[3] Her father was a barrister who spent a considerable amount of time in Africa and the Far East, with the result that Goodbody and her brother were largely brought up by their mother and nanny.
She once noted "All the best roles" – those she found interesting such as the lead in Henry V – "are written for blokes"; this was the catalyst that led her towards directing plays as a career.
[7] While at Sussex, where the main component of her degree was English Literature, she adapted and staged Dostoyevsky's novella Notes from Underground as part of her honours thesis.
[8] This production won an award at the National Student Drama Festival, and was staged briefly at the Garrick Theatre in the West End.
[10][11] Goodbody first joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 1967 as director John Barton's personal assistant, after he had been impressed by a London performance of Notes from Underground.
[8] Some tasks Barton initially gave her suggested that the appointment was not quite as positive as it seemed, but Goodbody reassured herself that it was at least a foot in the door at the RSC.
Goodbody though was accused by some on the Left of "romantic idolisation" of the Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci (played by Ben Kingsley), a central character in the work.
Goodbody, described by one pundit as "a young and militant lady director", firmly believed that the RSC should be involved in responding to current events.
In December, she sent a memo to Nunn, then the RSC's artistic director, arguing for a "studio/second auditorium" aimed at the local population who she thought were "notoriously hostile to us".
Of the latter, The Times theatre critic Irving Wardle wrote: "an astounding revelation of the most excavated play in the world, ranking with Peter Brook's A Midsummer Night's Dream as the key classical production of the decade".