Chronology of Stage Career, 1956-2015 Year Play Director Company/ Opening Role Author Theatre Performance 1956 Edward II Eric Salmon Ludlow Festival 10 July Gaveston Christopher Marlowe Ludlow Castle 1957 Tell-Tale Murder Geoffrey Staines Opera House, Scarborough June Philip Weathers Relations Are Best Apart Opera House, Scarborough Edwin Lewis As Long As They’re Happy Opera House, Scarborough Vernon Sylvaine The Magic Cupboard Opera House, Scarborough Percy Walsh The Case of the Frightened Guy Vaesen Connaught Theatre, Lady Worthing Edgar Wallace Moby Dick Peter Coe Arts Theatre, Ipswich 28 October Deckhand Orson Welles Henry IV, Part 1 Peter Coe Arts Theatre, Ipswich 11 November Prince John William Shakespeare 1958 Banana Republic Kenneth McClellan Hovenden Players 13 January Colonel Ceballos Kenneth McClellan Hovenden Theatre Club, London Hamlet Lionel Hamilton Northampton Repertory 10 March Player (Lucanius)/Priest William Shakespeare Players Royal Theatre, Northampton Book of the Month Earl Armstrong Company 11 April Colonel Howard Basil Thomas Arcadia Theatre, Lowestoft Barnes-Bradley Gathering Storm Catherine Armstrong Earl Armstrong Company April Frankie Gordon Glennon from Arcadia Theatre, Lowestoft Reynor’s Barton’s novel Envy My Simplicity One Wild Oat Lionel Hamilton Northampton Repertory 12 May Mr Pepys Vernon Sylvaine Players Royal Theatre, Northampton Saturday Night at the Crown Lionel Hamilton Northampton Repertory 26 May Walter Greenwood Players Royal Theatre, Northampton Spider’s Web New Zealand Players tour, Elgin Agatha Christie countrywide from Whangarei to Invercargill The Importance of Being Algernon Moncrieff Earnest Oscar Wilde 1960 The Long and the Short and the Anthony Richardson The Queen’s Players 28 March 777 Pte. Evans, T. E. Tall Queen’s Theatre, Willis Hall Hornchurch Not in the Book David Forder The Queen’s Players 11 April Timothy Gregg Arthur Watkyn Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch You Can’t Take it with You David Forder The Queen’s Players 25 April Tony Kirby Moss Hart and George S. Queen’s Theatre, Kaufman Hornchurch The Merchant of Venice Anthony Richardson The Queen’s Players 9 May Lorenzo William Shakespeare Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch The Unexpected Guest David Forder The Queen’s Players 23 May Jan Warwick Agatha Christie Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch The Wrong Side of the Park Leeds Grand Theatre Miller John Mortimer (August), Alhambra Theatre, Bradford (September), Middlesborough (October), also Golders Green and Streatham Hill Charley’s Aunt Carl Clopet tour included Jack Chesney Brandon Thomas Sunderland and Stockton Hippodrome 1961 Plays included: Whatmore Productions Reluctant Heroes Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh Love in a Mist 11 weeks of weekly rep Ten Little Indians Hay Fever The Bride Comes Back Streatham Hill Theatre, 11 September Ronald Millar London Devonshire Park Theatre, 25 September Eastbourne Grand Theatre, 2 October Wolverhampton Theatre Royal, Nottingham 16 October Theatre Royal, Exeter 23 October 1962 Doctor at Sea Dennis Ramsden Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 19 February Simon Sparrow Ted Willis from the novel by Stratford-upon-Avon Richard Gordon Grand Theatre, 26 February Wolverhampton Kings Theatre, Southsea 5 March Theatre Royal, Exeter 12 March Arts Theatre, Cambridge 19 March Theatre Royal, Bath 26 March King’s Theatre, Edinburgh 2 April Empire Theatre, Newcastle 9 April Alhambra Theatre, 16 April Bradford New Theatre, Hull 23 April Lyceum theatre, Sheffield 30 April A Midsummer Night’s Dream David William New Shakespeare 4 June Demetrius William Shakespeare Company, Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park, London Love’s Labour’s Lost David William New Shakespeare 21 August Dumain William Shakespeare Company, Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park, London Love in Bloom Robert Norman Eastbourne Repertory 26 November Geoffrey Cooper Michael Brett Players Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne All My Sons Eastbourne Repertory 3 December Chris Keller Arthur Miller Players Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne Rookery Nook Eastbourne Repertory 10 December Gerald Popkiss Ben Travers Players Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne 1963 All in Good Time Josephine Wilson Mermaid Theatre, London 6 March Geoffrey Fitton Bill Naughton Phoenix Theatre, London 18 April 1964 Othello John Dexter National Theatre Company 21 April Venetian; Senate William Shakespeare Old Vic, London Officer; Cypriot The Royal Hunt of the Sun John Dexter National Theatre Company 6 July Villac Umu, High Priest Peter Shaffer Chichester Festival Theatre of Peru; 6 performances as Atahualpa (from 11 March 1967) Old Vic, London 8 December The Dutch Courtesan William Gaskill and National Theatre Company 13 October Page; Servant John Marston Piers Haggard Old Vic, London 1965 Much Ado About Nothing Franco Zeffirelli National Theatre Company 16 February Conrade William Shakespeare Old Vic, London Armstrong’s Last Goodnight John Dexter and National Theatre Company 6 July 1st English John Arden William Gaskill Chichester Festival Theatre Commissioner; Lord Johnstone’s Secretary Old Vic, London 12 October Trelawny of the ‘Wells’ Desmond O’Donovan National Theatre Company 13 July Ferdinand Gadd Arthur Wing Pinero Chichester Festival Theatre Miss Julie Michael Elliott National Theatre Company 27 July Peasant August Strindberg Chichester Festival Theatre Trans. Michael Meyer 1966 Othello John Dexter National Theatre Company 12 September Cypriot Officer William Shakespeare Queen’s Theatre, London 1967 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Derek Goldby National Theatre Company 11 April Guildenstern Are Dead Old Vic, London Tom Stoppard A Flea in Her Ear Jacques Charon National Theatre Company Carlos Homenides de Georges Feydeau Old Vic, London Histangua Trans. John Mortimer National Theatre Company 21 October Le Festival Mondial, Montreal 1968 Volpone Tyrone Guthrie National Theatre Company 16 January Voltore Ben Jonson Old Vic, London Edward II Frank Dunlop National Theatre Company 30 April Spencer Bertolt Brecht after Old Vic, London Christopher Marlowe Trans. William E. Smith and Ralph Manheim The Soldier’s Tale John Cox Bath Festival 20 June Soldier Igor Stravinsky Conductor: Gary Bertini Theatre Royal, Bath Trans. John Arden The Advertisement Donald MacKechnie National Theatre Company 16 September Lorenzo Natalia Ginzburg and Laurence Olivier Theatre Royal, Brighton Trans. Henry Reed Old Vic, London 24 September 1969 Scrabble Claude Chagrin National Theatre Company 17 February Harlequin; Pierrot Devised by Claude Chagrin Jeanetta Cochrane Theatre, and written with Oliver Cotton London and Richard Mangan The Way of the World Michael Langham National Theatre Company 1 May Waitwell William Congreve Old Vic, London The White Devil Frank Dunlop National Theatre Company 13 November Count Lodovico John Webster Old Vic, London 1970 A Flea in Her Ear Jacques Charon National Theatre Company 12 February Romain Tournel Georges Feydeau Theatre Royal, Norwich Trans. John Mortimer The Misanthrope David William Nottingham Playhouse September Alceste Molière Trans. Richard Wilbur Lulu Peter Barnes and Stuart Nottingham Playhouse 8 December Alwa Frank Wedekind Burge Company Adapted by Peter Barnes and Royal Court Theatre, translated by Charlotte Beck London 1971 Morality Roger Croucher Royal Court Theatre 31 January Laurence Caldecott Jeremy Seabrook and Michael Upstairs, London O’Neill John Bull’s Other Island Alan Strachan Mermaid Theatre, London 13 May Laurence Doyle Bernard Shaw Swan Song David William Crucible Theatre, Sheffield 10 November Nikita Ivanitch Anton Chekhov Trans. Guy Sells 1972 Who Thought It? Arts Theatre, London 2 May Colin Bennett and Alex Durant Ruling the Roost Richard Cottrell The Actors’ Company 22 August Manager Georges Feydeau Forum Theatre, Billingham Adapted by Richard Cottrell Edinburgh International 28 August Festival Royal Lyceum Theatre Leeds Grand Theatre 11 September Cambridge Arts Theatre 2 October ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore David Giles Edinburgh International 4 September Soranzo John Ford Festival Royal Lyceum Theatre Leeds Grand Theatre 14 September Cambridge Arts Theatre 5 October 1973 The Tempest Jane Howell Northcott Theatre, Exeter 2 May Prospero William Shakespeare Hoe Theatre, Plymouth 15 May The Way of the World David William The Actors’ Company 14 August Mirabell William Congreve Nottingham Playhouse Edinburgh International 31 August Festival Royal Lyceum Theatre Cambridge Arts Theatre 10 September Theatre Royal, Bath 4 October Kingston-upon-Hull 15 October Theatre Royal, Norwich 22 October Opera House, Manchester 29 October Royal Court Theatre, 15 November Liverpool The Wood Demon David Giles The Actors’ Company 21 August Simon (worker at Anton Chekhov Nottingham Playhouse Dyadin’s) Trans. Ronald Hingley Edinburgh International 27 August Festival Royal Lyceum Theatre Cambridge Arts Theatre 13 September Theatre Royal, Brighton 24 September Theatre Royal, Bath 1 October Kingston-upon-Hull 18 October Theatre Royal, Norwich 25 October Opera House, Manchester 1 November Royal Court Theatre, 12 November Liverpool Knots Edward Petherbridge The Actors’ Company 3 September Pipe; Comedian’s Devised by Edward Edinburgh International Stooge; ‘Pierrot’ Petherbridge from the book by Festival R. D. Laing Royal Lyceum Theatre Shaw Theatre, London 18 December Flow Edward Petherbridge The Actors’ Company 3 September Gabriel Josipovici Edinburgh International Festival Royal Lyceum Theatre Shaw Theatre, London 18 December 1974 The Wood Demon David Giles The Actors’ Company 29 January Simon (worker at Anton Chekhov Brooklyn Academy of Dyadin’s)