Highlights

Richard’s productions have featured in London’s West End, toured throughout the UK and have won CATS, TMA and Herald Angel awards, while being nominated for 15 other national awards. He is the original director of the hit comedy The 39 Steps: “Brilliantly directed by Richard Baron…one of the most enjoyable evenings of my life” (Daily Telegraph) and The Sunday Times referred to the “greatness” of his Theatre Royal, Bath, production of Look Back in Anger, starring David Tennant, which won TMA, Whatsonstage and CATS Best Production, Best Actor and Best Director Awards and nominations for Richard, David and Steven McNicoll.

Other notable productions include The Price at the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh: “The hugely talented Richard Baron’s direction is as searching as Arthur Miller’s writing” (John Peter, Sunday Times); his critically acclaimed Nottingham Playhouse staging of J M Barrie’s Dear Brutus, “Richard Baron directs a beguiling, consistently compelling production…thrilling, unexpected discoveries such as this make my job worthwhile”(Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph); and his Dundee Rep production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night, described as “Superlative” by The Scotsman, “A national triumph” by The Times, “A showcase of the Art” by the Herald and “the best production of the play I have ever seen, including those of Laurence Olivier and Jack Lemmon” in a letter to the press by the award-winning actor Brian Cox.

Career

After graduating from St Andrews University, where he directed the Tenth Scottish Student Drama Festival, Richard was awarded a Scottish Arts Council Trainee Director’s Bursary at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. He was then appointed Associate Director of Perth Theatre; Scottish Arts Council Associate Director of Dundee Rep; Associate Artist of Dundee Rep; Associate Director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre; and Associate Director of Nottingham Playhouse. Richard was engaged as Season Director at Pitlochry in 2018 and is also a founder member and Director of Productions of the award-winning touring theatre company Firebrand, which celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2025.

2009/10 – Our Man in Havana (Nottingham Playhouse and UK Tour); The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and A Servant Of Twa Maisters (Pitlochry Festival Theatre) and national tours of Round The Horne and Stepping Out (nominated in the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards).

2011/13 – See How They Run, Privates on Parade, The 39 Steps, A Chorus of Disapproval, Lady Windermere’s Fan (Pitlochry Festival Theatre); Being Norwegian, Oleanna,White Rose and a CATS Award winning production of Iron (all for Firebrand Theatre Company).

2014/16—The Ladykillers, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Admirable Crichton, Home and Beauty, Damsels in Distress Trilogy (nominated in CATS Awards), Scrooge! (all Pitlochry); Blackbird, The Effect, The Great Train Race, Outlying Islands, Grounded, The Letter of Last Resort (all Firebrand); The Sins (Red Note Ensemble).

2017/24—Mary Rose, Absurd Person Singular, The Monarch of the Glen (winner 2018 CATS Awards), Chicago, Travesties, The Last Witch, Heritage (all Pitlochry); The Match Box, Bill McLaren: The Voice of Rugby, Nan Shepherd: Naked & Unashamed (Firebrand); Bold Girls (Citizens Theatre, Glasgow); Murder by Misadventure, Macbeth (Vienna’s English Theatre).

Richard’s other productions include;

  • Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (nominated for 4 Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards), The Tempest, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Mill on The Floss, Feelgood, Travesties, Travels With My Aunt, Dear Brutus and A Midsummer Nights Dream (all Nottingham Playhouse).

  • Travesties, Laurel and Hardy, The Price and Rookery Nook (Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh).

  • Long Day’s Journey Into Night (TMA Award), Piaf, All My Sons, Intimate Exchanges and The Glass Menagerie (TMA Award for Best Actor won by David Tennant), all Dundee Rep.

  • HMS Pinafore, Rough Crossing, The Comedy of Errors and The Boyfriend (Perth Theatre).

  • Hard Times, French Without Tears, The Mystery of Irma Vep and Vanity Fair (Northcott Theatre, Exeter).

  • Amadeus (Winner TMA Awards), A Streetcar Named Desire, Kind Hearts and Coronets (nominated CATS Awards), Man and Superman (nominated CATS Awards), Great Expectations, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Weir and The Flouers O’ Edinburgh (Pitlochry).

He has also directed UK Tours for the Theatre Royal, Bath, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, Bill Kenwright Ltd and the Ambassadors Theatre Group including The 39 Steps and Travels With My Aunt (nominated in the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards).

 

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