SIR Peter Reginald Frederick Hall CBE, founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, has died aged 86.
He was diagnosed with dementia in 2011 and died at hospital in London on Monday (September 11).
The director founded the theatre in 1960 and stayed with the company until 1968. He then went on to be director of the National Theatre from 1973 until 1988.
He created the Peter Hall Company in 1998 and became founding director of The Rose Theatre in Kingston in 2003.
Greg Doran, artistic director at the RSC said of his predecessor: “Sir Peter Hall was a Colossus, bestriding the British Theatre. He was a visionary.
“Not only was he a great director of theatre and opera, he was a politician who fought for the arts. It is impossible to single out his greatest production.
“But his greatest legacy without doubt will be judged to be the formation of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1961”.
The RSC contributes a whopping £75m to the local regional economy and welcomes more than a million visitors to its Stratford theatres every year.
