{{Short description|Scottish playwright and theatre director}} {{use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{use British English|date=April 2022}} '''Robert David MacDonald''' (27 August 1929 – 19 May 2004) was a Scottish playwright, translator and theatre director.
==Early life == Robert David MacDonald was born in Elgin, in Morayshire, Scotland on 27 August 1929, the son of a doctor and a tobacco company executive.<ref name=Jones/> He attended Wellington School, then studied modern history at Magdalen College at Oxford University, and later trained as a conductor at the Royal College of Music and the Munich Conservatory.<ref name="guardianobit">{{cite news| last=Coveney| first=Michael| title=Robert David MacDonald |work=The Guardian|date=24 May 2004|url= https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/may/24/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries}}</ref><ref name=Jones/>
==Career as a director== MacDonald spent some years as a translator for UNESCO, where he met German director Erwin Piscator in 1957, leading to his involvement in theatre as a director.<ref name="guardianobit"/><ref name=Jones/> His collaboration with Piscator also led to his first significant success, when he translated Piscator's version of ''War and Peace'' in 1962. This was televised by Granada Television as well as being performed on Broadway for two years.<ref name=Jones/>
He became assistant director at Glyndebourne and the Royal Opera at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, before becoming artistic director of Her Majesty's Theatre at Carlisle.<ref name=Jones/>
In 1970, he became co-artistic director of the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, until his retirement in May 2003.<ref name="guardianobit"/><ref name=Jones/> During that time, he directed 50 productions<ref name=Jones/> and wrote fifteen plays for the company, including ''The De Sade Show'' (1975), ''Chinchilla'' (1977), ''Summit Conference'' (1978 – later seen in the West End with Glenda Jackson, Georgina Hale and Gary Oldman), ''A Waste of Time'' (1980), ''Don Juan'' (1980), ''Webster'' (1983), ''In Quest of Conscience'' (1994), ''Britannicus'' (2002) and ''Cheri'' (2003).{{cn|date=April 2022}} In March 1989, he directed a production of John Home's ''Douglas'', with Angela Chadfield in the role of Lady Randolph.<ref>[http://archive.list.co.uk.s3-website.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/the-list/1989-03-10/26/index.html review of ''Douglas'' by Nigel Billen], ''The List'', Issue 89, 10 - 23 March 1989, p. 24</ref>
==Translations== MacDonald translated over 70 plays and operas from ten different languages. In her obituary for MacDonald, Sarah Jones wrote "...it was for his translations, stemming from his ability to speak at least eight languages fluently, that MacDonald may well be best remembered. He brought a diet of Goethe, Lermontov, Gogol, Goldoni and Racine, not only to Glasgow audiences, but to those around Europe and America...".<ref name=Jones>{{cite web | title=Robert David MacDonald |last=Jones|first=Sarah| website=The Independent | date=28 June 2004 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/robert-david-macdonald-38741.html | access-date=8 April 2022}}</ref>
He translated five of Friedrich Schiller's plays, which led Michael Billington to write in 2005, "why is Schiller no longer box-office poison? The first crucial fact is that actable versions of the plays are now readily available. MacDonald was the great pioneer in this area, but Jeremy Sams, Francis Lamport, Mike Poulton and several others have also rid the plays of swagger and fustian."<ref name=Billington>{{cite news|last=Billington|first=Michael|title=The German Shakespeare:Schiller used to be box-office poison. Why are his plays suddenly back in favour, asks Michael Billington|date=29 January 2005|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/jan/29/theatre.classics}}</ref>
One of MacDonald's early successes was ''War and Peace'',<ref name="guardianobit" /><ref name=Jones /><ref name=Telegraph>{{cite news |title=Obituaries: Robert David MacDonald |work=The Telegraph |date=21 May 2004 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1462380/Robert-David-MacDonald.html }}</ref> which he had translated from Erwin Piscator's 1955 German stage adaptation of Tolstoy's novel.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Alfred|last1=Neumann|first2=Erwin|last2=Piscator|first3=Guntram|last3=Prüfer|title=Krieg und Frieden. Für die Bühne nacherzählt und bearbeitet|publisher=Rowohlt|year=1955 |oclc=253336057}}</ref> MacDonald's version reached Broadway in 1967.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/3072 |title=''War and Peace'' |website=IBDB.com |publisher=Internet Broadway Database }}</ref><!--Several obituaries remark that this production was televised in the US. This appears to be untrue; a BBC miniseries was broadcast in the early 1970s, but MacDonald is not credited on it.-->
With Giles Havergal, he adapted Thomas Mann's novella ''Death in Venice'' for a one-man production in 1999. Following a run in Glasgow, the production has traveled to several theaters in Europe and the USA.<ref>{{cite news|first=Robert|last=Hurwitt|title=One-man 'Death in Venice' captures novel's creepy beauty|date=12 September 2006|work=The San Francisco Chronicle|url=http://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/One-man-Death-in-Venice-captures-novel-s-creepy-2469762.php}}</ref>
His translation of Racine's ''Phèdre'', titled ''Phedra'', was produced at The Old Vic in November 1984, designed and directed by Philip Prowse and with Glenda Jackson in the title role and Robert Eddison as Theramenes.<ref>{{cite book|title =Phedra [theatre programme] |date =1984|publisher =Proscenium, for The Old Vic }} </ref ><ref>{{cite web | title=Theatre Costume, 1984, [by] Prowse, Philip | website=Victoria and Albert Museum | date=29 May 1984 | url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O102297/theatre-costume-prowse-philip/ | access-date=8 April 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=London The Old Vic Theatre - Phedra - 1984 | website= Theatre Memorabilia .co.uk | url=https://www.theatrememorabilia.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2642 | access-date=8 April 2022}}</ref> <!---on second thoughts, comment this out until properly cited. Other translations include: <br>''The Threepenny Opera'', ''Tamerlano'', ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail'', ''The Barber of Seville'', ''Aida'', Beaumarchais' ''The Marriage of Figaro'', Cocteau's ''Orpheus'' and ''The Human Voice'', Dürrenmatt's ''Conversation at Night'', Fassbinder's ''Shadow of Angels'', Genet's ''The Balcony'', ''The Blacks'' and ''The Screens'', Gogol's ''The Government Inspector'', Goethe's ''Tasso'' and ''Faust'' I and II, twelve of Goldoni's plays, Ibsen's ''Brand'' and ''Hedda Gabler'', Lermontov's ''Maskerade'', Lorca's ''The House of Bernarda Alba'', Molière's ''School for Wives'' and ''Dom Juan'', Pirandello's ''Enrico Four'', Racine's ''Phèdre'', Schiller's ''Mary Stuart'', ''The Maid of Orleans '' and ''Don Carlos'', Chekhov's ''The Seagull'', Verne's ''Around the World In Eighty Days'', Wedekind's ''Lulu'' and Goethe’s ''Clavigo''. His translations of Rolf Hochhuth include his works ''The Representative'', ''Soldiers'' and ''Judith''. --->
==Death== MacDonald died of a heart attack, aged 74.<ref name="guardianobit"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Portal|Biography}} * {{IBDB name}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Robert David}} Category:1929 births Category:2004 deaths Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Scottish dramatists and playwrights Category:Scottish theatre directors Category:Translators to English Category:20th-century Scottish dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century Scottish translators Category:Translators of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe