Alumni Successes
Drama alumni also achieved extraordinary things during 2011/12. Simon Baker (Technical Theatre 1992) won Best Sound Design in the 2012 Laurence Olivier Awards for Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge Theatre, while Danielle Tarento (Acting 1994) won best producer and best new musical for Burlesque at the 2012 Off West End Awards.
Roger Gale (Speech and Drama 1963) received a knighthood in the New Year’s Honours list for public and political services. Dominic West (Acting 1995) won Best Leading Actor, alongside Monica Dolan (Acting 1991) who won Best Supporting Actress, at the BAFTAs in May for their performances
as Fred and Rosemary West in the ITV two-part drama Appropriate Adult. Among many major castings for Guildhall acting alumni, 2011 saw Owain Arthur (Acting 2006) take over from James Corden in the lead role in the National Theatre’s hit comedy One Man, Two Guvnors in its West End transfer, during
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which he performed for the Queen and Prince Philip at a preview, and the casting of Lily James (Acting 2010) as Rose in ITV hit show Downton Abbey alongside existing cast members and alumni Michelle Dockery (Acting 2004) and Lesley Nicol (Acting 1974).
The Sheffield Crucible theatre saw a major new production of Shakespeare’s Othello with no less than six Guildhall alumni on stage. Acting graduates were out in force in Daniel Evans’ production, which opened on 20 September. Evans, himself a graduate from the class of 1994, assembled a stellar cast and the production opened to great reviews. The Times called it ‘increasingly potent’, whilst Michael Billington of the Guardian said ‘Sheffield is lucky to have a production of this calibre’. The cast included Dominic West, star of The Wire and a graduate of the School’s Acting class of 1995, as Othello, as well as Lily James (Acting 2010), who played Desdemona, Gwilym Lee as Cassio (Acting 2008), Brodie Ross as Roderigo (Acting 2009), and also featured Luciano Dodero (Acting 2005) and Josh Hart (Acting 2011).
Brodie Ross and Dominic West
To find out more visit www.gsmd.ac.uk