Patrick Tucker

The fourth child of a professor of African languages, Patrick graduated as a physicist from the University of London, although he had by then become infected with the theatre bug from acting in, and running a company on, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This led him to a post-graduate course in directing at Boston University. Since his first professional production in 1968, he has directed over 200 plays in all forms of theatre, from weekly repertory to the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was accepted by the BBC TElevision Directing program in 1976 and has subsequently directed nearly 200 television programs, ranging from plays for the BBC to Shakespeare in Danish for Danish television. Beginning with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Patrick started teaching Shakespeare and verse speaking. In going back to the basics (as any physicist should), he has developed his own unique approach based upon the cue scripts that Shakespeare’s own actors would have used. With his actor partner Christine Ozanne he founded the Original Shakespeare Company in the 1990s, putting these ideas into practice, and amongst other places has presented Folio Cue Script productions at Shakespeare’s Globe in London, the World Stage Festival in Toronto, and the Jerash Festival in Jordan. He is immensely proud that his niece Dr. Tiffany Stern has found his work of value for her books and research. His own books include Secrets of Screen Acting, Secrets of Acting Shakespeare, and with Christine The Actor’s Survival Handbook and most recently the Award Monologues for Men/Women.