Matthew Rhys Joins RWCMD New International Chairs in Drama

24 February 2015

Matthew Rhys, Martin Constantine, Pamela Howard and Simon Stephens are joining the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama as new Jane Hodge International Chairs in Drama. Their appointments bring them within a group of artists that already includes Michael Sheen, baritone Simon Keenlyside, and opera director and vocal coach John Fisher. This new investment, which allows students to work closely with leading international artists and to continue to benefit from their knowledge, insight and artistry, will further develop the profound impact made by the Chairs on both the experience of the students and the national and international profile of the College.

The Jane Hodge International Chairs at the Royal Welsh College are:

Pamela Howard, International Chair in Drama
Matthew Rhys, International Chair in Drama
Michael Sheen, International Chair in Drama
Simon Stephens, International Chair in Drama
Martin Constantine, International Chair in Directing

Internationally acclaimed actor Matthew Rhys said, “To be asked by the College to travel home and impart what my travels have taught me is an enormous honour. Having been to the College recently  to accept my Fellowship, I’m looking forward to coming back to Wales and working with the students.”

 

Fellow actor Michael Sheen, comments, “I was delighted to be one of the first International Chairs in Drama at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and have enjoyed working with the new generation of acting and production talent, training at the College. I feel sure that this exciting initiative, where the current generation of Welsh actors pass on their knowledge and experience to inspire the next, will enable us to further secure the legacy of acting in Wales.”

“The College is one of the most thorough and searching actor training courses in Europe,” adds playwright Simon Stephens. “There is an astonishing level of new talent coming through Wales right now and to be part of stimulating, provoking and challenging that talent will be inspiring. I will learn far more than I will teach.”

Stage designer Professor Pamela Howard, who has just given her first masterclass to RWCMD design students, agrees, “I have been following the development of the course over several years, and am happy to see that it’s without doubt the leader in its field. Its innovative approach to the subject provides unique opportunities for students entering the theatre profession, and its vision of multi-disciplinary education in the Arts, without compromise to the subject, has earned world respect.”

“The drama department is delighted that these posts have been created and that we have been able to appoint such inspirational and prestigious artists from the world of performing arts,” agrees Sean Crowley, Director of Drama. “The Jane Hodge International Chairs in Drama will both inspire and further enhance our students’ ability to train, perform, and fulfil their potential in their chosen profession, reflecting the College’s commitment to drama training within Wales.”

Hilary Boulding, Principal of the Royal Welsh College, said “We are enormously grateful to the Jane Hodge Foundation for their generosity which has enabled us to appoint exceptional artists from across the world as mentors for the new generation of performers, designers and technicians training here.”

The Jane Hodge International Chairs in Music at the Royal Welsh College are John Fisher, International Chair in Opera, Simon Keenlyside, International Chair in Voice, Daniel Phillips, International Chair in Violin, Carlo Rizzi, International Chair in Conducting and Paul Watkins, International Chair in Cello.

 

Editors’ Notes

The Jane Hodge Foundation

The Jane Hodge Foundation is a grant making charity, established in 1962 by the late Sir Julian Hodge in memory of his mother. Sir Julian had a long career in banking and finance and set up many businesses in Wales including Julian Hodge Bank Limited, which is based in Cardiff. The Jane Hodge Foundation support a wide range of charities involved in health, education and religion, both locally, in South Wales, and across the UK.

 

The Jane Hodge International Chairs:

Pamela Howard: International Chair in Drama

Pamela Howard has worked as a Stage Designer in the UK, Europe and USA since 1960, and has realised over 250 productions. She has worked at all the major national and regional theatres, including the creation of several large scale site-specific works in Glasgow with the late John McGrath.

Since 2000 she has been developing her work as Director/Scenographer specialising in contemporary opera and music theatre, with a particular interest in site specific and sustainable theatre. She is currently working on Charlotte a new music/theatre original creation with Alon Nashman (Libretto/performer) and Ales Brezina (Composer) for Canadian Stage Company, Toronto.

 

Matthew Rhys: International Chair in Drama

Matthew Rhys was born and grew up in Cardiff and after winning a Bafta Cymru best actor award for his role in the film Bydd yn Wrol has enjoyed a successful career both in Wales and across the UK.

Film and TV roles saw him playing alongside Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce and Rachel Griffiths. In theatre he took the leading role of Benjamin in the West End adaption of The Graduate with Kathleen Turner playing Mrs Robinson. In 2005 he made a film about his journey across the plains of Patagonia, recording in film and photography the journey of the band of Welshmen who had arrived there 120 years before to establish a Welsh speaking enclave. He has subsequently created a film production company named Patagonia.

Matthew is now based in LA where he has had a hugely successful television career. His most renowned role was as the lawyer Kevin Walker in the 5 season run of ABC’s Brothers & Sisters and has recently been seen on television both in the US and the UK as a KGB sleeper agent in The Americans. He has returned to work in the UK with his most recent roles including the lead in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and The Scapegoat on British TV, and as Mr Darcy in the murder mystery based on Pride and Prejudice, Death Comes to Pemberley.

 

Michael Sheen: International Chair in Drama

Michael made his professional debut in 1991, starring opposite Vanessa Redgrave in When She Danced at the Globe Theatre, and made notable stage appearances in Romeo and Juliet (1992), Don’t Fool With Love (1993) and Peer Gynt (1994). Sheen has become better known as a screen actor since the 2000s, in particular through his roles in various biopics, starring in a trilogy of films as British politician Tony Blair: The Deal in 2003, followed by The Queen (2006) and The Special Relationship (2010), for which he was nominated for both a BAFTA Award and an Emmy. Sheen was also nominated for a BAFTA for his role as Kenneth Williams in BBC Four’s Fantabulosa!, and won an Olivier Award in 2006 for portraying the broadcaster David Frost in Frost/Nixon, a role he revisited in the 2008 film adaptation of the play. He has also starred as the outspoken football manager Brian Clough in The Damned United as well as many other film roles including The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris.

Michael Sheen returned home to Port Talbot in 2011 to create and star in National Theatre Wales’s The Passion, a 72-hour secular passion play staged in and around his home town. From late 2011 until early 2012, he played the title role in Hamlet at the Young Vic. In 2013, he received a Golden Globe nomination for his role in Showtime’s television drama Masters of Sex. Michael Sheen was awarded an OBE in 2009 in recognition of his services to Drama.

 

Simon Stephens: International Chair in Drama

Multi award-winning playwright Simon Stephens is an Artist Associate at the Lyric, Hammersmith and the inaugural associate Playwright of Steep Theatre Company, Chicago, where two of his plays, Harper Regan and Motortown had their US premieres.

He has taught on the Young Writers’ Programme at the Royal Court Theatre for many years and his writing, characterised as part of the in-yer-face generation, includes the recent adaptation of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which won him his second Olivier for Best New Play in 2013.

 

Martin Constantine: International Chair in Directing

Award-winning theatre and opera director Martin Constantine has directed for such companies as the Royal Opera House, Royal Shakespeare Company, English National Opera, Welsh National Youth Opera, Almeida, Bristol Old Vic, National Theatre Studio, Chichester Festival Theatre, and Grange Park Opera. His recent production of Paul Bunyan for Welsh National Opera won the RPS Award and was nominated for a South Bank Sky Arts Award. He is co-artistic director of liveartshow, a company making new work with music who recently won the MTN Award for The Future for Beginners at the Edinburgh Festival, and their productions were the centrepiece of the Peter Brook Empty Space Award winning season at The Yard Theatre, London. Martin established and is Director of ENO Opera Works – an innovative training course for young opera singers at English National Opera. He has directed several recent operas at RWCMD including The Magic Flute and Cosi Fan Tutte.