Background
John Gaden was born in Sydney where his father owned a successful legal practice, Gadens.
John Gaden was born in Sydney where his father owned a successful legal practice, Gadens.
He attended Cranbrook School, Sydney, where he performed in various school plays. After school he studied arts and law at the University of Sydney.
After appearing with the Sydney University Dramatic Society, he decided to pursue a theatrical career in lieu of a legal one. His professional career started in the early 1960s. In 1970 he appeared in a production of Hadrian the Seventh in Perth, directed by Sir Tyrone Guthrie, and with fellow actors Arthur Dignam and Judy Nunn.
Guthrie was impressed enough with Gaden to recommend him to Robin Lovejoy, who cast him in a production of The Crucible, which resulted in a positive review from The Sydney Morning Herald"s theatre critic Harry Kippax, which in turn led to a three-year contract with the Old Tote Theatre Company (the precursor of the Sydney Theatre Company).
He performed many roles with Sydney"s Nimrod Theatre Company in the 1970s. From 1986 to 1989 he was artistic director of the State Theatre Company of South Australia, based in Adelaide.
In Adelaide he co-directed various productions with Gale Edwards. He has also appeared with the Belvoir Street Theatre and the Queensland Theatre Company.
He lives alone. King Lear (William Shakespeare.
1967, 1988, 2009. In 1988, his Fool was Geoffrey Rush) Big Toys (Patrick White. 1977, Old Tote) Signal Driver (Patrick White.
1985) Cloudstreet (Tim Winton.
1998) The Unexpected Manitoba (2000) Copenhagen (Michael Frayn. 2002; Michael Blakemore"s production) Tiresias in The Lost Echo (2006. Barrie Kosky"s production) Number Manitoba"s Land (Harold Pinter.
2011, for Queensland Theatre Company and Society for Technical Communication) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Tom Stoppard.
2013) The War of the Roses (Society for Technical Communication, with Cate Blanchett) The Trial (Franz Kafka) The Wild Duck (Henrik Ibsen) The Seagull (Anton Chekhov) Kold Komfort Kaffee (with Robyn Archer) Pericles and Henry IV (Shakespeare. Foreign Bell Shakespeare).