Darren Raymond doesn’t remember having any significant interest in acting when he was growing up. And when he met Mark Rylance for the first time, on Christmas Eve 2004, he had never heard of the multi-award winning actor. These days, things are very different: Raymond is the artistic director of Intermission Youth, the London-based arts charity and theatre, and is directing his friend Rylance in the lead role of Tartuffe (Remixed), Raymond’s adaptation of the Molière play, which opens at London’s Marylebone theatre this week.
It’s fair to say neither could have anticipated they’d still be in touch this long after their initial meeting. Raymond was a young twentysomething raised on an inner-city housing estate and serving a prison sentence at HMP Brixton. Meanwhile Rylance was twice his age, a successful professional actor, and artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe.
Nevertheless that meeting, at a Shakespeare workshop in the prison, turned into a professional connection, which soon evolved into a solid friendship. Rylance has been a supporter of Intermission, the charity Raymond set up 20 years ago – which helps to transform the lives of young people aged 11-30+ through theatre – since the very early days. Its flagship programme takes 80 trainees a year for a regular schedule of masterclasses, pastoral support and professional performances.
In a 2008 interview on Radio 4, Raymond mentioned the positive impact of his and Rylance’s Christmas Eve meeting and how it inspired his vision for Intermission. Rylance was listening, and was prompted to visit the theatre’s headquarters at St Saviour’s Church in Knightsbridge. We’re speaking today at Intermission’s temporary base at Omnibus theatre in Clapham – the organisation has struggled to secure a suitable permanent home since being asked to leave the church in 2019.
Intermission’s output is why Rylance thinks it holds such a critical place in the context of the industry. It offers free-of-charge, rigorous, professional-standard training that produces high-quality results. For many, particularly those from working-class backgrounds, such an opportunity would be otherwise unaffordable.
Rylance firmly believes in giving back, but in the current climate his preference is to invest in grassroots arts initiatives over major institutions. For him, that feels more impactful. He was confused when his friend told him he’d signed them both up for drama classes, but saw it as an excuse to get more time out of their shared cell.
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