Frank Dunlop obit

Edinburgh’s last star director has died, at 97

 

He was not on the list.

Friends are reporting the death of Frank Dunlop, director of the Edinburgh Festival from 1984 to 1991, and much else besides. He succeeded Peter Diamand and John Drummond, both lions of the classical music establishment, and he inherited an undisclosed deficit which made things difficult from the outset.

But Frank had serious theatre credentials. He could call on big names and big ideas. He directed Mary Stuart by Friedrich Schiller and had a Madrid company do Calderon’s El Alcalde de Zalamea – in Spanish. Not to mention Dostoevsky in Polish and The Dybbuk, in Yiddish.

Frank backed new shows and was given little credit for innovation. The musos resented losing control of the festival and gave him a hard time. He failed to get a knighthood. His successor, Brian McMaster, came from Welsh National Opera. EdFest went into recession.

Originally from Leeds, Frank Dunlop ran the Nottingham Playhouse in the 1960s, was administrative director of the National Theatre and founded ther Young Vic. He directed the first production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. He had a run of hits on Broadway and was head of BAM for a couple of years. His production of Carmen at the Royal Albert Hall will live long in the memory.

He died on Sunday, a month before his 98th birthday.