Robert David MacDonald

Robert David MacDonald (27 August 1929 – 19 May 2004), known as David, was a Scottish playwright, translator and theatre director. Early life Robert David MacDonald was born in Elgin, in Morayshire, Scotland on 27 August 1929, the son of a doctor and a tobacco company executive. He attended Wellington School, then read modern history at Magdalen College at Oxford University, and later trained as a conductor at the Royal College of Music and the Munich Conservatory. Career as a director MacDonald spent some years as a translator for UNESCO, where he met German director Erwin Piscator in 1957, leading to his involvement in theatre as a director. His collaboration with Piscator also led to his first significant success, when he translated Piscator's version of War and Peace in 1962. This was televised by Granada Television as well as being performed on Broadway for two years. He became assistant director at Glyndebourne and the Royal Opera at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, before becoming artistic director of Her Majesty's Theatre at Carlisle.