Becket or The Honour of God is a 1959 play written in French by Jean Anouilh. It is a depiction of the conflict between Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England leading to Becket's assassination in 1170. It contains many historical inaccuracies, which the author acknowledged.
Sir Jonathan Pryce is a Welsh actor who is known for his performances on stage and in film and television. He has received numerous awards, including two Tony Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards. In 2021 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to drama. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he began his career as a stage actor in the early 1970s. His work in theatre includes an Olivier Award-winning performance in the title role of the Royal Court Theatre's Hamlet in 1980 and as The Engineer in the stage musical Miss Saigon in 1990. On the Broadway stage he earned Tony Awards—the first for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his Broadway debut role in Comedians (1977), the second for Best Actor in a Musical for the Broadway transfer of the musical Miss Saigon (1991).
Sir David Hare is an English playwright, screenwriter and theatre and film director. Best known for his stage work, Hare has also enjoyed great success with films, receiving two Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for writing The Hoursin 2002, based on the novel written by Michael Cunningham, and The Readerin 2008, based on the novel of the same name written by Bernhard Schlink.
Samantha Bond is an English actress, who is best known for playing Miss Moneypenny in four James Bond films during the Pierce Brosnan years, and for her role on Downton Abbey as the wealthy widow Lady Rosamund Painswick, sister of Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham. She is also known for originating the role of "Miz Liz" Probert in the Rumpole of the Bailey series. Bond is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. In her television career, she is known for her role as "Auntie Angela" in the sitcom Outnumbered and the villain Mrs Wormwood in the CBBC Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Sir Antony Sher was a British actor, writer and theatre director of South African origin. A two-time Laurence Olivier Award winner and a four-time nominee, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1982 and toured in many roles, as well as appearing on film and television. In 2001, he starred in his cousin Ronald Harwood's play Mahler's Conversion, and said that the story of a composer sacrificing his faith for his career echoed his own identity struggles.
Andrew Scott is an Irish actor. He played Jim Moriarty in the BBC series Sherlock, for which he won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Supporting Actor. Scott's role as the priest on the second series of Fleabag, received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film and won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He won further acclaim playing the lead role of Garry Essendine in a 2019 stage production of Present Laughter at The Old Vic, for which he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play.
Sir David Mark Rylance Waters is a British actor, playwright and theatre director. He is known for his roles on stage and screen having received numerous awards including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Laurence Olivier Awards, and three Tony Awards.
Adam Godley is an English actor. He has been nominated for four Laurence Olivier Awards for his performances on the London stage which include, Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick in 1999, Mouth to Mouth in 2002, Rain Man in 2008, and The Lehman Trilogy in 2019. He made his Broadway debut in 2002 in a revival of Noël Coward's Private Lives for which he earned a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway debut. In 2011 he returned to Broadway in the musical Anything Goes for which he earned a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical nomination. In 2021, The Lehman Trilogy made its Broadway transfer to great critical acclaim, and securing Godley another Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Play.
Sir Simon Russell Beale is an English actor. He is known for his appearances in film, television and theatre, and work on radio, on audiobooks and as a narrator. For his services to drama, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in 2019.
Douglas Hodge is an English actor, director, and musician who trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He is a member of the council of National Youth Theatre for which in 1989, he co-wrote Pacha Mama's Blessing about the Amazon rain forests staged at the Almeida Theatre.
Lesley Ann Manville is an English actress known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films Grown-Ups (1980), High Hopes (1988), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), Another Year (2010), and Mr. Turner (2014). She has been nominated for two British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in Another Year (2010) and Phantom Thread (2017); with the latter earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Alan MacKenzie Howard, CBE was an English actor. He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1966 to 1983 and played leading roles at the Royal National Theatre between 1992 and 2000.
Peter Glenville was an English film and stage actor and director.
Clare Frances Elizabeth Higgins is an English actress. Her film appearances include Hellraiser (1987), Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), Small Faces (1996) and The Golden Compass (2007).
Richard McCabe is a Scottish actor who has specialised in classical theatre. He is an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).
Daniel Gwyn Evans is a Welsh actor and director.
Gregory Doran is an English director known for his Shakespearean work. The Sunday Times called him 'one of the great Shakespearians of his generation'.
Paul Englishby is a film and theatre composer, orchestrator, conductor and pianist. He is best known for his Emmy Award-winning jazz score for David Hare's Page Eight, his orchestral score for the Oscar nominated An Education, his BAFTA nominated score for the BBC's Luther and his many theatre scores for the Royal Shakespeare Company, with whom Paul is an associated artist.
James John McArdle is a Scottish actor from Glasgow. He won the Ian Charleson Award for his role as Mikhail Platonov in Platonov and was nominated for an Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for portraying Louis Ironson in Angels in America.
Robert Hugh Carvel is a British actor. He has twice won a Laurence Olivier Award: for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his role as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical, and for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as Rupert Murdoch in Ink. For the latter role, he also won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play.
