Biography

Robert Cushman

Robert Cushman was born in London and educated at Latymer Upper School, West London and Clare College, Cambridge. He went from there to the BBC where he worked in radio drama, TV arts programs, and for the World Service. He then directed in the London and regional theatre, and was theatre critic of The Observer from 1973 to 1984.

He moved to Canada in 1987, and was theatre critic of the National Post from its inception in 1999 until 2017. He has written extensively for other British and Canadian newspapers and magazines, and for the New York Times. He has continued to work in the theatre as an author, director and even as performer; the musical Look to the Rainbow, which he devised and directed, was produced in the West End in 1985. He was director of corporate communications for Livent Inc. in 1998-99.

He has also been a prolific broadcaster, especially on musical theatre and American popular song; popular series include Book, Music and Lyrics (BBC) and Songbook (CBC). His book Fifty Seasons at Stratford, a history of the Stratford Festival, was published in 2002; and he is a record eight-time winner of the Nathan Cohen Award for Excellence in Theatre Criticism.

He is married, with three children, and lives in Toronto.