.Best Actor

James Carpenter

Besides creating fully believable and affecting characters, which in
itself is no mean feat, James Carpenter can make you look at plays and
speeches you might have seen a dozen times anew as if it were the first
time. It’s been a gift for East Bay audiences to see him play both
young Hal and old Henry in Cal Shakes’ Henry IV productions two
decades apart. This spring saw him as dim-witted Donny in Berkeley
Rep’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore, trying to paint a cat so that
his psychotic son doesn’t find out his pet is dead, and last year he
gave terrific turns as the ailing professor in Cal Shakes’ Uncle
Vanya,
scheming Ricardetto in ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, and
crotchety Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at ACT. His single scene
as the dying king in Cal Shakes’ 2007 Richard III was easily the
best thing in that production, and his portrayal of Capulet’s grief
over his daughter’s death lent tremendous depth to last month’s
Romeo and Juliet on that same stage. Sure, the play’s the thing,
but to make the play all about one minor character’s tragedy for one
fleeting moment is a real art.

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