Michael Blakemore arrived in the UK from Australia in 1950 and his first fifteen years in the theatre were spent as an actor. During this period he wrote his novel about an actor's life, Next Season. He began directing at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre and his first London success, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, transferred from there. Laurence Olivier then asked him to become an Associate Director of the National Theatre. His work has embraced new plays by dramatists as diverse as Arthur Miller, David Hare, Peter Schaffer, Don DeLillo, David Mamet and David Williamson. He directed four of Peter Nichols' early successes, and the premieres of seven plays by Michael Frayn. His most recent productions are Democracy and Three Sisters.