Two masterclasses per week are conducted by leading actors and directors of the British and American stage.
In recent years, these have included Sir Derek Jacobi, Alan Rickman, Kevin Spacey, Sir Ben Kingsley, Brian Cox, Simon Callow, Fiona Shaw, David Schwimmer, Rosemary Harris and Jeremy Irons.
PATRON OF BADA
Founding company member of the National Theatre, where he appeared with Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Peter O'Toole and others in productions of Othello, Hamlet and a great many others. Won Tony Award for performances in Cyrano de Bergerac and Much Ado About Nothing. He is also well known for his roles in I Claudius and Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet and playing Malvolio at the Donmar Warehouse.
Co-founded the Royal Shakespeare Company and is a renowned teacher of Shakespeare and a distinguished director at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. His television series "Playing Shakespeare" is widely used in Britain and the US. His productions include "War of the Roses" and "Peer Gynt".
Toured worldwide as King Lear and Richard III for the RNT. For the RSC: Taming of the Shrew, Titus Andronicus, Penny for a Song and Frankie and Johnny in the Claire De Lune. His many films include Trials of Henry Kissinger, Rookie and Manhunter.
Theatre: Titus Andronicus, Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui, As You Like it and Amadeus among many others. Films: A Room with a View, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Amadeus, Shakespeare in Love, Howard's End and Maurice. Directing work: The Infernal Machine, Jacques and his Master, Shirley Valentine, Carmen Jones, Die Fledermaus and La Calisto. Books: biographies of Charles Laughton and Orson Welles, Acting in Restoration Comedy and Being an Actor. Awarded the CBE in 2000.
Theatre work includes The Comedy of Errors (RSC, Best Newcomer Award, 1983), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and After the Fall (National), Angels in America (Best Supporting Actor, 1992), Assassins (Olivier Award, 1993), Merchant of Venice (Olivier Award), Tartuffe (Broadway) Richard III (RSC), Art (Broadway and West End), Chicago (West End) and The Birthday Party (West End).
Founding company member of the National Theater and worked with Laurence Olivier in Uncle Vanya and Hamlet. Tony Award for The Lion in Winter and nominated for nine more. She has starred on Broadway in A Delicate Balance, Hay Fever, Pack of Lies and recently, The Royal Family.
Theatre: Electra (voted Actress of the Year), Taming of the Shrew (RSC), The Good Person of Setzuan, Machinal (voted Actress of the Year) The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Richard II As You Like It, The Waste Land, Medea, Happy Days and Mother Courage (National). TV includes Hedda Gabler (BBC / HBO.) film includes My Left Foot, Catch and Release, The Black Dahlia, Fracture and the Harry Potter films. In 2001, she was awarded an honorary CBE.
Recently directed Mother Courage and Medea, both with Fiona Shaw, and Julius Caesar with Ralph Fiennes. Director of the Year for the RSC's Titus Andronicus (with Brian Cox), Electra (with Fiona Shaw) and Hedda Gabler (Fiona Shaw). Other productions include King John (RSC), King Lear, The Good Person of Setzuan and Richard II, The Waste Land in London and abroad, Coriolanus (Salzberg Festival), Medea in London and abroad, and The Angel Project in New York. Operas include Don Giovani and Fidelio (Glyndebourne), Wozzeck (Opera North), Paul Bunyan (ENO) and Medea in Dublin and London.
Starred in Brideshead Revisited on television. Academy Award for A Reversal of Fortune and Tony Award for The Real Thing. Starred for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Wild Oats, A Winter's Tale and Richard II. Movies include The French Lieutenant's Woman, Betrayal and The Lion King.
Won Academy Award for Ghandi. Also starred in Schindler's List, Betrayal and Bugsy. His stage roles include Demetrius, Brutus and Othello for the RSC, Trafimov in The Cherry Orchard and Mosca in Volpone for the National. He recently starred in Waiting for Godot at the Old Vic.
Highly acclaimed for his performances in such movies as Truly Madly Deeply, Michael Collins, Sense and Sensibility and the Harry Potter films and for stage roles including Les Liasons Dangereuses, Hamlet and Antony and Cleopatra.