| Formation | 1987 (1987) |
|---|---|
| Founder | |
| Dissolved | 1992 (1992) |
TheRenaissance Theatre Company was atheatre company founded in 1987 byKenneth Branagh andDavid Parfitt. It was disbanded in 1992.
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The company was a development of the work Branagh and Parfitt had been doing periodically on the London 'Fringe', producing and appearing in lunchtime shows, leading up to Branagh's full-scale production ofRomeo and Juliet, at theLyric Studio in Hammersmith, London, in August 1986 co-starring Branagh andSamantha Bond.
With a group of 'angels'—fellow actors, writers and kindred spirits—the newly formed company was able to finance its first full season, including the premiere of Branagh's thriller,Public Enemy, in the Lyric Hammersmith main house, with Branagh in the leading role. In the same season this was followed byJohn Sessions' satirical soloThe Life of Napoleon which transferred fromRiverside Studios to theAlbery Theatre.[1]
Over Christmas 1987 the season ended with Branagh's production ofTwelfth Night also atRiverside Studios, starringRichard Briers as Malvolio,Frances Barber as Viola, and with an original score directed on stage by Scottish actor, musician and composerPatrick Doyle (who later achieved fame as an international film composer). The production was also recorded byThames Television.[1]
Although Renaissance received no public funding, it partnered in 1988 withJohn Adams and theBirmingham Rep on a touring season of plays launched asRenaissance Shakespeare on the Road, with three classical actors making their directing debuts:Judi Dench withMuch Ado About Nothing;Geraldine McEwan withAs You Like It; andDerek Jacobi withHamlet, which featured Branagh in the title role. After a UK tour and an August stop-over atElsinore, the three productions were seen in a London repertoire season at thePhoenix Theatre.
In 1989, Judi Dench again worked as director for the Renaissance revival of both the theatre and television productions ofLook Back in Anger byJohn Osborne,[1] presented first in Belfast then in London at theLyric Theatre, starring Branagh as Jimmy Porter andEmma Thompson as Alison.
Renaissance moved into different mediums such as Branagh's Academy Award-winning film version ofHenry V but also by producing threeShakespeare plays on radio:Hamlet,Romeo and Juliet, and finally,King Lear starringSir John Gielgud.
The company's last two major stage productions wereUncle Vanya (with Richard Briers and Peter Egan) andCoriolanus produced in conjunction with theChichester Festival Theatre and starring Branagh in the title role and Judi Dench as his mother, Volumnia.
Branagh subsequently moved into film making and the company was disbanded in 1992.
The archives and online searchable catalogue of the Renaissance Theatre Company are part of the Shakespeare Collections at theUniversity of Birmingham.[2] Online versions of the digitised prompt books from the company archive and theHenry V script and storyboards are also part of the University's collection.[3] Kenneth Branagh is an Honorary Research Fellow of the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham.[4]
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