Before they were famous

My sister's been sorting through stuff at my Mum's house and unearthed all sort of stuff from my youth. Most of it is rubbish (why would I want to keep my guide badges?) but there are the occasional hidden gem such a file of old theatre programs from plays I saw as a student.

Theatr_clwyd

It's been a trip down memory lane for example I went to see a production of Hamlet at Theatre Clwyd in Mold (I was studying the play at University in Liverpool so it was organised by my tutor). It was such a memorable performance, in a good way, purely because Getrude was played by a man. I could never remember the name of the actor but now have the program (it was Martin McKellan) and he did such an amazing job when it could have gone horribly, horribly wrong. Such was his performance that you completely forgot it was a man in drag and totally bought into the emotion he was conveying as Hamlet's distressed mother. (And yes I know in Shakespeare's time all the actors were male.)
The performance was also memorable because one of the characters costumes caught light on a candle but no one was hurt fortunately.

Rhys Ifans now he is famous

However, as well as revealing the name of the fabulous Getrude actor I am now stunned to see a smattering of names who back then were in the infancy of their careers but have since gone on to bigger and better things. For example Jack Davenport of This Life and Pirates of the Caribbean fame played the minor role of Francisco in his professional debut and Rhys Ifans who's been in loads of stuff since but I always remember as Spike in Notting Hill and Jed in Enduring Love (and soon to be seen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as Luna Lovegood's Dad) also played the small part of Marcellus.
Sadly Martin McKellan's career doesn't seem to have taken off in the same way. The most recent listing for him on IMDB is an episode of The Bill. Which is a shame.
Other names you may have heard of are Stephen Beckett who went on to play key characters in Coronation Street and Emmerdale and Toby Jones who has one of those faces you know you've seen in a bunch of stuff and will be voicing Dobby the House Elf in the last two Harry Potters.