John Burrell (theatre director) John Burrell (theatre director) John Percy Burrell (6 May 1910–28 September 1972) was an English theatre director. John Burrell was educated at Shrewsbury School in Shropshire, England and he led a successful theatre career afterwards. He was appointed as a co-director of the Old Vic Theatre in London, England, with Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson in 1948. He later moved to the USA and worked on Broadway, New York. "He was a founder of the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre and Academy at Stratford, Connecticut, where he also taught acting, and which opened its first season in July 1955. He was
New Vic Theatre and this shortened name was formally adopted later. Whereas the old theatre had a seating capacity of 389, the main auditorium in the new theatre has a capacity of just over 600, with the audience surrounding a central stage as before. The acoustics for music are good and the Lindsay String Quartet performed there regularly, as they had done at the old theatre. The theatre continues to keep close to its Potteries roots. One of the plays in its re-opening season was by local playwright Arthur Berry. In 1998 Peter Cheeseman retired as Artistic Director, and was succeeded by Gwenda