Dan's the man

3:49pm Thursday 9th October 2008

Theatrical heavyweight Peter Hall enjoys a reputation as a hard taskmaster, but when it comes to his beloved Shakespeare, even that gets turned up a notch.

Revealing all is Dan Fredenburgh, slipping into the role of King Ferdinand in Hall’s upcoming production of Love’s Labour’s Lost.

And, despite having worked with the visionary director recently at the Rose on Portrait of a Lady, Fredenburgh admits rehearsals have taken him by surprise.

“I can honestly say I have never worked so hard on a job in my life.

“Peter is incredibly precise in what he wants - there is no fudging it.

“He picks you up on every little thing.

“Working with him on Shakespeare is worlds apart from anything else.

“But the reason we all took this job was for the opportunity to work on Shakespeare with Peter Hall.

“He is truly inspiring.”

The Islington-based actor has dabbled in Shakespeare before with a brief stint with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

And he reveals that taking on the comedy is a tough proposition.

He adds: “Love’s Labour’s Lost is regarded as one of the hardest Shakespeare plays to do - to do well anyway.

“There is an awful lot going on - a lot for a brain like mine to take in anyhow!”

Fredenburgh can be forgiven though for any slight lapses in concentration, as the 40-year-old also has the small matter of a movie that he wrote and starred in about to debut at the London Film Festival.

The project, Broken Lines, saw Dan team up with close friend Paul Bettany for the tale of London families brought together by tragedy.

He reveals: “I have been writing the film for the last five years.

“I have known Paul for a long time - since we did a foundation course together many years ago.

“There was a role in it that I thought he would be really good for and he was happy to do it.

“We were the only British film to show at the Venice Film Festival recently and it was well received - but it will be great to get a proper release.”

In fact the medium of film is obviously one Fredenburgh is comfortable in, with appearances in the likes of Love Actually and The Bourne Ultimatum, along with a raft of television appearances to his name.

And, as Fredenburgh is quick to point out, anything would beat his tentative first steps into the world of employment.

He confesses: “Originally I was doing a crappy job as a bicycle courier in London.

“I realised that unless I wanted to be stuck in a horrible job like that I needed to do something creative.

“My cousin ran a theatre company, there was an opening - and the rest is history.”

Love’s Labour’s Lost, Rose Theatre, Kingston, 21 October - 15 November, 7.30pm, £7-£29, 0871 230 1552