Samuel West - Britten Films, Contemporary Shakespeare, Oxford Times interview

Jane Holman as Mary in Close the Coalhouse Door (Photo: Keith Pattison. Source: Northern Stage - used with permission). Screenshot from Moomin, Mymble and Little My.

Britten Films was performed at the Aldeburgh Festival on Thursday. John Harte shared a picture of Sam in rehearsal. Here are some tweets about Sam from conductor Nicholas Collon and pianist John Reid, and audience members Keely Taylor and Tam Pollard:

@nicholascollon: "extraordinary virtuoso performance from @exitthelemming this eve.No-one else cld get near that!What fun with britten's films@auroraorchestra"
@johnreidpiano (1|2): "Cor, this #aldeburghfestival concert of Britten film scores is a minefield of notes, sound-effects cuts+rests... Still, it's all worth it just to hear the line 'I have a great apprehension of poisonings' and @exitthelemming 's '30s RP.."
@keelyktss: "@exitthelemming Superb performance tonight! Very difficult stuff, well done to you, orchestra & choruses."
@wheresrunnicles: "Wonderful evening of Britten's GPO films @aldeburghmusic - live music by @nicholascollon @auroraorchestra and narration by @exitthelemming"

and a tweet from Sam about the performance:

"Thanks to all who came to @aldeburghmusic tonight; had a fine time with @nicholascollon & @auroraorchestra. That Britten's got talent."

On Friday, he gave a lecture titled "On Acting and Directing Shakespeare" at the Contemporary Shakespeare conference. Positive comments about his lecture have been shared by @contemposhake (the organisers of the conference) and catroofdance, an attendee.

The Oxford Times has an interview with Sam, in which he discusses his connections to Oxford. As a student, he read English at Lady Margaret Hall and performed at the Oxford Playhouse. He recently became a patron of the Oxford Playhouse, and Close the Coalhouse Door will be performed there 19-23 June.

He did some filming in Willesden for Mr Selfridge earlier this week (@exitthelemming).

Below is a very lovely tweet from @vornster praising Sam's narration for the app Moomin, Mymble and Little My:

"@exitthelemming Moomin app going down very well in our house. 5 yo refuses to even *try* to read it herself "I like the man reading" :)"

Money will be repeated 1 July on BBC Radio 3 (BBC Media Centre).