Rebecca Hall, Ruth Wilson, Laura Wade. British Academy Television Awards. BBC Radio.

• Interviews with Rebecca Hall (via Momentary Bursts of Enthusiasm) and Ruth Wilson from the Guardian rebecca|ruth
  
  
• Laura Wade interview from the Sheffield Telegraph about Alice [link]
  
  
• British Academy Television Awards
• Selected winners: Julie Walters (leading actress, Mo), Matthew Macfadyen (leading actor, Criminal Justice), and Rebecca Hall (supporting actress, Red Riding 1974). The Thick of It received three awards - female performance in a comedy role (Rebecca Front), male performance in a comedy role (Peter Capaldi), and situation comedy.
• Pictures 1|2|3|4|5|6
• Article from Instyle [link]
• Videos from BAFTA, including a red carpet interview with Ruth Wilson, and an interview with the cast and crew of The Thick of It [link]
• Press release from MAC. Their artists did make up for Romola Garai, Ashley Jensen, and Ruth Wilson. [link]
  
  
• BBC Radio
• Roger Allam and Alex Jennings star in The Idiot (via the AJ Diaries) [link]
• Stephen Mangan reads The Dream Travellers for Big Toe Books [link]
• Juliet Stevenson was interviewed on Loose Ends [link]
  

Theatre - 24 Hour Plays. Television - The Thick of It. BBC Radio.

• Hattie Morahan joins the previously announced Ruth Wilson and Anna Maxwell-Martin in the 24 Hour Plays [link]
• The Thick of It
• Rebecca Front and Billy Sneddon interviews rebecca|billy
• Positive reviews of series 3 episode 1 1|2
• Armando Iannucci's "My Week" from the Guardian [link]
  
• BBC Radio
• Lia Williams, Hugh Bonneville and Katherine Parkinson star in the Drama on 3 The Lady From the Sea [link]
  
• Khalid Abdalla, Stephen Campbell Moore and Michael Pennington narrate the Afternoon Reading Tales From the Low Countries [link]
• The Richest Man in Britain is a sitcom by Nick Hornby and Giles Smith starring Mark Williams and Russell Tovey. Rosamund Pike is in the last episode of the series. [link]
• Penny Downie, Claudie Blakley and Daniela Denby-Ashe star in Ring Around the Bath [link]
• Julian Rhind-Tutt narrates Bulldog Drummond [link]
• Rory Kinnear, Louise Brealey and Tom Goodman-Hill star in Fair Stood The Wind For France [link]
• Simon Russell Beale narrates, and David Haig, Hugh Bonneville and Joanna Scanlon star in Leaving [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]

Television - The Thick of It. BBC Radio.

• The Thick of It
• Articles from the Independent (via AIannucci) and the Times independent|times
• Peter Capaldi interview from the Guardian [link]
  
• Rebecca Front Woman's Hour and GQ interviews woman's hour|gq
• Armando Iannucci interview from the Telegraph [link]
  
• Screencaps from the trailer (click thumbnails for full size):
  
  
  
• BBC Radio
• Jason Isaacs and Lou Hirsch star in the Saturday Play Bullitt [link]
  
• Ruth Wilson, Harry Lloyd and Russell Tovey star in the Drama on 3 The Promise [link]

Theatre - Enron

[updated 31 January]



Reviews

Telegraph
"...There is superb clarity in Prebble's story-telling as well as high drama, and terrific bravura about Rupert Goold's often dazzling production that brings the mysterious world of high finance to vivid, comprehensible life...
The production is is also blessed with some terrific performances. Samuel West grippingly charts the transformation of Enron's chief executive Jeffrey Skilling from gauche nerd to ruthless financial master of the universe..."

The Times
"...It's now as much a phenomenon as a play... Good for Lucy Prebble. Good for her Enron.
...a potentially dry subject is actually packed with juice is also due to the actors: Tim Pigott-Smith's Kenneth Lay, Enron's founder and a man whose folksy bonhomie conceals ruthlessness; Tom Goodman-Hill as the obsequious nerd who devises and then disowns the fiscal trickery; and, above all, Samuel West as the CEO..."

Bloomberg
"...Lucy Prebble's razor-sharp play...
Samuel West is superb as the aggressive and devious character depicting Enron Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling, and his physical and mental disintegration now strikes an even deeper note of horror..."

Londonist
"...Samuel West is wonderful as Skilling, managing to bring a touch of humanity to a brainy, unrepentantly greedy bastard. Tim Pigott-Smith is utterly convincing as Enron chairman Ken Lay, creepily concealing his greed behind touchy-feely company jargon and religion. And Amanda Drew is great as what seems to be the one woman in the room, losing out to the macho of markets..."

whatsonstage.com
"...The great Samuel West leads the same cast as that which first appeared at the Chichester Minerva Theatre in July last year, then at the Royal Court in the autumn, and the company crackle with energy and wit now just as they did in each of the previous incarnations of the show..."

Guardian
"...company president Jeffrey Skilling (played by Sam West, who is remarkable in what is a remarkable cast)... The audience doesn't have to do the maths because Prebble has done it for us, bringing clarity to a complex story, and cleverly blurring the line between fact and fiction to considerable dramatic effect..."
[another review] "...Enron has arrived in the West End. Lucy Prebble's play is one of the most grown-up political dramas of the last decade. The raptor puppets, the fluorescent dazzle, the great Mammon danse macabre of Rupert Goold's production put flesh on the ideas, make the virtual look real, give life to the illusions of finance. Last year saw a string of unmissable plays. This is one of them."

Music OMH
"...West's superb performance gives the production its pulse. In his hands Skilling is an enigmatic and intriguing figure, highly intelligent, ruthless and manipulative when needs be, and utterly convinced of his own brilliance, but also undoubtedly passionate about what he does... Physically, West transforms himself repeatedly as the play progresses. From a portly outsider with unfortunate hair at the start he morphs into the epitome of the slick executive and then, as the full reality of the situation comes to light, he subtly conveys Skilling’s unravelling... Goodman-Hill is also impressive as the smart but socially awkward and rather repellent Fastow..."

The Sunday Times
"...Sam West is superb in the role [Jeffrey Skilling]. Initially, he is a boffin with a weird, slicked-down hairstyle, thick specs and trousers too short... He possesses a quite breathtaking arrogance. Gradually, his image gets slicker, his suits sharper; he even has his eyes lasered...
Prebble’s play is a magnificently ambitious and original piece"

The Financial Times
"...The acting was compelling and believable, especially from Sam West, who as Jeff Skilling managed to make a seamless transition from maths nerd to master of the universe..."

Articles

Sky News - Lucy Prebble and Samuel West are interviewed [link]
Telegraph - Rupert Goold interview [link]
ITN - Tom Goodman-Hill is interviewed [link]
Critics' Circle Theatre Awards - Rupert Goold won best director [link]
Official London Theatre Guide [link]
CNBC - producer Matthew Byam Shaw interview (via Enron- West End Run) [link]
The Times - Lucy Prebble interview [link]

Pictures

Press night:
wooller.com - after party (guests included Imelda Staunton, Lindsay Duncan, John Simm, Guy Henry, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dominic West, Rebecca Hall, Laura Wade, Maxine Peake and Andrew Scott) and curtain call [link]
Getty - after party [link]

Production:
Photo by Elliott Franks [link]
Photos by Helen Maybanks 1|2
Corbis (photo: Robbie Jack) [link]

Video

Press night - video by elizabethtoni (via FilmographySam) [link]

Entertainment news

• Mao's Last Dancer took AUS$4.3 million in its opening week to become the highest-grossing Australian film so far this year [link]
  
• Christina Hendricks and Michael Sheen interviews christina|michael
• Colin Firth will receive the BAFTA/LA humanitarian award [link]
• Damian Lewis, Tara Fitzgerald, Keira Knightley and Dominic Rowan will star in a modern day version of The Misanthrope at the Comedy Theatre 7 December - 13 March 1|2
  
• Pictures from the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus UK premiere 1|2|3
• The Thick of It
• A picture (via AIannucci) [link]
• Screencaps of Peter Capaldi and Rory Kinnear from the teaser (click thumbnails for full size):
  

Television - The Thick of It

Screencaps of Rebecca Front from the second teaser (click thumbnails for full size):


Screencaps of Peter Capaldi and Rory Kinnear from the first teaser are here.

BAFTA TV award nominations

BAFTA TV award nominations include (via the British Comedy Guide):
A Short Stay in Switzerland. Actress (Julie Walters), Single drama.
Small Island. Supporting Actor (Benedict Cumberbatch), Drama serial.
Gracie! Supporting Actor (Tom Hollander).
Red Riding: 1974. Supporting Actress (Rebecca Hall).
QI. Entertainment performance (Stephen Fry).
The Thick of It. Female performance in a comedy role (Rebecca Front), Male performance in a comedy role (Peter Capaldi), Situation comedy.