Former Riverside Director David Gothard Awarded CBE

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Hammersmith's soon to open studios congratulate colleague on New Years Honour

 

Hammersmith's Riverside Studios, due to reopen this year, have congratulated their former director and artistic producer David Gothard, who has been awarded a CBE - Commander of the Order of the British Empire - in the 2019 New Year Honours List for Service to Cinema and Drama.

David was artistic producer and director of the Riverside Studios in the eighties after completing a post graduate at the Bela Balasz Studio in Budapest and a trainee directorship at the Royal Court and Traverse Theatres.

Under his leadership, Riverside hosted a huge variety of international productions – including, notably, the work of Polish theatre maestro Tadeusz Kantor, as well as the highly successful Dance Umbrella seasons featuring the work of Rosemary Butcher and Rambert Dance Company. Residencies were offered to architect Will Alsop, the sculptor Bruce McClean, the film-maker Peter Greenaway and the dancer/choreographer Michael Clark.

At Riverside he also initiated the launch of Stephen Frears and Hanif Kureishi’s work My Beautiful Laundrette, which became the founding film of prodution company Working Title. He also produced Kureishi's directorial debut film London Kills Me, and also produced two other films, Altitude in 2005 and more recently, Forgotten Man in 2017.

In recent years David has created writing workshops in Derry, Northern Ireland and repeatedly been invited to adjudicate and teach at the Iowa Playwright's Workshop, where began his pioneer work with Naomi Wallace, W. David Hancock, and other important writers.

After resurrecting the National Theatre of Kosovo immediately after the war, his opening Hamlet toured devastated cities and opened the arts program of the World Aids Conference in South Africa. His portable, suitcase Hamlet with Joseph Fiennes toured Muslim China and Tibet, where they held the first ever workshops in Llasa University.

Most recently he has been working as Artistic Associate for the world famous Abbey Theatre in Dublin, directing projects with the likes of Harold Pinter and Vaclav Havel.

Also offering their congratulations were Polish directors Teresa and Adrzej Welminski, who added: " We are very proud that David Gothard has been our friend for many years."

 

January 4, 2019