The actor Ian Gelder, who has died of cancer aged 74, was a notable supporting player at the National Theater and the Royal Shakespeare Company, in the West End and in leading fringe theaters for decades before finding television fame as Kevan Lannister, brother of the feared patriarch Tywin (Charles Dance), who planned a Shakespearean … Read more
James Laurenson, the actor who has died aged 84, arrived in Britain from his native New Zealand in the early 1960s and enjoyed a varied career in theatre, television and film. He made his film debut in 1969 with a small role in Ken Russell’s Women In Love and his other film roles ranged from … Read more
What is Shakespeare’s least liked play? The two gentlemen from Verona would be high on many people’s lists. It is clearly student work. It has had few notable revivals. And it also raises problematic issues, as the treacherous Proteus at one point threatens to rape Silvia, who is engaged to his best friend Valentine. For … Read more
There was something grand, grand and encompassing about the actor Joss Ackland, who has died at the age of 95. He was a fixture in British films for decades and a stalwart of the Old Vic, the Royal Shakespeare Company – playing Falstaff in the opening RSC production of Henry IV, parts one and two, … Read more