Early life Dunlop was born in
Leeds, England, on 15 February 1927, to Charles Norman Dunlop and Mary Aarons. He was educated at
Beauchamp College, read English at
University College London where he was a lifelong Fellow, and studied with
Michel Saint-Denis at the
Old Vic theatre school in London.
Career Dunlop founded and directed his own young theatre company,
The Piccolo Theatre in Manchester (1954), and directed
The Enchanted at the
Bristol Old Vic in 1955 where, a year later, he became its resident director, writing and staging
Les Frere Jacques. He made his West End debut at the
Adelphi Theatre in 1960 with a production of ''The Bishop's Bonfire''. He took over the helm at the
Nottingham Playhouse from 1961–1964, including the inaugural season of the newly built theatre in 1963, and then directed several plays in London, Oklahoma and Edinburgh. In 1966 he founded
The Pop Theatre Company at the
Edinburgh Festival, with productions of ''The Winter's Tale
(also seen in Venice and London) and The Trojan Women''. Dunlop also produced the theatrical production of
Oblomov, based on the novel by Russian writer
Ivan Goncharov. The play opened at London's
Lyric Theatre on 6 October 1964, and starred
Spike Milligan as Oblomov, and
Joan Greenwood as his wife Olga. The play ran for a record-breaking five weeks at the Lyric, before being retitled
Son of Oblomov and moved to the Comedy Theatre in London's West End, with Dunlop once again the producer.
The National and The Young Vic In 1967, he joined the
National Theatre as Associate Director, and worked as Administrative Director from 1968 to 1971, where he directed
Home and Beauty (1968)
The White Devil (1969) and
The Captain of Köpenick starring
Paul Scofield (1971). While at the National, then located at the Old Vic, he took a crucial career step with the creation of
The Young Vic in 1969. His productions for them included
The Taming of the Shrew (1970);
The Comedy of Errors (1971); Genet's
The Maids,
Deathwatch and
The Alchemist (1972); an acclaimed revival of Rattigan's
French Without Tears, and his own play
Scapino (1974); and
Macbeth (1975). The original,
high camp production of
Bible One:
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, starring
Gary Bond, was created by him with the Young Vic company at the Edinburgh Festival in 1972, and transferred to the Round House in November 1972.
London and New York During the 1970s Dunlop divided his time between London and New York, continuing to oversee the Young Vic while concurrently directing the Brooklyn Academy of Music Theater Company from 1976 to 1978. For the RSC in 1974 he directed a revival of
William Gillette's
Sherlock Holmes, starring
John Wood, at the
Aldwych Theatre in London, which then enjoyed a long run in New York; where he again directed
Scapino, starring
Jim Dale, also seen in Los Angeles, Australia and Norway. Dunlop's other New York successes included
Habeas Corpus (1975) and
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1978), During this period he founded and for two years ran the
BAM Theatre Company, directing for them
The New York Idea,
Three Sisters, ''
The Devil's Disciple, The Play's the Thing and Julius Caesar''. Back in England he directed
Antony and Cleopatra starring iconic French actress
Delphine Seyrig as Cleopatra for the Young Vic Theater (1976),
Rookery Nook for the
Birmingham Rep and the
Theatre Royal Haymarket (1979), and returning to New York the following year he directed
Camelot starring
Richard Burton.
Edinburgh Dunlop was director of the
Edinburgh International Festival for eight years from 1984−1991. He inherited a deficit of £175,000, and said that he would not have taken on the job had he known about it. He had a difficult relationship with
Edinburgh District Council, whose radical
Labour administration railed against the Festival's "ingrained elitism". Dunlop made improvements to the representation of
Scottish drama in the Festival programme. He revived
Sir David Lyndsay's
Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis,
Sydney Goodsir Smith's
The Wallace, and
James Bridie's
Holy Isle. He also directed
Friedrich Schiller's
Maria Stuart and a dramatisation of
Robert Louis Stevenson's
Treasure Island. Dunlop received an Honorary Doctorate from
Heriot-Watt University in 1989.
Later career In 2001, Dunlop directed the world premiere of Ed Dixon's
Scenery at Guild Hall, starring Emmy and Obie winner Marilyn Sokol and two-time Tony nominee Clive Revill. The production was produced by Steven Sendor. He has staged opera, including
Carmen at the
Royal Albert Hall, and in the summer of 2004 Jim Dale and William Atherton starred in the premiere of his adaptation of
Kathrine Kressman Taylor's short
epistolary novel Address Unknown at the Promenade Theatre on Broadway, again working with Steven Sendor as his producer. In 2007 Dunlop directed longtime friend
Rosemary Harris in
Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt's one-act play
Oscar and the Pink Lady at San Diego's
Old Globe Theatre.
National Life Stories conducted an interview (C1173/20) with Dunlop on his memories of Richard Negri in 2007 for its An Oral History of Theatre Design collection held by the British Library. Dunlop was appointed
CBE in 1977 and received the
Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Literature presented to him by the French government in 1987. ==Death==