It consisted of the likes of writers [[Willy Russell]] and [[Alan Bleasdale]] and fellow actors [[Bernard Hill]], [[Julie Walters]], [[Trevor Eve]] and [[Jonathan Pryce]]. Sher summed up the work of the company with the phrase "Anarchy ruled." At the Royal Shakespeare Company he took the title role in ''[[Tartuffe]]'' and played the Fool in ''King Lear'' before his big breakthrough in 1984, when he played the title role in [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]''. This won him the prestigious [[Laurence Olivier Award]]. Since then he has played the lead in such productions as ''[[Tamburlaine (play)|Tamburlaine]]'', ''[[Cyrano de Bergerac (play)|Cyrano de Bergerac]]'', ''[[Stanley (play)|Stanley]]'' and ''[[Macbeth]]''. He also played Johnnie in [[Athol Fugard|Athol Fugard's]] ''Hello and Goodbye'', [[Iago]] in ''[[Othello]]'' and [[Shylock]] in ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]''.

• 1972—74: Plays various roles at the Liverpool Everyman
• 1974: Played Ringo Starr in Willy Russell's 'John Paul George Ringo and Bert' at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre where it opened in May 1974. The production transferred to the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London in August 1974.
• 1982: Mike Leigh's Goosepimples in the West End
• 1982: King Lear (as the Fool) at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (transferring to the Barbican in 1983)
• 1984: Richard III with the RSC (transferred to the Barbican in 1985)

  1985  Torch Song Trilogy Albery Theatre October 1st for seven months.

• 1987: Shylock in The Merchant of Venice for the RSC
• 1987: Henry Irving in Happy Birthday, Sir Larry on 31 May at the National Theatre (a Laurence Olivier 80th birthday tribute)
• 1990: Singer for the RSC
• 1991: The Trial and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui for the National Theatre
• 1994/5: Titus Andronicus at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, then transferring to the National and a UK tour.
• 1997: Stanley at the National Theatre
• 1998/1999: The Winter's Tale, at the Barbican Theatre with the Royal Shakespeare Company
• 1999: Macbeth with the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
• 2000/1: Macbeth and The Winter's Tale for the RSC
• 2002: RSC's Jacobean season transfers to the West End
• 2003: I.D. at the Almeida Theatre, London in September
• 2004: Primo at the Cottesloe — National Theatre in October
• 2007: Kean in Kean at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford (then transferring to the Apollo Theatre, London in May) in March
• 2008: Prospero in The Tempest at the Baxter Theatre, Cape Town; Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon; and tour of Richmond, Leeds, Bath, Nottingham, Sheffield
• 2010: Tomas Stockmann in An Enemy of the People at the Sheffield Crucible

• 1985: Laurence Olivier Award for best actor, for Richard III
• 1985: Evening Standard Award for best actor, for Richard III
• 1997: Laurence Olivier Award for best actor in a play, for Stanley
• 1998: Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Liverpool University.
• 2000: Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) for services to theatre
• 2006 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show for Primo
• 2007: Honorary Doctorate of Letters from University of Warwick