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Robert Kidd:

Theatre director. Born 1943. Died July 15 1980.

Trained in Glasgow. Was part of the second group of Royal Court Dramatists, the class of the 60's. Well reputed, unaffected, professional, he was especially linked with the plays of Christopher Hampton. In 1964 Kidd and Hampton began together at the Royal Court Theatre with When Did You Last See Your Mother. The play transferred to the Comedy Theatre. Hampton (born 1946) and Kidd were the youngest theatre director and playwright to have a production performed in the West End. They worked on Total Eclipse (1969), The Philanthropist (1974), Savages (1974), Treats (1975). Kidd directed David Story¹s The Restoration of Arnold Middleton (1967). In 1968, one of his projects, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey with James Fox, fell through. However, the Pop artist Jim Dine who was working on drawings for the poster came up with his famous series Bathrobes. Kidd left London to become artistic director of the The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. He was back at the Royal Court in 1977 for 2 years as joint artistic director of the English Stage Company and continued his association with Christopher Hampton and David Storey. He directed Storey's Mothers Day (1976). When he left the Royal Court he had assignments at Greenwich and the National Theatre. Middle Age Spread, staged in 1979 at the Lyric, was still running when he died. Robert Kidd was married to Jenny Sieff.