Tonight at 7pm, the West End’s theatres will dim their lights for two minutes in memory of Sir Antony Sher, the renowned actor whose death was announced on Friday. His fans will gather in Covent Garden’s streets to applaud and remember one of Theatreland’s greatest Shakespeareans.
Antony Sher’s career in the West End stretched across the latter half of the twentieth century, and his most recent roles were in ‘Pinter at the Pinter’, for which Time Out’s critic Andrzej Lukowski praised him for his ‘transfixing’ and ‘wonderful’ performance, and ‘Kunene and the King’, in which, poignantly, he played an ageing actor in a ‘King Lear’-esque story of decline.
Sher was born in South Africa, before moving to London in 1968 to seek an acting career. Famous drama school Rada declined to admit him: ‘we strongly urge you to seek a different career’, his rejection letter read. But luckily he didn’t listen, and eventually landed a gig acting with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), where he won plaudits for his landmark takes on roles such as Richard III.
The West End’s lights were last dimmed less than a fortnight ago, for legendary composer Stephen Sondheim’s passing, making this a sombre time for theatre fans. But it’s also a time to celebrate some of the most venerable artists to have trodden Theatreland’s boards.
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