Dame Janet Suzman
A Discussion of Dame Janet Suzman’s Work at The Royal Shakespeare Company and South African Productions of Shakespeare
Summary
Professor David Peimer interviews Dame Janet Suzman about acting in some of Shakespeare’s greatest plays with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), including her world renowned performance of Cleopatra in ‘Antony and Cleopatra’. Dame Janet will also talk about South African productions of Shakespeare and aspects of her work outside of the RSC.
Dame Janet Suzman
Janet Guzman, DBE, is a South African/British actress who enjoyed a successful early career in the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). She has always kept strong links with the country of her birth, South Africa, where she began her directing career with a production of Othello with John Kani, seen as a protest play, in 1987 at the Market Theatre. Her films include Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982), and A Dry White Season (1989). Her television series include Clayhanger (1976), Lord Mountbatten: The Viceroy (1986), and The Singing Detective (1986). Janet was made a Dame in 2011. She has honorary doctorates from among others, Cape Town, Warwick, and London (QMW) Universities.
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a professor of theatre and performance studies in the UK. He has taught at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and New York University (Global Division), and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing. He has written eleven plays and directed forty in places like South Africa, New York, Brussels, London, Berlin, Zulu Kingdom, Athens, and more. His writing has been published widely and he is the editor of Armed Response: Plays from South Africa (2009) and the interactive digital book Theatre in the Camps (2012). He is on the board of the Pinter Centre in London.