Samuel West - Theatre - The Family Reunion

[updated 19 March 2011]






Interviews

Theatre Voice [link]
Loose Ends [link]
theatreland.tv (via m4sure) [link]

Study guide

Donmar website [link]

Reviews

Rogues & Vagabonds
"...Samuel West, as his Lordship young Harry, cuts the perfect figure of a tortured aristocrat, unsure of his past and desperately unclear about his future. West adds a breadth of emotional experience to this character which makes the journey of self-realization all the more believable and, ultimately, all the more troubling. There is a deep sense of self-loathing in Harry as he admits the horrific truth of the last few months and confronts the demons which, quite literally, haunt him. Only an actor of West’s calibre could pull this off so convincingly..."

The Independent
"...Wilton and West tackle Eliot's difficult speeches with a burning intensity. Hattie Morahan is vibrant too..."

Curtain Up
"...Jeremy Herrin's direction wisely focuses on strong, clear performances... Sam West's Harry maintains his clipped 1930s accent throughout his haunted torment, but also manages to convey the warmth and sympathy of his tortured, if obscure, predicament...expert performances hint at the timelessness of Eliot's themes."

The Daily Express
"...As Harry, Samuel West has the right level of psychological torment mixed with disdain for his family's banalities..."

The Spectator
"...Sam West is shrewdly cast as the heartless, delusional Harry..."

MusicOMH
"...Samuel West’s restlessly tortured Harry, wracked with guilt over his wife’s death and searching for some deeper meaning in his life, conveys real intensity...Hattie Morahan suggests Mary’s frustrated desire to escape..."

The Times
"...West makes Eliot’s tormented, occasionally hectoring Harry rivetingly watchable..."

Telegraph
"...the cast, spearheaded by Samuel West's haunted, brooding Harry, have got the measure of it..The ensemble playing is uniformly excellent..."

The Stage
"...[Harry] is played here by Samuel West with an almost insolent throwaway style that heightens and deepens the drama.
The greatest gain is in his long conversational encounter with Hattie Morahan’s Mary, the urgent exchanges between these brilliant young actors enjoying a Hamlet and Ophelia intensity, he angry and impassioned, she troubled and emotional, signalling her innermost feelings with subtle body language...."

The Guardian
"...Jeremy Herrin's cast is impeccable...In the past, reviewers have thought Harry a prig, but in Samuel West's performance he is a sympathetically tormented soul searching for peace..."

whatsonstage.com
"...West makes something really moving of his [Harry's] insistence that he is living a nightmare and that the rest of the family is weighed down with the triviality of everyday life..."

hal-for-king
"...This is all about the actors having a teasing time with a testing text and not one of them faltered..."

Pictures

Production:
Tristram Kenton/The Guardian
unknown/Daily Mail, whatsonstage.com
Johan Persson/Donmar Warehouse, The First Post, Time Out

Behind the scenes:
Marc Brenner/Donmar Warehouse

Press night after party:
wooller.com 1|2|3

Entertainment news

• Article about the Peter Morgan & Michael Sheen creative partnership [link]
• Becki Newton on Conan (via ONTD) [link]
• Dominic Cooper is included in a People magazine feature about sexy men [link]
• Article about Cape no. 7, a Taiwanese film that has been doing very well in Asia [link]
• Britain won 7 International Emmys - for Life on Mars, Maxwell, Forgiven, The I.T. Crowd, Strictly Bolshoi, Shaun the Sheep and The Beckoning Silence [link]
• Daniel Craig interview from Rotten Tomatoes [link]
• Duplicity trailer [link]
• Ben Stiller and Chris Rock interview from Radio 1 [link]
• Article about David Stratton's film history course [link]
  

Tags: Peter Morgan, Michael Sheen, Frost Nixon, Becki Newton, Conan, Conan O'Brien, Ugly Betty, Dominic Cooper, Cape no. 7, Emmys, Life on Mars, Maxwell, Forgiven, The I.T. Crowd, Strictly Bolshoi, Shaun the Sheep, The Beckoning Silence, Daniel Craig, Quantum of Solace, Duplicity, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Stratton

Samuel West - Theatre

Evening Standard Theatre Awards

Pictures:
Getty. "#83804086", "#83804010"
Rex Features. "821424w", "821424x", "821424y"
wooller.com [link]
Richard Young photography [link]

Arts and Community in Thornbury

From thisisbristol.co.uk:

"...Enthusiasts behind the arts complex want to create a 500-seat venue with performance space for both professionals and amateur groups, as well as rehearsal areas, meeting rooms, a cinema and a cafe.

Thousands of pounds have been raised towards achieving their dream and as well as Ms Johnson [Catherine Johnson, Mamma Mia], they have won the backing of celebrities such as comedian Barry Cryer, actor Sam West and playwright Willy Russell..."

Tags: Samuel West, Sam West, theatre, Evening Standard, Thornbury, Catherine Johnson, Mamma Mia, Barry Cryer, Willy Russell

Rebecca Hall - Film - Frost/Nixon - pictures

[updated 19 March 2011]

Pictures from the LA premiere [link]

Samuel West - Theatre - Hamlet

[updated 19 March 2011]

The Telegraph has an article about different interpretations of Hamlet, including some thoughts from Sam (via brit_actors).

Hayley Atwell

[updated 19 March 2011]

A new headshot of Hayley can be viewed at officiallondontheatre.co.uk.

Dan Stevens - Theatre - Every Good Boy Deserves Favour

Dan will play The Doctor in Every Good Boy Deserves Favour by Tom Stoppard and Andre Previn at the National Theatre from January to February next year.

Entertainment news

• Mary and Max, an animated film starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette, will open the Sundance film festival [link]
• John Malkovich is going to film a documentary called Triple Crossing, about illegal migrants [link]
• The trailer for Coraline, an animated adaptation of Neil Gaiman's novel, has been released (via ONTD) [link]
• Interview with Julianne Moore from the Telegraph [link]
• A group under the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft has taken out a lawsuit against Iinet, a broadband provider [link]
• Australia won't save the struggling Australian film industry but hopefully it will do well at the box office 1|2
• Interview with Tilda Swinton from the Guardian [link]
• Article about how the economic downturn will affect the film industry [link]
• Interview with David Tennant about Einstein and Eddington [link]
  

Tags: Mary and Max, animation, film, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette, Sundance, John Malkovich, Triple Crossing, documentary, Coraline, adaptation, Neil Gaiman, Julianne Moore, Australia, Tilda Swinton, Einstein, Eddington, David Tennant

Samuel West - Theatre - The Family Reunion

[updated 19 March 2011: pictures removed]




The play is in previews at the moment, and press night is Tuesday 25 November. The Donmar Warehouse website has a behind the scenes picture of Sam, and the Guardian has a cast portrait.

Hayley Atwell - Theatre - A View From the Bridge

From Baz Bamigboye's Daily Mail column:

"Hayley Atwell is currently playing a number in the re-interpretation of Sixties cult TV drama, The Prisoner, but very soon she will have a name to play.

The actress will star opposite Ken Stott and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in Arthur Miller's play View From The Bridge.

She will play Catherine, with Stott and Ms Mastrantonio as her aunt and uncle.

Stott's Eddie Carbone is a Brooklyn docker whose incestuous desires for his niece bring about his downfall.

It's a fabulous play and Lindsay Posner's production begins rehearsals next month, with performances at the Duke of York's Theatre from January 22.

Producers Kim Poster and Sonia Friedman are hoping to cast Harry Lloyd as Rodolpho, who incurs Carbone's wrath when he shows a healthy interest in Catherine.

Hayley, who was in the films The Duchess and Brideshead Revisited, returns to London - just in time for rehearsals - from South Africa, where she has been starring with Ian McKellen, Jim Caviezel and Ruth Wilson in The Prisoner.

Hayley plays 4-15, a character who turns out to be a facet of another character. She lives in the weird village controlled by McKellen's No 2.

The six-part series will be broadcast on ITV next year. McKellen will be toasting Hayley's stage role during one of the regular soirees he throws for The Prisoner inmates."

Tags: Hayley Atwell, theatre, Ken Stott, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Arthur Miller, View from the bridge, Catherine, Eddie Carbone, Brooklyn, Lindsay Posner, Kim Poster, Sonia Friedman, Harry Lloyd, Rodolpho

Samuel West - Theatre - Waste

Interview:

Broadwayworld [link]

Review excerpts:

What's on Stage
"...Samuel West’s magisterial, superbly cast revival at the Almeida [...] has the unmistakeable clamour of an Edwardian political classic pressing all the right contemporary buttons..."

The Guardian
"Lovers of good drama and politics junkies should flock to Samuel West's superb revival of Harley Granville Barker's play...West's meticulous production..."

The Independent
"...in this past year, he [Sam] has begun to establish himself as a director of the front rank...there's the excellent balance he achieves between the public wheeler-dealing and the private desolation in this consummate revival of Harley Granville Barker's play Waste..."

The Sunday Times
"...Sam West’s confidently unhurried direction...West’s fine direction..."

Evening Standard
"...Samuel West's definitive production of this great Edwardian play by Granville Barker...Waste itself taxes, tests and stretches the mind, but what an overwhelming experience."

Curtain Up
"...Sam West's production is exceptionally well cast and I feel his experience as an actor comes into play here...in Sam West's skilled hands, I am persuaded to admire a perfect production."

musicOMH
"...Samuel West’s superbly balanced production brings to dramatic life Barker’s subtly intelligent arguments..."

Time Out
"...Samuel West’s sensitive and engrossing production...West’s meticulous production..."

West End Whingers
"...The astonishingly sensitive direction of Samuel West whose ability to direct quiet, intimate scenes which compel is unparalleled in the Whingers’ humble opinions..."

Theatre News Online
"...As director, West brings a gathering potency to a play that genuinely benefits from so enquiring an intelligence..."

Daily Express
"...this stunning revival by Samuel West has quite remarkable power..."

Telegraph
"...Actor-turned-director Samuel West discovers almost all the play's penetrating insights and subtle grace-notes...This is a spellbinding production of a superbly rich and subtle play."

Financial Times
"...Samuel West's handsome, beautifully acted production..."

The Stage
"...Samuel West ensures that every word, every movement, is calculated - but without impinging on the play...A jewel of a production."

Gareth James
"...Samuel West has delivered a finely detailed production with a first class cast..."

Hampstead and Highgate Express
"...you couldn't see a better production of it than Sam West's; it is compelling, entertaining and lovely to look at..."

Tags: Samuel West, Sam West, theatre, theater, Waste, Harley Granville Barker

Dan Stevens - poetry

From the Hereford Times:

"Dan Stevens, who played Edward Ferrars in the BBC’s Sense and Sensibility and the starring role of Nick Guest in The Line of Beauty, is coming to Knighton on Remembrance Sunday, November 9, to take part in the next concert in the Knighton Concert Society series... Dan studied singing with Graham [Trew, the Concert Society president, who teaches at Tonbridge School, Dan's alma mater] and was recently on stage in Malvern with Felicity Kendal in The Vortex... he will read poetry and prose by, among others, Sassoon, Owen and Kipling..."

Tags: Dan Stevens, Edward Ferrars, BBC, Sense and Sensibility, Nick Guest, The Line of Beauty, Knighton, Graham Trew, Tonbridge School, Malvern, Felicity Kendal, The Vortex, Sassoon, Owen, Kipling