Peter Gill, the playwright and director whose work drew extraordinary drama from ordinary working-class lives, has died on Monday at the age of 86. Tributes have described his contribution to British theatre as "quietly seismic", noting the rare emotional delicacy of his writing and his decades-long influence as a director at institutions including the Royal Court and the National Theatre.

Gill began as an actor at the Royal Court in 1958 before moving into directing under George Devine, going on to stage around 100 productions, including works by DH Lawrence, Chekhov, Pinter and Shaw. He became the first artistic director of Riverside Studios in 1976 and later an associate director at the National Theatre from 1980 to 1997, where he founded the National Theatre Studio in 1984. As a playwright, his plays such as The Sleepers Den, Small Change and The York Realist repeatedly returned to the working-class Catholic Wales of his childhood, often exploring male relationships.