Barrie Rutter | |
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 Rutter in 2015 | |
| Born | 12 December 1946 Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, theatre company director |
| Years active | 1969–present |
Barrie Thomas Rutter OBE (born 12 December 1946) is an English actor and the founder and former artistic director of the Northern Broadsides theatre company based in Dean Clough complex, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England.
Rutter was born and brought up in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, attending Newton Hall, part of Greatfield High School.
He participated in school plays, joining the National Youth Theatre and at the age of 17 in 1964, he left Hull to live with his aunt in Kennington, London. He later studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, but left early before finishing the course to go on a European tour with the NYT. [1]
Rutter was passed over for the 1967 production of Peter Terson's football play Zigger Zagger, but Terson wrote a role for him in The Apprentices. He was with the Nottingham Playhouse in 1968, then freelanced until joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1975. [1] [2] [ unreliable source? ]
In the 1980s he performed in three adaptations by the poet Tony Harrison.
Rutter founded Northern Broadsides in 1992 and the company performs at its Halifax base and on tour. Rutter has played major parts in many of its productions. [3]
He has appeared in many films and television programmes, including Countdown to War , Queenie's Castle , Minder ("The Beer Hunter"), and a regular role in the early 1980s ITV sitcom Astronauts and as armed robber Oakes in the 1979 film version of the BBC sitcom Porridge . He appeared in The Bill "Suspects" in 1992. He appeared in 5 episodes of the television series Fat Friends in 2004–05, playing Douglas Simpson. [4]
In 2009 Rutter directed Lenny Henry in a production of Othello . [5] He said of the decision to cast the comedian, "knives might be out at me or at Lenny. I don't care. This has come about from a completely genuine desire to do a piece of theatrical work. Bloody hell, how long has the Donmar had Hollywood stars going there for £200? He's six-foot five. He's beautifully black. And he's Othello." [6]
After setting up the run of Othello in London, Rutter was invited to direct Richard III for the 'Vanemuine' Theatre Company in Tartu, Estonia. Though he suffered a heart attack, he completed the rehearsals for the first night at the Samadateater in Tartu on 17 October 2009. In the third quarter of 2010, Rutter also became a patron for the newly opened ALRA North.[ citation needed ]
In June 2016 Rutter was the subject of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs . His eight musical choices were works by Frank Sinatra, Kay Starr, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, César Franck, Eliza Carthy with Norma Waterson, Tina Turner and The Band. Tina Turner's Proud Mary was his track to "rescue from the waves". He declined to take The Bible but accepted the complete works of Shakespeare; his chosen book was a collection of Tony Harrison's poems and his luxury a pair of swimming flippers so that "at the first sign of madness" he could swim out to sea and battle with a shark. In the programme he discussed his childhood and family and professional life, including the loss of a son by cot death at 14 weeks. [7]
In July 2017 Rutter announced that he would step down from the post of artistic director at Northern Broadsides in April 2018 after frustration at what he saw as inadequate Arts Council funding for the company. [8]
His final production with the company was The Captive Queen, an adaptation of John Dryden's Aureng-zebe , at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in February and March 2018; as well as directing, he played the part of the emperor. [9] [10]
In April 2023 he performed a one-man one-night show titled Shakespeare's Royals in Halifax. [11] He toured the same show in 2024 to venues including The Dukes in Lancaster, [12] Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, [13] and the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond, North Yorkshire. [14] In October 2024 he had a role in long-running radio series The Archers . [15]
He married American Carol Chillington in 1978, and moved near to Stratford-on-Avon when Chillington got a job at Warwick University. They have two daughters, [1] and were divorced before 2009. [16] Carol Chillington Rutter is Professor of Shakespeare and Performance Studies at Warwick and was director of the CAPITAL Centre from 2006 to 2011. [17]
In January 2020 The Yorkshire Post said that Rutter had been diagnosed with throat cancer. [18] By October 2020 he reported "Well, they don't call it the 'all-clear', they call it fully tested, but yes, I am back to normal" and was planning a performance of An Evening with Barrie Rutter at The Holbeck in Leeds. [19]
In 2000 he won the title 'Creative Briton 2000', with a cheque for £100,000. [20] He was nominated for it by, amongst others, John Prescott, then Deputy Prime Minister, who said "Barrie's northern accent, fast action, factory floor Shakespeare is as far from elitism as can be, though it has never, never dumbed Shakespeare down." [21] In 2003 he received the Sam Wanamaker Award jointly with Stephen Unwin for their work promoting Shakespeare in the regions. [22] In 2005 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Bradford, [23] and in 2018 the same degree from Lancaster University. [24]
Rutter was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to drama. [25] [26]
Zoë Wanamaker is an American-British actress who has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. Wanamaker was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2001 by Queen Elizabeth II. She has received numerous accolades including a Laurence Olivier Award and nominations for three BAFTA Awards, and four Tony Awards.
Sir Lenworth George Henry is an English comedian, actor and writer. He gained success as a stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in The Lenny Henry Show in 1984. He was the most prominent black British comedian of the time and much of his material served to celebrate and parody his African-Caribbean roots.
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Aureng-zebe is a Restoration drama by John Dryden, written in 1675. It is based loosely on the figures of Aurangzeb (Aureng-zebe), the then-reigning Mughal Emperor of India; his brother, Murad Baksh (Morat); and their father, Shah Jahan (Emperor). The piece is the last drama that Dryden wrote in rhymed verse. It is considered his best tragic work.
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Northern Broadsides is a theatre company formed in 1992 and based at Dean Clough Mill in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It was founded by Barrie Rutter, who was its Artistic Director until resigning in 2018, followed by Conrad Nelson who was interim for one year and then Laurie Sansom. The company performs in Halifax and on tour, a mix of Shakespeare, new writing and classic works all performed in a characteristic Northern Voice. Barrie Rutter described the company's style as "Northern voices, doing classical work in non-velvet spaces".
Sam Crane is an English actor. He attended Oxford University and LAMDA, where he won the Nicholas Hytner Award. He played Farinelli in Claire van Kampen's Farinelli and the King opposite Mark Rylance at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and reprised his role when the production transferred first to the Duke of York's Theatre and then to the Belasco Theatre on Broadway. He is also known for playing Winston Smith in Headlong's production of 1984 in the West End, Fred Walters in the BBC's six-part drama series Desperate Romantics and Frederick Abberline in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Syndicate. In 2017 he played Patrick Plunket in an episode of the Netflix series The Crown. Since 13th October 2022 Sam has been playing the lead, Harry Potter, in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre, London.
The Sam Wanamaker Award or Sam Wanamaker Prize is an award established in 1994 for pioneering work in Shakespearean theatre, usually given to individuals who have worked closely with Shakespeare's Globe or the Royal Shakespeare Company; the award is not specific to artistic contribution, and has frequently been granted to businessmen and academics. It is one of the two current British awards for classical theatre, alongside the Ian Charleson Award. It is presented by Shakespeare's Globe and named after Sam Wanamaker, the theatre's founder.
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