Edward (“Ed”) Wilson was a hugely enthusiastic pioneer of youth drama and is credited with nurturing the careers of many young actors who went on to find screen success, including Daniel Craig and Orlando Bloom.
As the second artistic director of the National Youth Theatre, between 1987 and 2003, he ran an ambitious programme of productions that rivalled professional performances.
Before becoming a director Wilson had also enjoyed a successful acting career, appearing in several well-known BBC series.
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Edward Wilson was born in 1947, the son of a coal miner. He attended grammar school in Tyneside and then Manchester University. In 1965 he began his enduring relationship with the National Youth Theatre (NYT), which he joined as a member. The NYT was still in relative infancy — founded by Michael Croft in 1956, it was the first company of its kind worldwide. His contemporaries included Paula Wilcox and Timothy Dalton.
After the NYT and university Wilson performed in repertory theatre and began what would become a successful television career. He appeared in several high-profile BBC series, playing Leslie Ferris in The Likely Lads and Billy Seaton in When the Boat Comes in, two popular sitcoms with James Bolam. He also appeared in Rockcliffe’s Babies and Granada TV’s Crown Court.
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Wilson’s passion and infectious enthusiasm for theatre and the inspirational effect acting could have on normal people made him a sought-after director, and directing came to take up more and more of his time.
He directed large community plays in Newbury, worked with British Council tours and was a guest director with the Spanish Shakespeare Foundation, putting on student productions of Romeo and Juliet in 1987 and, later on, Macbeth. Both toured Madrid, Valencia and London.
Wilson was still closely involved with the NYT and put on T. S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral to huge acclaim, later ambitiously overcoming obstacles to take it to the Soviet Union, performing at the Moscow Art Theatre. This involvement put him in prime position to take over as the NYT’s artistic director when Michael Croft died in 1986.
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Taking the helm in 1987, Wilson gave the youth company a new energy. Ever pragmatic, he set about securing funding for new premises and gaining media and political attention. He continued the ethos of encouraging young people from all backgrounds to act, creating outreach programmes and nurturing whatever talent they had even if they did not intend to pursue acting as a career.
Many did however, with Rafe Spall (Timothy Spall’s son) and Dan Stevens (recent star of the BBC’s The Line of Beauty) paying tribute to the confidence Wilson gave them. The comedians Catherine Tate, Matt Lucas and David Walliams also emerged during Wilson’s tenure.
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Wilson took productions to the Edinburgh Fringe and premiered the musicals Blitz! and Nightshriek — which won a Time Out London Theatre award — in the West End.
Such successes also brought challenges. By falling between the two stools of education and professional productions and frequently rivalling established companies, the NYT often found its fundraising efforts thwarted and Wilson frequently expressed his frustration at the lack of investment in the arts.
However, he continued to expand the troupe, and staged other productions, notably The Way of the Light in St Paul’s Cathedral, which was screened live by the BBC.
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Wilson retired from the directorship in 2003 and moved to the US to lead the Los Angeles Young Theatre Company at the Ivar Theatre, Hollywood.
Wilson was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and awarded an honorary doctorate in the arts from the University of Sunderland.
Edward Wilson, actor and director of the National Youth Theatre, 1987-2003, was born on July 13, 1947. He died of cancer on February 2, 2008, aged 60