David Aukin
Encyclopedia
David Aukin is a theatrical
and executive producer
as well as a qualified solicitor
. He has been nominated twice for British Academy Television Awards
for producing films about Tony Blair
: The Government Inspector
in 2005 and The Trial of Tony Blair
in 2007.
on 12 February 1942 to parents Charles and Regina Aukin. He attended St Paul's School and St Edmund Hall, Oxford
. He married Nancy Meckler
.
(1970–73). From 1970 to 1974, he served as Chairman of the Oval House Arts Centre. Along with David Hare
and Max Stafford-Clark
, Aukin co-founded the Joint Stock Theatre Company
in 1974. From 1974 through 1975, Aukin was an administrator with Anvil Productions in Oxford
. In 1975, Aukin became an administrator at the Hampstead Theatre
. Three years later he was appointed to the position of Artistic Director
there, a position he held until 1984. He was then appointed Artistic Director of the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester where he premiered Me and My Girl
which went on to win many awards on the West End and Broadway. In 1986 he was appointed Executive Director of the National Theatre which he ran with Richard Eyre
until 1990 when he was head hunted to be Head of Film at Channel 4. He subsequently has produced intermittently in the West End, including Dance of Death
with Ian McKellen
, and Onassis by Martin Sherman
with Robert Lindsay
. In 2002, Aukin produced the 2002 Broadway revival of The Elephant Man
..
, The Madness of King George
, Secrets and Lies
, Shallow Grave
, Four Weddings and a Funeral
, Brassed Off
, and films by Ken Loach
, Peter Greenaway
, Tony Harrison
and many others. In 2005, Aukin was the executive producer of The Government Inspector
, a television drama about the death of David Kelly. The film was described by Rupert Smith in The Guardian
as "...television drama in excelsis, hitting all the right buttons - action, comedy, pathos, satire - as well as having shedloads of righteous political anger...", though Mark Lawson criticised its portrayal of Tony Blair
strumming a guitar while "sending men to their deaths on the telephone". Aukin responded by insisting that the scene had been misinterpreted. The film went on to win the 2005 BAFTA Award
for Best Single Drama. At the 2007 BAFTA awards, two of Aukin's works were nominated: The Trial of Tony Blair
for Best Single Drama and Britz
which won Best Drama Serial.
He also produced or executive produced Endgame, The Promise, The Hamburg Cell, A Very Social Secretary, and Mrs Henderson Presents.
Theatrical producer
A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...
and executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
as well as a qualified solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
. He has been nominated twice for British Academy Television Awards
British Academy Television Awards
The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...
for producing films about Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
: The Government Inspector
The Government Inspector (television drama)
The Government Inspector is a 2005 television drama based on the life of Dr. David Kelly and the lead-up to the Iraq War in the United Kingdom...
in 2005 and The Trial of Tony Blair
The Trial of Tony Blair
The Trial of Tony Blair is a satirical drama, based around the notion that the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair is to face charges of war crimes by an international tribunal, following his departure from 10 Downing Street...
in 2007.
Biography
David Aukin was born in Harrow, LondonHarrow, London
Harrow is an area in the London Borough of Harrow, northwest London, United Kingdom. It is a suburban area and is situated 12.2 miles northwest of Charing Cross...
on 12 February 1942 to parents Charles and Regina Aukin. He attended St Paul's School and St Edmund Hall, Oxford
St Edmund Hall, Oxford
St Edmund Hall is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Better known within the University by its nickname, "Teddy Hall", the college has a claim to being "the oldest academical society for the education of undergraduates in any university"...
. He married Nancy Meckler
Nancy Meckler
Nancy Meckler is an American theatre director and film director, best known for her work in the United Kingdom, especially with Shared Experience, where she is joint artistic director alongside Polly Teale....
.
Theatrical career
David Aukin served as the literary adviser at the Traverse TheatreTraverse Theatre
The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963.The Traverse Theatre commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary playwrights. It also presents a large number of productions from visiting companies from across the UK. These include new plays,...
(1970–73). From 1970 to 1974, he served as Chairman of the Oval House Arts Centre. Along with David Hare
David Hare (playwright)
Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
and Max Stafford-Clark
Max Stafford-Clark
Maxwell Robert Guthrie Stewart Stafford-Clark is an English Theatre Director.-Life and career:He went to school at Felsted and Riverdale Country School in New York City. He has worked as a theatre director since he left Trinity College, Dublin.His directing career began as associate director of...
, Aukin co-founded the Joint Stock Theatre Company
Joint Stock Theatre Company
The Joint Stock Theatre Company was founded in London 1974 by David Hare, Max Stafford-Clark and David Aukin. The director William Gaskill was also an important part of the company. It was primarily a new work company....
in 1974. From 1974 through 1975, Aukin was an administrator with Anvil Productions in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
. In 1975, Aukin became an administrator at the Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...
. Three years later he was appointed to the position of Artistic Director
Artistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...
there, a position he held until 1984. He was then appointed Artistic Director of the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester where he premiered Me and My Girl
Me and My Girl
Me and My Girl is a musical with book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose and music by Noel Gay. It takes place in the late 1930s in Hampshire, Mayfair, and Lambeth....
which went on to win many awards on the West End and Broadway. In 1986 he was appointed Executive Director of the National Theatre which he ran with Richard Eyre
Richard Eyre
Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre CBE is an English director of film, theatre, television, and opera.-Biography:Eyre was educated at Sherborne School, an independent school for boys in the market town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset in south-west England, followed by Peterhouse at the University...
until 1990 when he was head hunted to be Head of Film at Channel 4. He subsequently has produced intermittently in the West End, including Dance of Death
The Dance of Death (play)
The Dance of Death is a play in two parts written by August Strindberg in 1900.-Plot:In Part I, Edgar and his wife Alice live in a granite fortress on a desolate island. Bored and embittered, they torment each other with petty intrigues and well-worn accusations...
with Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE is an English actor. He has received a Tony Award, two Academy Award nominations, and five Emmy Award nominations. His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction...
, and Onassis by Martin Sherman
Martin Sherman
Martin Sherman is an American dramatist and screenwriter, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-nominated play Bent , which explores the persecution of homosexuals during the Holocaust...
with Robert Lindsay
Robert Lindsay
Robert Lindsay may refer to:*Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie , Scottish chronicler*Robert Lindsay , English actor*Robert Lindsay , British Olympic track and field athlete...
. In 2002, Aukin produced the 2002 Broadway revival of The Elephant Man
The Elephant Man (play)
The Elephant Man is a 1977 play by Bernard Pomerance. The production's Broadway debut in 1979 was produced by Richmond Crinkley and Nelle Nugent, and directed by Jack Hofsiss...
..
Film work
From 1990-98 he was Head of Film at Channel 4, during which time he commissioned over 100 feature films including TrainspottingTrainspotting (film)
Trainspotting is a 1996 British satirical/drama film directed by Danny Boyle based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh. The movie follows a group of heroin addicts in a late 1980s economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life...
, The Madness of King George
The Madness of King George
The Madness of King George is a 1994 film directed by Nicholas Hytner and adapted by Alan Bennett from his own play, The Madness of George III. It tells the true story of George III's deteriorating mental health, and his equally declining relationship with his son, the Prince of Wales, particularly...
, Secrets and Lies
Secrets and Lies
Secrets and Lies may refer to:* Secrets & Lies , a 1996 film directed by Mike Leigh* "Secrets and Lies" , a 2007 episode of 30 Rock* Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World, a book by Bruce Schneier...
, Shallow Grave
Shallow Grave
-Track listing:# Leftfield – "Shallow Grave" – 4:38# Simon Boswell – "Shallow Grave Theme" – 3:30# Nina Simone – "My Baby Just Cares for Me" – 3:38# Simon Boswell – "Laugh Riot" – 3:02# Leftfield – "Release the Dubs" – 5:45...
, Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It was the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to feature Hugh Grant...
, Brassed Off
Brassed Off
Brassed Off is a 1996 British film written and directed by Mark Herman. The film, a British-American co-production made between Channel Four Films, Miramax Films and Prominent Films, is about the troubles faced by a colliery brass band, following the closure of their pit...
, and films by Ken Loach
Ken Loach
Kenneth "Ken" Loach is a Palme D'Or winning English film and television director.He is known for his naturalistic, social realist directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as homelessness , labour rights and child abuse at the...
, Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway, CBE is a British film director. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular...
, Tony Harrison
Tony Harrison
Tony Harrison is an English poet and playwright. He is noted for controversial works such as the poem V and Fram, as well as his versions of ancient Greek tragedies, including the Oresteia and Hecuba...
and many others. In 2005, Aukin was the executive producer of The Government Inspector
The Government Inspector (television drama)
The Government Inspector is a 2005 television drama based on the life of Dr. David Kelly and the lead-up to the Iraq War in the United Kingdom...
, a television drama about the death of David Kelly. The film was described by Rupert Smith in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
as "...television drama in excelsis, hitting all the right buttons - action, comedy, pathos, satire - as well as having shedloads of righteous political anger...", though Mark Lawson criticised its portrayal of Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
strumming a guitar while "sending men to their deaths on the telephone". Aukin responded by insisting that the scene had been misinterpreted. The film went on to win the 2005 BAFTA Award
British Academy Television Awards
The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...
for Best Single Drama. At the 2007 BAFTA awards, two of Aukin's works were nominated: The Trial of Tony Blair
The Trial of Tony Blair
The Trial of Tony Blair is a satirical drama, based around the notion that the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair is to face charges of war crimes by an international tribunal, following his departure from 10 Downing Street...
for Best Single Drama and Britz
Britz (TV serial)
Britz is a two-part drama serial written and directed by BAFTA-winning director Peter Kosminsky and first screened by Channel 4 in the UK in October and November 2007....
which won Best Drama Serial.
He also produced or executive produced Endgame, The Promise, The Hamburg Cell, A Very Social Secretary, and Mrs Henderson Presents.