The Mono Box

The Mono Box is a resource for actors, directors and playwrights. It was set up by actor Joan Iyiola and movement director/choreographer Polly Bennett in 2012. The organisation runs workshops and events. It also has a collection of plays that was entirely donated by industry professionals. Several donors are people I have featured on my blog over the years* - actors Hugh Bonneville, Olivia Colman, Charles Edwards, Andrew Scott, Michael Sheen, Juliet Stevenson and David Tennant; and playwrights Caryl Churchill, Lucy Prebble and Laura Wade.

* belated realisation that I've had this blog for nine years!

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

Radio - Shakespeare and Love

[updated 2 April 2012]

A single company of actors will perform in two plays - Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night (BBC Media Centre). The cast for the former includes Trystan Gravelle and Vanessa Kirby as Romeo and Juliet, David Tennant (Prince Escalus) and Rosie Cavaliero (the Nurse), Ron Cook, Johnny Flynn, Naomi Frederick, Carl Prekopp and Paul Ready. Shakespeare and Love will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in April (BBC Drama Newsletter, 11-17 February).

Whatsonstage.com awards nominations and the British Independent Film Awards

Nominees for the Whatsonstage.com awards include Charles Edwards (Best Supporting Actor in a Play); Ruth Wilson and Kristin Scott Thomas (Best Actress in a Play); and Benedict Cumberbatch and David Tennant (Best Actor in a Play). The full list of nominations is here, and voting closes 31 January.

Guests at the British Independent Film Awards included Benedict Cumberbatch, Dominic Cooper, Gemma Arterton, Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Hall, Ruth Wilson and Tom Hollander (Getty: arrivals, after party, inside arrivals).

Film - Anna Karenina. Film - The Big Year. BBC Radio.

(A glimpse of Rosamund Pike in the The Big Year trailer; and David Tennant and Kenneth Branagh discussing radio drama. Click these screencaps for 720p full size.)

Ruth Wilson has been cast in Anna Karenina, which will be directed by Joe Wright and will begin filming this month. The film's cast includes Keira Knightley, Kelly Macdonald and Matthew Macfadyen (Screen Daily).

Jason Isaacs has been interviewed for "My Secret Life" in the Independent. His responses cover things such as fashion, musicals and children.

Rosamund Pike features briefly in The Big Year trailer, which can be viewed at Apple (via firstshowing.net).

BBC Radio

• The Life and Fate website links to pages where it will be available to download as a podcast, as well as related programs. The site's videos of David Tennant and Kenneth Branagh discussing the production and radio drama in general from can also be viewed on Youtube (via tennantnews).
• Harriet Walter stars in the Drama on 3 Glass Chair Chair Glass 
• Juliet Stevenson and Kenneth Cranham are the readers for Words and Music "Nine Lives"
• Alex Jennings reads The Boys from Brazil

Ruth Wilson, Anna Maxwell Martin, Simon Russell Beale, BBC Radio

From Baz Bamigboye's Daily Mail column: Jack O'Connell, Ruth Wilson and Anna Maxwell Martin will star in You Want Me to Kill Him? directed by Andrew Douglas and produced by Bryan Singer; and Simon Russell Beale's upcoming projects include Bluebird (Atlantic Theater Company), a new play by John Hodge about an imaginary encounter between Joseph Stalin and the playwright Mikhail Bulgakov (Cottesloe, National Theatre) and presenting the BBC series Symphony.

BBC Radio

• Andrew Buchan and Josette Simon are the readers for Words and Music "Law and Order"
• David Tennant stars in the Drama on 3 Kafka the Musical
• Blake Ritson reads the Book at Bedtime The Absolutist

Shadow Dancer, Johnny English Reborn, The Crimson Petal and the White, BBC Radio

Andrea Riseborough and Clive Owen will star in Shadow Dancer, an IRA thriller directed by James Marsh.

Screencaps of Rosamund Pike, Dominic West, Rowan Atkinson, Gillian Anderson and Stephen Campbell Moore from the Johnny English Reborn trailer (click thumbnails for full size):



Richard E Grant interview from the Telegraph, in which he discusses The Crimson Petal and the White and his directing projects in development.

BBC Radio

• Sony Radio Awards: Murder in Samarkand (starring David Tennant) and The Recordist (starring Sharon Horgan) have been nominated for Best Drama
• Stuart McLoughlin and Lizzy Watts star in the New Mystery Play The Flood
• Michael Sheen will be interviewed on Night Waves

Samuel West - anti-cuts march and Observer letter

Sam took part in yesterday's anti-cuts march in London with Equity and UK Uncut (the Guardian, Sam's Twitter @exitthelemming). In Hyde Park, he made a speech about the detrimental consequences of cuts to the arts (@exitthelemming 1|2, the Guardian, Tom Roper, video by Claire Wyatt). He also performed an excerpt from The Voysey Inheritance by Harley Granville Barker with his father Timothy West, on Oxford Street (@exitthelemming, a picture of Sam and Timothy by Michael Dennis).
The Guardian has a quote from Sam about the social effects of theatre:

"Theatre is not just for the rich and subsidy keeps tickets cheap. Quite aside from the huge financial return the country gets for any money invested, the arts are what make us civilised.  Sitting alongside people in a theatre who may be poor or may be rich is a great democratic institution."

Two weeks ago, Peter Capaldi, Michael Sheen, David Tennant and Sam, among many others, signed a letter to the Observer about cuts to arts funding (via the Guardian). A press release from Equity has statements from several of the letter's signatories, and details about cuts to national and local funding.

Hayley Atwell. Ruth Wilson. Television - The Prisoner. Dan Stevens. Audio - Wolf Hall. Audio - War Horse. BBC Radio.

• Hayley Atwell attended the Serpentine Gallery Summer party earlier this month. Pictures:
  Rex Features [link]
  WireImage [link]
  Getty/Zimbio [link]
  PR Photos/Starpulse [link]
  
  
• Ruth Wilson interview from Angel [link]
  
  
• The Prisoner begins on ABC1 tonight at 9.20pm [link]
  
  
• Titles featured in the Reading Agency Best Audiobooks of the Year 2010 List include The Honourable Schoolboy (starring Simon Russell Beale, Hugh Bonneville, Anthony Calf and Anna Chancellor), Doctor Who: Dead Air (narrator David Tennant), Wolf Hall (narrator Dan Stevens), and War Horse (narrator Dan Stevens) [link]
  
  
• BBC Radio
• Benedict Cumberbatch interviews about Sherlock on Loose Ends and the Daily Bacon (26 July) 1|2
• Simon Russell Beale participated in a Front Row discussion about Stephen Sondheim [link]

Television - The Pillars of the Earth. Film - Jackboots on Whitehall. Film - Made in Dagenham. Ruth Wilson - Theatre - Through a Glass Darkly. BBC Radio.

• Some recently released stills from The Pillars of the Earth [link]
  
  
• Jackboots on Whitehall
• The film (featuring the voices of Ewan McGregor, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Timothy Spall, Tom Wilkinson, and Alan Cumming) will have its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (via the Times) [link]
• Trailer [link]
  
  
• The poster, and some stills from Made in Dagenham.
  
  
• Through A Glass Darkly
• Ruth Wilson interview from the Telegraph (via Momentary Bursts of Enthusiasm) [link]
• Screencaps of Ruth from the trailer (click thumbnails for full size):
  
  
  
  
• BBC Radio
• Thea Sharrock (director of After the Dance, starring Nancy Carroll and Benedict Cumberbatch) will be interviewed on Start the Week [link]
• David Tennant stars in Doctor Finlay: Adventures of a Black Bag "The Day Dandini Came to Town"  [link]
• Big Toe Books: Martin Freeman reads The House of Windjammer, and Sharon Horgan reads Alice Next Door. [link]

Film - Made in Dagenham - trailer. Theatre - All My Sons - press night.

• Screencaps of Sally Hawkins, Rosamund Pike, Rupert Graves and Andrea Riseborough from the Made in Dagenham trailer (click the thumbnails for full size):
  
  
  
  
• Hugh Bonneville, David Tennant, Guy Henry, Richard E Grant, Benedict Cumberbatch and David Hyde Pierce attended the All My Sons press night. The play stars David Suchet, Zoe Wanamaker, Stephen Campbell Moore and Jemima Rooper. [link]

Samuel West - Equity elections. Film - Decoy Bride. Ruth Wilson - Theatre - A Streetcar Named Desire. Hayley Atwell. Theatre - The Pride. BBC Radio.

• Sam West is a candidate in the Equity 2010 elections (via The Stage) [link]
  
  
• David Tennant and Kelly Macdonald will star in the romantic comedy Decoy Bride [link]
  
  
• Pictures: Ruth Wilson behind-the-scenes of A Streetcar Named Desire and Hayley Atwell's headshot has been updated on her United Agents page ruth|hayley
  
  
• Andrea Riseborough will receive a Theatre World Award for The Pride [link]
  
  
• BBC Radio
• The late Corin Redgrave stars in the Drama on 3 Krapp's Last Tape {repeat} [link]
• John Gordon Sinclair and Sharon Horgan star in the Afternoon Play The Recordist [link]
• David Calder and Alex Jennings star in Scarlet on Black {repeat} [link]
• Rupert Graves and Michael Gambon star in the Drama on 3 Embers, directed by Stephen Rea {repeat} [link]
• Claudie Blakley and Lizzy Watts star in the Afternoon Play Cinders [link]
• Simon Russell Beale will be a guest on Feedback [link]

Concerns about the BBC published in the Observer

People such as Hugh Bonneville, Peter Capaldi, Romola Garai, Stephen Mangan, Stephen Merchant, David Tennant, Harriet Walter and Sam West have signed a letter to the Observer regarding their concerns about Tory attitudes towards the BBC (via the Guardian) [link]

Rosamund Pike. Laura Wade - Theatre - Posh. Ruth Wilson. Lucy Prebble - Theatre - Enron. BBC Radio.

• Rosamund Pike visited the Redland Children's Centre in Chippenham this week on behalf of Barnardo's - she is an ambassador for the charity [link]
• The cast for Posh has been announced [link]
• A short Ruth Wilson interview from Broadway World [link]
• Lucy Prebble video interview about Enron from Frost over the World [link]
• BBC Radio
• Jonathan Pryce, Kenneth Cranham and Romola Garai star in the Drama on 3 These Are the Times: A Life of Thomas Paine, which was originally a Saturday Play [link]
• Gareth David-Lloyd narrates the Afternoon Reading "Getting Up" [link]
• Jude Akuwudike, Liam Brennan and David Tennant star in the Classic Serial Of Mice and Men [link]
• Milton Jones and Tom Goodman-Hill star in series 4 of Another Case of Milton Jones [link]
• Michael Sheen is a reader for Kenneth Tynan's Theatre Writings [link]

Charles Edwards - Theatre - A Midsummer Night's Dream. BBC Radio.

• A Midsummer Night's Dream production photos from Broadway World [link]
• BBC Radio
• Geoffrey Palmer and Alex Jennings star in the Drama on 3 An Ideal Husband [link]
• Andrew Scott stars in the Saturday Play Slaughterhouse 5 [link]
• Tony Osoba and Bill Nighy star in Enquiry [link]
• Benedict Cumberbatch narrates Casanova [link]
• David Tennant stars in the Saturday Play Murder in Samarkand [link]

Ruth Wilson, David Tennant. Rosamund Pike - Theatre - Chekhov celebration.

[updated 20 January]

• Recent lovely pictures of Ruth and David by Ellis Parrinder ruth|david
  Sharonalee has more pictures of Ruth from that photoshoot [link]
• Rosamund will read the short stories "In the Cart" and "Darling" at the Hampstead Theatre Chekhov celebration [link]

Radio - The Custom of the Country. BBC Radio.

• David Tennant will be on Desert Island Discs [link]
• Julian Rhind-Tutt, Romola Garai and Laurel Lefkow narrate the Afternoon Reading Bright Young Things [link]
• Lucy Prebble will be on Front Row [link]
• Jeremy Northam and Harriet Walter are the readers for Words and Music "Femmes Fatales" [link]
• Tom Goodman-Hill and Hugh Bonneville star in the Afternoon Play Big in Samoa [link]
• Bill Nighy and Andrea Riseborough star in the Saturday Play Private Lives [link]
  
• Tom Hollander and Dan Stevens star in the Classic Serial The Custom of the Country [link]
• Stephanie Cole and Benedict Cumberbatch star in Cabin Pressure [link]

Entertainment news

• Noel Clarke and Jason Isaacs will be on the Orange Rising Star jury [link]
• St Trinians 2 trailer [link]
  
• Clive Owen, Dennis Hopper, Matt Damon, Rupert Penry-Jones, Lucy Cohu & Anna Maxwell-Martin interviews clive|dennis|matt|rupert|lucy & anna
• Article about A Single Man [link]
• Ben Whishaw won an International Emmy for Criminal Justice [link]
  
• Rehearsal pictures from The Misanthrope [link]
• Werner Herzog will be president of the International jury for the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival [link]
  
• Lone Scherfig interview about An Education [link]
• There will be a fourth series of Torchwood (via The Medium is Not Enough) [link]
• Glorious 39
• Stephen Poliakoff interview [link]
• Romola Garai interviews 1|2

Entertainment news

• An unseen Charlie Chaplin film was bought for a bargain on eBay [link]
  
• David Tennant will star in the NBC pilot Rex is Not Your Lawyer [link]
• In the Loop won three Scottish BAFTAs - best director (Armando Iannucci), best writing (Armando Ianucci, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell) and best actor (Peter Capaldi) [link]
• Gerard Butler will star in Ralph Fiennes' contemporary reworking of Coriolanus [link]
  
• Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese and Emily Mortimer attended a screening of The Red Shoes in New York [link]
  
• Sally Hawkins, Juno Temple and William H. Macy will star in Abe Sylvia's feature directorial debut Dirty Girl [link]
• Glorious 39
• Article about the London Film Festival premiere's afterparty [link]
  
• Walsingham Abbey is one of the locations in the film [link]
• Ben Whishaw, Stephen Fry, Tom Sturridge, Charles Dance and Dominic Cooper interviews ben|stephen|tom|charles|dominic
• Wonderful blog post from Shadowplay about Vertigo (via Self-Styled Siren) [link]
• Michael Fassbender and Forest Whitaker will star in A Single Shot, a thriller directed by David Jacobson [link]
  
• Romola Garai's "My Week" from the Guardian [link]
• Georgia, starring Rupert Friend, Richard Coyle and Emmanuelle Chriqui, has begun filming [link]
  
• Martin Scorsese believes Blu-Ray is good [link]
• Dominic Cooper will star in The Devil's Double [link]

Theatre - 24 Hour Plays. Television - The Thick of It. Theatre - Evening Standard Theatre Awards longlist.

• 24 Hour Plays
• Article and video from the Independent [link]
• 2 part recap from ThisStage 1|2
• Pictures from the after party. As well as performers such as Jason Isaacs, Romola Garai, Stephen Mangan, Ruth Wilson, Hattie Morahan and Anna Maxwell Martin, guests included Damian Lewis, Imogen Lloyd Webber, Blake Ritson and Jessica deRothschild. [link]
  
• The Thick of It
  
• Review of series 3 episode 2 from the Guardian [link]
• Rebecca Front was on Broadcasting House [link]
• In addition to Enron, productions such as The Winter's Tale (Best Actor - Simon Russell Beale; The Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress - Rebecca Hall; Best Director - Sam Mendes) and Hamlet (Best Actor - David Tennant) are also on the Evening Standard Theatre Awards longlist [link]