- Jasper Britton
Infobox actor
name = Jasper Britton
caption = Jasper Britton as Petruchio
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birthdate = birth date and age|1962|12|11
birthplace =London ,England ,United Kingdom
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occupation =Actor
yearsactive = 1989-present
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parents =Tony Britton Eva Castle Britton
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awards =Jasper Britton, born
December 11 ,1962 in Chelsea,England is a classical stageactor .Son of veteran actor
Tony Britton , his mother is Danish sculptor and member of the World War II Danish Resistance Eva Castle Britton (nee Skytte Birkefeldt). His sisters are television presenterFern Britton and scriptwriter Cherry Britton.Background
Britton attended Belmont Prep and
Mill Hill School , where he achieved a grade 'U' in Maths O'Level, but where also, bored during a history lesson, he turned over the paper on which he was doodling to discover it was a script of his father's, started to read it, and began a long love affair with the theatre.Career
tage
Britton worked for six years as an
assistant stage manager andsound operator until 1989 when, while working forJonathan Miller at theOld Vic , he forced his way into Miller's office and refused to leave until Miller agreed to let him audition for "King Lear ". His King of France toEric Porter 's Lear was the first of many parts.Early plays included "
The Visit " withTheatre de Complicite at theRoyal National Theatre , "The Cherry Orchard ", "Macbeth " and "A Flea in her Ear" atNottingham Playhouse . A season at theRoyal Shakespeare Company included "A Jovial Crew " for Max Stafford-Clarke, "Tamburlaine " forTerry Hands and "The Beggar's Opera " and "Anthony and Cleopatra " for John Caird. There followed the Dauphin in "St Joan" at the Strand Theatre and an award winning performance as Rupert in "Rope" at Salisbury Theatre.It was playing the title role in Brian Cox's 1995 "Richard III" and opening to rave reviews that Britton emerged as one of the prominent actors of his generation. He next returned to the Old Vic, this time as the lead role in "Blood Wedding", the first in a series of romantic leads, followed by
Rupert Goold 's adaptation of "End of the Affair",Jonathan Church 's "Romeo and Juliet ", andBill Bryden 's "Three Sisters".He was part of
Trevor Nunn 's ensemble company at the National Theatre in 1999, revealing a more playful side as an irreverant character actor in the eccentric repertoire of Thersites in "Troilus and Cressida ", Ryumin inMaxim Gorky 's "Summerfolk", Smooth in "Money" directed byJohn Caird and revealing a strong singing voice as The Cat in "Honk! ".A season at the
Globe Theatre forMark Rylance followed, playing Palamon in "The Two Noble Kinsmen ", the title role in "Macbeth", and in "The Tempest " a Caliban that has passed into Globe legend, a muddy loveable monster who stole props to hide in his underpants, and who spat fish-heads at the audience.After
Simon Gray 's "Japes" for Peter Hall at theHaymarket Theatre andAlan Ayckbourn 's "Bedroom Farce" at theAldwych Theatre came Britton's performance as Petruchio in "The Taming of the Shrew " and "The Tamer Tamed " for Greg Doran at the Royal Shakespeare Company, which was the hit of the season and transferred to theQueen's Theatre in London and the Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C. for award-winning sell-out runs.Most recent stage credits are Henry II in "
Becket " at the Haymarket Theatre for John Caird, "Hedda Gabler " for Matthew Lloyd, Satan in "Paradise Lost " for Rupert Goold and Adolf in "The Father" for Angus Jackson.He has recently appeared in Dominic Cooke's "Rhinoceros" at the
Royal Court Theatre , asJohn Gielgud in the Evening Standard criticNicholas de Jongh 's first play "A Plague Over England", and as Nansen inTony Harrison 's "Fram" at theRoyal National Theatre .Film
Britton played the Court Laureate in
Terrence Malick 's "The New World " alongsideColin Farrell ,Jonathan Pryce andChristian Bale , and pirate William Howard in "Blackbeard" withMark Umbers andStacey Keach . He starred alongside Oliver Dimsdale andHeathcote Williams in "Nostradamus", and most recently donned bells and hankies to play Will Frosser, the foreman of the Millsham Morris Side in the forthcoming feature film, "Morris: A Life with Bells On", which also featuresDerek Jacobi ,Harriet Walter ,Greg Wise ,Sophie Thompson andDominique Pinon .Television
Britton's television credits include two series of "
My Dad's the Prime Minister ", and "Brief Encounters: Semi-Detached" for the BBC, as well as "".ources
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0110192/ imdb profile]
* [http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/news/display/cm/contentId/78748 interview]
* [http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/stratfordians/stbrija.htm RSC profile]
* [http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/stratfordians/stbrija.htm Morris film]
* [http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whatson01.asp?play=478 Royal Court]
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