A theatre practitioner with five decades of experience as actor, director, voice artist, teacher, writer and playwright.

Passionately pursuing a career that has taken me to over sixty countries, offered opportunities to play Shakespeare at Stratford, direct in the West End, and perform solo shows worldwide. Now focusing on nurturing other artists through mentoring, writing original work and dramatisations. And after recording over two hundred audiobooks I still love the microphone.

This video introduces you to my show Shylock and who to contact if you would like to see a full 75 minute performance.

Worldwide Press Acclaim for Shylock

Armstrong is nothing short of incredible… it is an exceptional piece of theatre. Everyone should see it.

The Independent on Sunday – London

It’s all fascinating, a nimble analysis of the thorny, much-abused character and the great, troublesome play.

The Washington Post

It delights enlightens and dazzles, With a leer, a wink, a shrug, he expresses more than words can say. In a word, brilliant.

Jewish Bulletin of North California

Shakespeare fans will kneel in homage and raise their arms to shout ‘Hallelujah’.

The Dominion, Wellington NZ

This performance that deserves to be sold out. It is theatre for thinking men and women, it is theatre of the imagination, of liberating emotions and, also, of bold thinking.

Kurier, Vienna

Gareth Armstrong is magnetic throughout… You need not be Jewish nor and Eng Lit expert to appreciate this: you need only be human.

The List, Edinburgh (5 Stars)

This is as good as theatre gets.. It was undiluted joy and a privilege to watch.

Liverpool Daily Post

> <

News

So far 2023 is proving very promising.The play I wrote during lockdown ( A Critical Stage) is going to have its premiere at my local theatre, The Tabard here in Chiswick, West London. Here’s the rundown:

A CRITICAL STAGE

Egos clash against a background of conflict, prejudice and a poignant love.

1942 and in a wartime London of blackouts, rationing and the Blitz, James Agate, famous author and theatre critic, refuses to change his lifestyle. But if the bombs can’t curb his passion for hard work, high living and illicit encounters, there are soon some bombshells threatening to blow his world apart.

Agate has written a damning review of Gwen, a prominent actress who confronts him in a lively battle of words. He is looked after by Smike, a young and tolerant houseboy and he also has a volatile relationship with his secretary, Leo, an Austrian Jewish refugee. Agate’s increasingly careless behaviour is not going unnoticed with his bosses at the Sunday Times newspaper…

The play is based on real life events; James Agate was a hugely influential English writer, theatre, music and literary critic in the mid-twentieth century. A self-educated polymath, prolific author and indiscreet homosexual, his impact on the theatre, arts criticism and the cultural life of Britain was enormous.

A Critical Stage is an amusing and provocative exploration of the roles of critic and artist and plays a limited three week run at the Tabard.

The show has a preview on May 31st, our first night on June 1st and then a three week run. Here’s a link to the website:

A Critical Stage – Theatre at the Tabard

During the last Lockdown I got my mojo back for performing my own sol0 show, Shylock, after a fifteen year gap. Since I re-launched the re-vamped version at The Playground Theatre here in London in 2021 I’ve had the pleasure of performing it countrywide. Gigs are lined up too for the rest of 2023 so it’s great to have the diary filling up.

I am hoping that more schools and colleges will take up the show as I think its theme of anti-semitism is all too relevant now. Resurrecting Shylock and his only friend Tubal in their old age has also given me some new perspectives on my script and Shakespeare’s matchless text. I now also include a workshop (A Wilderness of Monkeys) with schools performances.

Currently the brilliant and indefatigable Gerard Logan, who performs in my productions of Shakespeare’s epic poem The Rape of Lucrece, and Wilde Without The Boy, my dramatisation of Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis, is touring his two shows of supernatural tales by E.F. Benson: Night Terrors and Hauntings, and selling out all over the country as well as recently in Milan

In the audio studios around London I completed my recordings of all Georges Simenon’s Maigret novels, with my producer, Paul Kent. I have also recorded a 24hr reading of James Pope-Hennessy’s biography, Queen Mary, for Heavy Entertainment – which was a lot more fun than it may sound. The epic The Great Book of King Arthur was also a fascinating read, as was The Lost Diary of SamuelPepys. Audiobooks for Games Workshop, Heavy Entertainment, Rushforth and id Audio have kept me out of mischief, and recording audio dramas for Big Finish has been great fun.

My most recent project has been directing the hugely talented Alison Skilbeck in her new solo piece called Uncommon Ground which had its first performances at The Buxton Festival Fringe and is aiming for Edinburgh 2023. Currently I am also working with writer James McManus on his brilliant play Einstein and Me. Cast and dates to be announced.