Laurance Rudic

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Laurance Rudic (born 10 September 1952) is a British theatre artist best known for his long association as a leading member of the Glasgow Citizens Theatre company.

For 34 years, (1969-2003) 'The Citz' as it came to be known, was run by a trio of maverick geniuses - Giles Havergal, Philip Prowse and Robert David MacDonald. Under this triumvirate the company quickly gained fame and notoriety for its glamorous and oft-times outrageously decadent European-style treatment of rarely-performed European and English classics. New works such as Camille, Chincilla, A Waste of Time and Webster were regularly written for the company by its resident playwright, dramaturg and translator, R.D. McDonald. For many years, the Citz was proving-ground and creative home to young actors who were encouraged to eschew existing English literary and technical acting conventions and instead develop their own very individualistic approach. Famous actors who started their careers there include Tim Curry, Pierce Brosnan, Gary Oldman, Rupert Everett, Sean Bean, Tim Roth and Celia Imrie.

Rudic was born into a musical, theatrical family in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1952. His father was a violinist, his mother a semi-professional singer, and his aunt was the Scottish actress Edith Ruddick.

1 Career
2 Eastern experience
3 Theatre
- 3.1 Citizens Theatre
4 Other theatre
5 Film and TV
6 External links

[edit] Career

Rudic began acting in amateur dramatics at an early age and working as a dresser when he was twelve years old in Jimmy Logan's New Metropole Theatre in Glasgow. Intent on becoming an actor, he left school at the age of 15 and worked as an office boy at the BBC. While acting in a staff play he was chosen by director, Pharic McLaren, to play the name role in The Boy Who Wanted Peace (1969), part of the BBC's Wednesday Play series.

Rudic completed three years of formal actor training at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow (1969 – 1972). At the same time he began performing in the dream theatre of the iconoclastic theatre artist and clown, Lindsay Kemp, whose approach introduced him to living theatre.

His work with Kemp in Flowers and Woyzeck at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh led to his being accepted as a company member of the newly established Glasgow Citizens Theatre ('The Citz') (1969-2003). At that time (1972) he was one of only three Scots actors to be accepted into the young company who were at that time predominantly English. Rudic continued to work there intermittently until 1994.

[edit] Eastern experience

In his early days at the Citz, Rudic began travelling to cultures beyond Europe in order to understand more about the oral performance traditions of India, Tibet, the Middle East and North Africa. In 1975, on his first visit to the Dalai Lama's refugee headquarters-in-exile in the Himalayas, he was invited by the Dalai Lama's private secretary to teach acting to the young refugee performers of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (T.I.P.A.) who were preparing for the first Tibetan cultural tour of Europe and America. He also experienced life as a Kathakali acting student at the leading school for Kathakali actors in Kerala, South India - The Kerala Kalamandalum.

In 2000, intent on developing himself as a ‘stand-up’ theatre artist, he was awarded a Ford Foundation Grant to travel to Egypt and observe the dying tradition of epic storytelling. As part of his research, he based himself with El Warsha Theatre Company, a group of young Egyptian actors, dancers and singers, working in downtown Cairo. Through the company he got to know the old generation of traditional performance artists such as Sayed El Dawy, the improvising epic storyteller, and Hassan Khanufa, a traditional street performer from Cairo who died in 2005 at the age of 74.

In 2006, working with Scottish theatre practitioner Andrew McKinnon, he returned from Cairo to Glasgow to perform a solo "Stand-Up Theatre" piece - And God Created - at his old theatre, 'The Citz'. The show, inspired by time spent with traditional epic storytellers in Egypt, is improvised around a theme of very personal stories which also deal with universal themes and the search for an ever-widening identity through theatre, travel and the universal nature of creativity.

[edit] Theatre

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
Uncle Vanya Vanya 1970
King Lear The Fool 1971

[edit] Citizens Theatre

1971

The Balcony The Tramp

1972-1976

Timon of Athens Lucullus Abbey Festival
Tartuffe M. Loyal Edinburgh International Festival
Marat/Sade Karl
Puss in Boots Puss
Tamburlaine the Great Celebinus Edinburgh International Festival
The Government Inspector Bobchinski
The Connection Leech

1973-1974

Happy End Wilbur
The Devils Mannoury
Dick Whittington King Rat
The Taming of the Shrew Baptista (Hamburg Festival)
Camille Dr Korev
Early Morning Disraeli
St Joan of the Stockyards Criddle
Coriolanus Scicinius

1974-1975

Indians Chief Joseph
Camino Real Esmeralda
The Government Inspector Insp. Of Schools
The Duchess of Malfi Rodrigo (Belgrade, Lljubliana, Zagreb)
Romeo & Juliet Benvolio
The De Sade Show The Bishop

1975-1976

Hamlet Rosencrantz
Sailor Beware Carnoustie Bligh
The De Sade Show Madame de Martaine
Mirandolina Conte de Albafiorita
Woyzeck Karl

1981-1982

Babes in the Wood Friar Tuck
Chincilla Socrate (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Hague)
A Waste of Time Jupien (Caracas)
Hamlet Guildenstern
Marriage a la Mode Alexas
Mr Puntila and his Man Matti The Attaché

1982-1983

The Balcony The General
The Screens The Arab Voice
The Blacks The General
The Roman Actor Aretinus
Red Roses for Me Rev. Clinton
The Mother Rybin
The Impresario of Smyrna Ali (Turin)
The Merchant of Venice Gratiano (Turin, Parma)
Arms and the Man Major Petkoff
The Philosophy of the Boudoir Dolmance (Parma)
Sirocco Angelo
Webster Jeeper

1983-1984

The Last Days of Mankind A Man of Iron (Edinburgh Festival)
Der Rosenkavalier Herr von Faninal (Edinburgh Festival)
Juno and the Paycock Needle Nugent
Oroonoko Aboan
Private Lives Louis
The Machine Wreckers Jim Cobbitt
Altona Franz
She Stoops to Conquer Diggory
A Woman of No Importance Mr Kelvill MP
Judith Tiresius
French Knickers Bob

1986

An Ideal Husband
The Representative

1987

Joan of Arc Charles VII
The School for Scandal

1988

1989

The Alchemist Face
Mary Stuart Burleigh
A Tale of Two Cities Dr Manette

1990

Mother Courage Cook (Mermaid Theatre)
Jane Shore Richard III

1991

The Rivals
Mourning Becomes Electra Ezra/Orin
A Design for Living Ernest (Theatre Royal Richmond)

1992

Lulu Dr Goll/Casti-Piani
1953 Eberhard
Edward II Edward II/III

1996

Long Day's Journey into Night James Tyrone

2006

And God Created… (solo show)

[edit] Other theatre

Lindsay Kemp, Traverse Theatre 1969-1972
- Flowers
- Woyzeck Karl

Guildford Theatre Royal 1973
- A Measure for Measure Abwhoreson

Welsh National Theatre 1976
- It Happened in Venice Beppe

Shaw Theatre London 1976
- Romeo & Juliet Friar Lawrence

Derby Playhouse 1977
- A Taste of Honey Colin

Royal Court 1979
- The Young Writer's Festival

7:84 Scotland 1980/81
- Blood Red Roses John
- Men Should Weep Alex

Scottish Theatre Company 1981
- Animal

Ian McKellen-Edward Petherbridge Company at Royal National Theatre (Paris, Aberdeen, Chicago 1985/86)
- The Critic Mr Hopkins
- The Duchess of Malfi Death
- The Cherry Orchard Trofimov

Mermaid Theatre London 1990
- Mother Courage Cook

Richmond Theatre London 1991
- A Design for Living Ernest

Almeida Theatre London 1993
- Chatsky Mr D

Edinburgh Festival 1995
- Lanark Lanark

Pitlochry Festival Theatre 1996
- Travels with My Aunt O'Toole et al
- Flooers o’ Edinburgh Nabob
- And Then There Were None Captain Lombard
- Mr Bolfrey Cohen