My husband, Chris Honer, who has died aged 73 of cancer, was artistic director of the Library Theatre Company (LTC) in Manchester for 27 years, from 1987 to 2014. While at LTC his many acclaimed productions included The Merchant of Venice, The Life of Galileo, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me and Waiting for Godot, all of which won Best Production in the Manchester Theatre Awards. He was also noted for his memorable Brecht productions.
Under Chris’s leadership LTC produced 14 shows a year, including, in his early years, some at the Forum theatre in Wythenshawe. Right from the start he placed an emphasis on reaching out to communities with limited access to the arts and on fostering new talent.
Chris was an only child, born in Chingford, Essex, and brought up in Croydon, south London, where his parents, Douglas and Margaret (nee Keslake), were school teachers. He attended the local Whitgift school, where he discovered not only a love of the theatre and literature, but a passion for birdwatching. He went on to study English language and literature at Lincoln College, Oxford, and the two of us met at an Oxford University Dramatic Society production of Hamlet, on which he was student director. We married in 1972, divorced in the mid-1990s, and remarried in 2012.
Chris started his directing career under the repertory theatre trainee director scheme at the Belgrade theatre in Coventry, going on to be the first director of the Studio theatre at Birmingham Rep before becoming artistic director at the Gateway theatre in Chester and then at the Derby Playhouse. His productions in those earlier years included the premieres of Anthony Minghella’s Love Bites, Stephen Bill’s Over the Bar, and David Edgar’s O Fair Jerusalem and Death Story.
In 2012 the refurbishment by Manchester city council of the Central Library led to the closure of the theatre space. After that, Chris oversaw the merging of the theatre company with the Cornerhouse cinema and arts centre, to form the multicultural venue HOME. During the transition he continued to direct shows for the company, including an outstanding production of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia at the Lowry and an extraordinary site-specific production of Hard Times at Murray’s Mill.
Chris stepped down from his role as artistic director of LTC just before HOME opened in 2015, but continued to work as a freelance, directing productions at Oldham Coliseum, Manchester School of Theatre and Theatre by the Lake. He also served as accreditation panel chair for the National Council for Drama Training, chaired the Drama Centre Advisory Council and was an examiner for the Trinity College London examination board.
Chris was given a special achievement award at the Theatre Awards in 2014 for his contribution to theatre in Manchester.
He is survived by me, our sons, Tom and Nick, and our grandson, Robin.
