Mark Rylance

Mark Rylance
Rylance at the Belasco Theatre in October 2013
Born	David Mark Rylance Waters (1960-01-18) 18 January 1960 Ashford, Kent, England
Occupation(s)	Actor, theatre director, playwright
Years active	1980–present
Spouse	Claire van Kampen (1989–present)

David Mark Rylance Waters (born 18 January 1960), known professionally as Mark Rylance, is an English actor, theatre director, and playwright. He has appeared in films such as Prospero's Books (1991), Institute Benjamenta (1996), and Intimacy (2001), and has won Olivier Awards, Tony Awards, and a BAFTA Award. He was the first Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe in London, from 1995 to 2005.

Early life

Rylance was born in Ashford, Kent, the son of Anne (née Skinner) and David Waters, both English teachers. His parents moved to Connecticut in 1962 and Wisconsin in 1969, where his father taught English at the University School of Milwaukee. Rylance later attended this school, where he began acting. His first notable role was in a 1976 production of Hamlet (with his father playing the First Gravedigger), and he later played Romeo in the school's production of Romeo and Juliet.

Career

Rylance took the stage name of Mark Rylance because his original choice, Mark Waters, was already taken by someone else registered with Equity. He won a scholarship by audition to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in London. There he trained from 1978–1980 under Hugh Cruttwell, and with Barbara Bridgmont at the Chrysalis Theatre School in Balham, London. In 1980, he got his first professional work at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre. In 1982 and 1983, he performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in Stratford-upon-Avon and London.

In 1988, Rylance played Hamlet with the RSC in Ron Daniels' acclaimed production that toured Ireland and Britain for a year. The play then ran in Stratford-upon-Avon, where Rylance alternated Hamlet with Romeo in the production of Romeo and Juliet that inaugurated the rebuilt Swan Theatre in Stratford. Hamlet toured to the United States for two years. In 1990, Rylance and Claire van Kampen (later his wife) founded "Phoebus' Cart", their own theatre company. The following year, the company staged The Tempest on the road in unique, unusual sites.

Also in 1991, Rylance played the lead in Gillies Mackinnon's film The Grass Arena (1991), and won the BBC Radio Times Award for Best Newcomer. In 1993, he starred in Matthew Warchus' production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Queen's Theatre, produced by Thelma Holt. His Benedick won him an Olivier Award for Best Actor. In 2005, he took the leading role as British weapons expert David Kelly in Peter Kosminsky's The Government Inspector, an award-winning Channel 4 production for which he himself won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in 2005.

In 2007, Rylance performed in Boeing-Boeing in London. In 2008, he reprised the role on Broadway and subsequently won Drama Desk and Tony Awards for his performance. For his acceptance speech for the latter, he recited a work by poet Louis Jenkins. In 2009, Rylance won the Critics' Circle Theatre Award Best Actor, 2009 for his role of Johnny Byron in Jerusalem written by Jez Butterworth at the Royal Court Theatre in London.

In 2010, Rylance starred in a revival of David Hirson's verse play La Bête. The play ran first at London's Comedy Theatre before transferring to the Music Box Theatre on Broadway, on 23 September 2010. Also in 2010, he won another Olivier award for best actor in the role of Johnny Byron in Jerusalem at the Apollo Theatre in London. In 2011, he won his second Tony Award for playing the same role in the Broadway production (for his acceptance speech, he again recited a Louis Jenkins poem). In a 2012 interview, Stephen Fry stated that he believed Rylance to be the best stage actor in the world.

It was announced in October 2014 that Rylance will star in the title role of The BFG, director Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of the children's book by Roald Dahl. The film is set to begin filming in 2015 with a release scheduled for 2016.

Globe Theatre

In 1995, Rylance became the first Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, a post he filled until 2005. Rylance directed and acted in every season, in works by Shakespeare and others, notably in all-male productions of Twelfth Night where he starred as Olivia, and Richard II where he took the title role. Under his directorate, new plays were performed at the Globe, the first being Augustine's Oak (referring to Augustine of Canterbury and Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England) by Peter Oswald, the writer-in-residence, which was performed in 1999. A second play by Oswald followed in 2002: The Golden Ass or the Curious Man. In 2005, Oswald's third play written for the Globe was performed for the first time: The Storm, an adaptation of Plautus' comedy Rudens (The Rope) – one of the sources of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Other historical first nights were organised by Rylance while director of the Globe including Twelfth Night performed in 2002 at Middle Temple, to commemorate its first performance there exactly 400 years before, and Measure for Measure at Hampton Court in summer 2004. In 2013 the Globe Theatre brought two all-male productions to Broadway, starring Rylance as Olivia in Twelfth Night and in the title role in Richard III, for a limited run in repertory. He won his third Tony Award for his performance as Olivia and was nominated for his performance as Richard.

Shakespeare controversy

On 8 September 2007 Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance unveiled a Declaration of Reasonable Doubt on the authorship of Shakespeare's work, after the final matinée of I am Shakespeare, a play in Chichester, Sussex.

The actual author was proposed to be Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, the Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere or Mary Sidney (Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke). The declaration named 20 prominent doubters of the past, including Mark Twain, Orson Welles, John Gielgud and Charlie Chaplin and was made by Shakespeare Authorship Coalition duly signed online by 300 people to begin new research. Jacobi and Rylance presented a copy of the document to William Leahy, head of English at Brunel University, London. Rylance wrote (co-conceived by John Dove) and starred in The BIG Secret Live—I am Shakespeare—Webcam Daytime Chatroom Show (A comedy of Shakespearean identity crisis) which toured England in 2007.

Personal life

Rylance is married to the musical director, director, composer and playwright Claire van Kampen. They started dating in 1987 while working on a production of The Wandering Jew at the National Theatre, and married in Oxfordshire on 21 December 1989. He has a sister named Susannah, an opera singer and author, and a brother, Jonathan, who works as a sommelier at Alice Waters' restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, famous for creating the California cuisine using local organic food. His stepdaughter is actress Juliet Rylance, who is married to actor Christian Camargo. His younger stepdaughter, filmmaker Nataasha van Kampen, died in July 2012 at the age of 28, as a result of which Rylance withdrew from his planned participation in the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.

Rylance has been a supporter of the indigenous rights organisation Survival International for many years. He is the creator and director of "We Are One", a fundraiser that took place at the Apollo Theatre in April 2010. The evening was a performance of tribal prose and poetry from some of the world's leading actors and musicians. He has said: "As a child, I was enriched and inspired by the lives and stories of the world's tribal peoples. As an adult, I have also been inspired by the ceaseless work of the organisation Survival International, and their movement to protect these tribes – from the rainforest of the Amazon to the icy reaches of the Arctic. To celebrate 40 years of Survival's work and enjoy the beauty of the spoken word from such rich oral cultures, I am gathering my friends from the theatre on the set of Jerusalem for a wonderful spring afternoon of eloquent recitals and stunning images from 'We Are One'."

Rylance is a patron of Peace Direct. He performed the life and words of Henri, described as "an extraordinarily brave and charismatic man living in war-torn eastern Congo", during a presentation in New York City in 2011. He is also patron of The Outside Edge Theatre Company.It works from the perspective of creating theatre and drama with people affected by substance abuse. It provides theatre interventions in drug and alcohol treatment and general community facilities throughout Britain, as well as producing professional public theatre productions that take place in theatres, studio theatres, and art centres. Rylance believes it to be "proper initiatory old style theatre".

Rylance became a patron of LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre) in 2013. He said about the festival: "I feel LIFT has done more to influence the growth and adventure of English theatre than any other organisation we have."

Work

Theatre

Year	Period	Theatrical Performance	Theatrical Character	Theatre of Performance	Accolades
1981		Desperado Corner		Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow
1982		The Tempest	Ariel	(Performing with the RSC)
1989		Hamlet	Hamlet
		Romeo and Juliet	Romeo
1993		Henry V	Henry V	TFANA, New York
		Much Ado About Nothing	Benedick	Queens Theatre	Won the Olivier Award for Best Actor
1994		As You Like It	Touchstone	TFANA, New York
		True West	Lee/Austin	Donmar Warehouse
1995		Macbeth	Macbeth	Greenwich Theatre
2000		Live x 3	Henry	Royal National Theatre
2007		Boeing Boeing	Robert	Comedy Theatre	Nominated for the Olivier Award in 2008 for Best Actor
		I am Shakespeare	Frank	UK tour
2008		Peer Gynt	Peer Gynt	Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis
		Boeing Boeing	Robert	Longacre Theatre, NYC	Won 2008 Tony Award, Best Actor in a Play
2009	Jul-Aug	Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth	Johnny Byron	Royal Court Theatre	Won 2009 Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actor
	Oct-Dec	Endgame by Samuel Beckett	Hamm	Duchess Theatre
2010	Jan-Apr	Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth	Johnny Byron	Apollo Theatre	Won the Olivier Award for Best Actor
	Jun-Aug	La Bete by David Hirson	Valere	Comedy Theatre	Nominated for the Olivier Award in 2011 for Best Actor
	Sept-Feb			Music Box Theatre, Broadway
2011
	Apr-Aug	Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth	Johnny Byron	Music Box Theatre, Broadway	Won 2011 Tony Award, Best Actor in a Play
	Oct-Jan			Apollo Theatre
2012	Nov-Feb 2013	alternating in Richard III and Twelfth Night	Richard III / Olivia	Apollo Theatre
2013	Apr-May	Nice Fish by Mark Rylance and Louis Jenkins	Ron	Guthrie Theater
2013	Oct-Feb	alternating in Richard III and Twelfth Night	Richard III / Olivia	Belasco Theatre, Broadway	Won 2014 Tony Award, Best Featured Actor in a Play (Twelfth Night)
2014					Nominated 2014 Tony Award, Best Actor in a Play (Richard III)

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Along with Rylance's stage performances, he has had many appearances at the recently recreated Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in Southwark, London on the South Bank of the River Thames. Noted for being one of the finest Shakespearean actors of recent times; his performances at Shakespeare's Globe are noted for being amongst his finest works.

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	The Two Gentlemen of Verona	Proteus
1997	A Chaste Maid in Cheapside	Mr. Allwit
1997	Henry V	Henry V
1998	The Merchant of Venice	Bassanio
1998	The Honest Whore	Hippolito
1999	Antony and Cleopatra	Cleopatra
2000	Hamlet	Hamlet
2001	Cymbeline	Cloten
2002	The Golden Ass	Lucius
2002	Twelfth Night	Olivia	Olivier Critics Award
2003	Richard II	Richard II
2004	Measure for Measure	Duke Vincentio
2005	The Tempest	Prospero Stephano Sebastian Alonso
2005	The Storm	Daemones Labrax The Weather
2012	Richard III	Richard III
2012	Twelfth Night	Olivia

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	The McGuffin	Gavin
1987	Hearts of Fire	Fizz
1991	The Grass Arena	John Healy	BBC Radio Times Award for Best Newcomer
1991	Prospero's Books	Ferdinand
1995	Institute Benjamenta	Jakob von Gunten
1995	Angels & Insects	William Adamson
2000	William Shakespeare	Artistic Director	Shakespeare's Globe
2001	Intimacy	Jay
2005	The Government Inspector	David Kelly	BAFTA
2008	The Other Boleyn Girl	Thomas Boleyn
2011	Blitz	Roberts
2011	Anonymous	Condell
2013	Days and Nights	Stephen
2014	The Gunman	Cox
2015	St. James Place		filming
2016	The BFG	The BFG	pre-production

Television

Year	Title	Role
1985	Wallenberg: A Hero's Story	Nikki Fodor
1993	Love Lies Bleeding	Conn
1995	Loving	Charlie Raunce
1995	Hamlet	Hamlet
1997	Henry V	King Henry V
2001	Changing Stages	Himself
2003	Leonardo	Leonardo da Vinci
2003	Richard II	Richard II
2003	Celebrity Naked Ambition	Himself
2004	Breakfast	Himself
2014	Bing (TV_series)|"Bing"	Flop (Voice of)
2015	Wolf Hall	Thomas Cromwell

Bibliography

• Mark Rylance: Play – A Recollection in Pictures and Words of the First Five Years of Play at Shakespeares's Globe Theatre. Photogr.: Sheila Burnett, Donald Cooper, Richard Kolina, John Tramper. Shakespeare's Globe Publ., London, UK. 2003. ISBN 0-9536480-4-4.
• The Wisdom of Shakespeare Series by Peter Dawkins (Foreword by Mark Rylance):
• The Wisdom of Shakespeare in As You Like It. I.C. Media Productions, 1998. Paperback. ISBN 0-9532890-1-X.
• The Wisdom of Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice. I.C. Media Productions, 1998. Paperback. ISBN 0-9532890-0-1.
• The Wisdom of Shakespeare in Julius Caesar. I.C. Media Productions, 1999. Paperback. ISBN 0-9532890-2-8.
• The Wisdom of Shakespeare in The Tempest. I.C. Media Productions, 2000. Paperback. ISBN 0-9532890-3-6.
• The Wisdom of Shakespeare in Twelfth Night. I.C. Media Productions, 2002. Paperback. ISBN 0-9532890-4-4.
• Peter Dawkins. The Shakespeare Enigma (Foreword by Mark Rylance). Polair, UK. 2004. Illustrated paperback, 476pp. ISBN 0-9545389-4-3.
• John Abbott. Improvisation In Rehearsal (Foreword by Mark Rylance). Nick Hern Books, UK. 2009. Paperback, 256pp. ISBN 978-1-85459-523-2.
• Dave Patrick. The View Beyond: Sir Francis Bacon: Alchemy, Science, Mystery (The View Series) (Foreword by Mark Rylance, Ervin Lazslo, Rose Elliot). Deep Books, UK. 2011. Paperback, 288pp. ISBN 978-1-905398-22-5.

External links

• Mark Rylance at IMDb
• Mark Rylance at the Internet Broadway Database
• Official homepage
• Interview with Mark Rylance
• Mark Rylance performing the Peacebuilder, Henri Ladyi, Congo
• doollee.com listing of Rylance's works written for the stage