Samuel West - The Iliad, Suffragette, An Oak Tree

On Friday, Sam and several other actors such as Bertie Carvel, Rory Kinnear, Tobias Menzies, Hattie Morahan, Simon Russell Beale, John Simm and Ben Whishaw, performed in a reading of The Iliad at the British Museum and at the Almeida. The performance was live streamed. A series of podcasts and a making-of film are forthcoming.

Suffragette will open this year's London Film Festival (Prolific North). Sam has described his role in the film as "small and cross" (his Twitter, @exitthelemming). Click below for screencaps of him in the trailer.

He will feature in series 3 of Great Canal Journeys (his Twitter, @exitthelemming). Meanwhile, series 1 is being repeated on Channel 4 from 15 August (Radio Times).

Sam narrates a series of videos on The Road to Agincourt website. He plays the chronicler who wrote Gesta Henrici Quinti, a work about the deeds of Henry V (via the Daily Echo).

In July, he played the Father in An Oak Tree at the National Theatre. The play is a two-hander by Tim Crouch, who plays the Hypnotist. The Father is played by a different guest actor at each performance; at the National, guest actors included John Heffernan, Samuel Barnett and Trystan Gravelle.
Sam tweeted that the play was "Beautiful, useful and never to be forgotten" and Tim tweeted that the performance was "a very special evening." Here is a selection of tweets about the performance:

@exitthelemming Saw you perform in An Oak Tree tonight, absolutely amazing! Undoubtedly one of the best shows I've seen in London congrats!

— Lydia-Rachel (@Lydia_Actor) July 15, 2015

Great work tonight @exitthelemming & @timcrouch1964 with #AnOakTree Imagine it & you are it. Even we as the audience. Nod if you understand.

— Jack Tarlton (@jacktarlton) July 15, 2015

Congrats to @timcrouch1964 & @exitthelemming for a glorious #AnOakTree.....Friar Lawrence was v v proud of his Romeo #howtimeflies xx

— Hugh Sachs (@HughSachs) July 15, 2015

In May, Sam narrated Morning Heroes by Bliss with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Here is a review round up of the performance.

Music OMH
"Samuel West brought just the right level of philosophical pathos to the words..."

The Guardian

"The speaker (here, the excellent Samuel West) delivers the long opening passage from Homer over quietly unfolding orchestral themes, and Owen’s Spring Offensive, accompanied only by timpani and drums, to begin the finale."

Seen and Heard
"Samuel West struck just the right balance of eloquence and dignity of delivery..."

The Arts Desk
"Most personal and affecting were the work’s prologue and epilogue, calling upon Sam West with subtly scored orations of Hector’s Farewell to Andromache and Owen’s Spring Offensive."

**********

A few days ago, We Love Hackney tweeted a picture of Sam at a campaign launch - the local council is planning to restrict opening hours of clubs and music venues.

In July, Sam received an honorary degree from the University of East Anglia (BBC). The audio from his speech is here. He also tweeted a picture of himself from the ceremony.
Voices for the Library shared a piece by Sam about why he values his local library (via their Twitter @VftL_UK).
The Southbank Centre tweeted a picture of Sam reading at a Make Apartheid History event. Excerpts from the readings have been posted on Youtube (via Artists for Palestine).


Sam participated in a march against austerity in London 20 June (@fugueur). Participants opposed public sector cuts in areas such as welfare, health and education (ABC).

Samuel West - The Crimson Field, Ode to Napoleon, Hamlet

Screencaps of Sam as Elliot Vincent in episode 4 of The Crimson Field. Click them for full size.


The episode is available on iPlayer for the next 14 days.

Booking for the Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival opens 12 May. On 27 September, Sam will narrate "Ode to Napoleon" by Schoenberg.
In September 2005, he mentioned that he'd narrated it "three times now -it's the hardest thing I've ever done" ("The finest recording of the year? Trust me, I'm a celebrity", The Times, 2 September 2005). Presumably one of those times was in early 1994, when he collaborated with the Hebrides Ensemble to perform an "eloquent and animated" interpretation of the work (Herald Scotland).

The Guardian's "45 Hamlets for Shakespeare's 450th birthday" features a selection of actors who have played Hamlet, including Sam, Ralph Fiennes, Simon Russell Beale, David Tennant, Ben Whishaw, Michael Sheen, Rory Kinnear, Toby Stephens, John Simm and Alex Jennings.
Sam starred in a production directed by Steven Pimlott - click here to find out more.

Yesterday, Sam tweeted some personal (and squeeworthy) news tweet 1|tweet 2

Samuel West - concerts, Suffragette, Edvard

[updated 21 February]

Sam, Frances de la Tour, Susan Wooldridge, Charlotte Cornwell, Adjoa Andoh and Jonathan Pryce will perform in Voices for Cuba: an Evening of Music and Spoken Word at the Barbican on 7 March (via @voices4the5).
Tonight's concert at The Hexagon was featured as a "Live Choice" in the BBC Music Magazine (February 2014 issue). Sam is the narrator for Carnival of the Animals.

Armstrong and Miller is being repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra on Mondays. Episode 1 will be available on iPlayer for 6 more days.

Sam finished filming Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell this week (his Twitter, @exitthelemming).
He will play Benedict in Suffragette. The film's cast includes Carey Mulligan, Romola Garai, Ben Whishaw and Helena Bonham Carter (Screen Daily and @exitthelemming).

Last week, Sam gave a masterclass at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (@exitthelemming and @SophCotts).

In 2013, Sam played Edvard Munch in a rehearsed reading of Edvard by Jack Shepherd. The reading took place at RADA; it was directed by Michael Kingsbury and Christie Banks played Eva (Spellbound Productions).

What's On Stage Award nominations

Nominees include Charles Edwards (Strange Interlude) and Richard McCabe (The Audience) for Best Supporting Actor in a Play; Hayley Atwell (The Pride) for Best Actress in a Play; Ben Whishaw (Peter and Alice and Mojo) and James McAvoy (Macbeth) for Best Actor in a Play; Claudie Blakley (Chimerica) for Best Supporting Actress in a Play and Alex Jennings (Hymn) for Best Solo Performance. Rory Kinnear received two nominations - Best Actor in a Play for Othello and Best New Play for The Herd.

Click here for the full list.
 

Evening Standard Theatre Awards, BBC Radio

Nominees for the Evening Standard Theatre Awards include Benedict Cumberbatch (Frankenstein) and Charles Edwards (Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe) for Best Actor; Kristin Scott Thomas (Betrayal) for Best Actress; and Rob Ashford (Anna Christie) for Best Director.

The Drama on 3 Cock, an adaptation of the Royal Court theatre production, premieres next week. Andrew Scott, Ben Whishaw and Katherine Parkinson star. The following are currently available on iPlayer: The Tales of Max Carrados read by Arthur Darvill and The Wire The Thank You Present, starring Roger Allam and Reece Dinsdale.

Film - Love Hate

Cinematographer John Lynch has uploaded Love Hate (via Ben Whishaw my brother tom) to his Vimeo channel.

Screencaps
of Hayley Atwell, Ben Whishaw, Hattie Morahan and Blake Ritson (click thumbnails for full size)

Samuel West. Narration - Peer Gynt. Time to Talk. London's 1000 most influential people. Theatre - Zone of Silence. Narration - Warsaw Ghetto. Narration - Lines of Flight. Television - Garrow's Law. Arts funding in Somerset.

(sources: Southampton Philharmonic, Young Vic, channel4.com, Sal Brown - used with permission, artscampaign.org.uk)

Two reminders: narration of Peer Gynt with the Southampton Philharmonic at the Southampton Guildhall on this Saturday, 27 November (previously blogged here); and Time to Talk at the Rose Kingston Theatre on 7 December (previously blogged here).

Sam has been included (among others such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Rebecca Hall, Lucy Prebble, Tom Stoppard, Simon Russell Beale and Ruth Wilson) in the theatre section of the Evening Standard's London's 1000 most influential people.

Ian McKellen, Jude Law and Sam will make guest appearances in Belarus: Zone of Silence presented by Index on Censorship and the Young Vic, at the Young Vic on 5 December (via whatsonstage).

He narrated the More4 documentary Warsaw Ghetto: The Unfinished Film, which was broadcast on 30 October (via his Twitter, @exitthelemming). In other narration news, Lines of Flight won the Jury Prize at the Torello Mountain Film Festival (via the film's Twitter, @LinesOfFlight). Lines of Flight will next be screened at the Fernie Mountain Film Festival in February 2011 (previously blogged here).

Sam plays Thomas Erskine in series 2 episode 4 of Garrow's Law, which will be broadcast on BBC1, 5 December.

On 10 November, Sam attended a council meeting in Taunton, as a representative of the National Campaign for the Arts to protest cuts to arts funding in Somerset. Press coverage: the Guardian and This is Somerset.

UK Film Council letter. Film - Made in Dagenham. Theatre - Twelfth Night. Film - Brighton Rock. Rosamund Pike - Film - Johnny English Reborn.

• Signatories of an open letter to the Telegraph regarding the UK government's recent decision to close the UK Film Council include James McAvoy, Dominic Cooper,
  Ben Whishaw, Bill Nighy, Damian Lewis, Ruth Wilson, Georgia King, and Saoirse Ronan (via the Hollywood Reporter) [link]
  
  
• Made in Dagenham
  
  
  • Sally Hawkins interview from the Evening Standard [link]
  • The film will screen at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Chichester International Film Festival
  
  
• Charles Edwards will play Sir Andrew Aguecheek in the National Theatre's production of Twelfth Night, directed by Peter Hall and starring Rebecca Hall as Viola [link]
  
  
• Brighton Rock
• Stills from Rope of Silicon [link]
• The film will be shown at the Toronto International Film Festival [link]
  
  
• Rosamund Pike has been cast in Johnny English Reborn [link]

Ben Whishaw, Bill Nighy. Film - Captain America. Television - Rev. Film - Spiderman prequel. BBC Radio.

• Lovely pictures of Ben Whishaw and Bill Nighy from Shot By Shooter and the Telegraph, respectively ben|bill
  
  
• Dominic Cooper will play Howard Stark in Captain America: The First Avenger (via the Examiner) [link]
  
  
• Hugh Bonneville will guest star in episode 4 of Rev, a sitcom starring Tom Hollander and Olivia Colman [link]
  
  
• Andrew Garfield has been cast as Peter Parker in the Spiderman prequel [link]
  
  
• BBC Radio
• David Hyde Pierce and Christopher Nolan will be interviewed on Front Row david|christopher
• Anthony Flanagan and Guy Henry star in the Saturday Play Going to Ground [link]

Samuel West - Narration - Lines of Flight. Hayley Atwell - Inspire & Mentor Launch. Toby Stephens. Theatre - The Real Thing. Radio - Goldfinger. Theatre - Sonnet 155.

• Lines of Flight will be screened at the Reel Earth Film Festival in Wellington in May. Thanks to Sal Brown for the update. [link]
  
  
• Hayley attended the Marie Claire Inspire & Mentor Launch on Wednesday. Pictures:
  Instyle [link]
  Rex Features [link]
  Marie Claire [link]
  
  
• Toby interview from the Times. He stars as James Bond in Goldfinger on BBC Radio 4 this Saturday, and The Real Thing is at the Old Vic 10 April - 5 June.
  
  
• Hattie Morahan and Benedict Cumberbatch will be in the 2 May performance of Sonnet 155 at the Almeida (via Broadway World) [link]

Theatre - The Pride. Lucy Prebble. Theatre - The Real Thing. Samuel West - Radio - Bomber. Dan Stevens - Audio - War Horse. BBC Radio.

• Andrea Riseborough, Ben Whishaw and Hugh Dancy were on the Leonard Lopate Show discussing The Pride (via mcctheater) [link]
• Lucy Prebble profile from the Telegraph [link]
• Toby Stephens, Hattie Morahan and Fenella Woolgar will star in The Real Thing at the Old Vic, 21 April-5 June 2010 (previews from 10 April) [link]
• Bomber and War Horse are featured in this article from the Guardian. Here are excerpts:
  

  "...I came across this classic [Bomber] and can report that it's just as riveting second time round...
  ...ever since I heard him read AL Kennedy's Day, I have become a loyal follower of Dan Stevens, he of the chameleon voice that makes you laugh or cry at a stroke. No need to ask what Stevens reading this heart-rending story [War Horse] did to me..."

• BBC Radio
• Andrew Scott and Dave Fishley star in The Wire Look Closer [link]
• Lorcan Cranitch and Alex Jennings star in the Afternoon Play Shakespeare's Vortigern and Rowena (via the AJ Diaries) [link]
• Timothy Spall and Cheryl Campbell star in Jagged Prayer [link]
• Damian Lewis narrates Agent Zig Zag [link]

Theatre - The Pride. Theatre - Enron. Dan Stevens - Film - The Winter Queen.

• The Pride
• Has been extended to 28 March [link]
• Excerpt from an NY1 review:
  "...The performances are beautifully nuanced. Adam James, in three very distinctly different roles, aces each one. Hugh Dancy as the pragmatic Philip, Ben Whishaw’s more sensitive Oliver and Andrea Riseborough’s spunky Sylvia are sensational, expertly crafting characters that tie them to their counterparts across the generational divide..."
• Opening night photos (via mcctheater) [link]
• Promotional video (via mcctheater) [link]
  
  
• Enron has been extended to 14 August, and there will be a new cast from 9 May (via The Corner Shop) [link]
  
  
• Anton Yelchin has been cast in The Winter Queen. It is currently not known whether Dan Stevens is still attached to the film. (via Milla Fan) [link]

Theatre - The Pride

[updated 19 March 2011]

Interviews

Andrea Riseborough - TDF (via mcctheater) and WWD TDF|WWD
Ben Whishaw - New York Times (via mcctheater) [link]
Hugh Dancy interviews 1|2|3|4

Reviews

Associated Press
"...There is a fierce intelligence to Whishaw's extraordinary double performances... Dancy is equally fine... [Riseborough captures] the woman's conflicted emotions with devastating accuracy. And there is some sharply detailed work by the evening's fourth actor, Adam James, who portrays a variety of small roles..."

Backstage
"...Hugh Dancy, Ben Whishaw, and Andrea Riseborough confidently meet the unique challenge of simultaneously underlining the similarities and differences in their dual roles... Rounding out the company is the charismatic Adam James..."

Theatermania
"...The majority of kudos should go to the wonderful cast, who give detailed performances to differentiate the way they play their roles in each time period, while also showing enough similarities to make it clear that we are still seeing the same people (or at any rate, alternative versions of them)..."

Curtain Up
"...Dancy, Whishaw and Riseborough subtly and convincingly portray the time-propelled shifts in their characters... Adam James is a potent cast addition..."

Theatre - The Pride. Lucy Prebble - Theatre - Enron. Samuel West - Narration - Murder on the Lake. Film - Oscar nominations.

• Excerpt from an interview with Alexi Kaye Campbell:
  

  "...Ben Wishaw [sic] has an incredible mercurial quality, which is just so perfect for that part of Oliver. Hugh Dancy is brilliant and brings a quiet intensity to the part he plays. I've seen Andrea Riseborough on stage a lot in Britain and she's a wonderful talent and her work as Sylvia is excellent. And Adam James, who completes the cast, is a great actor with a real gift for comedy."

• Lucy will be on Start the Week next Monday [link]
• Sam has narrated Murder on the Lake (via his Twitter) [link]
• Films which have been nominated for Oscars include:
  A Single Man. Actor in a leading role (Colin Firth).
  An Education. Actress in a leading role (Carey Mulligan), Best Picture, Writing (adapted screenplay - Nick Hornby).
  In the Loop. Writing (adapted screenplay - Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche).

BBC Radio

• Toby Stephens and Patrick Malahide star in the Friday Play Let's Murder Vivaldi [link]
  
• The Complete Smiley continues with the Classic Serial The Honourable Schoolboy starring Simon Russell Beale (as George Smiley), Hugh Bonneville, Anthony Calf and Anna Chancellor [link]
• Bill Nighy stars in A Charles Paris Mystery: Cast in Order of Disappearance [link]
• Benedict Cumberbatch narrates Metamorphosis [link]
  
• Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Rebecca Front star in In the Chair [link]
  
• The Chekhov season includes:
• Ben Whishaw reading Twenty Minutes To Chekhov's Memory [link]
• Drama on 3 The Cherry Orchard, starring Sarah Miles, Nicholas le Prevost and Anne-Marie Duff [link]
• Bruce Alexander, Tessa Nicholson and Anna Maxwell Martin take part in the Sunday Feature Seven and a Half Years [link]
• Mackenzie Crook and Jason Isaacs are the readers for Words and Music "Sons of Russia" [link]
• Andrew Scott stars in A Life of Chekhov [link]
• Simon Russell Beale presents an episode of The Essay [link]

Entertainment news

• Billie Piper, Simon Russell Beale and Colin Firth & Tom Ford interviews billie|simon|colin & tom
  
• Golden Globes
• Winners [link]
• Martin Scorsese's acceptance speech [link]
  
• Carey Mulligan received the best actress award at the National Board of Review gala (via Just Jared); she has been included in Life magazine's Oscar hopefuls portraits; and she has been nominated for the Orange Rising Star Bafta Award.
• The Pride, starring Hugh Dancy, Ben Whishaw, Andrea Riseborough and Adam James is featured in Broadway Beat [link]
• Article about Mahler by Armando Iannucci (via AIannucci) [link]
  
• Red Riding will have a limited release in New York [link]
• Article about The King's Speech [link]

Entertainment news

• Mark Strong, Gemma Arterton, Sophie Okonedo, Michael Adams and Matthew Weiner interviews mark|gemma|sophie|michael|matthew
• A nice article about Party Animals [link]
• Some stills from Jackboots on Whitehall (via firstshowing) [link]
• DGA Award nominations in television [link]
  
• The Pride photocall [link]
• The Times has included the John Simm and Rory Kinnear Hamlets, Posh and Three Sisters as theatre highlights for this year [link]
• Scans of Matthew Goode, Tom Sturridge and Eddie Redmayne from Glamour [link]
  
• Ruth Wilson is eighth on Broadcast's list of top TV entertainers for 2010 [link]
• Lucy Prebble has chosen the playwright DC Moore as one to watch for 2010 [link]

Film. Theatre. Television. Radio.

Upcoming productions mentioned by the Times and the Independent:

• The Times
  Film. A Single Man, Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, Never Let Me Go, Brothers, Brighton Rock, Dagenham Girls.
  Theatre. The Little Dog Laughed, The Real Thing, Measure for Measure, Posh, Alice, Hamlet (starring John Simm, Sheffield Crucible), Hamlet (starring Rory Kinnear, the National).
• The Independent
  Film. Tamara Drewe, Shutter Island, Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps.
  Theatre. Hamlet (starring John Simm, Sheffield Crucible), Hamlet (starring Rory Kinnear, the National).
  Television. Downton Abbey, Sherlock Holmes.
  Radio. Chekhov 150th anniversary.

BBC Radio

• Michael Fassbender and Mark Ravenhill will be on Loose Ends [link]
  
• Paul Hilton and Hattie Morahan star in The Wire Alex Tripped on My Fairy [link]
  
• Jack Dee and Peter Capaldi star in The News at Bedtime [link]
• Laura Dos Santos and Bill Nighy star in the Saturday Play Educating Rita [link]
• Derek Jacobi, Julian Rhind-Tutt and James D'Arcy are in MR James at Christmas [link]
  
• Simon Russell Beale, Ben Whishaw and Anna Maxwell Martin are in the Chekhov season (via brit_actors) [link]

Theatre - Sunday Times theatre feature. Lucy Prebble - Theatre. Dan Stevens. Radio - Guilty Until Proved Innocent. Radio - The Coral Thief. BBC Radio.

• Momentary Bursts of Enthusiasm has some scans from the Sunday Times, featuring people such as Ben Whishaw, John Simm, Ruth Wilson, Hayley Atwell, Sam West and Anna Maxwell Martin; and the Official London Theatre Guide has an article about the photoshoot.
• A discussion on Broadcasting House about female playwrights included contributions from Lucy Prebble and Alia Bano [link]
• BBC Radio
• The Afternoon Play Guilty Until Proved Innocent will be broadcast 16 December [link]
  
• Dan will narrate the Book at Bedtime The Coral Thief next month (via The Richard Armitage Board) [link]
• Rupert Penry-Jones was on Loose Ends [link]
  
• Kevin Eldon, Burn Gorman and Emma Fielding star in the Saturday Play The Wonderful Wizard of Oz [link]
• Lenny Henry, Lauren Mote and Lizzy Watts star in the Classic Serial Matilda [link]
• Peter Capaldi narrates the Afternoon Reading Sputnik "The First King of Mars" [link]
• Hugh Bonneville narrates A Short History of Gothic "Markheim" [link]