B < > Baal Babies Grow Old Back to Methuselah Bad Weather George Baker Sean Baker The Balcony Bandits Teresa Banham Barbarians Frances Barber The Barbican Howard Barker Peter Barnes Desmond Barrit Bartholomew Fair John Barton Linda Bassett Bastard Angel Alan Bates Simon Russell Beale Sean Bean The Beast Maureen Beattie Francis Beaumont Beauty and the Beast The Beaux' Stratagem Becket Samuel Beckett Beckett Shorts The Beggar's Opera Brendan Behan Katy Behean Aphra Behn Belcher's Luck Believe What You Will Christopher Benjamin Paul Bentall John Berger Sarah Berger Cicely Berry Suzanne Bertish Kirsty Besterman Paul Bettany The Bewitched Bingo Birdsong The Birthday Party The Bite of the Night Colin Blakely Claudie Blakley Marjorie Bland Brian Blessed The Blue Angel The Body Michael Bogdanov Robert Bolt Edward Bond Samantha Bond Ken Bones Hugh Bonneville Laurence Boswell John Bott Dion Boucicault John Bowe Raymond Bowers Robert Bowman Stephen Boxer Michael Boyd Danny Boyle David Bradley John Bradley Cathryn Bradshaw Kenneth Branagh Brand Breaking the Silence Bertolt Brecht Howard Brenton David Brierley The Bright and Bold Design Stephen Brimson Lewis Jasper Britton Brixton Stories Jim Broadbent The Broken Heart Richard Brome Peter Brook Siân Brooke Brooklyn Academy of Music Bille Brown Susan Brown Brenda Bruce Emily Bruni Giordano Bruno Robert Bryan Georg Büchner Mikhail Afanaseyev Bulgakov Edward Bulwer-Lytton The Bundle Anthony Burgess Alfred Burke Alan Burrett John Bury Judy Buxton Patsy Byrne Lord Byron		Jasper Britton Jasper Britton grew up around actors (his father is Tony Britton) and knew from an early age that he wanted to act himself. His initial progress was unorthodox. Instead of training at drama school, he worked as an assistant stage manager and later as a sound operator, and had to wait six years before securing his first acting job. As if compensating for his late start, during his first RSC season (1992-93) he played supporting parts with attention-seeking originality: Ben Budge in The Beggar's Opera (John Caird, Swan); Masterless Man in A Jovial Crew (Max Stafford-Clark, Swan, Pit); Calyphas/Meander in Tamburlaine the Great (Terry Hands, Swan, Barbican); an ever-present soothsayer, a chorus of death, in Antony and Cleopatra (Caird, RST, Barbican); and the enigmatic under-footman in Michael Hastings's Unfinished Business (Steven Pimlott, Pit). From the outset he was a performer who liked to create a strong visual image, and was particularly adept at projecting traits that are often mistaken for charisma—moodiness and distain. He steadily built a reputation as a leading actor of style and range, at the National, the Globe and elsewhere: the Dauphin in the Imogen Stubbs Saint Joan (Gale Edwards, Theatr Clwyd and Strand Theatre, 1993); Chief Weasel in Alan Bennett's Wind in the Willows (Nicholas Hytner, NT Olivier, 1994-95); the title role in Richard III (Brian Cox, Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, 1995); Leonardo opposite Alexandra Gilbreath in Lorca's Blood Wedding (Tim Supple, Young Vic, 1996); Rupert in Rope (Gareth Armstrong, Salisbury Playhouse, 1997); Bendrix opposite Caroline Faber in Graham Greene's The End of the Affair (Rupert Goold, Bridewell, 1997); Romeo opposite Jayne Ashbourne in Romeo and Juliet (Jonathan Church, Salisbury Playhouse, 1998); Solyony in Three Sisters (Bill Bryden, Birmingham Rep, 1998); Trevor Nunn's 1999 NT Ensemble—Thersities in Troilus and Cressida (Olivier), Ryumin in Summerfolk (Lyttelton), and Cat in Honk! (Julia McKenzie, Olivier); the Globe's 2000 season—Caliban in the Vanessa Redgrave Tempest, and Palamon in The Two Noble Kinsmen (Tim Carroll); outstanding, and less the showman, as the brother betrayed by Toby Stephens and Clare Swinburne in Simon Gray's Japes (Peter Hall, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2001); the Globe's 2001 season—the title role opposite Eve Best in Macbeth (Carroll); Malcolm in Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce (Loveday Ingram, Aldwych, 2002); Henry II in Jean Anouilh's Becket (John Caird, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2004); Judge Brack in Hedda Gabler (Matthew Lloyd, West Yorkshire Playhouse, 2006); Satan in Paradise Lost (Rupert Goold, Oxford Stage Company, Tour, 2006); Adolf opposite Teresa Banham in Strindberg's The Father (Angus Jackson, Minerva, Chichester, 2006); and the dentist in Little Shop of Horrors (Matthew White, Menier Chocolate Factory, 2006-07). Britton returned to the RSC in 2003 to play Petruchio in both Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew (RST) and John Fletcher's repost, The Tamer Tamed (Swan, both Doran). His dishevelled Petruchio in The Shrew was more hard-drinking vagabond than romantic lead, as emotionally wary as Alexandra Gilbreath's Kate: they were beautifully matched. Screen credits: Breakout (BBC, 1997); The Cry (ITV, 2002); Heartbeat (ITV, 2002); Murder in Mind (BBC, 2003); My Dad's the Prime Minister (BBC, 2003); Midsomer Murders (ITV, 2005); The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005); Brief Encounters (BBC, 2005); Nostradamus (TV, 2006); Blackbeard (TV, 2006).	Actor, b. [London, 1962] RSC: Joined 1992 Seasons: 1992 (Strat.)-93 (Lond.); 2003 (Strat.)-04 (Lond.)
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		A Dictionary of the Royal Shakespeare Company by Simon Trowbridge | Copyright © Simon Trowbridge, 2003-04 | HOME