SHAKESPEARE?S tragedy comes to the stage at City Hall tonight, courtesy of the Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts and The Acting Company.

In the title role is Matthew Bradford Sullivan. Trained in classical theatre at the prestigious Juilliard School, he has been involved with The Acting Company since 1986.

?I went to Juilliard at 18 and did a four-year-programme and then joined The Acting Company,? he explained. ?It was my first job. It?s such a great company, one you can come back to time and time again and it?s great to get an opportunity to do such a huge role and perform in such a great play.?

The Acting Company was established in 1972, formed out of the first graduating class of the Juilliard School?s drama division. It aim is to produce ?live, professional classical and contemporary theatre? as well as ?provide continuing opportunities for gifted and highly-trained young actors to practise their craft?.

Since its introduction, America?s only national touring repertory theatre has travelled more than 500,000 miles ? through 48 states and nine countries abroad ? performing 77 plays for more than two million people.

Its citations include the 2003 Tony Award for excellence in theatre, an Obie Award and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award. The company?s alumni includes such talents as Kevin Kline, David Ogden Stiers, Patti LuPone, Jessie L. Martin and Jeffrey Wright.

Mr. Sullivan has performed and icwith The Acting Company. Other noted accomplishments include and at The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC and, at the New York Shakespeare Festival, and.

Tonight?s performance of marks his second Company performance outside the US since his Russian tour with the troupe some years before.

Asked when his love of the stage began, Mr. Sullivan said he?d wanted to act for as long as he could remember.

?When I was in my 20s I could not be dissuaded. Today I have no regrets. Any opportunity I get to act is very fortunate. I?m very happy doing what I?m doing.

?(As an actor of the theatre) you get to run the gamut of all emotions. Especially with Shakespeare, it?s great to recreate again and again and I think that?s the main appeal of being onstage (as opposed to onscreen). That, and the fact that it?s great to speak this beautiful language.?

Fourteen actors and a crew of seven travelled to Bermuda for this week?s performance. The trip is to be a working vacation for Mr. Sullivan. His girlfriend, the noted screen and television actress Harriet Harris, is to join him. marks The Acting Company?s return to Bermuda after an eight-year absence.