Background
Boyd was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and educated at Latymer Upper School in London, Daniel Stewart"s College, Edinburgh, and at the University of Edinburgh where he gained an Master of Arts
Boyd was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and educated at Latymer Upper School in London, Daniel Stewart"s College, Edinburgh, and at the University of Edinburgh where he gained an Master of Arts
University of Edinburgh.
In English Literature and performed with the Edinburgh University Drama Society. Boyd trained as a director at the Malaya Bronnaya Theatre in Moscow, and in 1979 took up his first post as a trainee director at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, graduating to Assistant Director a year later. and The Guid Sisters. During this time he was also Drama Director of the New Beginnings Festival of Soviet Arts in Glasgow in 1999, and directed Mission Julie in the Frank McGuinness version at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in February 2000.
Taking over from Adrian Noble in 2003, Boyd assumed control of the Royal Society of Chemistry , burdened with a deficit of £2.8m, with a remit to turn its fortunes around.
He ran a year-long Complete Works of Shakespeare Festival (begun in April 2006 and involving other companies as well as the Royal Society of Chemistry ) and a London season at the Novello Theatre. In 2007, he launched the long-awaited redevelopment of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
This included construction of the temporary Courtyard Theatre to provide a Stratford venue while work was in progress. lieutenant was designed to house The Histories cycle, before its transfer to the Roundhouse in London in 2008.
Boyd has regularly collaborated with stage designer Tom Piper since they first worked together on a pantomime for the Tron Theatre in Glasgow.
He was knighted in the 2012 Birthday for services to drama and was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in March 2016.