Former artistic director Sir Gregory Doran talks about what he’s been up to, including his first directorial gig since leaving the RSC.

After 35 years with the RSC as actor, director then artistic director, many will be surprised to hear that Sir Gregory Doran’s first directing gig since leaving is at the helm of a student production. He tells Gill Sutherland about his production of Two Gentlemen of Verona which is on at the Oxford Playhouse until Saturday.

Lots of people in Stratford will be surprised that your first directing gig post RSC, is a student production. Tell us about that.

Well, I am doing the Cameron Macintosh visiting professorship. The timing has been perfect, it just fits completely in with my life at the moment.I think I’m the the 29th visiting professor [the likes of Stephen Sondheim, Adjoa Andoh and Arthur Miller have previously held the position]and nobody's actually ever directed a show before. I didn’t want to give lectures and pontificate. So I thought the best thing I could do in terms of legacy would be to direct a production. And The Two Gentlemen of Verona is the only one of the Folio plays I have left to direct.

How does it lend itself to a student production?

I can’t think of a better play to do because Two Gents is about young people leaving home for the first time, sort of making their way in the world, finding out who they are, falling in love, making horrible mistakes. Well, that describes my first year at university! [Greg left his hometown of Preston to study at Bristol… in the play the characters leave Verona for Milan.]