Samuel West - Good Morning Britain and Baz Productions

Sam will be a guest on Good Morning Britain tomorrow (Thursday), presumably to discuss the latest series of Mr Selfridge (@GMBDaily).

He is listed as a supporter of Baz Productions. The organisation produces plays and runs various education and training programs. Harriet Walter is a patron; other supporters include the Harold Pinter Estate and Tom Stoppard.

Samuel West - The Book of Disquiet, Frank Auerbach, Peace Brigades International

The Book of Disquiet has been featured in the New York Times' "Fall and beyond" music listings. It will be performed 21-24 January at Montclair State University. Click here for tickets.

Sam, Juliet Stevenson and Ian Mckellen will perform in "Shakespeare and the Law" (16 November, Middle Temple Hall). The event has been organised by Peace Brigades International (PBI) and the Alliance for Lawyers at Risk.
Juliet and Sam have previously worked with PBI. In May 2013, they performed in a gala honouring defenders of the rule of law.

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Sam went to the Photograph 51 press night on Monday. Rather appropriately, he wore a tie with a periodic table on it (wooller.com and his Twitter, @exitthelemming). Andrew Scott and Harriet Walter also attended the event.

Earlier this month, Sam discussed artist Frank Auerbach in Art Quarterly (via @artfund).

Parents in Performing Arts will have a campaign launch at the Young Vic on 16 October. Romola Garai and Poppy Burton-Morgan are confirmed to speak. Sam and John Simm are listed as supporters on the Eventbrite listing.

Sam endorsed the arts policy proposed by Christian Wolmar (via @wolmarforlondon). Wolmar was a candidate seeking nominations to be Labour's candidate for Mayor of London.

Samuel West - The British on Australian TV, Britten, Advice from the Players

Sam plays Samuel Pepys in episode 4 of The British, which will be broadcast 7.30pm tomorrow on SBS1.

He narrates "Prisoner's Monologue" from Britten to America. It featured in Sunday's episode of The Blue of the Night with Eamonn Lenihan. The episode is available to stream; skip to 2:42:30 to hear the track. 

In mid August, he narrated Executed, a documentary about the death sentence in Britain (via @UnitedVoices_).

On 21 November, Sam, director Giles Ramsay and writer Nigel West will discuss deception in a talk at the V&A. Tickets for the event can be booked online.

The Guardian has published an extract from the book Advice from the Players, by Laura Barnett. Harriet Walter and Simon Russell Beale have contributed to the book. Sam has provided suggestions on learning lines and choosing the right drama school. The book will be published 18 September.

Samuel West - Bath Mozartfest, Mr Selfridge, Intelligence Squared

Sam will read poems about the First World War at the Bath Mozartfest on 9 November. Click here for tickets.

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This week, Sam tweeted a (relatively unspoilery) selfie from the set of Mr Selfridge.


Reading at Lights Out (click thumbnails for full size screencaps)
Recently, he has done readings relating to World War I. BBC Radio 3 uploaded a video of Sam reading an extract from Wilfred Owen’s "Anthem for Doomed Youth" at Lights Out on 4 August (via Gramophone).
He read three pieces by Siegfried Sassoon on Today (BBC Radio 4, 10 July): the censored and uncensored versions of his poem "Atrocities", as well as a letter about the poem.
He previously read the uncensored version of "Atrocities" at Peace in Our Time? a series of concerts at the Wormsley Estate on 6 July, featuring the Garsington Opera Orchestra (The Independent). Jessica Costelloe tweeted a picture of Sam in rehearsal with the Orchestra.

Sam narrated Henry V by Walton at the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester (30 July).

Intelligence Squared uploaded the debate Shakespeare vs Milton (22 June) on Youtube. These screencaps from the video feature Sam, Harriet Walter and Pippa Nixon (click thumbnails for full size).

Much Ado About Nothing



Julius Caesar


Macbeth



Othello


Paradise Lost



Q&A


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Sam received a Companionship from the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) at a graduation ceremony on 31 July. A Companionship acknowledges recipients' contributions to student learning (Liverpool Echo and Sam's Twitter @exitthelemming). For example, he taught a masterclass at the Institute in February.

On 23 July, Sam and Baroness Bonham-Carter co-hosted a reception for Eastside Educational Trust's 20th anniversary. Eastside and Nuprint have pictures from the event.

Samuel West - Just So readings, Intelligence Squared and Mr Selfridge

Sam's readings of Rudyard Kipling's Just So stories were broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra this week. The readings are a tie-in with the latest series of Just So Science.

The video from the Intelligence Squared debate Shakespeare vs Milton will be available soon. Meanwhile, here's a selection of media about the event:

• Pictures of Sam and Harriet Walter in rehearsal shared by Intelligence Squared and chair Erica Wagner
• Tweets about the actors' performances intelligence2|katebassett001
• A tweet from Intelligence Squared outlining the result of the debate

Earlier this week, Sam tweeted a (relatively) non-spoilery picture from the set of Mr Selfridge.

Samuel West - TV, 50p for Culture, music

Sam confirmed on Twitter that he will be in the third series of Mr Selfridge. Filming begins this week.
He is in this Sunday's episode of The Crimson Field. It was filmed at the same time as Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (his Twitter, @exitthelemming).

Two weeks ago, Sam spoke about 50p for Culture on Front Row (via @exitthelemming). He also wrote a blog post on the Arts Funding Ning, "Welcoming Sajid Javid, the new Culture Minister".

A video of Sam presenting the DVD award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards is now on Youtube (via @MusicMagazine). Here are some screencaps from the clip (click them for full size).

The April 2014 issue of the BBC Music Magazine has a positive review of Nocturne. An excerpt:

"Experienced in the context of Harriet Walter's and Samuel West's compelling exploration of the Chopin-George Sand love affair through their letters and diary entries, the music [performed by Lucy Parham] assumes a special sense of poignancy." (text source: perthfestival.co.uk)

Booking is now open for Peace in Our Time? a series of concerts by the Garsington Opera Orchestra (6 July at the Wormsley Estate). Click here for tickets.
Sam will perform at the Hatfield House Music Festival in late September. Booking opens in May.

Waste (directed by Sam in 2008) was chosen by Mark Lawson as one of his top ten productions at the Almeida (The Guardian).

Samuel West - Jonathan Strange and Look, Stranger

Sam and Dominic Cooper in Fleming; click thumbnails for full size (video source)

Sam plays Sir Walter Pole in the BBC's upcoming adaptation of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (via his Twitter, @exitthelemming 1|2). It began filming last week (BBC Media Centre).

Ben Hur is being repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra. Episode 1 is now available on iPlayer.

In Inside Croydon, he discusses the challenges of providing live narration for films (via @InsideCroydon). Britten Films will be performed at Fairfield Halls tomorrow.
Sam and the Utter Jazz quartet will perform Look, Stranger at the Theatre Royal Winchester 17 November (via @RuthieCulver).

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Britten in Wartime will be released by NMC on CD 9 December (via @nmcrecordings).
It premiered at the Bridgewater Hall 3 October. The Hallé shared a picture from the performance on Twitter. Northern Soul's review of the performance highlighted the interaction between narrator and orchestra (via @Northern_Soul_)

... this, in the expert hands of the Hallé, was a real treat for the ears and the addition of the accomplished actor Samuel West as guide and narrator lent the whole thing a real sense of atmosphere. At times we were all so drawn in it seemed like we really were sitting in New York’s Radio City Theatre, watching the original live broadcast back in 1942.

Sam narrates Little Red Riding Hood by Paul Patterson at the Southbank Centre on 21 December (via @Orch_of_StPauls).

A video interview with Dominic Cooper on Sky's Fleming site features some footage from the show.

One of Sam's upcoming voiceovers is about MI6 (@exitthelemming).

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Sam attended the National Theatre's 50 years on stage performance last week (Getty Images). His reflections about Arcadia (1993) are featured in the event program:

A memory: of rehearsals for Arcadia, and Tom Stoppard looking for a line. It needed to say that Thomasina couldn't have known about chaos theory because she didn’t have a computer. I'd described chaos as a door that had cracked open five or six times since we got up on our hind legs. The line was there, but underwater, waiting to rise. One day Tom came in, beaming. "I've got it", he said.
"You can't open a door till there's a house."
"That's it", I said. "That's what I wanted to say." And I got to, for the very first time.

Recent publicity for My Theatre Matters includes an article by Sam in the Morning Star (via @exitthelemming); interviews in the Northern Echo and BBC Radio Kent; and an article in The Stage. In October, he gave a speech about the campaign in Birmingham (@exitthelemming).

Nocturne was released in late October (via @LucyParham). Lucy Parham's Chopin performances are interspersed with readings by Sam and Harriet Walter.

Tom Stoppard received this year's PEN Pinter Prize. Excerpts from his plays were read at the event. Sam read from Coast of Utopia (@buzzbuzz_mylord).

Sam wrote a blog post about the Palestine Choral Festival for Sinfini Music (via @exitthelemming).

Samuel West - Hyde Park on Hudson, Facade, Track to Track, Nocturne

Screencap from the Hyde Park on Hudson trailer. More caps from the trailer are here.

Hyde Park on Hudson will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September (TIFF press 24 July, "Galas and Special Presentations" via the Guardian).

Ben Hur will be repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra from today.

Will Corder's website has pictures from the performance of Facade at the Ryedale festival.

A tweet from Sam about the Track to Track concert (15 July):

Tonight doing Graham Fitkin QEH gig with lots of kids making lots of noiseand me narrating TWO pieces about railways #extrainspotterheaven
— Samuel West (@exitthelemming) July 15, 2012

@barbi001 and @sarahblake respectively described the concert as "marvellous" and "brilliant."
The concert has been recorded for BBC Radio 3 (comment from diaryofadizzygirl).

He was invited to the BBC Radio 4 musical showcase But First This (13 July). Click here for a tweet from him about the performance; and an article from the Telegraph has a plot-related quote from him (via @suzyklein).

Lucy Parham's website has been updated with two clips from Nocturne, featuring readings from Sam and Harriet Walter.

Samuel West. Narration - The Soldier's Tale. Guardian letter.

Sam will be a guest on In Tune today (via @suzyklein). Presumably he will be discussing the upcoming performance of The Soldier's Tale at the Wigmore Hall, which he will be narrating this Friday. [Update, 25 February: a picture of Sam in the studio is here]
Later in the week, he will be a guest on Saturday Kitchen Live, facing his food heaven or food hell. [Update, 4 February: it clashed with a morning performance of The Soldier's Tale (see the comment from Anonymous on this post, and tweets from @cmoody and @debbie2711; cancellation confirmed by Sam here)]

Sam wrote a letter to the Guardian outlining disagreement with the appointment of actor György Dörner as the director of the Új Színház (the New Theatre). Early last week, he tweeted that he was in the process of putting the letter together:

"Putting together letter about theatre situation in Hungary (http://bit.ly/yOizOb). As ever, moved & delighted by response of fellow actors."

The letter's signatories include Daniel Evans, Romola Garai, Toby Jones, Dan Stevens, Harriet Walter, Caryl Churchill and Laura Wade.

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

Dan Stevens

Downton Abbey

• The show premieres tonight in Australia on Channel 7 at 8.30pm
• Dan and other cast members attended the British Academy Television Awards
• Dan co-hosted Richard Bacon earlier this week - the show was broadcast from the set, where series 2 is currently filming

The Cradle of the Snake had its BBC Radio 4 Extra premiere this week.

Dan, Harriet Walter and Ruth Wilson will take part in Poetry Week at the Donmar Warehouse next week.

Dan Stevens

• Some tweets about Beyond Frankenstein, a reading Dan participated in with Damian Lewis and Harriet Walter
• Stills for Vamps have been released
• Dan was a guest on the BBC Review Show earlier this month
• The audiobook History of a Pleasure Seeker by Richard Mason will be released in May

Dan Stevens

Out and about

• Dan supports UK Coffee Week (4-10 April).
• Comic Relief
• Dan was involved in two auctions: "superfollow plus" and tea at the Ritz with Downton Abbey cast members Hugh Bonneville (Earl of Grantham) and Brendan Coyle (Bates)
• Sarah Cawood and Hugh Bonneville shared pictures from the Big Red Nose Show
• He will participate as a BT London 2012 Storyteller.

Upcoming projects

• The Lucky Monkey Pictures website has a picture of Dan and Krysten Ritter from the set of Vamps
• Dan stars as Gaius Catullus in A Thousand Kisses, which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 10 April
• Damian Lewis, Harriet Walter and Dan will read poetry at the National Theatre platform Beyond Frankenstein: Josephine Hart presents Romantic Poetry (Olivier Theatre, Friday 15 April, 6pm)

Samuel West. Narration - Also Sprach Zarathustra. Narration - Nocturne.

Tweets about Also Sprach Zarathustra:

Sam/@exitthelemming- "Just stood between the horns and the timpani for LSO rehearsal of Strauss's 'Also Sprach Zarathustra'. Possibly the loudest noise ever made."
Fiona Laird/@fionalaird - "I have just been to a fabulous concert - LSO making a *big* gorgeous noise playing Strauss & Ravel. And @exitthelemming was added extra :-)"
London Symphony Orchestra/@londonsymphony - "@fionalaird thanks! And thank you @exitthelemming. Really made the night."
Sam - "@londonsymphony hurray for a top gig! Have a top time in Athens."

A recording of Nocturne with Lucy Parham, Harriet Walter and Sam will be released later this year (Lucy Parham's official website).

Samuel West. Radio - With Great Pleasure. Mousetrap Theatre Projects.

Sam and Harriet Walter are the readers for next week's episode of With Great Pleasure - Joan Bakewell chose the readings. It will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 15 February at 11.30am.

The patrons of the Mousetrap Theatre Projects have written about their "inspired beginnings" in theatre. An excerpt from Sam's piece:

"...At one point in the play [a 1972 production of Love's Labours Lost starring his father Timothy West] the three boys have to disguise themselves as Russians, and the director had them come on dressed as cosmonauts with big space helmets, and playing the theme from '2001'. I remember thinking how clever it was of Shakespeare to anticipate the moon landings by nearly 400 years..."

Belarusian election embassy protest, Barney's Version, Ruth Wilson, Andrew Garfield.

Grey Photography has uploaded a set from the Belarusian election embassy protest which took place in London on 21 December. People who attended include Harriet Walter, Dan Stevens and Sam West.

Rosamund Pike interviews from the Vancouver Sun and The Star about Barney's Version.

A picture of Ruth Wilson taken by Graham Jepson.

Andrew Garfield won Total Film's Hotlist award for Hottest Actor (via monkeywonder) and was interviewed on Film Weekly.

Ruth Wilson - Television - Small Island. Rosamund Pike - Film - Barney's Version. Andrea Riseborough - Film - Brighton Rock. BBC Radio.

Ruth Wilson attended the International Emmy Awards on 22 November (via Momentary Bursts of Enthusiasm). Winners included Small Island (TV movie/mini-series) and Helena Bonham Carter (Enid; Best Performance by an Actress). Pictures: the Telegraph, Rex Features, Getty (press room and arrivals) and WireImage.

Screencaps of Rosamund Pike from the Barney's Version trailer (click thumbnails for full size):



Interviews with Andrea Riseborough from askmen.com and Movieline, and screencaps of her from the Brighton Rock trailer (click thumbnails for full size):



BBC Radio

• Sam West reads the Oscar Wilde poem "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" {repeat}
• Juliet Stevenson and David Haig star in the Afternoon Play The End of the Alphabet {repeat}
• Bill Nighy stars in A Charles Paris Mystery: Murder in the Title
• Harry Lloyd reads the Afternoon Reading story "Window Washer"
• Tom Goodman-Hill, Derek Jacobi and Harriet Walter star in the Classic Serial I, Claudius 
• Ricky Gervais will be interviewed on Front Row
• John Sessions and Alex Jennings star in series 2 of Electric Ink