12 Facts About Buzz Goodbody

Mary Ann "Buzz" Goodbody was an English theatre director.

Buzz Goodbody's father was a barrister who spent a considerable amount of time in Africa and the Far East, with the result that Goodbody and her brother were largely brought up by their mother and nanny.

Buzz Goodbody was educated at Roedean and the newly founded Sussex University.

Buzz Goodbody first joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967 as director John Barton's personal assistant, after he had been impressed by a London performance of Notes from Underground.

Some tasks Barton initially gave her suggested that the appointment was not quite as positive as it seemed, but Buzz Goodbody reassured herself that it was at least a foot in the door at the RSC.

Buzz Goodbody became involved in Theatregoround, a project to develop smaller-scale productions of Shakespeare, which included her productions in Stratford of King John, which was seen at the Roundhouse in London, and the Elizabethan play Arden of Faversham, now attributed in part to Shakespeare, in 1970.

Buzz Goodbody was the first female director to work for the RSC.

Buzz Goodbody directed Trevor Griffiths' Occupations in 1971 at The Place, a venue off the Euston Road in London then being used by the RSC.

Buzz Goodbody though was accused by some on the Left of "romantic idolisation" of the Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci, a central character in the work.

Buzz Goodbody, described by one pundit as "a young and militant lady director", firmly believed that the RSC should be involved in responding to current events.

Buzz Goodbody played an instrumental role in establishing the RSC's studio theatre The Other Place.

Buzz Goodbody died by suicide in April 1975, shortly after her production of Hamlet had opened.