Stephen Unwin, born in 1960, received his education at Cambridge University. Since then he has directed numerous plays and operas, and was the assistant director at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh until 1988. Soon after, he started the English Touring Theatre and directed there until 2008, when he received the honorable position of second director at the Rose Theatre. Unwin won the Sam Wanamaker Award in 2003 alongside Barrie Rutter, and that same year was a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University.