William Scoular
Encyclopedia
William Scoular is a stage director, writer and filmmaker.
He was born in Glasgow
, Scotland
and is a graduate of Oxford University where he read English at Lincoln College
. He first attracted attention for his assured direction of a professional production of The Importance of Being Earnest
at the New (formerly Apollo) Theatre
, Oxford while he was still an undergraduate. He was soon directing productions, on both sides of the Atlantic, praised for their clarity and vision. His acclaimed production of Samuel Beckett
's Footfalls
(starring Elizabeth Shepherd
and Jennifer Phipps) was invited to the prestigious World Stage Festival (Toronto) and his production of Berkoff's Women (with Linda Marlowe
) at the New Ambassador's Theatre in London's West End received unanimous rave reviews. He directed Keith Carradine
and John Goodman
in the world premiere of My Time Ain't Long: The Jimmy Rogers Story and Elizabeth Shepherd
and Graham Harley in Alan Bennett
's A Cream Cracker Under the Settee, Waiting for the Telegram and Playing Sandwiches.
Equally at home with contemporary and classical theatre, Scoular's other theatre credits include: Gardner McKay
's Seamarks, Edward Albee
's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Tom Stoppard
's Dogg's Hamlet, Lee McDougall's High Life, Stephen Belber
's Tape, Ian Heggie's Politics in the Park, Ashlin Halfnight's Answering Bell, West Side Story
, Cabaret
, Oklahoma!
, Oliver!
, Kiss Me, Kate
, Side by Side by Sondheim, Hamlet
, Othello
, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet
, Henry V
and Macbeth
.
Apart from numerous music videos, Scoular’s work in film includes Passage to Sydney (a documentary about equestrian Emil Fauree), and the award-winning Canadian film The Death and Life of Nancy Eaton.
He is the author of Not An Ordinary Place, Secret Agent: The Life of Harry Somers (to be published in the autumn of 2008), and co-author (with Vivian H. H. Green
) of the Canadian bestseller A Question of Guilt.
Current projects include a production of Gardner McKay
's Toyer (West End and Broadway), the feature film Children of the Lie for Whizbang Films and a biography of Vivian Green
, the renowned Oxford historian and acknowledged original of John le Carre
's master spy, George Smiley
.
He was born in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and is a graduate of Oxford University where he read English at Lincoln College
Lincoln College, Oxford
Lincoln College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is situated on Turl Street in central Oxford, backing onto Brasenose College and adjacent to Exeter College...
. He first attracted attention for his assured direction of a professional production of The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
at the New (formerly Apollo) Theatre
New Theatre Oxford
The New Theatre Oxford is the main commercial theatre in Oxford, England and has a capacity of 1,800 people....
, Oxford while he was still an undergraduate. He was soon directing productions, on both sides of the Atlantic, praised for their clarity and vision. His acclaimed production of Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
's Footfalls
Footfalls
Footfalls is a play by Samuel Beckett. It was written in English, between 2 March and December 1975 and was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre as part of the Samuel Beckett Festival, on May 20, 1976 directed by Beckett himself. Billie Whitelaw, for whom the piece had been written, played...
(starring Elizabeth Shepherd
Elizabeth Shepherd
Elizabeth Shepherd is an English character actress whose work has spanned the stage and both the big and small screens. Her surname has been alternately billed as "Shephard" and "Sheppard"....
and Jennifer Phipps) was invited to the prestigious World Stage Festival (Toronto) and his production of Berkoff's Women (with Linda Marlowe
Linda Marlowe
-Selected filmography:* That Kind of Girl * The World Ten Times Over * The Americanization of Emily * The Man Outside * The Ballad of Tam Lin * Night After Night After Night * Big Zapper...
) at the New Ambassador's Theatre in London's West End received unanimous rave reviews. He directed Keith Carradine
Keith Carradine
Keith Ian Carradine is an American actor who has had success on stage, film and television. In addition, he is a Golden Globe and Oscar winning songwriter. As a member of the Carradine family, he is part of an acting "dynasty" that began with his father, John Carradine.-Early life:Keith...
and John Goodman
John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...
in the world premiere of My Time Ain't Long: The Jimmy Rogers Story and Elizabeth Shepherd
Elizabeth Shepherd
Elizabeth Shepherd is an English character actress whose work has spanned the stage and both the big and small screens. Her surname has been alternately billed as "Shephard" and "Sheppard"....
and Graham Harley in Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...
's A Cream Cracker Under the Settee, Waiting for the Telegram and Playing Sandwiches.
Equally at home with contemporary and classical theatre, Scoular's other theatre credits include: Gardner McKay
Gardner McKay
George Cadogan Gardner McKay was an American actor, artist, and author.-Biography:Born in New York City, McKay graduated from Cornell University, where he majored in art. He became a Hollywood heart throb in the 1950s and 1960s. He landed the lead role in Adventures in Paradise, based loosely on...
's Seamarks, Edward Albee
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story , The Sandbox , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and a rewrite of the screenplay for the unsuccessful musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's . His works are considered well-crafted, often...
's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
's Dogg's Hamlet, Lee McDougall's High Life, Stephen Belber
Stephen Belber
Stephen Belber is an American playwright , screenwriter and film director.-Early life:Belber was born in Washington, D.C.. He studied philosophy as an undergraduate at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, and moved to New York at the age of 25. There he unwittingly moved in with a roommate with AIDS,...
's Tape, Ian Heggie's Politics in the Park, Ashlin Halfnight's Answering Bell, West Side Story
West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
, Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
, Oklahoma!
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
, Oliver!
Oliver!
Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
, Kiss Me, Kate
Kiss Me, Kate
Kiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It is structured as a play within a play, where the interior play is a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.Kiss...
, Side by Side by Sondheim, Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
, Henry V
Henry V (play)
Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
and Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
.
Apart from numerous music videos, Scoular’s work in film includes Passage to Sydney (a documentary about equestrian Emil Fauree), and the award-winning Canadian film The Death and Life of Nancy Eaton.
He is the author of Not An Ordinary Place, Secret Agent: The Life of Harry Somers (to be published in the autumn of 2008), and co-author (with Vivian H. H. Green
Vivian H. H. Green
Vivian Hubert Howard Green was a Fellow and Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, a priest, author, teacher, and historian....
) of the Canadian bestseller A Question of Guilt.
Current projects include a production of Gardner McKay
Gardner McKay
George Cadogan Gardner McKay was an American actor, artist, and author.-Biography:Born in New York City, McKay graduated from Cornell University, where he majored in art. He became a Hollywood heart throb in the 1950s and 1960s. He landed the lead role in Adventures in Paradise, based loosely on...
's Toyer (West End and Broadway), the feature film Children of the Lie for Whizbang Films and a biography of Vivian Green
Vivian H. H. Green
Vivian Hubert Howard Green was a Fellow and Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, a priest, author, teacher, and historian....
, the renowned Oxford historian and acknowledged original of John le Carre
John le Carré
David John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"...
's master spy, George Smiley
George Smiley
George Smiley is a fictional character created by John le Carré. Smiley is an intelligence officer working for MI6 , the British overseas intelligence agency...
.