İKSV theater award goes to British director Hall

ISTANBUL

The final honorary award of the 19th Istanbul Theater Festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), was presented to British director Edward Hall over the weekend.

As part of celebrations marking the 450th anniversary of the passing of William Shakespeare, the festival hosted Hall and the Propeller Theater Company, of which he is the artistic director, for two plays, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “The Comedy of Errors.”

The award was presented to Hall by Istanbul Theater Festival Director Leman Yılmaz in the end of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on May 23 at the Muhsin Ertuğrul Stage.  The son of Peter Hall, one of the founders of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Hall has directed plays in many theaters around the world, such as the Boston Huntington Theater, the Barbican, the National Theater and the Old Vic Theater.

He was also the guest of the 13rd Istanbul Theater Festival in 2002. His American production of “Rose Rage,” which he directed for the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 2003, later moved to Duke’s Theater in New York in September 2004, where it won four Jeff Awards including ones for best play, best director and best ensemble cast. Hall is also an associate at the National Theater, the Old Vic and the Watermill Theater, as well as artistic director at the Propeller Theater Company.