The Renaissance Theatre Company was founded in 1987 by Kenneth Branagh and David Parfitt as a development of the work they had been doing periodically on the London 'Fringe', producing and appearing in lunchtime shows, leading up to Branagh's full-scale production of Romeo and Juliet, at the Lyric Studio in Hammersmith in August 1986 co-starring Branagh and Samantha Bond. With a group of 'angels' — fellow actors, writers and kindred spirits - the newly-formed company was able to finance its first full season, including the premiere of Branagh's thriller, Public Enemy, in the Lyric Hammersmith main house, with Branagh in the 'Jimmie Cagney' style leading role. In the same season this was followed by John Session's satirical solo The Life of Napoleon which transferred from Riverside Studios to the Albery Theatre. Over Christmas 1987 it ended triumphantly with Branagh's production of Twelfth Night at Riverside, starring Richard Briers as Malvolio, Frances Barber as Viola, and with an original score directed on stage by Scottish actor, musican and composer Patrick Doyle (who later achieved fame as an international film composer). The production was also recorded by Thames Television. Although Rennaissance received no public funding, it achieved a high point in 1988 in partnership with John Adams and the Birmingham Rep: a touring season of plays launched as Renaissance Shakespeare on the Road, with three leading classical actors making their directing debuts: Judi Dench with Much Ado About Nothing, Geraldine McEwan with As You Like It, and Derek Jacobi with Hamlet, which featured Branagh in the title role. After a UK tour and an August stop-over at Elsinore, the three productions were seen in a successful London repertory season at the Phoenix Theatre. In 1989 Dench again worked as director for the Renaissance revival of both the theatre and television productions of Look Back in Anger, presented first in Belfast then in London, starring Branagh as Jimmy Porter and Emma Thompson as Alison. The company was disbanded in 1994.
