The last Shakespearean actor ?

I haven't seen Michelle Terry at the Globe but I wasn't over impressed by her at the RSC in the LLL amd Much Ado season

She was decent as Beatrice/Rosaline but didn't give truly memorable performances that redefine what we should expect from those roles

I haven't been impressed by her choices since taking over the Globe.

So not a top flight Shakespearean for my tastes but I know she has many admirers.

Susannah Fielding in the Las Vegas Merchant completely reinvented Portia for me. She made the play into the Tragedy of Portia rather than the Shylock play.

Pippa Nixon in King John did something remarkable with the Bastard (though I know there are some here who hated that production)

I think creating a truly memorable interpretation is central to being a great Shakespearean.

Would Tony Sher have made each an impact if he hadn't reimagined Richard III in such a way as to make people forget about Olivier?

Yes, the brilliant use of balloons!

There are certain performances that become iconic. Sher and McKellen did that with Richard III. Olivier did it with Hamlet, Henry V and Richard III for the previous generation

They are performances that reach out beyond the theatre that become part of our wider culture.

It is probably harder for female actors as their Shakespeare roles are rarely as dominant in the plays. It is really tough to make a role such as Viola truly unique. This probably comes down to the original boy actor casting pool.

I guess the short answer is no, but times are changing. Our best Shakespearean actors come from a time in place where they were trained as stage actors, before screen acting was seen as a viable career path, and the closest thing to a franchise was working your way through the Shakespeare canon.

That isn’t the reality for the generations that came next, but we still have a decent crop of actors wanting to perform Shakespeare. David Tennant, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jude Law, Andrew Scott, James McAvoy, Tom Hiddleston, Ben Whishaw and Rory Kinnear all in the 40 - 50 age bracket and all have performed Shakespeare on stage and/or screen in recent times.

Incidentally, all opted to perform Shakespeare after finding success as part of a large screen franchise - Marvel, X-Men, Doctor Who, Bond etc. So whilst I guess being a great Shakespearean actor isn’t the backbone of acting it might once have been, there is still an attraction to performing Shakespeare after Hollywood comes knocking.

In the 30 - 40 bracket, I guess we have Kit Harrington and Richard Madden doing the same, both known primarily for Game of Thrones and opting to perform Shakespeare afterwards (though Kit’s is upcoming).

Henry V is an excellent role and one that an actor can become a true Shakespearean, judging by the past performances, I am far from certain, it is one that Kit Harrington can pull off, I maybe and hope i'm wrong though.

Josette Simon was my first Isabella and the only one who convinced me at the end when she slapped the Duke across the face for daring to propose to her and walked off. Brilliant moment and one I remember from the late 80s.

Ben Whishaw was actually nominated for an Olivier Award for his performance in Hamlet in 2004, which was long before he joined Bond so not always Shakespeare after a film franchise 😊

And Tennant was at the RSC slogging away well before Dr Who. Same with Kinnear, best Tranio I’ve seen. Spose if you didn't see these guys early on you wouldn’t know but most of the people we think have become ‘famous’ post tv/movie role have worked hard well before. If you read Brian Cox’s autobiography, you can see just how hard these actors have to work. 

I would say it is as rare as hen's teeth that someone can be a great Shakespearian and perform excellently in musical theatre, this is the case though in a not too young Roger Allam.

Alun Armstrong has done both. Wish he'd done some of the older Shakespeare roles.

I haven't really kept track of whether Greg Doran has used certain actors in plays under his watch. Also would he oversee all the casting as his associates and guest directors will steer over half the plays a year. Michael Boyd I saw as more of the Artistic Planning side whilst I see greg more as a Director. How much an Artistic Director actually directs a season is always an open question.


Does their contract state maximium or min numbers, if they are on a large salary and don't direct hardly then questions could be asked. But if they are programming good stuff, getting good audiences and positive reviews if they direct they are seen as a good director but if they delegate and bring in other directors to helm the plays they can be seen as doing a good job equally but more on the planning and programming side.

Just had a look at Robert Lindsay and he has done more Shakespeare on film/television, but certainly has performed the bard. Now Alum Armstrong I would think would make an excellent Lear, saying that Armstrong hasn’t performed on stage in years, there maybe other reasons for that, I hope not. I have never seen Alun perform on stage. Robert Lindsay I always think he is more comedic and couldn’t play Lear, he would play an excellent Shylock or Lord Frederick.