Early life and education Mary Ann Goodbody was born in
Marylebone, London, on 25 June 1946. She was raised in
St John's Wood and
Hampstead, and gained her nickname as a toddler as a consequence of her very active and curious inclinations. Her father was a barrister who spent a considerable amount of time in Africa and the Far East, with the result that Goodbody and her brother were largely brought up by their mother and nanny. A member of the
Communist Party of Great Britain from the age of 15, according to her brother, she was very much against applying for a place at Oxford or Cambridge. Acting in university student productions was frustrating for her. She once noted "All the best roles" – those she found interesting such as the lead in
Henry V – "are written for blokes"; this was the catalyst that led her towards directing plays as a career. While at Sussex, where the main component of her degree was English Literature, she adapted and staged
Dostoyevsky's novella
Notes from Underground as part of her honours thesis. This production won an award at the
National Student Drama Festival, and was staged briefly at the
Garrick Theatre in the
West End.
The Sunday Times contributor
Hunter Davies recalled interviewing Goodbody in 1966. He "found her so fascinating, remarkable, outspoken, opinionated – someone who seemed to sum up the spirit of our new universities, if not the 1960s – that [he] decided to put her in a [never-completed] book". In September 1967, she married Edward Buscombe, a University of Sussex film student; the marriage ended in divorce in 1971.
Royal Shakespeare Company Goodbody first joined the
Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 1967 as director
John Barton's personal assistant, after he had been impressed by a London performance of
Notes from Underground. which included her productions in
Stratford of
King John, which was also seen at the
Roundhouse in London, and the Elizabethan play
Arden of Faversham, now attributed in part to Shakespeare, in 1970. According to Colin Chambers the production of the rarely performed
King John was "much maligned but hugely entertaining". She was the first female director to work for the RSC. A feminist involved in the Women's Movement, Goodbody was a founding member of the Women's Street Theatre Group in 1970, along with another theatre director, Lily Susan Todd.
Michèle Roberts, later a novelist, was also involved. The group was committed to "telling people who don’t know’" about the movement's agenda performing in locations like markets and shopping malls. Goodbody and others from the group were arrested in London during the
Festival of Light in 1971. Goodbody directed
Trevor Griffiths'
Occupations in 1971 at
The Place, a venue off the Euston Road in London then being used by the RSC. Goodbody though was accused by some on the Left of "romantic idolisation" of the Italian Communist
Antonio Gramsci (played by
Ben Kingsley), a central character in the work. In November 1971, her production of a documentary play,
The Oz Trial, was first performed. It was derived by David Illingworth from the transcripts of the more than six-month-long obscenity trial of the three editors of
Oz magazine. In staging the play, it was claimed by commentators that the RSC had gone beyond what a publicly funded body should do. Goodbody, described by one pundit as "a young and militant lady director", firmly believed that the RSC should be involved in responding to current events. Her 1973
modern dress production of
As You Like It was criticised at the time for seeming to be without any distinction between the court and the countryside. She observed of the play: "Hardly anyone seems to do any work: the shepherds and shepherdesses ... are not really country people. I see them as art college students — drop-outs who live in the country and have mummies and daddies in town with large incomes". It was a feminist interpretation, with
Eileen Atkins in the lead as Rosalind, and
Richard Pasco as Jacques. It was a popular production with audiences.
The Other Place Goodbody played an instrumental role in establishing the RSC's studio theatre
The Other Place. In 1973, she worked with
Trevor Nunn on his season of Shakespeare's Roman plays. In December, she sent a memo to Nunn, then the RSC's artistic director, arguing for a "studio/second auditorium" aimed at the local population who she thought were "notoriously hostile to us". The proposal was accepted and in the following year she became an associate director, in charge of
The Other Place. Of the actors in her production, the reviewer Peter Thomson was of the opinion that, "they meant what they said" and Goodbody had "coaxed the play into their hands and they respected it". Her production of
King Lear ran in New York to a positive reviews.
Death and legacy Goodbody died by suicide at her home in
Islington on 12 April 1975, aged 28, shortly after her production of
Hamlet had opened. The
National Student Drama Festival named a directorial award in her honour.
Pam Gems created the character of "Fish" in
Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi in memory of Goodbody. ==References==