AP News, February 15th, 2007
Theater director Steven Pimlott, whose credits ranged from Shakespeare to "Bombay Dreams," has died at the age of 52, his agent said Thursday. Pimlott, who had been suffering from lung cancer, died Wednesday at his home near Colchester, east of London, said the agent, Harriet Cruickshank.
Educated at Cambridge University, Pimlott began his career with the English National Opera and Opera North before becoming an associate director of the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1996 and 2002.
He also directed West End musicals, including "Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at the London Palladium, and "Bombay Dreams" in London and on Broadway.
For three seasons between 2002 and 2005, he was artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre in southern England.
Last month, Pimlott was named an OBE _ Officer of the Order of the British Empire _ by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama.
Until days before his death, PImlott had been working on a production of Tennessee Williams' "The Rose Tattoo" that is due to open at the National Theatre in London next month.
His friend Nicholas Hytner, the National's artistic director, will take over the show.
Hytner said Pimlott "had the greatest appetite for life of anyone I've ever known."
Michael Boyd, artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, said Pimlott was "inspirational, challenging, enormously entertaining and a good friend."
"His style ranged from extravagant flamboyance, to high European elegance, to stripped-down purity," Boyd said. "His storytelling was always blazingly clear, intelligent and human."
Pimlott is survived by his wife, opera singer Daniela Bechly, and three children. Funeral arrangements were not immediately available.
