Iain Mackintosh

Iain Mackintosh (born 1937) is a British practitioner of theatre combining four interwoven careers as theatre producer, theatre space designer, curator of theatre painting and architecture exhibitions, and author and lecturer on both modern and eighteenth century theatre. He has campaigned for the retention and restoration of historic theatres as working homes for live performance.

Iain Mackintosh was born in Bristol, England, in 1937, and brought up in Bristol, Cornwall and Edinburgh, Scotland where his father was Headmaster of Loretto School near Edinburgh from 1945 to 1960. Two years National Service, mostly as a Naval Gunfire Support Officer in the Hong Kong garrison, was followed by three years at Worcester College, Oxford. He graduated in Politics, Philosophy and Economics in 1960 and immediately became Resident Stage Manager (Technical Director) at the Oxford Playhouse (refer Oxford Playhouse theatre programmes 1960 to 1963). In 1961 he co-founded of the Prospect Theatre Company with Elizabeth Sweeting, Manager of the Playhouse. They bought for a nominal sum the limited company Prospect Productions Ltd. from lawyer Laurence G Harbottle (1924–2015). Harbottle had earlier created Prospect for a single summer season at Deal, Kent. He had done this to gain theatre experience before becoming the most distinguished entertainment lawyer of his generation and, later, Chairman of Prospect in its heyday. Mackintosh joined Theatre Projects Consultants in 1973 as a designer of theatre space and in collaboration with many architects in the UK, USA, and Canada, and with colleagues at Theatre Projects, designed many significant theatre spaces. From 1975 he curated or contributed to several exhibitions of theatre paintings and architecture. He has campaigned for the retention and return to working life of many historic theatres.

In 1962 Sweeting and Mackintosh were joined on the board of Prospect by Richard Cottrell, who was Associate Director from 1964 to 1969, and by Toby Robertson, who became Artistic Director in 1964, following his production of The Provok’d Wife with Eileen Atkins. The Provok’d Wife opened at the 350 seat mobile Century Theatre which was parked by Mackintosh in an idyllic setting beside the Thames for the summer of 1963 while the Oxford Playhouse was closed for remodelling. The production was the first show for over a century at the 1788 Georgian Theatre Royal Richmond, Yorkshire. After Richmond The Provok’d Wife transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre London. Robertson, Cottrell and Mackintosh based Prospect in Cambridge from 1964 and in London from 1966. Between 1963 and 1976 Prospect toured 75 productions to 125 theatres in 21 countries. In 1973 Mackintosh resigned as Administrative Director but remained on the Prospect board. In these first twelve years eight productions were presented at the Edinburgh International Festival, including the Lila Kedrova Cherry Orchard (1967) and Ian McKellen’s double presentation of Edward II and Richard II (1968–70). These and many other Prospect productions, such as Timothy West's King Lear (1972/73), transferred to successful seasons in London West End theatres. Three productions were televised. In 1961 Mackintosh designed settings and costumes for two special productions at the Oxford Playhouse: the Oxford University Opera production of Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw (only the second production anywhere of this opera), and Prospect’s first production, the premiere of Whiteman by Michael Picardie with Brian Blessed and Prunella Scales (refer Note 1). This stage design experience was to feed back into his later career.

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