NICK YOUNG

Director

At Oxford Nick read English and directed numerous shows, including the famous Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor Dr Faustus, when he was the student director to Professor Nevill Coghill. 

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He joined the RSC as a trainee director and worked with actors such as Dame Helen Mirren and Patrick Stewart. He became Artistic Director of the world-famous Ludlow Festival, staging epic Shakespeare in the Castle, which he nearly burnt down in an over-ambitious flaming battle scene in King Lear! For ten years he was the Artistic Director of the Connaught Theatre, Worthing where he had enormous fun creating and inspiring ensemble companies and directing musicals, premieres, classics, thrillers and farces. Christopher Biggins, Dora Bryan, and Arthur Askey were some of the famous names that worked with Nick.

 

In 1983 he formed Rainbow Theatre and wrote and directed its repertoire; which subsequently has gone onto become one of the most popular Theatre-in-Education companies touring to schools in the South East. 

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In 1999, he founded Rainbow Shakespeare with his wife Alex, creating exciting open-air Shakespeare for family audiences. In 2017, Conn Artists were delighted to welcome Nick back to the Connaught Theatre after several years by inviting him to direct The Four Men which was followed by a repeat invitation to direct Silas Marner in 2019.

“Experienced direction from Nick Young allowed the tale to unfold at a swift pace, extracting from his cast some memorable performances. He managed to lighten the melodrama with moments of humour using puppetry, song and dance.” 

(The Brighton Argus on Silas Marner)

★★★★★

 

"The direction from Nick Young, who previously directed at the Connaught Theatre when it used to be home to a repertory company, is superb and the characters are vivid and brought to life magnificently."

(Theatre South East on The Four Men)

★★★★