Born in Edinburgh, he attended the John Hampden High School, High Wycombe and graduated in law at the University of Bristol in 1984.
His career began in the theatre, directing 'In Nomine Patris' by Paula Maggee which won a Scotsman Fringe First Award at the 1985 Edinburgh Festival and transferred to the Kings Head Theatre, London. He subsequently trained as an assistant director at Riverside Studios under David Gothard running a writer's group with Hanif Kureishi and directing new work by Stephen Lowe, Tunde Ikoli and Dario Fo, assisting on productions with Paines Plough, Foco Novo, the Royal National Theatre and the Theatre of Comedy Company.
Appointed Assistant Director at the Royal Court in 1986 under Max Stafford Clark, he assisted Sir Richard Eyre on Alan Bennett's 'Kafka's Dick', Jonathan Miller on Ryszard Kapuściński's 'The Emperor' and Danny Boyle on Howard Barker's 'Bite of the Night'.
He directed Berkoff's 'East' and the first stage production of Anthony Burgess' 'Clockwork Orange' at Edinburgh Festival, 'Requiem' with the dancer Gaby Agis at Leicester Haymarket, 'Milkwood Blues' with Allan Corduner at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, Jean-Claude van Itallie's 'The Traveller' with David Threlfall at the Almeida Theatre and Heidi Thomas' 'Indigo' with Dougray Scott also at the Almeida. Other theatre credits include 'Crimes of Passion' at Leicester Haymarket, 'Water Music' at the Soho Theatre and 'Jitterbugger' at the Royal National Theatre Studio.
