer in a fire, a spoiler for the opening of independent television) and then television, as a director. He won the BAFTA 'Best Director' Award in 1960 forAn Age of Kings, a television adaptation of Shakespeare's history plays. He subsequently directed Shakespeare's Roman plays in the seriesThe Spread of the Eagle.[1][2][3]
After a period of freelance theatre work he joined theBirmingham Repertory Theatre as Artistic Director in the autumn of 1965, in its original building - the first purpose built repertory theatre in the UK - and remained in that post until the company moved to the new venue in 1971, leaving in 1972, his last production there being the double-bill ofSophoclesOedipus the King andSheridan'sThe Critic withDerek Jacobi in both plays' leading roles. Previously his productions ofShakespeare'sAs You Like It andPeter Luke'sHadrian VII had transferred from the old Birmingham Rep to London's West End, the latter going on to New York gaining Dews aTony Award for its direction. Other notable productions at the Rep includedHamlet, withRichard Chamberlain in 1969,Quick, Quick Slow (1969) a musical byMonty Norman andJulian More, based on a play byDavid Turner, who also scripted the musical, andThe Sorrows of Frederick, an epic play aboutFrederick the Great byRomulus Linney, in 1970.
At theChichester Festival Theatre he guest-directed, amongst other productions,Antony and Cleopatra withSir John Clements andMargaret Leighton, and the original production ofRobert Bolt'sVivat! Vivat Regina! which transferred to London's West End and Broadway. Dews succeededKeith Michell as the fourth artistic director of theChichester Festival Theatre in 1978 and directed three Festival seasons. One notable production during this period wasJulius Caesar in Puritan costume suggesting the plotting of theGunpowder Plot. He also directed he original production ofRoyce Ryton'sCrown Matrimonial, about the 1936Abdication crisis, in the West End, withWendy Hiller asQueen Mary. He also directed productions in the USA, Canada, South Africa, Israel, Malta, Éire and Hong Kong. In the UK he also directedA Midsummer Night's Dream atNottingham Playhouse, theScottish Theatre Company's production ofBertolt Brecht'sLife of Galileo which toured Scottish theatres in the autumn of 1985 (he directed the play again in Birmingham),[4][5] andIan Curteis'Inferno atGreenwich Theatre.[6]
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