Born October 1st 1956; died June 2012 It was tragically fitting that the final role played by Robert Paterson, who has died unexpectedly at home, was Gonzalo in Shakespeare's The Tempest at Dundee Rep. Gonzalo, after all, was an honest and trusted advisor to the king, with a good and noble heart, who provided the exiled Prospero with the basics to survive, as well as other things to make life more bearable. It was Gonzalo too who recognised Caliban as something beyond a mere monster, sees the beauty on the island he is shipwrecked on, and takes joy when all are reconciled at the end of the play. It isn't a huge role, but it is a crucial one with which, on the few nights he played it, Paterson shared many traits. This could be said of so much of Paterson's career over the last thirty years, be it as an actor, writer or director with every major theatre company in Scotland, or in film and television appearances that included Braveheart and Charlie Gormley
An archive of arts writing by Neil Cooper. Effete No Obstacle.