My uncle, Donald Sartain, who has died aged 92, was the first administrative director of the Young Vic, one of a remarkable team that Frank Dunlop gathered around him when he started the company in 1970. The Young Vic was originally an offshoot of Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre company based at the Old Vic.
Donald was born in Birmingham, one of three children of Nita (nee Abbot) and Thomas Sartain. He went to King Edward’s school in Edgbaston, then Birmingham University, followed by national service in the RAF. Excited by the exceptional work he saw at Barry Jackson’s Birmingham repertory theatre, he answered an ad in the Stage newspaper for an assistant stage manager with Tonbridge weekly repertory company in 1955.
