Private schooling can hinder actors, says Benedict Cumberbatch’s teacher
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Version 0 of 1. A private education does not boost an actor’s career, but can create unfair limits on which parts they play, according to Benedict Cumberbatch’s former drama teacher. Martin Tyrell, who taught Cumberbatch at Harrow – one of the UK’s most expensive fee-paying schools – said an expensive education could be a hindrance for would-be stage and screen actors. His comments will add fuel to the row over social privilege in the arts world. Last month, the shadow culture minister Chris Bryant highlighted the preponderance of former public school pupils, saying: “We can’t just have a culture dominated by Eddie Redmayne and James Blunt and their ilk.” In response, singer-songwriter Blunt called the MP a “classist gimp” and a “prejudiced wazzock”. But Tyrell said that a private education was often a bar to some casting opportunities. “Going to a major independent school is of no importance or value or help at all,” he said. “I feel that they are being limited [from playing certain parts] by critics and audiences as a result of what their parents did for them at the age of 13. And that seems to me very unfair.” Tyrell said it was clear to him from the age of 13 that Cumberbatch would become an outstanding actor. “It’s probably once in a lifetime that you find a boy actor as magnificent as this,” he told the Radio Times. “I remember him auditioning very early on for the part of a saucy French maid in a farce. It was a small part, involving a feather duster for about 10 minutes, but even then in rehearsal he was strikingly mature.” Etonians Dominic West, Damian Lewis, Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie, as well as Laurence Fox and James Dreyfus from Harrow, are among the big names from public schools enjoying big screen success. Cumberbatch and Redmayne are nominated in the best actor category at Sunday’s Baftas and the Oscars on 22 February. Actor Julie Walters has agreed with Bryant that British culture is dominated by the upper classes, saying there are very few opportunities for working class actors. She said a career in drama would not be an option for her nowadays because she could only afford to go to college in her day because she got a grant to do so. But actor Sheila Hancock told The Spectator that she did “not really care” about an actor’s background. “Are there a lot of posh actors? Yes. Are there more important things going on in this country? Yes,” Hancock said. Nicholas Hytner, the artistic director of the National Theatre, told the Guardian it was unfair to single out the arts over social mobility when it was a problem for society as a whole. He said he believed the problem of social diversity on stage “is, if anything, less acute than the problem in other professions”. • This article was amended on 3 February 2015. An earlier version referred to Blunt calling Bryant a “classic gimp” and a “paranoid wassock” rather than a classist gimp and a prejudiced wazzock. |