The Taming of the Shrew and The Tamer Tamed

actors talk about the road to the RSC

Jasper Britton plays Petruchio in The Taming of the Shew and The Tamer Tamed.

From about the age of seven I’ve wanted to act. My father [Tony Britton] was an actor. I used to play on the floor of the theatre when I was very young. He used to give me his old scripts to draw on the back of. One day I turned the page over and there was a song called Too Many Rings Around Rosie from a show I’d just seen called No No Nanette. It was my favourite song in the show and there were the lyrics on the page. Looking at them, I could picture it all and it just sort of clicked with me. That’s when I knew I wanted to be an actor.

When I left school, I knew I wanted to act but Equity (the Actors’ Union) was a closed shop in those days and no one could get an acting job without being a member of the Union, but you couldn’t be a member of Equity without an acting job. To get my union card I went into Stage Management and became a sound operator. I did three years of Sound and Stage Management and I ended up as Jonathan Miller’s Sound Designer at the Old Vic. It took me six years to get my first acting job after leaving school.

first role at the RSC
In 1992, my agent told me I should work at the RSC. So I said, ‘well get me an audition and I’ll get the job’ and she took it upon herself to really batter the door down. Which she finally did. Then they said 'Alright, send him round.' So I went round and I did an audition for six directors - John Caird, Max Stafford-Clark, Michael Attenborough, Adrian Noble, David Thacker and Bill Alexander. After about seven auditions I had to go and meet all of them again. It went on and on but my agent was very excited and she said they are really interested and I kept ‘phoning up the casting department and finally came up with an offer, which was a bit dull, to say the least.

My agent said, 'I know that you don’t want to do it, but at least think about it over night'. I did and I turned them down. My agent ‘phoned them back and said 'I’m going out to lunch' and gave them my number. Adrian Noble ‘phoned me, then John Caird, then Max Stafford Clarke and then somebody called Greg Doran phoned. He was casting Tamburlaine The Great for Terry Hands. Anthony Sher was playing Tamburlaine and they offered me the part of one of his sons together with two other parts. So I kind of negotiated my own deal, with Greg, having not ever met him. And now I’m working with him on both Tamer Tamed and Shrew.

Alexandra Gilbreath
Jasper Britton plays Katherine in The Taming of the Shew and Maria in The Tamer Tamed.

I’ve known I wanted to act from the age of four. My dad used to work for BBC Comedy and apparently I used to take an imaginary dog for a walk, because we didn’t have a dog. A friend of the family was amazed by how much I believed the dog was there. But I also wanted to be a dancer then - it was the time of Legs & Co and Pan’s People!

Inspired by the Golden Ages of BBC Comedy
I was occasionally taken off filming with my dad on programmes like Butterflies, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em and ‘Allo ‘Allo. Those character-based, situation-based comedies were, in my opinion, a golden age of comedy at the BBC. The characters, situations and writing were so witty. Even Hi-Di-Hi was really original. When we were very good we were taken off to sit in the gallery if they were doing live studio audience filming. Then I thought I was very, very special! But I also liked old musicals starring Judy Garland.

Drama School
After O’ Levels and A’ Levels I went straight to LAMDA. My teacher at school used to say 'you will never get in on your first attempt. Don’t expect to get in on your first year'. She was priming me for disappointment. By some miracle of miracles, I got into LAMDA. That was probably one of the most exciting experiences of my life, when they said we’d like to offer you a place!

RSC
I first joined the company in 1993 and this is my fifth season with the RSC. I’ve been in Love’s Labours Lost (playing Maria), The Country Wife (Lucy), Ghosts (Regina), Cyrano de Bergerac (Roxane), The Winter’s Tale (Hermione), As You Like It, (Rosalind) and Romeo and Juliet (Juliet).

Eve Myles plays Bianca in The Taming of the Shew and The Tamer Tamed.

Originally I wanted to be a dancer and I trained as a jazz and modern dancer. Then through an accident, I wasn’t able to carry that out. But I’d always done amateur stuff with community groups and the Swansea Grand Theatre and then when I was 16, I did the National Youth Theatre of Wales. From there, I knew that was the route I wanted to go down. Then when I was 19, I got into the Welsh College of Music and Drama and studied a three-year degree in drama. It was mostly a practical course. We did lots of skills classes, movement, voice, stage combat and singing.

first role at the RSC
I had just finished doing Eastenders. It was a one-off episode about Dot’s story when she was an evacuee. I played Auntie Gwen, the lady that adopted her during the war! Then my agent ‘phoned and asked if I could you go and meet Greg Doran. I went along and auditioned for Bianca in Tamer Tamed first and then he asked me to read Bianca in Shrew as well. I had a ‘phone call a couple of days later and I had to meet more directors and then I was offered the part of Lavinia in Titus Andronicus.



			Jasper Britton plays Petruchio in The Taming of the Shew and The Tamer Tamed. From about the age of seven I’ve wanted to act. My father [Tony Britton] was an actor. I used to play on the floor of the theatre when I was very young. He used to give me his old scripts to draw on the back of. One day I turned the page over and there was a song called Too Many Rings Around Rosie from a show I’d just seen called No No Nanette. It was my favourite song in the show and there were the lyrics on the page. Looking at them, I could picture it all and it just sort of clicked with me. That’s when I knew I wanted to be an actor. When I left school, I knew I wanted to act but Equity (the Actors’ Union) was a closed shop in those days and no one could get an acting job without being a member of the Union, but you couldn’t be a member of Equity without an acting job. To get my union card I went into Stage Management and became a sound operator. I did three years of Sound and Stage Management and I ended up as Jonathan Miller’s Sound Designer at the Old Vic. It took me six years to get my first acting job after leaving school. In 1992, my agent told me I should work at the RSC. So I said, ‘well get me an audition and I’ll get the job’ and she took it upon herself to really batter the door down. Which she finally did. Then they said 'Alright, send him round.' So I went round and I did an audition for six directors - John Caird, Max Stafford-Clark, Michael Attenborough, Adrian Noble, David Thacker and Bill Alexander. After about seven auditions I had to go and meet all of them again. It went on and on but my agent was very excited and she said they are really interested and I kept ‘phoning up the casting department and finally came up with an offer, which was a bit dull, to say the least. My agent said, 'I know that you don’t want to do it, but at least think about it over night'. I did and I turned them down. My agent ‘phoned them back and said 'I’m going out to lunch' and gave them my number. Adrian Noble ‘phoned me, then John Caird, then Max Stafford Clarke and then somebody called Greg Doran phoned. He was casting Tamburlaine The Great for Terry Hands. Anthony Sher was playing Tamburlaine and they offered me the part of one of his sons together with two other parts. So I kind of negotiated my own deal, with Greg, having not ever met him. And now I’m working with him on both Tamer Tamed and Shrew. Jasper Britton plays Katherine in The Taming of the Shew and Maria in The Tamer Tamed. I’ve known I wanted to act from the age of four. My dad used to work for BBC Comedy and apparently I used to take an imaginary dog for a walk, because we didn’t have a dog. A friend of the family was amazed by how much I believed the dog was there. But I also wanted to be a dancer then - it was the time of Legs & Co and Pan’s People! I was occasionally taken off filming with my dad on programmes like Butterflies, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em and ‘Allo ‘Allo. Those character-based, situation-based comedies were, in my opinion, a golden age of comedy at the BBC. The characters, situations and writing were so witty. Even Hi-Di-Hi was really original. When we were very good we were taken off to sit in the gallery if they were doing live studio audience filming. Then I thought I was very, very special! But I also liked old musicals starring Judy Garland. After O’ Levels and A’ Levels I went straight to LAMDA. My teacher at school used to say 'you will never get in on your first attempt. Don’t expect to get in on your first year'. She was priming me for disappointment. By some miracle of miracles, I got into LAMDA. That was probably one of the most exciting experiences of my life, when they said we’d like to offer you a place! I first joined the company in 1993 and this is my fifth season with the RSC. I’ve been in Love’s Labours Lost (playing Maria), The Country Wife (Lucy), Ghosts (Regina), Cyrano de Bergerac (Roxane), The Winter’s Tale (Hermione), As You Like It, (Rosalind) and Romeo and Juliet (Juliet). Eve Myles plays Bianca in The Taming of the Shew and The Tamer Tamed. Originally I wanted to be a dancer and I trained as a jazz and modern dancer. Then through an accident, I wasn’t able to carry that out. But I’d always done amateur stuff with community groups and the Swansea Grand Theatre and then when I was 16, I did the National Youth Theatre of Wales. From there, I knew that was the route I wanted to go down. Then when I was 19, I got into the Welsh College of Music and Drama and studied a three-year degree in drama. It was mostly a practical course. We did lots of skills classes, movement, voice, stage combat and singing. I had just finished doing Eastenders. It was a one-off episode about Dot’s story when she was an evacuee. I played Auntie Gwen, the lady that adopted her during the war! Then my agent ‘phoned and asked if I could you go and meet Greg Doran. I went along and auditioned for Bianca in Tamer Tamed first and then he asked me to read Bianca in Shrew as well. I had a ‘phone call a couple of days later and I had to meet more directors and then I was offered the part of Lavinia in Titus Andronicus.