Michelle Terry
{{Short description|English actress and writer}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Michelle Terry
|image =
|caption = Terry in 2017
|birth_date = {{birth year and age|1979}}
|birth_place = Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England, U.K.
|death_date =
|death_place =
|education = Cardiff University (BA)
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (BA)
|spouse = Paul Ready
|children = 1
}}
Michelle Terry (born 1979, Nuneaton, Warwickshire) is an Olivier Award–winning English actress and writer, known for her extensive work for Shakespeare's Globe, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, as well as her television work, notably writing and starring in the Sky One television series The Café. Terry took up the role of artistic director at Shakespeare's Globe in April 2018.{{cite web |url=http://blog.shakespearesglobe.com/post/163360048328/michelle-terry-is-the-new-artistic-director-of |title=Michelle Terry is The New Artistic Director of... {{!}} Shakespeare's Globe Blog |website=blog.shakespearesglobe.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170726222926/http://blog.shakespearesglobe.com/post/163360048328/michelle-terry-is-the-new-artistic-director-of |archive-date=2017-07-26}}
Early life
Terry was born in Nuneaton,{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/interviews/2019/michelle-terry-this-job-has-taught-me-that-democracy-is-really-hard/|title=Michelle Terry: 'This job has taught me that democracy is really hard' {{!}} Interviews|last=Tripney|first=Natasha|date=2019-05-29|website=The Stage|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-16}} moving while still a child to grow up in Weston-super-Mare.[http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/showpeople/feature.php/5505/michelle-terry The Stage/Features/Showpeople/Michelle Terry]; retrieved 20 February 2011. She was raised in Kewstoke, and attended Priory Community School and Broadoak Sixth Form Centre.[http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/michelle_is_right_at_home_for_new_sky_comedy_show_1_947419 Michelle is right at home for new Sky comedy show] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402044929/http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/michelle_is_right_at_home_for_new_sky_comedy_show_1_947419 |date=2 April 2012 }} Weston Mercury; retrieved 15 November 2011.
Terry aspired to be an actress from an early age.{{cite web|title=National Theatre Update|publisher=National Theatre|url=http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/download.php?id=6445|format=PDF|accessdate=20 February 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403024357/http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/download.php?id=6445|archivedate=3 April 2012|df=dmy-all}} She attended an amateur dramatic society and took LAMDA exams at school in poetry, prose and spoken verse. At the age of fourteen she joined the National Youth Theatre.[http://www.globelink.org/adoptanactor/loveslabourslost/princessoffrance/ GlobeLink :: Princess of France: Michelle Terry plays the Princess of France]; retrieved 20 February 2011. She read English literature at Cardiff University before training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 2004.
Career
=Theatre=
Terry made her professional debut in the touring and subsequent West End production of Blithe Spirit, playing the Maid and understudying Elvira. Her other theatre credits include The War on Terror, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, The Man Who Had All the Luck, Tribes and As You Like It. Her work at the National Theatre includes London Assurance, All's Well That Ends Well and England People Very Nice.[http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/43279/company-members/michelle-terry.html Michelle Terry – Company Members – National Theatre] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100407012258/http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/43279/company-members/michelle-terry.html |date=7 April 2010 }}; retrieved 20 February 2011. She also appeared in broadcast versions of London Assurance and All's Well That Ends Well as part of National Theatre Live. For the Royal Shakespeare Company, Terry has appeared in productions of Days of Significance, Pericles, The Winter's Tale, The Crucible and Love's Labour's Lost, playing Rosaline. She was among the writers of Sudden Loss of Dignity, staged at the Bush Theatre in 2009.[http://www.ltdb.co.uk/node/430 Michelle Terry | London Theatre Database] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724023328/http://www.ltdb.co.uk/node/430 |date=24 July 2011 }}; retrieved 20 February 2011.
Terry won critical acclaim for her work at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, for her performance of Rosalind in As You Like It. London's Financial Times wrote "I'm not sure it's possible to see Michelle Terry on a stage without falling a little in love with her. She has the intelligence, inventiveness and vivacity to play the character and the show simultaneously, not setting herself above the material but relishing her immersion in the role and inviting us to share it with her."{{cite news|last1=Shuttleworth|first1=Ian|title='As You Like It, Shakespeare's Globe, London - review'|newspaper=Financial Times|date=22 May 2015|url=https://www.ft.com/content/29bdbce0-ffae-11e4-bc30-00144feabdc0}} She also appeared in productions of Love's Labour's Lost and A Midsummer Night's Dream at that venue, both of which were released on DVD. On 24 July 2017 she was announced as its fourth artistic director, to succeed Emma Rice in April 2018.
==''Hamlet'', 2018==
Terry starred in the lead role in a 2018 gender fluid version of Hamlet. The Spectator said in their review "No one but Ms Terry would have hired Ms Terry for this role. She's a decent second-tier actress without any special vocal or physical endowments."{{cite web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/06/no-one-but-michelle-terry-would-have-hired-michelle-terry-to-play-hamlet/|work=The Spectator|title=No one but Michelle Terry would have hired Michelle Terry to play Hamlet|author=Evans, Lloyd|date=2 June 2018}}
The Guardian called the play "a perfectly decent production and a welcome relief from the work of the previous Globe regime, which seemed to assume that the plays were a bit boring unless jazzed up."{{cite web|work=The Guardian|title=Hamlet/As You Like It review – Michelle Terry's double-edged Globe debut|author=Billington, Michael|date=18 May 2018|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/may/18/hamlet-as-you-like-it-review-michelle-terry-globe-shakespeare}}
The Stage said: "It's a production that places clarity of verse and emotion over directorial fireworks. One of the most striking elements is Terry's costume. When she assumes her antic disposition, she also dons a white clown suit with a jagged lipstick grin. By making Hamlet a jester, it licenses her to behave in different ways. It shifts her status in the family. It grants her power and marks her apart. Laughter can be a weapon after all. It's an interesting idea that is under-explored."{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2018/hamlet-michelle-terry-review-at-shakespeares-globe/|title=Hamlet starring Michelle Terry – review at Shakespeare's Globe|last=Tripney|first=Natasha|website=The Stage|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-08}}
== ''Macbeth'', 2018 ==
Terry starred in the lead role of Lady Macbeth opposite her husband Paul Ready in Macbeth at the Globe's candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.
== ''Twelfth Night'', 2021 ==
In The Globe's 2021 production of Twelfth Night, directed by Sean Holmes, Terry starred as Viola.{{cite web | url=https://player.shakespearesglobe.com/productions/twelfth-night-2021/ | title=Twelfth Night (2021) {{pipe}} Watch on Globe Player {{pipe}} Shakespeare's Globe }}
== ''Richard III,'' 2024 ==
In The Globe's 2024 production of Richard III, Terry was cast in the lead, which generated backlash and controversy over a non-disabled actor being cast as a disabled character and historical figure, a practice commonly referred to as cripping-up. The script was also edited in an attempt to make Richard non-disabled which subsequently led to 281 disabled actors and allied art professionals, and 35 organisations including several theatre companies, under the name of this Disabled Artists Alliance speaking out against this casting and "the erasure and rewriting of Richard's core disabled identity".
{{Cite news |last=Wiegand |first=Chris |date=25 January 2024
|title=Shakespeare's Globe criticised for casting non-disabled actor as Richard III
|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/jan/25/shakespeares-globe-criticised-for-casting-able-bodied-actor-as-richard-iii-michelle-terry#:~:text=Shakespeare's%20Globe%20criticised%20for%20casting%20non%2Ddisabled%20actor%20as%20Richard%20III,-Disabled%20actors%20respond&text=The%20announcement%20of%20a%20summer,actor%20in%20the%20lead%20role.|access-date=27 February 2024|work=The Guardian}}
=Television=
Her television credits include episodes of Extras, Law & Order: UK and the Mike Bullen pilot Reunited, playing "Sara".[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00syxlv BBC – BBC One Programmes – Reunited]; retrieved 20 February 2011. She was co-writer, with Ralf Little, of the comedy drama TV series, The Café, which aired on Sky1 from 2011 to 2013, in which she played "Sarah Porter". The series was set and filmed in her own hometown, Weston-super-Mare.She is currently playing the role of Luciana in the National Theatre's production of 'A Comedy of Errors'.
[http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Somerset-seafront-sitcom-Cafe-ready-airing-Sky/story-13820516-detail/story.html Somerset seafront sitcom The Cafe ready for airing on Sky One | This is Somerset] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131130082102/http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/Somerset-seafront-sitcom-Cafe-ready-airing-Sky/story-13820516-detail/story.html |date=30 November 2013 }} Retrieved 2011-11-15.
= Writing =
Besides co-writing The Café, Terry has co-written two plays. The first was Sudden Loss of Dignity for the Bush Theatre in 2009, which she co-wrote with Zawe Ashton, James Graham, Joel Horwood, and Morgan Lloyd Malcolm.{{Cite web |title=Bush loses dignity this summer |url=https://officiallondontheatre.com/news/bush-loses-dignity-this-summer-104015/ |access-date=2025-05-27 |website=Official London Theatre |language=en-GB}} In 2017, she co-wrote and starred in Becoming with Rosalie Craig.
Personal life
Terry is married to the actor Paul Ready. The pair met in 2009 when they performed in Love's Labour's Lost at Shakespeare's Globe together. They have one daughter, who was born in 2016.
Theatre
| class="wikitable"
|+ !Year(s) !Title !Role !Theatre !Ref. |
| 2004/5
|Edith |
| rowspan="2" |2005
|Celia |
| The Burial at Thebes
|Ismene/Chorus |
| rowspan="2" |2006
|Leah |Sound Theatre |
| The Crucible
|Mary Warren |
| rowspan="2" |2006/7
|Philemon | rowspan="3" |Swan Theatre |
| The Winter's Tale
|Perdita |
| rowspan="3" |2007
|Clare |
| The Promise
|Lika |
| Love's Labour's Lost
|Princess of France |
| rowspan="5" |2008
|Woman | rowspan="3" |Bush Theatre |
| Two Cigarettes
|Girl |
| 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
|Various |
| The Man Who Had All the Luck
|Hester Falk |
| 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover at Christmas
|Various |Bush Theatre |
| rowspan="4" |2009
|Sudden Loss of Dignity |Co-writer |Bush Theatre |
| England People Very Nice
|Camille/Mary/Black Ruth/Deborah | rowspan="2" |National Theatre |
| All's Well That Ends Well
|Helena |
| Love's Labour's Lost
|Princess of France |Shakespeare's Globe |
| rowspan="3" |2010
|Grace Harkaway |National Theatre |
| Light Shining in Buckinghamshire
|Henry Ireton |
| Tribes
|Sylvia |
| 2011/12
|Luciana |National Theatre |
| 2012/13
|Madeleine |Royal Court Theatre |
| rowspan="2" |2013
|Kathleen Skinner |
| A Midsummer Night's Dream
|Hippolyta/Titania |Shakespeare's Globe |
| rowspan="3" |2014
|Rosaline | rowspan="2" |Royal Shakespeare Theatre |
| Much Ado About Nothing (Love's Labour's Won)
|Beatrice |
| Privacy
|Director |Donmar Warehouse |
| 2015
|Rosalind |Shakespeare's Globe |
| 2016
|Grace |National Theatre |
| 2016
|King Henry V |
| 2017
|Becoming |Self/Co-writer |Donmar Warehouse |
| rowspan="2" |2018
|As You Like It |Adam/William/Jacques de Bouys | rowspan="2" |Shakespeare's Globe |
| Hamlet
|Hamlet |
| 2018/19
|Lady Macbeth |
| 2019
|Hotspur |Shakespeare's Globe |
| rowspan="2" |2020
|Biondello | rowspan="2" |Sam Wanamaker Playhouse |
| Macbeth: A Conjuring
|Lady Macbeth |
| 2021
|Viola | rowspan="5" |Shakespeare's Globe |
| 2022
|Cordelia/Fool |
| rowspan="2" |2023
|A Midsummer Night's Dream |Puck |
| Twelfth Night: For One Night Only
|Olivia |
| 2024
|King Richard III |
| rowspan="2" |2025
|Olga |Sam Wanamaker Playhouse |
| An Oak Tree
|Guest performer |
Filmography
= Film =
| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" |Notes !Ref. |
| 2010
| Sara | |
| rowspan="2" |2011
|Five Truths |Ophelia |Video installation for V&A |
| My Times
| |Short film |
| 2013
|Fifty Years on Stage |Dr. Bird/Shepherd 3 | |
| rowspan="5" |2016
|The Complete Walk: As You Like It | rowspan="4" | | rowspan="4" |Director, short film |
| The Complete Walk: King John |
| The Complete Walk: Richard III |
| The Complete Walk: The Winter's Tale |
| The Complete Walk: Hamlet
|Hamlet |Short film |
= Television =
| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" |Notes !Ref. |
| 2005
| Female Extra | Episode: "Patrick Stewart" |
| 2009
| Debbie Grove | Episode: "Unloved" |
| 2011
| Sarah Porter | Actress/writer/producer |
| 2018
| Jane Colletti | 7 episodes |
= Radio =
| class="wikitable sortable"
!Year !Title !Role !Station !Notes !Ref. |
| rowspan="2" |2013
|Listening to the Dead |Clara | rowspan="2" |BBC Radio 4 |Episode: "Four Sons" |
| Pilgrim
|Norah |Episode: "Woolmere Walter" |
| rowspan="3" |2014
|Educator |Maria | |
| Pride and Prejudice
|Charlotte Lucas |BBC Radio 4 |2 episodes |
| Words and Music
|Reader |BBC Radio 3 |Episode: "Women Beware Women" |
| 2015
|Reader |BBC Radio 4 |5 episodes: "All Day Long" |
| 2023
|The Essay |Reader |BBC Radio 3 |Episode: "Reading the First Folio — Michelle Terry on As You Like It" |
Awards
Terry won Best Actress in a Visiting Production at the 2008 Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards, for the Donmar Warehouse production of The Man Who Had All the Luck.{{cite web |title=M.E.N Theatre Awards: The Judges' verdict |url=http://www.citylife.co.uk/news_and_reviews/news/11764_m_e_n__theatre_awards__the_judges__verdict|publisher=City Life |accessdate=20 February 2011}}
She won Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the 2011 Laurence Olivier Awards, for her portrayal of Sylvia in the Royal Court Theatre production of Tribes.[http://www.olivierawards.com/news/view/item115091/Terry-wins-Best-Actress-In-A-Supporting-Role/ Terry wins Best Actress In A Supporting Role – Laurence Olivier Awards] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715000015/http://www.olivierawards.com/news/view/item115091/Terry-wins-Best-Actress-In-A-Supporting-Role/ |date=15 July 2011 }} Retrieved 2011-03-16.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|name=Michelle Terry|id=2642270}}
{{OlivierAward PlayActress SupportingPerformance 2001–2025}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Terry, Michelle}}
Category:Actors from Weston-super-Mare
Category:Alumni of Cardiff University
Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Category:English stage actresses
Category:English television actresses
Category:English Shakespearean actresses
Category:Laurence Olivier Award winners
Category:National Youth Theatre members