Edward Wilson ; actor and director of the National Youth Theatre
Hyfler/Rosner
Illtyd Harrington
Friday February 8, 2008
Guardian
Ed Wilson, who has died aged 60, was an actor with a
distinctive style, and director of the National Youth
Theatre from 1987 to 2004. He met every challenge head on.
The NYT was started by Michael Croft in 1956. He had scooped
up young potential stars including Helen Mirren and Ian
McKellen to its ranks. Wilson began as an actor in the NYT,
between 1965 and 1970, and this brought him close to Croft's
inspired methods.
Wilson was born in South Shields, where his father was a
miner. He went to the local grammar school - and was
auditioned as a schoolboy by Croft, going to London to
perform with the NYT during the summer holidays. But he was
not just a zealous apprentice. He branched out at 19 to form
an NYT counterpart in his home town. The South Shields youth
theatre took over the town's Pier Pavilion. The local press
raved, while stern-faced local Labour mandarins wondered if
the radical ideas on their stage were too dangerous.
"Kitchen sink drama" had arrived, and so had Ed Wilson.
After Manchester University, where he read English, he
arrived in London and was recruited by Croft to direct at
the NYT, and to act.
He soon put his indelible mark as a director on TS Eliot's
Murder in the Cathedral, first in the dramatic setting of
Hawksmoor's great church in Spitalfields, then in the
austere St Pancras church, culminating in performances
within the majestic setting and thrilling atmosphere of
Westminster Cathedral. Eliot's widow was enthusiastic. It
even aroused the cynical Moscow Arts theatre audience to
give it a tumultuous reception in 1984.
Croft allowed him to develop. Perhaps he realised earlier
than most that his protege was building experience. While at
the NYT, Wilson appeared regularly on TV drama. People
continued to recognise him years after, particularly as
Billy Seaton with James Bolam from When the Boat Comes In
(from 1976) or DI Flight in Rockliffe's Babies (1988).
I watched him reintroduce Lionel Bart to London in the
mid-1980s. Bart had been too long in the doldrums. The NYT
set about the artistic and technical opportunities Blitz and
Maggie May offered, and Bart seemed personally and
professionally rejuvenated by the eager company around him.
Wilson was a determined and ambitious man, but he gave full
rein to excellence when he saw it in others. Matthew
Warchus, now a power in the West End and on Broadway, was
given his break as a director when the Youth Theatre did
Coriolanus in the Glasgow Tram Shed in 1986. Ability
flourished around Ed's leadership. The Little Britain duo
Matt Lucas and David Walliams, then novices, admired him, as
did Catherine Tate, then a shy and gentle girl.
In 2004, he accepted a demanding job when Michael Yorke,
another NYT alumnus, coaxed him to Hollywood to become the
director of the Ivar theatre and its Los Angeles Young
Actors Company. True Geordie grit was soon needed to fashion
the ideal.
He was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. Earlier he sought
solace in Catholicism. His friend Daniel Craig, the current
James Bond and also an NYT veteran, arranged for him to fly
back in a private jet from LA and provided nursing care for
a friend and mentor. Others, who loved him for his wild
humour and his generous spirit, also did their bit. His
long-term partner Brian Lee, the designer at the NYT,
predeceased him. He is survived by a brother and sister.
· Edward Wilson, actor and director, born July 13 1947; died
February 2 2008