| Description | Collection of scripts used by Jasper Britton for roles at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, London, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London, The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon and the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon |
| Administrative History | Jasper Britton, actor, was born in London on 11 December 1962 into a family closely connected with performance and the arts. His father is the Birmingham born actor, Tony Britton (b 1924) and his mother, Danish sculptress, Eva Castle Britton (nee Skytte Birkefeldt); he is half brother to Fern Britton (presenter) and Cherry Britton (scriptwriter). One of the UK's leading theatre actors, the first of Britton's many roles was as the King of France in Jonathan Miller's Old Vic production of Shakespeare's 'King Lear' starring Eric Porter (1989). He has gone on to win critical acclaim for his portrayal of a wide range of rich and diverse characters. The performance that launched his career was as 'Richard III' directed by Brian Cox for Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (1995). A number of Shakespearean roles followed, including Thersites in Trevor Nunn's production of 'Troilus and Cressida' at the National Theatre (1999), Caliban in the Globe's production of 'The Tempest' (2000), 'Macbeth' at the Globe (2001), and Petruchio in Gregory Doran's RSC production of 'The Taming of the Shrew' (2003). He has performed in a number of classic and landmark modern plays: Jean in Ionesco's 'Rhinoceros' (Royal Court, 2006), the title role in Strindberg's 'The Father' (Chichester Festival Theatre, 2006), John Gielgud in 'Plague over England' by Nicholas de Jongh (Finborough, 2008), Nansen in Tony Harrison's 'Fram' (Olivier, 2008), one third of Simon Gray's personality in 'The Last Cigarette' (Chichester, 2009), and the Marquis de Sade in the RSC's revival of Peter Weiss's 'Marat Sade' (2011). His film roles include Court Laureate in 'The New World' by Terence Malik (2005) and Will Frosser in 'Morris: A Life with Bells On' (2009); he has also acted in a number of television films and series.
Sources: National Theatre website September 2008 at http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/discover-more/artists/jasper-britton (accessed 23 November 2012); Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_Britton (accessed 23 November 2012) |