Mark Rylance - 2011 Tony Awards acceptance speech

Mark Rylance wins the 2011 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for Jerusalem.

In his acceptance speech, he recites "Walking Through a Wall" by poet Louis Jenkins. He had also quoted a Jenkins poem for his previous Tony speech in 2008 when he won for Boeing-Boeing.


From 2011 AP news reports:

"I bet most people understood it in many different ways, which was kind of the point of it anyway," he said. "It was the contrast of the poetry of Louis Jenkins and that system of awards _ of winners and losers _ that intrigued me as a piece of theater, really."

He said he had been preparing three or four things to say if he won. He had been told he had only about 90 seconds to speak, including the walk up the stage. He had definitely ruled out the traditional listing of peoples' names, finding it unengaging.

"No one else will ever do the poems that I do because they're my thing. So it's tempting to give them another wonderful poem," he said. "It won't be a surprise but I don't think that matters."