Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia
Franken, Jerry
Ontario -based actor born in 1947.
He began his career in the 1970s, serving as associate artistic director for NDWT, performing, as well, in the seminal production of James Reaney 's The Donnellys . Since, he has performed at Blyth Festival (12 seasons), Magnus Theatre (Thunder Bay), Grand Theatre, London , Centaur Theatre , Sudbury Theatre Centre , and in the hugely successful Theatre Passe Muraille production of The Drawer Boy in 1999.
More recently - summer, 2000 - he performed in the Stratford Festival productions of Hamlet, As You Like It and Titus Andronicus.
He has also directed, notably Tomson Highway 's Annie and Old Lace (Centaur Theatre, 1989)
On performing Shakespeare he has said, "The emotion is built into the text. You can't put anything on top of it. You have to come out of the rhythm of the text and out of the language of the text, but it's all there. And it's a matter of trusting that and trusting yourself. Using any tricks with Shakespeare is dangerous."
Source: "In awe of the stage" by Ian Gillespie, London Free Press, June 27, 2000
Last updated 2006-10-24
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