London's 1000 most influential people 2010: Theatre

5 April 2012

Howard Panter & Rosemary Squire, Theatre owners and producers
Coupling sound commercial instincts with adventurous producing, the married couple behind the Ambassador Theatre Group's 39 nationwide venues are British theatre's true power couple; Mr and Mrs West End. Says Panter: "We take the business side of theatre very, very seriously."

Sir Nicholas Hytner, National Theatre, artistic director
In seven years in charge of the National the sleek Hytner has maintained theatrical excellence, revolutionised pricing, scheduling and use of the building, and become the arts' vocal champion. Knighted this year.

Lord Lloyd-Webber, Composer, theatre owner, TV personality
Already a powerful figure as a musical writer, producer and playhouse owner, he is also the only man ever to make theatre work on TV. Recently downsized by selling four theatres.

Kevin Spacey, Old Vic, artistic director
The Hollywood star has taken the resurgent Old Vic into the West End and the tunnels beneath Waterloo, and gone global via Sam Mendes's Bridge Project, for which he'll play Richard III in 2012.

Dominic Cooke, Royal Court, artistic director
Softly spoken Cooke has quietly stamped his authority on the Sloane Square venue, and had a great run with Sucker Punch, Posh, Spur of the Moment and Clybourne Park.

Sir Cameron Mackintosh, Impresario and theatre owner
Oliver! and Les Mis keep on giving more to producer Mackintosh, who has ploughed his riches into refurbishing his seven West End theatres, and into ambitious gambles like Hair.

Michael Grandage, Donmar Warehouse, artistic director
The most charming man in theatre, and the man everyone wants to work with, ever-youthful Grandage has made the ever-expanding Donmar brand a byword for excellence. He quits in autumn 2011 as he wants to move "away from being in charge of a building in order to develop my work as a director".

Sheridan Smith, Actress
Pint-sized musical powerhouse Smith made Legally Blonde the London hit it is, and is slated to be an all-singing Bridget Jones on stage. She's come a long way since TV comedies Two Pints of Lager and Gavin and Stacey.

Timothy Sheader, Regent's Park Theatre, artistic director
The geekily cool director has turned Regent's Park's Open Air Theatre into an essential summer destination, programming adventurous plays and musicals to go with the Pimm's and picnics.

Benedict Cumberbatch, Actor
The Old Harrovian, below, is one of our most versatile leading men, reviving Rattigan at the National while at the same time reworking Sherlock on telly, and is now set to star in Spielberg's film of War Horse.

Sean Holmes, Lyric Hammersmith, artistic director
Shaven-headed, strong-willed director whose adventurous programming (Punk Rock, Ghost Stories, the a gory revival of Sarah Kane's Blasted) has put the Lyric Hammersmith back on the map.

Michael Attenborough, Almeida, artistic director
Eight years into his tenure the affable, halo-haired Attenborough shows no signs of letting Islington's Almeida Theatre slip from its pole position as a creative — and fashionable — powerhouse.

Ben Whishaw, Actor
Nobody does fine-featured anguish like Whishaw, on screen in Brideshead and Bright Star, at the Royal Court in Cock or on Broadway in The Pride. A return to the classical stage is hoped for.

Sir Richard Eyre, Director
Former National Theatre director Eyre scored big with Welcome to Thebes and Private Lives, and he's next lined up to adapt Robert Evans's Hollywood memoir The Kid Stays in the Picture on Broadway.

Nica Burns, Theatre owner and president of the Society of London Theatres
The genial Burns sees herself as "curator" rather than proprietor of the Nimax London theatres she owns with Max Weitzenhoffer, and is an astute appraiser and producer of drama and comedy.

Katie Mitchell, Director
The National Theatre's resident high-art experimentalist puts classical texts and video techniques through the blender, but is now showing a lighter touch: next up, a Christmas Beauty and the Beast at the NT.

Edward Hall, Hampstead Theatre, artistic director
As charming as his father Sir Peter, "call me Ed" Hall is midway through his first season in charge of Hampstead. If anyone can revive the beloved venue's shattered fortunes, he can.

Rory Kinnear, Actor
Brooding thesp Rory Kinnear's stellar stage career, including a Hamlet for the National, has now overshadowed fond memories of his dad Roy.

Michael Grade, Theatre owner
The TV executive has now embraced the heritage of his uncles, impresarios Lew Grade and Bernard Delfont, and agent Leslie Grade, heading a consortium that purchased West End theatres from Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Rebecca Hall, Actress
After her appearance in the 2008/09 Bridge project, the elegant, intelligent daughter of Sir Peter Hall and Maria Ewing returns to the classical stage in Twelfth Night for her dad at the National.

Sam West, Actor and director
West is one half of the new power couple of British theatre, along with playwright Laura Wade, author of Posh. He's the fiercely committed director and actor, who this year shared the stage with father Timothy West in a hit revival of A Number.

Howard Davies, Director
The great ensemble director scored a hit with Blood and Gifts and Russian dramas Burnt by the Sun and The White Guard at the National, and with All My Sons in the West End.

Thea Sharrock, Director
Formerly London's youngest artistic director at the Southwark Playhouse, Sharrock is still only 34, but has orchestrated Keira Knightley's stage debut and revived Rattigan's reputation: expect her to run a major theatre soon.

Caro Newling, Producer
Sam Mendes's producing partner when he ran the Donmar and subsequently with Neal St Productions, Newling is a forceful operator, and a guiding light behind Shrek The Musical.

Lucy Bailey, Director
Crop-haired Bailey mines rich seams of sexuality in her work and is a stalwart of Shakespeare's Globe, and this year has opened her own studio space for challenging work in west London.

Sir David Hare, Writer
This combative theatrical knight produces densely researched state-of-the-nation dramas at a dazzling rate but still finds time for the odd film script (The Reader) or solo show.

Lucy Prebble, Writer
Enron may have disappointed in New York but its storming London run confirmed Prebble as a young talent — with forthcoming commissions at the National and Royal Court — to watch.

Rupert Goold, Director
As hotshot artistic director of touring company Headlong, Goold's bold co-productions (including Macbeth, Enron and Earthquakes in London) have won him a 2009 Evening Standard theatre award, among others.

Sir Ian McKellen, Actor
Still the only great classical actor to have also done panto and Coronation Street, McKellen's Lear and Godot only showed him getting stronger. Likely to reprise his role as Gandalf in the new Hobbit movie. Activist and entertainer.

Sir Tom Stoppard, Writer
Stoppard is "struggling" with a new play, but a Chekhov translation for the Bridge Project and revivals of his The Real Thing and his masterwork Arcadia confirmed his wit and wisdom. Arcadia makes the transfer to Broadway in 2011.

Alan Bennett, Playwright
He's donated his archive to the nation and refused every honour going, but The Habit of Art showed Bennett as a writer still at the top of his game.

Dame Judi Dench, Actress
Don't dare call her a national treasure, but Dench guarantees good box office and continues to challenge herself and delight audiences, most recently revisiting Titania aged 75.

Vanessa Redgrave, Actress
The fiercely talented Redgrave has been defined more by the sad loss of her daughter, brother and sister recently, but she remains a potent figure in theatre, and has won rave reviews on her Broadway return.

Sonia Friedman, Producer
Having started out in the subsidised sector, Friedman has become a powerful mover and deal-maker in the still male-dominated world of producing, ranging from serious drama to big musicals.

Simon Russell Beale, Actor
Billed as the stage's "Greatest Living Englishman", SRB is a polymath who can breathe life into hokum like Death Trap, as well as doing Shakespeare, Chekhov and Le Carre's Smiley.

Jez Butterworth, Playwright
Between film scripts, Butterworth maintains his strong association with the Royal Court that resulted in the awesome Jerusalem: next up is a film about a feuding comedy duo, Huge.

Josie Rourke, Bush Theatre, artistic director
Three years into her reign at the Shepherd's Bush venue, Rourke has proved herself with starry hits like The Aliens, as well as the off-site Stovepipe, and made her National Theatre debut this autumn.

Marianne Elliott, Director
Having made it her home with a string of critical hits (and her commercially blockbusting co-direction of War Horse) the clever and likeable Elliott is in the frame to run the NT one day.

Mehmet Ergen & Leyla Nazli, Producers
The duo behind the Arcola Theatre in Dalston embody the spirit of the fringe, mounting stunning classics and new plays on a wing and a prayer: a move to more commodious premises is on the cards.

David Babani, Menier Chocolate Factory, artistic director
The amiably burly Babani has made the south London Menier a starry, credible crucible for drama and musical revivals, scoring West End transfers with La Cage and Sweet Charity.

Ruth Wilson, Actress
This mercurial actress has impressed at the Almeida in Through A Glass Darkly and Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar. Made her name in TV, starring as Jane Eyre in BBC adaptation and establishing herself as a sought-after talent in BBC police drama Luther. Her other claim to fame is her grandfather — an MI6 agent and serial bigamist.

Polly Stenham, Playwright
The gamine author of That Face continues to work on her third play, is opening a gallery, and is part of London's bright young set with actor friends such as Doctor Who star Matt Smith and the Treadaway twins.

Mark Rylance, Actor
Theatre would be infinitely duller without the sublimely talented, mercurial and defiantly eccentric Rylance, former RSC star and Globe director who lit up Jerusalem and La Bête.

Nicolas Kent, Tricycle Theatre, artistic director
The ageless, impish Kent continues to run Kilburn's unique Tricycle Theatre with undimmed verve and reformist political zeal: recent hits include Antony Sher in Miller's Broken Glass.

David Lan, Young Vic, artistic director
The soft-spoken leader of the Young Vic has made over the theatre — sometimes physically — as a home for co-productions, opera and exciting stagings, and he's boldly chosen Tennessee Williams for Christmas.

Roy Williams, Playwright
The prolific and ever-inventive Williams knocked audiences and critics sideways with his devastating Sucker Punch at the Royal Court, and has several scripts in the pipeline.

Sir Trevor Nunn, Director
Former NT and RSC director and musical supremo Nunn scored a transatlantic hit with A Little Night Music for Sondheim's 80th, and became visiting Cameron Mackintosh professor at Oxford.

Matthew Byam Shaw, Producer
The former actor is a producer who is not afraid to take risks, whether it's backing Frost/Nixon, Enron and Legally Blonde, or taking Jude Law's Hamlet and Boeing-Boeing to Broadway. Has just
co-produced the hit stage version of Yes, Prime Minister.

Dominic Dromgoole, The Globe, artistic director
The refreshingly combative director of Shakespeare's Globe has built on his predecessor Mark Rylance's foundations, pleasing aficionados and tourists alike, pairing the bard with new plays.

Michael Boyd, Royal Shakespeare Company, director
This month's re-opening of the RSC's Stratford theatres after a £112 million refurb is the bricks-and-mortar symbol of the way Boyd has rebuilt the RSC's critical and public reputation in seven years.

Kwame Kwei-Armah, Playwright and actor
Actor, writer, goodwill ambassador, TV presenter — Kwei-Armah is quite a polymath. Recent projects have included The London Story on Radio 4 and he's the go-to spokesman for the arts.

Felix Barrett, Director
Kick-started the revolution in immersive theatre with his radically inventive company Punchdrunk — each performance is a unique must-see.

Simon McBurney, Actor and Complicite founder
The motivating force behind Complicite has directed operas, concerts, even comedy gigs, but he's best loved for his visionary stage shows, whether devised (Shun-Kin) or text-based (Endgame). Also popped up on BBC's Rev.

Fiona Shaw, Actress
Versatile Irish-born actress has wowed the National in Mother Courage and London Assurance. Best known outside theatre for her role as Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter films.

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