Tribute To Sir Derek Jacobi

Derek at the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmonds, sunday 1rt October 2023. He seems to be in a great shape. He wears here his favorite jacket.

Newly graduated from St John’s College, Cambridge, young Derek joined The REP in 1960. In 1963, former Old Rep alumnus Laurence Olivier spotted Jacobi playing Henry VIII and invited him to join Olivier’s newly formed National Theatre at the Old Vic.

In 2013, the National Theatre celebrated 50 years of unforgettable theatre, with extracts of iconic plays of the last five decades by iconic players including Derek, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

Sir Derek Jacobi received the Lifetime Achievement award at the Olivier Awards 2023. I never get tired of watching such a moving moment. A well deserved award for a whole life devoted to the stage. Derek is more than a Legend, he is a treasure of humility. Tears come to us seing him under such a deep emotion when he made his speech of acceptance. 

Little Dorrit. One of my great memories of Derek on tv. He is upsetting as unlucky Arthur Clennam, who keeps on missing out his happiness. He expresses masterfully all the inner conflicts of the character. "He was very close to my own character, actually. I am very passive. I’m told - I don’t know much about it - but I’m told that I’m a triple Libran which means I can’t make my mind up and I’m no good at making choices but I’m exceedingly passive. I don’t like confrontation and all that. So if ever I get angry, particularly as part of a character; that is a manufactured anger, it doesn’t come to me absolutely naturally. What does come to me naturally is the passivity of Arthur Clennam so either Christine [Edzard] was very perceptive or very lucky!" Derek Jacobi on his character (Photo from my mum’s collection)

Derek as Gratiano in The Merchant of Venice, first performed in 1970 by The National Theatre and since revived (the production will be taped for the 1973-74 American television season). « Director Jonathan Miller's decision to make Antonio an old man heightens the contrast between his languor and the young Gratiano's ebullient cynicism. Derek Jacobi's Gratiano is a character of considerable prominence in this production. In these opening moments the audience's attention goes in two directions: we listen to Gratiano spin out his fancy and we note the distance in more than age between him and Antonio. Antonio cannot be reached, and can draw on social energies only when Bassanio enters and Antonio is at last moved to sit down with his friend at a side-walk table. Listlessness gives way to paternal concern and affection » (Patrick J. Sullivan)

Derek directed by Bradford Leigh on the set of "Mr Pye" on the Island of Sark. A beautifully poetic work about the struggle of good and bad from Mervyn Peake ´s novel. To me, Derek's finest hours since I Claudius. His delightful Mr Pye Is one of my best memories of my youth.

The man who has broken the code. Alan Turing  is one of Derek’s most memorable portrayal. Emotionally intense. Turing should have been a hero of his time. He was finally a victim of Intolerance. He has contributed to save mankind. And mankind has betrayed him. What Derek did here is more than an artistic performance. It is also a personal tribute to a great man. He has highly contributed by his talent to put Turing’s work and life into light and given him the recognition that he deserved (photo : Martha Swope)

Cadfael, the hero of my youth. The medieval Sherlock Holmes in search of truth was a huge influence to me in my law career. His humanity and his wisdom have helped me to grow up. In addition, his anti-conformist personality and his scientific knowledge make him a pioneer In a society frozen by the beliefs and superstition. He is a man beyond his time as a forensic scientist and investigator. Derek has a great gift to play masterfully ordinary men who have extraordinary destinies. He gives to his character a bright melancoly that touches us to heart. His performance has left me indelible memories. What he does In this part is just brilliant.

Derek as Richard II at Phoenix Theatre, Londres (1988). His vision gets to the very root of Richard's personality: his arrogance, poor judgment, false bravado, impulsiveness - and in the end, his elegiac suffering as he collapses in tears, shorn of his crown and titles. And was there ever a line in literature more powerful and heartbreaking than this: "I wasted time and now doth time waste me." A brilliant performance.  Shakespeare has never been done better. 

Derek as Pericles in the production of the Prospect theatre Company directed by Toby Robertson in 1973. A powerful and a little bit erotic approach which was controversial at that time.

Derek returned to The Birmingham Republic, in 1972, to play the title role in Sophocles’ Greek drama, Oedipus Rex. Derek uses to saying that he has a " soft spot" for Birmingham, the city where he began his career in 1960.

Derek in the show ‘The Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet’, songs and scenes dedicated to Lord Byron. He played it many times in several theatres, also on tour. Later on, the show became ‘Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know’ and there were just Derek and Isla Blair on stage. A stunning musical production in which the two artists performed songs and poems (From my mum’s collection)

Derek as Cyrano de Bergerac, a bravura part in an unbelievably theatrical play. His incredible energy has pratically transfixed me. It was thrilling to see him in something that was so poetic and verbally dexterous. He made here a real “tour de force”. And yet he considers Cyrano as the most difficult part in his career life. The character is so angry that Derek wondered if he had so anger than him inside to portray him (Promo pictures from the Broadway run of the Royal Shakespeare Company's revival of "Cyrano de Bergerac. Photo credits: Martha Swope).