Early plays included The Visit with Théâtre de Complicité at the Royal National Theatre, The Cherry Orchard, Macbeth and A Flea in her Ear at Nottingham Playhouse.

A season at the Royal Shakespeare Company included A Jovial Crew for Max Stafford-Clark, Tamburlaine for Terry Hands and The Beggar's Opera and Antony and Cleopatra for John Caird.

He next played the groom role in Blood Wedding at the Young Vic, the first in a series of romantic leads, followed by Rupert Goold's adaptation of End of the Affair, Jonathan Church's Romeo and Juliet and Bill Bryden's Three Sisters.

Britton was part of Trevor Nunn's ensemble company at the National Theatre in 1999, playing Thersites in Troilus and Cressida, Ryumin in Maxim Gorky's Summerfolk, and Smooth in Money.

Britton played the Court Laureate in Terrence Malick's The New World alongside Colin Farrell, Jonathan Pryce and Christian Bale.