Hawaii's Adopted World Class Actor

Terence Knapp, an English actor and Inaugural Player of the National Theatre of Great Britain under the direction of Sir Laurence Olivier, appeared frequently in television, films and repertory in England.  These are his recollections of working in Great Britain, touring in Africa and Southeast Asia, studying Japanese theatre arts and directing Japanese actors in Shakespeare and Western Theatre in Japan.  He has lived in Honolulu, Hawaii since 1970 where he teaches at the University...
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Terence Knapp, an English actor and Inaugural Player of the National Theatre of Great Britain under the direction of Sir Laurence Olivier, appeared frequently in television, films and repertory in England.  These are his recollections of working in Great Britain, touring in Africa and Southeast Asia, studying Japanese theatre arts and directing Japanese actors in Shakespeare and Western Theatre in Japan.  He has lived in Honolulu, Hawaii since 1970 where he teaches at the University of Hawaii and acts and directs in Hawaii, Japan and England.

When he was 11 years old, Terry won a scholarship to Parmiters, an Anglican Grammar School chartered in 1584, at Bethnal Green in London. He was educated in the Classics and exposed to the great tradition of English Literature and, particularly, to Shakespeare.  When Parmiters renewed the tradition of an annual Shakespeare production, Terry was cast as Lady Macbeth.  His performance led to the offer of a scholarship by the London County Council to the Preparatory Academy and, a year later, when he was 17, a scholarship to RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Terrys studies at RADA were interrupted by mandatory service in the Royal Air Force.  He was trained as a paramedic and posted to a Mobil Operating Theatre unit based near Oldenburg, in Northern Germany. There he was befriended by a family of Quakers and by the family of the British Resident.  Their encouragement and interest in Terry resulted in his being seconded for a time to Nord West Deutsches Rundfunk where he worked on a great variety of broadcasts as a radio actor.  He played HAMLET at the age of 19 as well as a number of other great Shakespearean roles.  His apprenticeship in radio has served him well.  Years later he worked in radio in Moscow, Tokyo and South East Asia.

In 1953, Terry returned to his scholarship at RADA to resume his studies.  In 1954, at the Public Show presented by RADA at the Savoy Theatre, he was awarded the Academys Medal for his performance as the Doctor in the play A Month In The Country by Turgenev.  He was also given a years contract as the Liverpool Playhouse Scholar.  Moving to Merseyside, where he remained for the next four years, Terry became a member of the Liverpool Playhouse, at that time the doyenne of repertory theatres in England.  The three weekly productions gave him the opportunity to play an enormous spectrum of parts from every genre of drama.  Around the corner from the Playhouse, a quartet of young men were preparing to burst upon an unsuspecting world as the Beatles.

Terry received glowing notices for his performance in a play by Gerald Savory, Hand In Glove. After his success in the play, on the urging and advice of his agent, he left the Liverpool Playhouse to return to London. Terry soon became a successful young character actor on both the BBC and ITA, performing a wide range of roles on live television.  Gerald Savory, the playwright of Hand In Glove would only consent to having his play performed on television or made into a film if Terry repeated his role.  The television production made Terrys name nationwide.

In 1962, Sir Laurence Olivier invited Terry to become a member of the Company of the newly formed Chichester Festival Theatre.  During that summer, he performed with many illustrious actors of the British theatre---Michael Redgrave, Sybil Thorndike, Joan Greenwood, Joan Plowright, John Neville and, of course, Laurence Olivier.

Early in 1963 while performing in London, Terry accepted John Nevilles invitation to join him, Judi Dench and other actors in a British Council Tour of West Africa for three months.  They performed Shakespeares Twelfth Night, Macbeth and Arms and the Man in many remote areas of Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Returning to London by way of French West Africa, Portugal, Spain and Rome, Terry was invited to attend