Posted on 11/15/2012 12:17:46 AM PST by Olog-hai
Britain will produce no more actors of the caliber of Dame Judi Dench or Sir Derek Jacobi because repertory theatre has died out, according to Sir Ian McKellen.
Sir Ian said he would not have the career he has today without a grounding in regional rep. The current crop of actors, who go straight into television and film roles or appear in the occasional stage production, do not have the same experience.
“The situation is desperate. There are no (resident) companies in this country—not even the National Theatre has one. There’s a desert,” he said. …
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
You’ve got a bit of money, there, Sir McKellen; start one yourself (or would that be too easy).
I can think of a bigger problem for the theater in England. Sharia law doesn’t allow theaters, does it?
Arrogant Ass.
And an arrogant faggot, too.
****You’ve got a bit of money, there, Sir McKellen; start one yourself (or would that be too easy).****
This is a classic example of conservative vs. liberal. The conservative would have seen the problem and gathered like minded allies to take the problem head on. Although this liberal has not called for it yet, it will be no surprise if he advocates for public money to be spent to address the problem. There is no mystery why there are debts in every government around the globe.
Keynesian economics is no more than a liberals way of getting his enemy to pay for his own destruction.
And yet,..there are repertory theatre groups in the U.S.A.
People used to say the same about live music - now people get together and start bands and put nights on for themselves or get groups of bands etc. My son does this in Melbourne (Australia). My mates and I play gigs for a feed and a few beers just because we love music - you would think that lefties would love this, being that there is no corporate control etc but in reality lefties are not for expressive freedom or the arts they are about control it themselves.
Mel
He’s absolutely right, you know. There are still brilliant actors in England - they maintain great institutions of learning for the theatre (RADA, LAMDA, etc.) but the death of rep has hurt acting skills. You can see it particularly in the 20th century classics of Noel Coward, etc. The young stage actors have no idea what they are doing.
Just tune in to Downton Abbey to see how acting values have sunk - and more importantly - the writing.
Don't know about Sir Daniel Craig, though!
Day-Lewis is Irish.
As per IMDB:
“Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis was born in London, England, the second child of Cecil Day-Lewis (aka Nicholas Blake) (Poet Laureate of England) and his second wife, Jill Balcon. His maternal grandfather was Sir Michael Balcon, an important figure in the history of British cinema, head of the famous Ealing Studios. His older sister, Tamasin Day-Lewis, is a documentary filmmaker. Daniel was educated at Sevenoaks School in Kent, which he despised, and the more progressive Bedales in Petersfield, which he adored. He studied acting at the Bristol Old Vic School. Daniel made his film debut in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), but then acted on stage with the Bristol Old Vic and Royal Shakespeare Companies and did not appear on screen again until 1982, when he landed his first adult role, a bit part in Gandhi (1982). He also appeared on British TV that year in “Frost in May” (1982) and How Many Miles to Babylon? (1982) (TV). Notable theatrical performances include Another Country (1982-83), Dracula (1984), and The Futurists (1986)”
Great actors? Acting is a low-skill high barrier-to-entry job.
For male actors, the “hurdle” in the British theater for most of the 20th century was the gay casting couch. He’s just bitching because he’s not getting his share of “interviews”.
Maybe he should have tried Scientology?
One of my great theatre experiences was seeing a very young Daniel Craig at the Royal Court in Caryl Churchill’s “A Number.” Generally I loathe her writings, but this was a good, relatively nonpolitical play and Craig was SUPERB. So, one day, he might very well be a “Sir.”
Gandolf the Gay.
His father C. Day-Lewis was the Poet Laureate not of "England" but of the United Kingdom, of which Northern Ireland is a part. C. Day-Lewis came from an old Protestant Ascendancy family in Ireland.
Daniel Day-Lewis identifies as Irish.
Just the idea of Jude Law kvetching away his middle years in some Coventry rep slab is hilarious...Gandalf likes to make noise in front of his upcoming movies...
Listen to the few Daniel Day Lewis interviews. His accent is English. Day Lewis was brought up in England. His father is Anglo Irish. This is very different from being Northern Irish. His paternal line is from Anglo Irish aristocracy in Southern Ireland, not Ulster protestants. He claimed sole British nationality in 1948.
I defer to your finer ear for British accents. To my ear, in interviews, Daniel Day-Lewis rolls his r's (in words like "script") and softens his t's (in words like "about" and "light") in a way I associate with upperclass Northern Irishmen - and which is definitely not "Estuary English".
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