Peter Gill (playwright)
Overview
 
Peter Gill, theatre director, playwright and former actor, was born in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, on 7 September 1939, son of George John Gill and his wife Margaret Mary (Browne).

He was educated at St Illtyd's College, Cardiff.
An actor from 1957–1965, he directed his first production without décor, at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...

 in August 1965, A Collier's Friday Night by D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...

. Having begun his career as an actor, he is now best known for his work as a director and playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

.
In 1964 be became Assistant Director at the Royal Court and Associate Director in 1970, best known there as the director of three hitherto underrated plays by D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...

, presented as a group in 1968.
Quotations

When I read something saying I've not done anything as good as Catch-22 I'm tempted to reply, "Who has?"

As quoted in The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Quotations (1997) edited by Peter Kemp, p. 303

It was love at first sight. The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain he fell madly in love with him.

Opening Lines

The Texan turned out to be good-natured, generous and likeable. In three days no one could stand him.

"Open your eyes, Clevinger. It doesn't make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead."

Clevinger was dead. That was the basic flaw in his philosophy.

"The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on."

He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt, and his only mission each time he went up was to come down alive.

 
x
OK