Kathryn Hunter
Encyclopedia
Kathryn Hunter is an award-winning English actress and theatre director.
Hunter was born in New York to Greek parents but brought up in the UK. She trained at RADA
where she is now an associate, and regularly directs student productions.
and has worked with renowned companies in that field including Shared Experience
and Complicite
. She won an Olivier Award in 1990 for playing the millionairess in Friedrich Durrenmatt
's The Visit. Hunter was the first British actress to play King Lear professionally and has played a number of other male characters including in The Bee, directed by Hideki Noda, which played at the Soho Theatre
in June 2006. She has toured internationally in the first English-language production of Fragments a collection of short plays by Samuel Beckett
, directed by Peter Brook
.
In 2008, she was made an Artistic Associate at the Royal Shakespeare Company
. In January to March 2009, she directed a touring RSC production of Othello
at the Warwick Arts Centre
, Hackney Empire
, Northern Stage
, Oxford Playhouse and Liverpool Playhouse
. Her husband is movement director on the production and appeared in it as Roderigo - other cast included Michael Gould
, Patrice Naiambana and Natalia Tena
as Iago, Othello and Desdemona respectively. She also appeared at the Young Vic from March 2009 in the lead in Kafka's Monkey.
In 2010, she appeared as Cleopatra, in a production of Antony and Cleopatra, and as the Fool, in a production of King Lear at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Courtyard Theatre in Stratford on Avon. In January, 2011, she withdrew from these roles shortly before the plays were due to be revived.
In May 2011, she will be reprising her highly acclaimed performance as the ape in the 2009 sell-out success Kafka's Monkey at the Young Vic in London.
as Cleopatra
's companion, Charmian. Notable film work includes Mike Leigh
's All or Nothing (2002) and Harry Potter
's neighbour, Arabella Figg, in the fifth movie of the Harry Potter
series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
(2007).
Hunter was born in New York to Greek parents but brought up in the UK. She trained at RADA
Rada
Rada is the term for "council" or "assembly"borrowed by Polish from the Low Franconian "Rad" and later passed into the Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages....
where she is now an associate, and regularly directs student productions.
Stage work
In her stage work, Hunter is particularly associated with physical theatrePhysical theatre
Physical theatre is used to describe any mode of performance that pursues storytelling or drama through primarily and secondarily physical and mental means. There are several quite distinct but indistinct traditions of performance which all describe themselves using the term "physical theatre",...
and has worked with renowned companies in that field including Shared Experience
Shared Experience
Shared Experience is a British theatre company. Its current joint artistic directors are Nancy Meckler and Polly Teale. Kate Saxon is an Associate Director.-Productions:*A Passage to India *Madame Bovary...
and Complicite
Complicite
The British theatre company Complicite was founded in 1983 by Simon McBurney, Annabel Arden, and Marcello Magni. Its original name was Théâtre de Complicité. "The Company's inimitable style of visual and devised theatre [has] an emphasis on strong, corporeal, poetic and surrealist image supporting...
. She won an Olivier Award in 1990 for playing the millionairess in Friedrich Durrenmatt
Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Friedrich Dürrenmatt was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theatre whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work included avant-garde dramas, philosophically deep crime novels, and often macabre satire...
's The Visit. Hunter was the first British actress to play King Lear professionally and has played a number of other male characters including in The Bee, directed by Hideki Noda, which played at the Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre is a theatre in the eponymous Soho district of the City of Westminster. It presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret....
in June 2006. She has toured internationally in the first English-language production of Fragments a collection of short plays by Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
, directed by Peter Brook
Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...
.
In 2008, she was made an Artistic Associate at the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
. In January to March 2009, she directed a touring RSC production of Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
at the Warwick Arts Centre
Warwick Arts Centre
Warwick Arts Centre is a multi-venue arts complex at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England. It attracts around 300,000 visitors a year to over 3,000 individual events embracing contemporary and classical music, drama, dance, comedy, films and visual art.Warwick Arts Centre comprises six...
, Hackney Empire
Hackney Empire
The Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in the London Borough of Hackney, built in 1901 as a music hall.-History:Hackney Empire is a grade II* listed building...
, Northern Stage
Northern Stage
Northern Stage is a non-profit, regional professional company located in White River Junction, Vermont. The company began in 1992 to offer high-quality professional theater in northern New England...
, Oxford Playhouse and Liverpool Playhouse
Liverpool Playhouse
The Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It originated in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the early careers of many actors and actresses, some of which went on to achieve...
. Her husband is movement director on the production and appeared in it as Roderigo - other cast included Michael Gould
Michael Gould (actor)
Michael Gould is a British actor.-Stage:*Kathryn Hunter's 2009 touring Royal Shakespeare Company production of Othello as Iago.*In Extremis...
, Patrice Naiambana and Natalia Tena
Natalia Tena
Natalia Gastiain Tena is a British actress and musician. She sings and plays the accordion in the band Molotov Jukebox. In her acting career, Tena is best known for playing Nymphadora Tonks in the Harry Potter film series, and Ellie in the movie About a Boy.-Life and career:Tena was born in...
as Iago, Othello and Desdemona respectively. She also appeared at the Young Vic from March 2009 in the lead in Kafka's Monkey.
In 2010, she appeared as Cleopatra, in a production of Antony and Cleopatra, and as the Fool, in a production of King Lear at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Courtyard Theatre in Stratford on Avon. In January, 2011, she withdrew from these roles shortly before the plays were due to be revived.
In May 2011, she will be reprising her highly acclaimed performance as the ape in the 2009 sell-out success Kafka's Monkey at the Young Vic in London.
TV and film
Her screen work includes a supporting role in the TV series RomeRome (TV series)
Rome is a British-American–Italian historical drama television series created by Bruno Heller, John Milius and William J. MacDonald. The show's two seasons premiered in 2005 and 2007, and were later released on DVD. Rome is set in the 1st century BC, during Ancient Rome's transition from Republic...
as Cleopatra
Cleopatra (character of Rome)
Cleopatra is a character from the HBO/BBC original television series Rome, played by Lyndsey Marshal from October 16, 2005 through March 25, 2007. The basis for this character is the famous historical Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII.-Personality:...
's companion, Charmian. Notable film work includes Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...
's All or Nothing (2002) and Harry Potter
Harry Potter (character)
Harry James Potter is the title character and main protagonist of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. The majority of the books' plot covers seven years in the life of the orphan Potter who, on his eleventh birthday, learns he is a wizard...
's neighbour, Arabella Figg, in the fifth movie of the Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a 2007 fantasy film directed by David Yates and based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the fifth instalment in the Harry Potter film series, written by Michael Goldenberg and produced by David Heyman and David Barron...
(2007).