Stage And Screen Actor Edward Coupland Continues On His Incredible Journey
So many actors began their acting careers in the theatre and have usually fallen in love with the concept of acting in front of a live audience. Edward Coupland, the British actor is no different in that regard. He is certainly unique, however, in his immense acting talents, of course. His stage appearances began early in his life when he performed in many plays including, Les Miserables as Marius. His professional career began in earnest at the age of 17 when he portrayed Young Chas in Sheffield’s Library Theatre presentation of Sons of Paradise. The play commemorated the last surviving British veteran of World War I. That performance also commemorates the moment when Edward became a member of British Equity, the actors’ union in the UK.
After that, Edward acted in too many plays for even him to remember. A couple that do stand out in his memory are Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train and It’s a Bit Lively Outside, which was set in World War II during the London blitz. He then moved to London where he received more formal acting training.
He also started doing even more theatre when he got there, which led to a leading role in Glengarry GlenRoss, among other things. Soon thereafter, he leaned into doing more TV and film work, with parts in ITV’s The Bill and the TV series Love Tourettes. Theatre and the stage and performing in front of live audiences was never far away from his heart though. He did An Evening with Harold Pinter in Los Angeles, at the Pacific Residence. He acted along side of Ryan Stuart, who was in Game of Thrones and the play was directed by Paul Gregory. Later, Edward mused that “It is always great to be back in front of a live audience. It brings a certain nostalgia for the past. All actors have that, or we wouldn’t want to re-create it and be drawn to certain periods in time.
He also regretted that “The old English repertory theatre is lost now, it’s where all the greats honed their craft, got in their 10,000 hours. Sir Laurence Olivier, Anthony Hopkins, Peter O’Toole, Judi Dench etc, they all did rep for years. It was what you did. Moving up through the ranks from maybe holding a spear on stage up to years later playing the leading roles of Cassius or Hamlet. The Beatles did the same – traveling through Germany playing sets all night for years.
