Jeffery Kissoon

Jeffery Kissoon
Born (1947-09-04) 4 September 1947 (age 77)
Trinidad, British Windward Islands
EducationChristopher Wren School
Occupation(s)Actor
theatre director
Years active1970–present
Organization(s)Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal National Theatre
Citizens Theatre Company
Board member ofShared Experience
Warehouse Theatre Company
AwardsPeloponnesian International Film Festival Best Lead Actor Award (2012)

Jeffery Kissoon (born 4 September 1947) is an actor with credits in British theatre, television, film and radio. He has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company at venues such as the Royal National Theatre, under directors including Peter Brook, Peter Hall, Robert Lepage, Janet Suzman, Calixto Bieito and Nicholas Hytner.[1] He has acted in genres from Shakespeare and modern theatre to television drama and science fiction, playing a range of both leading and supporting roles, from Mark Antony in Antony and Cleopatra and Prospero and Caliban in The Tempest, to Malcolm X in The Meeting and Mr Kennedy in the children's TV series Grange Hill.

A regular director of theatre, Kissoon is a member of the board of directors of the Shared Experience company and the Warehouse Theatre in Croydon, London. He has tutored younger actors, writers and directors, and values the rehearsal process.[2] He played the lead role in the Mark Norfolk film Ham and the Piper (2012), and also directed Norfolk's theatre productions Knock Down Ginger, staged in 2003, Naked Soldiers, 2010 and Where the Flowers Grow, 2011, at the Warehouse Theatre.[3] He reprised his role as Antony in Suzman's production of Antony and Cleopatra, appearing opposite Kim Cattrall as Cleopatra, at the Liverpool Playhouse in 2010.[4][5][6][7][8]

Early life and career

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Born in Trinidad, British Windward Islands (now Trinidad and Tobago) Kissoon, of Dougla heritage, emigrated to London with his parents at an early age. While attending the Christopher Wren School in Shepherd's Bush,[9] he joined the student drama group. In 1970, under Robert Tanitch and Eric Rickman, he made his first appearance as an actor in the film Like You, Like Me,[10] an inter-racial romance.

Although he trained as a drama teacher, Kissoon has worked as an actor since the early 1970s. In 1972, he joined the Glasgow Citizens Theatre Company and, for two years thereafter, played leading roles in a number of productions, including Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine The Great and Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera.[11] During this period, he worked with director Keith Hack, who cast him as Tamburlaine for the 1972 Edinburgh Festival,[11] and as Caliban for the Royal Shakespeare Company's 1974 production of The Tempest at The Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon.[12] Kissoon had his first prominent television role playing Sam in Beryl's Lot for Yorkshire Television (in 1975),[13] after which he played PC Robbins in an episode of Z-Cars and Sonny in a BBC Play for Today titled "Rocky Marciano is Dead" (both in 1976).[13] He portrayed Dr. Ben Vincent in seven episodes of Gerry Anderson's science-fiction series Space 1999 between 1976 and 1977.[13][14]

In 1985, Kissoon played Karna in Peter Brook's nine-hour stage adaptation of The Mahabharata.[15] The three-year project opened at the Festival d'Avignon in France and completed a world tour, ultimately leading to a film adaptation running to six hours. It also resulted in a lasting professional association between Kissoon and Brook, which witnessed Kissoon play two roles in the director's production of Shakespeare's Hamlet.[16] Kissoon is a veteran cast member of both RSC and Royal National Theatre productions, regularly collaborating with director Sir Peter Hall.[17][18] In 2002, he participated in a rehearsed reading of Wrong Place at the Soho Theatre,[19] continuing his association with playwright Mark Norfolk whose play ″Knock Down Ginger″ he later directed at the Warehouse Theatre the following year. The play starred former EastEnders actors Judith Jacob, Sylvester Williams [20] and marked the stage debut of Troy Glasgow.

Kissoon's more recent screen and stage credits include W1A (TV series) (BBC, 2017), Star Wars: The Force Awakens, EastEnders (BBC, 2015), Julius Caesar (Royal Shakespeare Company), Ham & The Piper (Mark Norfolk, 2013)[21] Dirty Pretty Things (Stephen Frears, 2002), Crossing Bridges (Mark Norfolk, 2006), Holby City (BBC, 2006), Casualty (BBC, 2008), War and Peace (Hampstead Theatre, 2008), Amazonia (Old Vic, 2009) and The Meeting (Warehouse Theatre, 2009).[22] He played the lead role in Norfolk's film Ham and the Piper (2013),[23] for which he won the Best Lead Actor Award at the 2012 Peloponnesian International Film Festival, after having directed Ewart James Walters, Elisabeth Dahl and Adam Sopp in Norfolk's play Naked Soldiers at the Warehouse Theatre the previous year.[3] He later won a Best Actor at the Eko International Film Festival, Nigeria for his performance in Ham & The Piper. In 2011, Kissoon directed Norfolk's Where the Flowers Grow, again at the Warehouse Theatre.[24] Kissoon reprised his Mark Antony, opposite Kim Cattrall's Cleopatra, in a production of Antony and Cleopatra, directed by Janet Suzman and performed at the Liverpool Playhouse, in October 2010.[25] This was followed by Waiting For Godot at the West Yorkshire Playhouse (co-starring Patrick Robinson) and the RSC's production of Julius Caesar (in the title role). In 2016 Kissoon featured in the Unicorn Theatre's My Father, Odysseus written by Timberlake Wertenbaker and later directed a stunning Hamlet [26] in a contemporary adaptation by Mark Norfolk. The Egyptian-themed production for Black Theatre Live[27] toured nationally in the UK and was noted for its narrative clarity as well as being the first all black company of Shakespeare's tragedy in Britain, including an all black creative team. Kissoon utilised the ancient African martial art form, Ka Zimba during rehearsals, employing professional drumming and movement practitioners to explore how the breath and the natural spirit combine to conjure up character. He and writer, Norfolk maintained their collaboration in 2018 with Kissoon directing Norfolk's play about the world of finance, Dare To Do (The Bear Maxim) [28][29] for Ka Zimba Theatre at the Space. Rehearsals took place in Notting Hill as a way of engaging with a traumatised community after the recent Grenfell Fire tragedy and they later teamed up again, producing staged readings of edgy new plays at the Muse Gallery & Performance Space in Notting Hill, London, including plays such as The Misclarification of Sulieman Dewani and short plays Dinner With Bono by Mark Norfolk based on the short story by Jackee Butesta Batanda and Birdbath by Leonard Melfi. In 2019 he also directed Norfolk's post Windrush 3-hander What A' Fe' Yu' which performed over three nights at the Actors Centre, Tower Street, London as part of its Johnthreehaw Initiative under the theme of Motherhoods.[30] The cast featured Linda Mathis, Benjamin Cawley and Lenox Kambaba in a narrative that explored family expectations and legacy in contemporary Britain and went on to perform at the Muse Gallery. More recently Kissoon has been appearing as Justice Wainwright on the west end in Agatha Christie's Witness For The Prosecution at County Hall, London.

Kissoon performed in the BBC Radio 4 sitcom Rudy's Rare Records (2008–12) as Rudy's friend Clifton.[31][32] He also featured in Norfolk's "Broken Chain", a segment of Radio 4's The City Speaks (2008), which is credited as the first "feature film for radio" produced in collaboration with Film London and Arts Council England.

In 2001, Kissoon joined the cast of the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, in which he played a friend of Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker). In 2015, Kissoon returned to EastEnders, this time playing the part of Judge Anthony Abego who oversees Max Branning's (Jake Wood) murder trial. A year later, he reprised his role of the judge, this time overseeing the murder trial of the killers of Paul Coker (Jonny Labey).

Work

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Theatre

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Radio

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Film

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Television

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References

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  1. ^ Adrian Hamilton, The Independent, 20 August 2005.[dead link]
  2. ^ Shared Experience Education Pack. Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b "by at - - London UK - more on OffWestEnd.com - Listings and showtimes for over 80 Off West End theatres in London UK". Offwestend.com. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  4. ^ Kim Cattrall and Jeffery Kissoon in Antony and Cleopatra Archived 26 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine, News, Everyman Playhouse, Liverpool, 30 April 2010.
  5. ^ Catherine Jones, "Sex And The City's Kim Cattrall to make Liverpool stage debut as Cleopatra" Archived 10 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Liverpool Echo, 30 April 2010.
  6. ^ Terri Paddock, "Kim Cattrall, Jeffrey Kissoon to Star in Antony and Cleopatra at Liverpool Playhouse" Archived 6 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Theater Mania, 30 April 2010.
  7. ^ BWW News Desk, "Cattrall & Kissoon Confirmed for ANTHONY & CLEOPATRA in Liverpool, 10/8-11/13" Archived 15 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Broadwayworld.com, 30 April 2012.
  8. ^ Mark Shenton, "Kim Cattrall Confirmed to Play Cleopatra in Liverpool; Dates Announced" Archived 15 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Playbill.com, 30 April 2010.
  9. ^ Memories of White City. Archived 28 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ a b British Film Institute Film and Television Database. Archived 18 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ a b c d e "Welcome to nginx". Archived from the original on 25 December 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
  12. ^ a b Michael Pennington's website. Archived 10 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ a b c Jeffery Kissoon Archived 7 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine on IMDb.
  14. ^ Catacombs Credit Guide.
  15. ^ Frank Rich, New York Times, October 1987.
  16. ^ Michael Billington in The Guardian, 20 December 2000.
  17. ^ "Oedipus". Alanhoward.org.uk. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  18. ^ a b Michael Coveney, "Alan Howard was not immune to the curse of Thebes. He fell off the stage and broke his wrist" Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Observer, 8 September 1996.
  19. ^ BBC London. Archived 15 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ "Sylvester Williams". IMDb.
  21. ^ "Ham & the Piper". IMDb. 7 April 2013.
  22. ^ Internet Movie Database (IMDb) Archived 7 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ "Ham & the Piper (2012) | BFI". Archived from the original on 17 June 2020.
  24. ^ Loxton, Howard (2011). "Where the Flowers Grow". British Theatre Guide. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  25. ^ Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse. Archived 6 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  26. ^ Marlowe, Sam (16 September 2016). "Theatre: Hamlet at Watford Palace Theatre". The Sunday Times.
  27. ^ "Black Theatre Live".
  28. ^ "Theatre review: Dare to do (The Bear Maxim) at the Space". British Theatre Guide.
  29. ^ Omaweng, Chris (31 May 2018). "Review of Dare to do (The Bear Maxim) at the Space". LondonTheatre1.
  30. ^ "Seven Dials Playhouse presenting world-class theatre". Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  31. ^ a b Rudy's Rare Records Archived 15 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine, BBC.
  32. ^ Rudy's Rare Records Archived 21 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The British Comedy Guide.
  33. ^ AHDS Performing Arts. Archived 5 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  34. ^ Random House Modern Library RSC Stagings History. Archived 25 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  35. ^ Rob Wilton: Theatricalia, 1970–1979. Archived 9 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  36. ^ RSC Archive Catalogue.[permanent dead link]
  37. ^ "17 Sept – 24 Oct 1981, Dr Faustus" Archived 8 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Royal Exchange Theatre website.
  38. ^ "Library Services - Information Services - University of Kent". Library.kent.ac.uk. 14 December 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  39. ^ "Welcome to nginx". Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
  40. ^ History of the theatre 1977–2005. Archived 5 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  41. ^ "The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida" Archived 26 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, The RSC Shakespeare.
  42. ^ Victoria and Albert Museum Catalogue. Archived 6 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  43. ^ AHDS Performing Arts Database.[dead link]
  44. ^ Gallery, Kim Dambaek website. Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  45. ^ Talawa Theatre Company Website. Archived 31 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  46. ^ Sheridan Morley, "The Trinidad Follies" Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, 24 July 1991.
  47. ^ Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project. Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  48. ^ "Interview: Jeffrey Kissoon on playing Oberon" Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, eStage.
  49. ^ Othello, Birmingham City Council. Archived 20 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  50. ^ "Shakespeare Birthplace Trust". www.shakespeare.org.uk. Archived from the original on 27 January 2006. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  51. ^ "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar" Archived 17 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine, The RSC Shakespeare.
  52. ^ Irving Wardle, "THEATRE / The best little whorehouse in Dublin" Archived 7 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine, The Independent on Sunday, 18 September 1994.
  53. ^ Complicite website. Archived 25 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  54. ^ Ben Brantley for The New York Times[permanent dead link], 14 October 1999.
  55. ^ International Playwriting Festival history Archived 6 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Warehouse Theatre website.
  56. ^ Kate Bassett, "Chekhov plays away" Archived 27 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Telegraph, 14 March 2000.
  57. ^ Karen Peterson, University of Wales for Shaksper Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Global Electronic Shakespeare Conference.
  58. ^ Warehouse Theatre Website. Archived 14 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  59. ^ Michael Billington, "Nathan the Wise" (review) Archived 6 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 3 May 2003.
  60. ^ Terry Grimley, "Culture..."Birmingham Post & Mail, 2003.
  61. ^ Michael Billington, "Fix Up" (review) Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 17 December 2004.
  62. ^ Fix Up reviews Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine on National Theatre Website November 2004.
  63. ^ FT.com, "The Bitter Sweet Refrain of Life's Transience", 6 May 2005.
  64. ^ Philip Fisher, "Tamburlaine" (review) Archived 18 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine, British Theatre Guide, 2005.
  65. ^ Michael Coveney for FirstPost[permanent dead link], November 2006.
  66. ^ "Vassa's Legacy". Equiano's World. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  67. ^ "An African Cargo" Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
  68. ^ "Intro to Nitro: An African Cargo", BBC Africa Beyond, Celebrating African Arts in the UK: October 2007 Events.
  69. ^ Rhoda Koeni, "War and Peace, Hampstead Theatre, London" Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Independent, 16 April 2008.
  70. ^ Amazonia Website. Archived 7 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  71. ^ Warehouse Theatre. Archived 14 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  72. ^ Greeks: Radio Plays. Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  73. ^ "Tamburlaine: Shadow of God by John Fletcher" Archived 15 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Drama on 3, BBC.
  74. ^ The City Speaks 1/2 (Pushing By/I Am Not You Are Not Me/Broken Chain) Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Internet Radio Database.
  75. ^ "Gone by Debbie Tucker Green" Archived 24 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Drama on 3, BBC.
  76. ^ British Council Britfilms Catalogue. Archived 7 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  77. ^ Ham and the Piper, Drama.[dead link]
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