John Russell Brown　has directed plays in England, the USA and around the world; he was an Associate Director of the Royal National Theatre for fifteen years and has chaired the Drama Panel of the Arts Council of Great Britain. He is author of numerous works on Shakespeare and contemporary theatre, including New Sites for Shakespeare (Routledge, 1999) and Shakespeare and the Theatrical Event (2002); 　he is editor of The Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre (1995).