So, here’s the good news. Martha Plimpton has packed up her home in New York to live and work in London. Pooches to follow.
Her first gig? Playing Jacque in Shakespeare’s As You Like It on the stage of @sohoplace, the West End’s first purpose-built theatre in half a century. That Plimpton should deliver, with aplomb, the ‘All the world’s a stage’ monologue in Josie Rourke’s lively festive production, seems wholly appropriate because the same viewpoint applies elsewhere in town.
Related: Deadline’s Broadway Critic Picks The Best Of 2022, And Looks Ahead To 2023
Martha Plimpton in ‘As You Like It’. Photo by Johan Perrson
To watch Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) make the Harold Pinter Theatre’s stage her world in Australian writer Suzie Miller’s legal twister Prima Facie confirms that she’s one of her generation’s best thespians. It was also her debut professional theatre performance.
Her first gig? Playing Jacque in Shakespeare’s As You Like It on the stage of @sohoplace, the West End’s first purpose-built theatre in half a century. That Plimpton should deliver, with aplomb, the ‘All the world’s a stage’ monologue in Josie Rourke’s lively festive production, seems wholly appropriate because the same viewpoint applies elsewhere in town.
Related: Deadline’s Broadway Critic Picks The Best Of 2022, And Looks Ahead To 2023
Martha Plimpton in ‘As You Like It’. Photo by Johan Perrson
To watch Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) make the Harold Pinter Theatre’s stage her world in Australian writer Suzie Miller’s legal twister Prima Facie confirms that she’s one of her generation’s best thespians. It was also her debut professional theatre performance.
- 12/25/2022
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
The role of James Bond has been officially and canonically played to date by just six actors: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig (David Niven and Barry Nelson don’t count as part of the canon). It’s traditionally been one of the most sought-after parts in all of cinema history, so it makes sense that while only those half-dozen stars have filled 007’s shoes over the 60-year course of the franchise, dozens more have tried out for the part and didn’t make the cut.
Although original producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman of Eon Productions (still run to this day by Broccoli’s descendants) always insisted that the character of Bond be English, the role has only been played by three Englishmen to date: Moore, Dalton, and Craig. The other Bonds have hailed from Scotland (Connery), Australia (Lazenby), and Ireland...
Although original producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman of Eon Productions (still run to this day by Broccoli’s descendants) always insisted that the character of Bond be English, the role has only been played by three Englishmen to date: Moore, Dalton, and Craig. The other Bonds have hailed from Scotland (Connery), Australia (Lazenby), and Ireland...
- 11/17/2022
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
No, there won’t be any more Inbetweeners. But what else would you like to ask the Friday Night Dinner actor and Days of the Bagnold Summer director?
There’s a lot more to Simon “Will from The Inbetweeners” Bird than meets the eye. As he’s said himself, he’ll probably never quite get away from his role at the posh one with the briefcase in three Channel 4 series and two films of Iain Morris and Damon Beesley’s teenage-angst-ridden sitcom. Although he had a damn good try as slightly less annoying son, Adam, in six series of Channel 4’s gone, but not forgotten, Friday Night Dinner.
Bird made his West End debut in 2017’s The Philanthropist with Charlotte “Ghosts” Ritchie, Lily Cole, Tom Rosenthal and Matt “Toast of London” Berry. In a three-star review, the Guardian’s Michael Billington described Bird’s performance as: “Funny rather than sad.
There’s a lot more to Simon “Will from The Inbetweeners” Bird than meets the eye. As he’s said himself, he’ll probably never quite get away from his role at the posh one with the briefcase in three Channel 4 series and two films of Iain Morris and Damon Beesley’s teenage-angst-ridden sitcom. Although he had a damn good try as slightly less annoying son, Adam, in six series of Channel 4’s gone, but not forgotten, Friday Night Dinner.
Bird made his West End debut in 2017’s The Philanthropist with Charlotte “Ghosts” Ritchie, Lily Cole, Tom Rosenthal and Matt “Toast of London” Berry. In a three-star review, the Guardian’s Michael Billington described Bird’s performance as: “Funny rather than sad.
- 4/13/2022
- by Rich Pelley
- The Guardian - Film News
The director’s death aged 65 is a huge blow for British cinema, whose very best qualities – of wit, intelligence and subtlety – Michell exemplified
Michael Billington: ‘Michell brought the unexpected out of actors’
Roger Michell was the TV and movie director who had a midas touch with actors and with a particular type of English material: witty, literate, poignant and romantic. Michell was a master at directing anything on the continuum between Jane Austen and Richard Curtis, and knew what animated both.
He had what came to be seen as his masterpiece in 1999 with his international smash, the Richard Curtis-scripted comedy Notting Hill, in which he elicited great performances from Hugh Grant as the hopeless west London bookshop owner and Julia Roberts as the unattainable movie star with whom he falls wildly in love. Fans and non-fans alike will concede the schmaltzy but heartfelt power of that movie’s legendary...
Michael Billington: ‘Michell brought the unexpected out of actors’
Roger Michell was the TV and movie director who had a midas touch with actors and with a particular type of English material: witty, literate, poignant and romantic. Michell was a master at directing anything on the continuum between Jane Austen and Richard Curtis, and knew what animated both.
He had what came to be seen as his masterpiece in 1999 with his international smash, the Richard Curtis-scripted comedy Notting Hill, in which he elicited great performances from Hugh Grant as the hopeless west London bookshop owner and Julia Roberts as the unattainable movie star with whom he falls wildly in love. Fans and non-fans alike will concede the schmaltzy but heartfelt power of that movie’s legendary...
- 9/23/2021
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The director, who made films including Notting Hill, Enduring Love and My Cousin Rachel, has died
Michael Billington: ‘Michell brought the unexpected out of actors’Peter Bradshaw on Michell: a quiet genius still hitting his strideRoger Michell: a career in pictures
Roger Michell, the much-admired director of films including Notting Hill, Venus and My Cousin Rachel, has died.
A statement from Michell’s publicist confirmed the news, saying: “It is with great sadness that the family of Roger Michell, director, writer and father of Harry, Rosie, Maggie and Sparrow, announce his death at the age of 65 on 22 September.”...
Michael Billington: ‘Michell brought the unexpected out of actors’Peter Bradshaw on Michell: a quiet genius still hitting his strideRoger Michell: a career in pictures
Roger Michell, the much-admired director of films including Notting Hill, Venus and My Cousin Rachel, has died.
A statement from Michell’s publicist confirmed the news, saying: “It is with great sadness that the family of Roger Michell, director, writer and father of Harry, Rosie, Maggie and Sparrow, announce his death at the age of 65 on 22 September.”...
- 9/23/2021
- by Catherine Shoard
- The Guardian - Film News
Last Man Down Trailer — Fansu Njie‘s Last Man Down (2021) movie trailer has been released by Saban Films. The Last Man Down trailer stars Daniel Stisen, Olga Kent, Daniel Nehme, Stanislav Yanevski, Madeleine Vall, Natassia Malthe, Stephanie Siadatan, Robert Follin, Michael Billington, and Pasi Antero Remsu. Crew Andreas Vasshaug wrote the screenplay for Last Man [...]
Continue reading: Last Man Down (2021) Movie Trailer: Soldier Daniel Stisen Fights to Save the Cure to a Worldwide Pandemic...
Continue reading: Last Man Down (2021) Movie Trailer: Soldier Daniel Stisen Fights to Save the Cure to a Worldwide Pandemic...
- 8/19/2021
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
For Your Eyes Only, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this week, was a transitional James Bond film. Released in 1981, this 12th entry in the long-running series, and Roger Moore’s fifth outing as the man in the tuxedo, was deliberately styled as a return to the 007’s roots after he went to space in the over-the-top Moonraker (1979): the one where series producers did their best to compete with Star Wars. By contrast Eyes seemed stripped down and also marked the debut of John Glen in the director’s chair—a position he would hold for a series-most five entries. He received that promotion after working on several previous installments as a second unit director.
But Eyes was also meant, at one point, to usher in the most important change in any Bond movie: the introduction of a new actor in the role of 007.
Roger Moore’s original contract was for three films,...
But Eyes was also meant, at one point, to usher in the most important change in any Bond movie: the introduction of a new actor in the role of 007.
Roger Moore’s original contract was for three films,...
- 6/25/2021
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
Forever remembered as the dolly bird prone to wardrobe malfunctions, the actor was a survivor whose career was forged in groundbreaking 60s realism
Michael Billington on a stage sensation
For a certain generation, she is pub landlady Peggy Mitchell in the BBC TV soap EastEnders, commanding wrongdoers to get out of the Queen Vic with the same defiant and imperious passion as Evita singing from the balcony (and I think she could have done that role). Barbara Windsor was the matriarchal pop-culture exemplar of the white working class with a Cockney accent flavoured by a certain kind of showbiz-nasal quiver – Bruce Forsyth had something similar
I myself as a kid saw her in panto as a wonderful Cinderella at north London’s Golders Green Hippodrome in the 1970s on the bill with Benny Hill’s straight man Bob Todd and wrestler Jackie “Mr TV” Pallo. And I met her in...
Michael Billington on a stage sensation
For a certain generation, she is pub landlady Peggy Mitchell in the BBC TV soap EastEnders, commanding wrongdoers to get out of the Queen Vic with the same defiant and imperious passion as Evita singing from the balcony (and I think she could have done that role). Barbara Windsor was the matriarchal pop-culture exemplar of the white working class with a Cockney accent flavoured by a certain kind of showbiz-nasal quiver – Bruce Forsyth had something similar
I myself as a kid saw her in panto as a wonderful Cinderella at north London’s Golders Green Hippodrome in the 1970s on the bill with Benny Hill’s straight man Bob Todd and wrestler Jackie “Mr TV” Pallo. And I met her in...
- 12/11/2020
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Aliens are invading viewers’ screens once again, as the cult sci-fi television series, ‘UFO,’ is currently airing on Forces TV. The show, which was co-created by legendary TV and film producer, Gerry Anderson, and Sylvia Anderson, originally aired in the early 1970s, and is set in the future 1980. The fourth episode from the first […]
The post Actor Michael Billington is Caught in Battle in UFO Broadcast on Filmon TV appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Actor Michael Billington is Caught in Battle in UFO Broadcast on Filmon TV appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 2/18/2020
- by Karen Benardello
- ShockYa
Hello and welcome back to our roundup of news from across the industry. From stage to screens big and small, we’ve got you covered. It’s everything you need to know and all you can’t afford to miss. Industry and critics split on Donmar appointment.Last week, the Donmar Warehouse announced their pick for new artistic director: Michael Longhurst will take over from Josie Rourke in March 2019. Rourke previously worked alongside Longhurst at The Bush and said he’s a ‘thoughtful leader who commands huge respect in the theatre community’. The director has a varied CV, working across new plays, revivals and musical collaborations. In a statement on the appointment, Longhurst said, ‘I saw my first show at the Donmar aged 15 and later even slept overnight on the street in the returns queue...I am so proud to undertake the challenge of filling this amazing space with exhilarating...
- 6/12/2018
- backstage.com
By Tim Greaves
With Christmas 1970 on the horizon, the UK’s thrilling new sci-fi TV show UFO was well underway. Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's first live-action series, it was set in the future and revolved around the activities of the Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation (Shado), a covert agency presided over by Commander Ed Straker (Ed Bishop) to fend off alien attacks on mankind. As a wide-eyed 8-year-old I was hooked and I can recall wishing two things. One was that I could have one of the Dinky Toys’ missile-firing Shado Interceptors, which I thought then (and still think now) was the coolest among the incredible array of vehicles that appeared in the show; I’d not be nearly as forgiving today as I was back then that Dinky had manufactured it in garish green, where the ‘real’ ones on TV were white. The other wish was that I...
With Christmas 1970 on the horizon, the UK’s thrilling new sci-fi TV show UFO was well underway. Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's first live-action series, it was set in the future and revolved around the activities of the Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation (Shado), a covert agency presided over by Commander Ed Straker (Ed Bishop) to fend off alien attacks on mankind. As a wide-eyed 8-year-old I was hooked and I can recall wishing two things. One was that I could have one of the Dinky Toys’ missile-firing Shado Interceptors, which I thought then (and still think now) was the coolest among the incredible array of vehicles that appeared in the show; I’d not be nearly as forgiving today as I was back then that Dinky had manufactured it in garish green, where the ‘real’ ones on TV were white. The other wish was that I...
- 12/6/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Mark Harrison Oct 14, 2016
With the question of who's playing James Bond in James Bond 25 unresolved, we look back at the casting conundrums 007 has faced before.
Since 1962, fewer men have played James Bond than have walked on the moon. Despite the relatively long turnaround of the role, the subject of who might follow in the footsteps of Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig in the future has fuelled many column inches and tabloid splashes.
It feels as if speculation about the seventh 007 in Eon Productions' long-lived spy franchise has been at fever pitch since this time last year, when Craig was doing the promotional rounds for Spectre and commented that he would rather “slash [his] wrists” than play Bond again. It's only after a year of constant reports on the subject that his far more optimistic comments at last weekend's New Yorker Festival...
With the question of who's playing James Bond in James Bond 25 unresolved, we look back at the casting conundrums 007 has faced before.
Since 1962, fewer men have played James Bond than have walked on the moon. Despite the relatively long turnaround of the role, the subject of who might follow in the footsteps of Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig in the future has fuelled many column inches and tabloid splashes.
It feels as if speculation about the seventh 007 in Eon Productions' long-lived spy franchise has been at fever pitch since this time last year, when Craig was doing the promotional rounds for Spectre and commented that he would rather “slash [his] wrists” than play Bond again. It's only after a year of constant reports on the subject that his far more optimistic comments at last weekend's New Yorker Festival...
- 10/12/2016
- Den of Geek
Fans loved the new Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play (as to be expected), but what do the critics think? The reviews are here, and critics say the highly anticipated production is nothing short of magical. Preview audiences have been pressed to "keep the secrets," but now word is out on how extraordinary the two-act play, set 19 years after the final book in the Harry Potter saga by J.K. Rowling, really is. Here's what the critics are raving: • Ben Brantley, The New York Times"This eagerly anticipated, two-part, five-hour-plus sequel to J.K. Rowling's best-selling, seven-volume series of Harry Potter...
- 7/26/2016
- by Stephanie Petit, @stephpetit_
- PEOPLE.com
Fans loved the new Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play (as to be expected), but what do the critics think? The reviews are here, and critics say the highly anticipated production is nothing short of magical. Preview audiences have been pressed to "keep the secrets," but now word is out on how extraordinary the two-act play, set 19 years after the final book in the Harry Potter saga by J.K. Rowling, really is. Here's what the critics are raving: • Ben Brantley, The New York Times"This eagerly anticipated, two-part, five-hour-plus sequel to J.K. Rowling's best-selling, seven-volume series of Harry Potter...
- 7/26/2016
- by Stephanie Petit, @stephpetit_
- PEOPLE.com
The stage adaptation of Oscar winner Shakespeare In Love has opened at London’s Noel Coward Theatre to raves from many of the UK critics but a big ho-hum from the New York Times‘s Ben Brantley, which could throw a wet blanket over plans for a Broadway transfer by co-producers Disney and Sonia Friedman. “I’ve often attacked our modern mania for turning movies into plays. But, in the case of Shakespeare In Love, the transformation is fully justified,” wrote Michael Billington in The Guardian. “Even more than the original screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, Lee Hall’s new version is a […]...
- 7/24/2014
- Deadline
An ability to project villainy or cynicism or worldly power, often while mounted on a horse, was Eli Wallach's calling card in the movies. But he also had a kind of stern, cerebral handsomeness
Eli Wallach dies at 98
His career in clips
Eli Wallach obituary
Read an interview from 2010 with Eli Wallach and one from 2000 by Michael Billington Continue reading...
Eli Wallach dies at 98
His career in clips
Eli Wallach obituary
Read an interview from 2010 with Eli Wallach and one from 2000 by Michael Billington Continue reading...
- 6/25/2014
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
With a career stretching back to the method acting glory years of the 1950s, Eli Wallach, who has just died, played a key role in Hollywood over six decades. We look back at his most memorable roles
Eli Wallach dies at 98
Peter Bradshaw's appreciation
Eli Wallach obituary
Read an interview from 2010 with Eli Wallach and one from 2000 by Michael Billington
Continue reading...
Eli Wallach dies at 98
Peter Bradshaw's appreciation
Eli Wallach obituary
Read an interview from 2010 with Eli Wallach and one from 2000 by Michael Billington
Continue reading...
- 6/25/2014
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Adaptations of novels are rife in theatre. But it's wrong to think of them as inferior – sometimes they are more than a match for the original works
Over the weekend I was in Bristol watching Sally Cookson's marvellously textured devised version of Jane Eyre at the Old Vic. It might be the 19th-century title that's getting audiences into the building, but once they are there they will be watching a piece that uses all the tools of 21st-century theatre. It is a show that is a million miles away from the literal and literary adaptations that were part of my youthful theatregoing.
Like Melly Still's Coram Boy, Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin's Matilda, Simon Stephens and Marianne Elliott's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and Tom Frankland and Keir Cooper's Don Quijote (which actually takes a hacksaw to Cervantes's book), the...
Over the weekend I was in Bristol watching Sally Cookson's marvellously textured devised version of Jane Eyre at the Old Vic. It might be the 19th-century title that's getting audiences into the building, but once they are there they will be watching a piece that uses all the tools of 21st-century theatre. It is a show that is a million miles away from the literal and literary adaptations that were part of my youthful theatregoing.
Like Melly Still's Coram Boy, Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin's Matilda, Simon Stephens and Marianne Elliott's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and Tom Frankland and Keir Cooper's Don Quijote (which actually takes a hacksaw to Cervantes's book), the...
- 2/25/2014
- by Lyn Gardner
- The Guardian - Film News
Original team behind hugely successful film following adventures of Marty McFly is reassembled to create a musical version
Back to the Future, which starred Michael J Fox as Marty McFly, is to become the latest film to be adapted as a West End musical.
Jamie Lloyd, a rising star of theatre, is to direct and co-write a new version of the 1985 movie that will also involve the original men behind it: Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale.
Lloyd said he was five when he first saw the film "and I have been a huge fan ever since". Back to the Future is due to open in 2015, the 30th anniversary of the original film – and the same year that McFly visited in Back to the Future II.
The producers said it was not a matter of simply transporting a successful film to the stage. Gale, who co-wrote and co-produced all three Back to the Future...
Back to the Future, which starred Michael J Fox as Marty McFly, is to become the latest film to be adapted as a West End musical.
Jamie Lloyd, a rising star of theatre, is to direct and co-write a new version of the 1985 movie that will also involve the original men behind it: Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale.
Lloyd said he was five when he first saw the film "and I have been a huge fan ever since". Back to the Future is due to open in 2015, the 30th anniversary of the original film – and the same year that McFly visited in Back to the Future II.
The producers said it was not a matter of simply transporting a successful film to the stage. Gale, who co-wrote and co-produced all three Back to the Future...
- 2/1/2014
- by Mark Brown
- The Guardian - Film News
Star will reprise his role in Michael Grandage Company's production of Martin McDonagh's play
Daniel Radcliffe will return to Broadway as the Michael Grandage Company makes its stateside debut with a transfer of The Cripple of Inishmaan, by Martin McDonagh.
The New York run, which will preview from 12 April at the 1,082-seat Cort theatre before its official opening on 20 April, marks the first Broadway production of McDonagh's classic story about the inhabitants of a small Irish town who clamour for roles in a locally shot Hollywood film.
Radcliffe won acclaim for his West End performance in the play, with several critics claiming it as his best on stage to date. Michael Billington wrote: "He makes you care about a character who, in some ways, is a clever literary conceit."
The transfer caps a successful first season for the Michael Grandage Company, currently into its last leg at the Noël Coward...
Daniel Radcliffe will return to Broadway as the Michael Grandage Company makes its stateside debut with a transfer of The Cripple of Inishmaan, by Martin McDonagh.
The New York run, which will preview from 12 April at the 1,082-seat Cort theatre before its official opening on 20 April, marks the first Broadway production of McDonagh's classic story about the inhabitants of a small Irish town who clamour for roles in a locally shot Hollywood film.
Radcliffe won acclaim for his West End performance in the play, with several critics claiming it as his best on stage to date. Michael Billington wrote: "He makes you care about a character who, in some ways, is a clever literary conceit."
The transfer caps a successful first season for the Michael Grandage Company, currently into its last leg at the Noël Coward...
- 1/17/2014
- by Matt Trueman
- The Guardian - Film News
Actors best known for their roles in TV and cinema are thrilling audiences and critics in plays full of violent, challenging action
The revered Kenneth Tynan, who reviewed theatre for the Observer in the 1950s and 1960s, said: "A good drama critic is one who perceives what is happening in the theatre of his time." All the same, it can be hard to spot a golden age when you are in the middle of it. It seems probable, though, that the London stage is enjoying at least a golden winter.
Four British actors, each of them a household name across the world, are delighting theatre audiences in leading roles in four plays that are not obvious crowd pleasers: Coriolanus, Richard II, Henry V and a new musical version of the Bret Easton Ellis novel American Psycho. The popularity of the leading men, two from the world of film, Jude Law and Tom Hiddleston,...
The revered Kenneth Tynan, who reviewed theatre for the Observer in the 1950s and 1960s, said: "A good drama critic is one who perceives what is happening in the theatre of his time." All the same, it can be hard to spot a golden age when you are in the middle of it. It seems probable, though, that the London stage is enjoying at least a golden winter.
Four British actors, each of them a household name across the world, are delighting theatre audiences in leading roles in four plays that are not obvious crowd pleasers: Coriolanus, Richard II, Henry V and a new musical version of the Bret Easton Ellis novel American Psycho. The popularity of the leading men, two from the world of film, Jude Law and Tom Hiddleston,...
- 12/22/2013
- by Vanessa Thorpe
- The Guardian - Film News
From the Nutcracker to American Psycho, from Mary Poppins to Kurt Vile, our critics pick their must-sees of the festive season
If you wish it could be Christmas every day
Nutcrackers, various
You know it's Christmas in the ballet world by the number of Nutcrackers touring the world's stages. In the UK alone, there are close to a dozen doing the rounds, but the top three remain the Royal Ballet's exquisitely traditional version, the sparky family friendly production by Birmingham Royal Ballet, and English National Ballet's – with the best snow scene of them all. Royal Opera House, London (020-7304 4000), 4 December to 16 January; Birmingham Hippodrome (0844 338 5000), to 12 December; London Coliseum (020-7845 9300), 11 December to 5 January.
Father Christmas
Does Father Christmas use the loo? Does he secretly long for summer? Does he have strong views on the size of chimneys? You bet he does. Raymond Briggs's gorgeous picture book gets a heartwarming makeover for under-sixes.
If you wish it could be Christmas every day
Nutcrackers, various
You know it's Christmas in the ballet world by the number of Nutcrackers touring the world's stages. In the UK alone, there are close to a dozen doing the rounds, but the top three remain the Royal Ballet's exquisitely traditional version, the sparky family friendly production by Birmingham Royal Ballet, and English National Ballet's – with the best snow scene of them all. Royal Opera House, London (020-7304 4000), 4 December to 16 January; Birmingham Hippodrome (0844 338 5000), to 12 December; London Coliseum (020-7845 9300), 11 December to 5 January.
Father Christmas
Does Father Christmas use the loo? Does he secretly long for summer? Does he have strong views on the size of chimneys? You bet he does. Raymond Briggs's gorgeous picture book gets a heartwarming makeover for under-sixes.
- 11/25/2013
- by Lyn Gardner, Michael Billington, Andrew Clements, Alexis Petridis, Judith Mackrell, John Fordham, Brian Logan, Stuart Heritage, Mark Lawson, Jonathan Jones
- The Guardian - Film News
Before Jerusalem, a 24-year-old Jez Butterworth electrified British theatre with a swaggering story of pill-popping Soho gangsters. Nearly two decades on, he tells Ryan Gilbey why it's time to put it back on the jukebox
Theatrical monster hits of recent years don't come much bigger than Jerusalem, which bounced from the Royal Court to the West End and on to Broadway, scooping awards and prompting all-night camp-outs for tickets. But more than a decade earlier, Jerusalem's writer, Jez Butterworth, and director, Ian Rickson, had launched another stage phenomenon at the Royal Court.
The rock'n'roll thriller Mojo, Butterworth's first play, was set amid the pill-popping frenzy of 1950s Soho where two gangland bosses are locked in a power struggle over the pretty young heartthrob Silver Johnny. The reviews were glowing: this paper's Michael Billington called it "the most dazzling main-stage debut in years", while the Telegraph's Charles Spencer said of the...
Theatrical monster hits of recent years don't come much bigger than Jerusalem, which bounced from the Royal Court to the West End and on to Broadway, scooping awards and prompting all-night camp-outs for tickets. But more than a decade earlier, Jerusalem's writer, Jez Butterworth, and director, Ian Rickson, had launched another stage phenomenon at the Royal Court.
The rock'n'roll thriller Mojo, Butterworth's first play, was set amid the pill-popping frenzy of 1950s Soho where two gangland bosses are locked in a power struggle over the pretty young heartthrob Silver Johnny. The reviews were glowing: this paper's Michael Billington called it "the most dazzling main-stage debut in years", while the Telegraph's Charles Spencer said of the...
- 11/4/2013
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Ethel Barrymore theatre, New York City
Daniel Craig and a starry cast get the tone completely wrong in this rendition of Pinter's great play about a seven-year affair
Mike Nichols and his cast get so much wrong in the Broadway revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal (1978), let's start with what goes right. It's a handsome physical production, with large, well-appointed interiors by Ian MacNeil wafting in and out to composer James Murphy's moody noodling and glowing with Brian MacDevitt's evocative lighting. Daniel Craig shucks off his 007 persona to become Robert, a successful book publisher whose wife, Emma (Rachel Weisz) conducts a seven-year affair with Robert's friend Jerry (Rafe Spall), a literary agent. The compact, rugged Craig hasn't shrunken from years behind the camera: he projects himself fully and muscularly to the back stalls. Craig even enlivened vastly inferior material when last he was on the Great White Way,...
Daniel Craig and a starry cast get the tone completely wrong in this rendition of Pinter's great play about a seven-year affair
Mike Nichols and his cast get so much wrong in the Broadway revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal (1978), let's start with what goes right. It's a handsome physical production, with large, well-appointed interiors by Ian MacNeil wafting in and out to composer James Murphy's moody noodling and glowing with Brian MacDevitt's evocative lighting. Daniel Craig shucks off his 007 persona to become Robert, a successful book publisher whose wife, Emma (Rachel Weisz) conducts a seven-year affair with Robert's friend Jerry (Rafe Spall), a literary agent. The compact, rugged Craig hasn't shrunken from years behind the camera: he projects himself fully and muscularly to the back stalls. Craig even enlivened vastly inferior material when last he was on the Great White Way,...
- 10/28/2013
- by David Cote
- The Guardian - Film News
Film, opera and stage director known for La Reine Margot and his Ring cycle at Bayreuth in 1976
Unusually for a director, Patrice Chéreau, who has died of lung cancer aged 68, had more or less equally prestigious careers in the theatre, cinema and opera. Although he was internationally known from films such as La Reine Margot (1994) and his groundbreaking production of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle at Bayreuth (1976), he was renowned in his native France mostly for his "must-see" stage productions, especially during his long stints as co-director of the Théâtre National Populaire (1971-77) and the Théâtre des Amandiers (1982-90).
At these two subsidised theatres, in Villeurbanne, near Lyons, and Nanterre, in western Paris, respectively, Chéreau was able to introduce modern plays and bring a freshness to bear on the classics, particularly Marivaux, whose La Dispute he directed to acclaim at the Tnp in three different versions in the 1970s. At the Amandiers,...
Unusually for a director, Patrice Chéreau, who has died of lung cancer aged 68, had more or less equally prestigious careers in the theatre, cinema and opera. Although he was internationally known from films such as La Reine Margot (1994) and his groundbreaking production of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle at Bayreuth (1976), he was renowned in his native France mostly for his "must-see" stage productions, especially during his long stints as co-director of the Théâtre National Populaire (1971-77) and the Théâtre des Amandiers (1982-90).
At these two subsidised theatres, in Villeurbanne, near Lyons, and Nanterre, in western Paris, respectively, Chéreau was able to introduce modern plays and bring a freshness to bear on the classics, particularly Marivaux, whose La Dispute he directed to acclaim at the Tnp in three different versions in the 1970s. At the Amandiers,...
- 10/8/2013
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
The visionary French director, whose Bayreuth Ring cycle left an indelible mark on modern opera, has died of lung cancer
Patrice Chéreau, the acclaimed French stage and screen director, has died of lung cancer at the age of 68.
The director is perhaps best known for his films, but was widely credited as a theatrical visionary. He arguably changed the face of modern opera with his legendary production of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle at the Bayreuth festival.
Staged over four years from 1976, Chéreau's epic production – set against the industrial revolution – marked the opera's centenary. On its final performance in 1980, the show received a 45-minute ovation.
Appointed as artistic director of the Théâtre de Sartrouville in north Paris at the age of 22, Chéreau went on to become of France's great cultural figures. Several of his productions played at the Avignon festival, with his 1988 Hamlet headlining the festival from the Cour d'honneur.
Patrice Chéreau, the acclaimed French stage and screen director, has died of lung cancer at the age of 68.
The director is perhaps best known for his films, but was widely credited as a theatrical visionary. He arguably changed the face of modern opera with his legendary production of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle at the Bayreuth festival.
Staged over four years from 1976, Chéreau's epic production – set against the industrial revolution – marked the opera's centenary. On its final performance in 1980, the show received a 45-minute ovation.
Appointed as artistic director of the Théâtre de Sartrouville in north Paris at the age of 22, Chéreau went on to become of France's great cultural figures. Several of his productions played at the Avignon festival, with his 1988 Hamlet headlining the festival from the Cour d'honneur.
- 10/8/2013
- by Matt Trueman
- The Guardian - Film News
Prisoners star indicates he is open to offers in city where he last trod the boards in 2002, singling out Old Vic for praise
London's artistic directors might want to give Jake Gyllenhaal's agent a call after the Hollywood star announced that he "definitely" wants to star onstage in the capital.
Long before Oscar nominations and Bafta wins, Gyllenhaal won his first major award on the London stage. In 2002, he picked up the outstanding newcomer prize at the Evening Standard theatre awards for a stellar West End turn in Kenny Lonergan's This Is Our Youth.
More than a decade on, it seems the 32-year old wants a crack at the best actor prize. Asked about a return to the West End in a radio interview with Magic FM, the Brokeback Mountain and Donnie Darko star replied: "Definitely. I love it here and I loved working here on the stage."
Gyllenhaal...
London's artistic directors might want to give Jake Gyllenhaal's agent a call after the Hollywood star announced that he "definitely" wants to star onstage in the capital.
Long before Oscar nominations and Bafta wins, Gyllenhaal won his first major award on the London stage. In 2002, he picked up the outstanding newcomer prize at the Evening Standard theatre awards for a stellar West End turn in Kenny Lonergan's This Is Our Youth.
More than a decade on, it seems the 32-year old wants a crack at the best actor prize. Asked about a return to the West End in a radio interview with Magic FM, the Brokeback Mountain and Donnie Darko star replied: "Definitely. I love it here and I loved working here on the stage."
Gyllenhaal...
- 9/25/2013
- by Matt Trueman
- The Guardian - Film News
Philip Ziegler's biography of Laurence Olivier captures the man in his contradictory essence
Laurence Olivier was the greatest British actor of his time, primus inter pares of the trio who dominated our theatre from the early 1930s to the 1980s. His superiority to his chief rivals, Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, resides in the role he played in the creation of the National Theatre and in the way he came to embody for the public at large a sense of national greatness. His most magnificent and emblematic performances were as Henry V and as Archie Rice in John Osborne's The Entertainer. The former was the warrior king in the patriotic second world war movie that captured the Churchillian spirit of Britain at her finest hour. The latter was the second-rate music hall comedian, full of imperial bluster and bad faith, who symbolised in the aftermath of the Suez debacle a nation that had,...
Laurence Olivier was the greatest British actor of his time, primus inter pares of the trio who dominated our theatre from the early 1930s to the 1980s. His superiority to his chief rivals, Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, resides in the role he played in the creation of the National Theatre and in the way he came to embody for the public at large a sense of national greatness. His most magnificent and emblematic performances were as Henry V and as Archie Rice in John Osborne's The Entertainer. The former was the warrior king in the patriotic second world war movie that captured the Churchillian spirit of Britain at her finest hour. The latter was the second-rate music hall comedian, full of imperial bluster and bad faith, who symbolised in the aftermath of the Suez debacle a nation that had,...
- 9/22/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Conservative party members link funding of drama about the drunken exploits of young Tories to the decision to cut film industry subsidies
• News on the BFI's takeover from the UK Film Council
• Michael Billington's review of Posh
Conservative MPs have cried foul over the British Film Institute's decision to fund a new movie portraying the drunken exploits of the notorious Bullingdon Club, which once counted David Cameron and Boris Johnson as members.
The drama, Posh, is based on the Royal Court play of the same name by Laura Wade, which later transferred to the West End. Due out next year and starring Max (son of Jeremy) Irons, Game of Thrones' Natalie Dormer and Douglas Booth, it focuses on a group of decadent Oxford University students called The Riot Club that causes chaos at a pub during a swanky dinner. The upper class yobs sneak in a prostitute, wreck...
• News on the BFI's takeover from the UK Film Council
• Michael Billington's review of Posh
Conservative MPs have cried foul over the British Film Institute's decision to fund a new movie portraying the drunken exploits of the notorious Bullingdon Club, which once counted David Cameron and Boris Johnson as members.
The drama, Posh, is based on the Royal Court play of the same name by Laura Wade, which later transferred to the West End. Due out next year and starring Max (son of Jeremy) Irons, Game of Thrones' Natalie Dormer and Douglas Booth, it focuses on a group of decadent Oxford University students called The Riot Club that causes chaos at a pub during a swanky dinner. The upper class yobs sneak in a prostitute, wreck...
- 8/27/2013
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
With Run, a bleak new TV series, about to start, the actor talks about playing downtrodden women, messing up on stage and being called 'divinely gifted' by Meryl Streep
Olivia Colman is insufferable. We've been sitting for an hour on the balcony of the Ritzy cinema in south London and she's given me nothing but unremitting cheeriness. Doesn't she realise I need dirt, self-disgust and something really vile about working with Rose Byrne on I Give it a Year and/or Bill Murray on Hyde Park on the Hudson? She's even managed to be positive about the view. "Look at those gorgeous trees," she says of the espalliered Parisian-style Brixton avenue below. "How do they make those trees square?" Vigorous and regular pruning, no doubt, I reply glumly. "Lovely aren't they, though," she says, with that sunny smile that bewitched viewers when she won two Baftas in May.
She's been...
Olivia Colman is insufferable. We've been sitting for an hour on the balcony of the Ritzy cinema in south London and she's given me nothing but unremitting cheeriness. Doesn't she realise I need dirt, self-disgust and something really vile about working with Rose Byrne on I Give it a Year and/or Bill Murray on Hyde Park on the Hudson? She's even managed to be positive about the view. "Look at those gorgeous trees," she says of the espalliered Parisian-style Brixton avenue below. "How do they make those trees square?" Vigorous and regular pruning, no doubt, I reply glumly. "Lovely aren't they, though," she says, with that sunny smile that bewitched viewers when she won two Baftas in May.
She's been...
- 7/7/2013
- by Stuart Jeffries
- The Guardian - Film News
The Fab Four are headed to Broadway this summer. The jukebox Beatles musical "Let It Be" will hit the Great White Way for a limited engagement in St. James Theatre, producers said Wednesday. The creative and design team and casting will be announced at a later date. The show will continue its London West End run, where it has recouped its initial investment despite earning mixed notices from critics. The Guardian's Michael Billington, for instance, wrote, "There is a good musical to be written about the Beatles, covering their artistic achievements as well...
- 5/8/2013
- by Brent Lang
- The Wrap
London — Broadway sensation "The Book of Mormon" has landed in London, to a warm reception from theatergoers and mixed notices from critics
Reviewers delivered their verdicts on the show Friday, after an opening night that counted celebrities including "Homeland" star Damian Lewis and Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon among the audience.
The exuberantly profane show by "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and "Avenue Q" composer Robert Lopez tells the story of two Mormon missionaries sent to spread the word in Uganda.
Most critics praised the production's skill and energy, though the Daily Telegraph's Charles Spencer said "its mixture of satire and syrup ultimately proves repellent."
Daily Mail critic Quentin Letts was even less enthusiastic: "I tired of it after 10 minutes."
And the Guardian's Michael Billington judged it "mildly amusing. ... a safe, conservative show for middle America."
Reviewers were full of praise for stars Gavin Creel and...
Reviewers delivered their verdicts on the show Friday, after an opening night that counted celebrities including "Homeland" star Damian Lewis and Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon among the audience.
The exuberantly profane show by "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and "Avenue Q" composer Robert Lopez tells the story of two Mormon missionaries sent to spread the word in Uganda.
Most critics praised the production's skill and energy, though the Daily Telegraph's Charles Spencer said "its mixture of satire and syrup ultimately proves repellent."
Daily Mail critic Quentin Letts was even less enthusiastic: "I tired of it after 10 minutes."
And the Guardian's Michael Billington judged it "mildly amusing. ... a safe, conservative show for middle America."
Reviewers were full of praise for stars Gavin Creel and...
- 3/22/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
The actor has long had a fraught relationship with the media and their intrusions on his private life. As he promotes his new film with Steven Soderbergh, he talks about life post-Leveson and his love of theatre
'I'm 40! I'm an adult!" shouts Jude Law. "Aren't I?" We hold these truths to be self-evident, I reply, as the actor, laughing, stares across the table with those adorable baby blues and more hair than's fair. "But," he says more quietly, "part of me thinks I can't play a doctor. Who would come to me?"
You've got to be kidding. Who wouldn't come to Dr Jude? In Steven Soderbergh's film Side Effects, Law plays an Englishman in New York, a slimy limey of a pill-dispensing psychiatrist who becomes entangled in murder, drug switcheroos, a risible lesbian insider trading scam and lots more vaguely voguish, putatively Hitchkockian hokum before the credits. Astute critics...
'I'm 40! I'm an adult!" shouts Jude Law. "Aren't I?" We hold these truths to be self-evident, I reply, as the actor, laughing, stares across the table with those adorable baby blues and more hair than's fair. "But," he says more quietly, "part of me thinks I can't play a doctor. Who would come to me?"
You've got to be kidding. Who wouldn't come to Dr Jude? In Steven Soderbergh's film Side Effects, Law plays an Englishman in New York, a slimy limey of a pill-dispensing psychiatrist who becomes entangled in murder, drug switcheroos, a risible lesbian insider trading scam and lots more vaguely voguish, putatively Hitchkockian hokum before the credits. Astute critics...
- 3/4/2013
- by Stuart Jeffries
- The Guardian - Film News
Vibrant actor who achieved success in Bollywood films, West End musicals and on Coronation Street
Sophiya Haque's performance in Peter Nichols's Privates on Parade, which opened last month at the Noël Coward theatre, marked a high point in the beautiful British Asian actor's West End career, launched 10 years ago with Andrew Lloyd Webber's presentation of Bombay Dreams. As the lustrous Welsh Eurasian Sylvia Morgan, Haque held her own among the knobbly-kneed privates, led by Simon Russell Beale's outrageous Captain Terri Dennis. However, illness forced her to withdraw from the production before the end of the year and she has died of cancer at the age of 41.
Born in Portsmouth, Haque was the youngest of three daughters. She was raised by her mother, Thelma, a divorced schoolteacher. She attended Priory comprehensive school and took dance lessons from the age of two and a half at Mary Forrester's...
Sophiya Haque's performance in Peter Nichols's Privates on Parade, which opened last month at the Noël Coward theatre, marked a high point in the beautiful British Asian actor's West End career, launched 10 years ago with Andrew Lloyd Webber's presentation of Bombay Dreams. As the lustrous Welsh Eurasian Sylvia Morgan, Haque held her own among the knobbly-kneed privates, led by Simon Russell Beale's outrageous Captain Terri Dennis. However, illness forced her to withdraw from the production before the end of the year and she has died of cancer at the age of 41.
Born in Portsmouth, Haque was the youngest of three daughters. She was raised by her mother, Thelma, a divorced schoolteacher. She attended Priory comprehensive school and took dance lessons from the age of two and a half at Mary Forrester's...
- 1/19/2013
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
Catch up with the last seven days in the world of films
The big story
Happy holidays! Happy new year! Happy, happy, happy to have you back after twelve months of cinema that silenced and startled us, told us no-no-no-no, and yes we can, drew a tear from the eye and rammed a chicken leg down the throat.
Surely it can't get any better in 2013? Happily, it seems it can. There's precisely 100 films to get very excited about this year and – wouldn't you know it? – we've rounded them all up into 10 galleries for you. New films from Tom Hooper, Quentin Tarantino and Kathryn Bigelow pepper the opening month of the year alone, while the latest efforts from Ridley Scott, Spike Lee and Pedro Almodóvar wait for their time to shine.
There's space adventures, gritty urban dramas, respectful biopics and plenty of those what?! moments that 2012 seemed to get just right.
The big story
Happy holidays! Happy new year! Happy, happy, happy to have you back after twelve months of cinema that silenced and startled us, told us no-no-no-no, and yes we can, drew a tear from the eye and rammed a chicken leg down the throat.
Surely it can't get any better in 2013? Happily, it seems it can. There's precisely 100 films to get very excited about this year and – wouldn't you know it? – we've rounded them all up into 10 galleries for you. New films from Tom Hooper, Quentin Tarantino and Kathryn Bigelow pepper the opening month of the year alone, while the latest efforts from Ridley Scott, Spike Lee and Pedro Almodóvar wait for their time to shine.
There's space adventures, gritty urban dramas, respectful biopics and plenty of those what?! moments that 2012 seemed to get just right.
- 1/3/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
Billington has been the Guardian's theatre critic since 1971 and French the Observer's film critic for 50 years
The Guardian's theatre critic, Michael Billington, and the Observer's film critic, Philip French, receive OBEs in the New Years honours list for services to theatre and film respectively.
Billington, the Guardian's theatre critic since 1971 and author of several books including a biography of Harold Pinter and State of the Nation: British Theatre since 1945, said: "I'm thrilled, delighted and surprised."
The longest-serving member of the Critics' Circle, he added: "I'm glad for the Guardian. Also, it is the 100th anniversary of the Critics' Circle this year, so I believe it is recognition not of me but of the need for critics and the continuity of criticism."
French, film critic for the Observer for 50 years, said he was "genuinely surprised" and described it as "a very considerable honour".
In his distinguished career French has also received...
The Guardian's theatre critic, Michael Billington, and the Observer's film critic, Philip French, receive OBEs in the New Years honours list for services to theatre and film respectively.
Billington, the Guardian's theatre critic since 1971 and author of several books including a biography of Harold Pinter and State of the Nation: British Theatre since 1945, said: "I'm thrilled, delighted and surprised."
The longest-serving member of the Critics' Circle, he added: "I'm glad for the Guardian. Also, it is the 100th anniversary of the Critics' Circle this year, so I believe it is recognition not of me but of the need for critics and the continuity of criticism."
French, film critic for the Observer for 50 years, said he was "genuinely surprised" and described it as "a very considerable honour".
In his distinguished career French has also received...
- 12/29/2012
- by The Observer, Caroline Davies
- The Guardian - Film News
London — Does "The Bodyguard" have the muscle to be a hit?
A stage musical based on the 1992 movie starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner has opened at London's Adelphi Theatre to a mixed critical reception – but universal praise for its big-voiced star.
Reviewers raved Thursday about Heather Headley's performance as Rachel Marron, a superstar singer who falls for the former secret service agent (Lloyd Owen) assigned to protect her from a stalker.
Critic Mark Shenton in The Stage newspaper found Headley – an American actor and singer who has won both a Tony and a Grammy Award – "an utterly compelling star" who combines "an authentic glamour and blazingly soulful vocals."
Evening Standard newspaper critic Henry Hitchings called her "mesmerizing," while the Daily Telegraph's Charles Spencer praised Headley's "sassy stage presence" and declared her renditions of songs such as "I Will Always Love You" even better than those by Houston, who...
A stage musical based on the 1992 movie starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner has opened at London's Adelphi Theatre to a mixed critical reception – but universal praise for its big-voiced star.
Reviewers raved Thursday about Heather Headley's performance as Rachel Marron, a superstar singer who falls for the former secret service agent (Lloyd Owen) assigned to protect her from a stalker.
Critic Mark Shenton in The Stage newspaper found Headley – an American actor and singer who has won both a Tony and a Grammy Award – "an utterly compelling star" who combines "an authentic glamour and blazingly soulful vocals."
Evening Standard newspaper critic Henry Hitchings called her "mesmerizing," while the Daily Telegraph's Charles Spencer praised Headley's "sassy stage presence" and declared her renditions of songs such as "I Will Always Love You" even better than those by Houston, who...
- 12/6/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Open thread: Was it Skyfall, or the opening ceremony? A new building or visual artwork? Or maybe it happened outside the UK? Tell us what cultural events most thrilled you in 2012
The architecture of the Olympic Park, Chinese author Mo Yan winning the Nobel prize for literature, Ten Billion at the Royal Court – and of course, the Queen's skydive. Our critics have chosen their moments of the year. Now tell us about your cultural highlights of 2012, and we'll gather a selection of your comments in a separate article.
Your picks can be from any part of 2012's cultural calendar – dance, TV, theatre, music, art, film, literature, design – and don't feel limited to just one favourite. You can choose one event, moment or achievement from each section, if you like: just remember to tell us the name of the event and why it deserves to make it into our readers' 2012 roundup.
The architecture of the Olympic Park, Chinese author Mo Yan winning the Nobel prize for literature, Ten Billion at the Royal Court – and of course, the Queen's skydive. Our critics have chosen their moments of the year. Now tell us about your cultural highlights of 2012, and we'll gather a selection of your comments in a separate article.
Your picks can be from any part of 2012's cultural calendar – dance, TV, theatre, music, art, film, literature, design – and don't feel limited to just one favourite. You can choose one event, moment or achievement from each section, if you like: just remember to tell us the name of the event and why it deserves to make it into our readers' 2012 roundup.
- 12/5/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
At the prompting of Guardian readers, film critic Peter Bradshaw revisits Richard Brooks's 1958 adaptation, which delivers a homosexual hero paralysed with self-hatred
I haven't seen Sarah Esdaile's production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. But now it's a fascinating experience to watch the 1958 film version of Tennessee Williams's play, adapted and directed by Richard Brooks, and starring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman – and effectively to read this movie against the theatre review from Michael Billington and the readers' comments now building up on the site.
This was a film that was well enough regarded at the time: it earned six Oscar nominations and three Bafta nominations. But yes, Michael Billington is surely right: you can't watch it now without being aware of the way in which the issue of homosexuality has been censored for the screen. Brick, the drunk and washed-up ex-football star played by Newman,...
I haven't seen Sarah Esdaile's production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. But now it's a fascinating experience to watch the 1958 film version of Tennessee Williams's play, adapted and directed by Richard Brooks, and starring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman – and effectively to read this movie against the theatre review from Michael Billington and the readers' comments now building up on the site.
This was a film that was well enough regarded at the time: it earned six Oscar nominations and three Bafta nominations. But yes, Michael Billington is surely right: you can't watch it now without being aware of the way in which the issue of homosexuality has been censored for the screen. Brick, the drunk and washed-up ex-football star played by Newman,...
- 10/17/2012
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Ever since 1984's Another Country, he has lent complexity to characters that might otherwise be cardboard cutouts
Acting is one of those trades that throws up few superstars and many also-rans. Rupert Everett is one of theatre's most famous nearly men: never securely A-list, but staple fodder of the tabloids (take those pictures of him on the arm of Madonna). Ever since 1984's Another Country, Everett has lent complexity to characters that might otherwise be cardboard cutouts, so such a status isn't justified by his talent. Perhaps it's down to his posh-boy deprecation or that – as he once told this paper – "if I'd been straight, I'd be doing what Colin Firth and Hugh Grant do." Never mind. If the Radio 4 serialisation is any guide, his new memoir, Vanished Years, is a treat; while his latest role, playing Oscar Wilde in The Judas Kiss, is apparently "the performance of his career...
Acting is one of those trades that throws up few superstars and many also-rans. Rupert Everett is one of theatre's most famous nearly men: never securely A-list, but staple fodder of the tabloids (take those pictures of him on the arm of Madonna). Ever since 1984's Another Country, Everett has lent complexity to characters that might otherwise be cardboard cutouts, so such a status isn't justified by his talent. Perhaps it's down to his posh-boy deprecation or that – as he once told this paper – "if I'd been straight, I'd be doing what Colin Firth and Hugh Grant do." Never mind. If the Radio 4 serialisation is any guide, his new memoir, Vanished Years, is a treat; while his latest role, playing Oscar Wilde in The Judas Kiss, is apparently "the performance of his career...
- 9/30/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
Cate Blanchett called him 'brutal' and a critic branded him 'my nightmare' – now he's messing with Chekhov. Maddy Costa meets Benedict Andrews, director of Three Sisters
Benedict Andrews can still quote by heart a letter he received 11 years ago, following his breakthrough production of Chekhov's Three Sisters at the Sydney Opera House. "'I wish you luck with your career as a director of music videos,'" it read, "so you can leave those of us who fondly remember something called theatre to get on with it."
Andrews is the kind of director who ruffles feathers. His eight-hour staging of Shakespeare's histories in 2009 prompted one critic to groan: "Benedict Andrews is my nightmare of what director's theatre can come to," while the Telegraph's review of his modernist, futuristic production of Monteverdi's Return of Ulysses last year began with the straightforward declaration: "I didn't like Benedict Andrews's new production … one bit." That...
Benedict Andrews can still quote by heart a letter he received 11 years ago, following his breakthrough production of Chekhov's Three Sisters at the Sydney Opera House. "'I wish you luck with your career as a director of music videos,'" it read, "so you can leave those of us who fondly remember something called theatre to get on with it."
Andrews is the kind of director who ruffles feathers. His eight-hour staging of Shakespeare's histories in 2009 prompted one critic to groan: "Benedict Andrews is my nightmare of what director's theatre can come to," while the Telegraph's review of his modernist, futuristic production of Monteverdi's Return of Ulysses last year began with the straightforward declaration: "I didn't like Benedict Andrews's new production … one bit." That...
- 9/10/2012
- by Maddy Costa
- The Guardian - Film News
Theatre director and playwright who became a campaigner for disabled people
In the 1970s and early 80s, Paddy Masefield, who has died of cancer aged 69, was one of Britain's most prolific playwrights, creating 30 performed works in 15 years. He also directed 75 stage productions, founded four theatre companies and ran Oldham Rep and the Swan theatre, Worcester. His consultancy reports included arts development strategies for St Helens, Lincoln and Peterborough, and he was described by Michael Billington in 1984 as the "doyen of arts consultants".
In 1986, aged 44, Paddy acquired a severe form of Me. He spent two years re-learning how to speak and used a wheelchair for the rest of his life. This led to a new career as a campaigner for disabled people in the arts. In a lecture in 1999, Lord Puttnam described Paddy's persuasive powers on the Arts Council lottery panel, and his absolute refusal to compromise over the question of...
In the 1970s and early 80s, Paddy Masefield, who has died of cancer aged 69, was one of Britain's most prolific playwrights, creating 30 performed works in 15 years. He also directed 75 stage productions, founded four theatre companies and ran Oldham Rep and the Swan theatre, Worcester. His consultancy reports included arts development strategies for St Helens, Lincoln and Peterborough, and he was described by Michael Billington in 1984 as the "doyen of arts consultants".
In 1986, aged 44, Paddy acquired a severe form of Me. He spent two years re-learning how to speak and used a wheelchair for the rest of his life. This led to a new career as a campaigner for disabled people in the arts. In a lecture in 1999, Lord Puttnam described Paddy's persuasive powers on the Arts Council lottery panel, and his absolute refusal to compromise over the question of...
- 7/24/2012
- by Allan Sutherland
- The Guardian - Film News
The week when theatre-goers sat still for eight hours, the artworld shipped out to Documenta and Danny Boyle presented sheep, rainclouds, ducks and real hills for the opening ceremony of the London Olympics
• Danny Boyle unveiled his set model for the Olympics opening ceremony, which looked like a lovely big train set but without the trains. Glastonbury Tor, valleys and hills, a real plough doing actual ploughing; sheep, horses, ducks and chickens; a real cricket match; rainclouds emitting real rain: all will be part of the opening scene, but expect surprises – the narrative will move on to present a more urban vision of Britain. (Some of my Twitter pals thought that a giant Wicker Man might be rather good to match this "mythic landscape".) Report from our Olympics editor Owen Gibson. You'd think the Mail would love this green-and-pleasant business, but they thought it resembled Tellytubbyland. The Mail also rather...
• Danny Boyle unveiled his set model for the Olympics opening ceremony, which looked like a lovely big train set but without the trains. Glastonbury Tor, valleys and hills, a real plough doing actual ploughing; sheep, horses, ducks and chickens; a real cricket match; rainclouds emitting real rain: all will be part of the opening scene, but expect surprises – the narrative will move on to present a more urban vision of Britain. (Some of my Twitter pals thought that a giant Wicker Man might be rather good to match this "mythic landscape".) Report from our Olympics editor Owen Gibson. You'd think the Mail would love this green-and-pleasant business, but they thought it resembled Tellytubbyland. The Mail also rather...
- 6/14/2012
- by Charlotte Higgins
- The Guardian - Film News
Nicholas de Jongh pays tribute to the Brief Encounter star
Celia Johnson died in her prime - at the age of 73. There was no other actress on the English stage whose career reached its zenith, a luminous Indian summer on both stage and television, in middle and old age. She defined to perfection a social type occupying the entrenched territories of middle and upper-middle class gentility, whose crisp, understated manners and stringent lack of sentimentality she conveyed to the manner born.
Yet she did not simply serve as a comprehensive guide-book to or map of a contracting portion of England. She incarnated qualities both of restraint and of passion; she knew everything about high English comedy whose airs of distraction and self-absorbed remoteness she conveyed so sharply in Coward's Hay Fever and Ayckbourn's Relatively Speaking; more surprisingly she was able in old age to act indelibly roles of high tragic velocity and pathos,...
Celia Johnson died in her prime - at the age of 73. There was no other actress on the English stage whose career reached its zenith, a luminous Indian summer on both stage and television, in middle and old age. She defined to perfection a social type occupying the entrenched territories of middle and upper-middle class gentility, whose crisp, understated manners and stringent lack of sentimentality she conveyed to the manner born.
Yet she did not simply serve as a comprehensive guide-book to or map of a contracting portion of England. She incarnated qualities both of restraint and of passion; she knew everything about high English comedy whose airs of distraction and self-absorbed remoteness she conveyed so sharply in Coward's Hay Fever and Ayckbourn's Relatively Speaking; more surprisingly she was able in old age to act indelibly roles of high tragic velocity and pathos,...
- 4/27/2012
- by Nicholas de Jongh
- The Guardian - Film News
The critics adore her and tomorrow she is up for an Olivier award. She is known for brave portrayals of emotional extremity, but Ruth Wilson says fear is the key to her acting
'I wish I was more of a girly girl and could enjoy this more," says Ruth Wilson. We're walking down Waterloo backstreets to a pub for her photo shoot. She's the one in the sharp suit with good posture and a dancer's gait. After that ordeal, she has an appointment to choose the jewellery she will wear for tomorrow night's Olivier awards at the Royal Opera House, where she has been nominated as best actress for her critically acclaimed performance in the title role of Eugene O'Neill's play Anna Christie. Her sartorial mentor for the awards, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, has already helped Wilson choose a dress.
"The difficult thing for me is going to a event...
'I wish I was more of a girly girl and could enjoy this more," says Ruth Wilson. We're walking down Waterloo backstreets to a pub for her photo shoot. She's the one in the sharp suit with good posture and a dancer's gait. After that ordeal, she has an appointment to choose the jewellery she will wear for tomorrow night's Olivier awards at the Royal Opera House, where she has been nominated as best actress for her critically acclaimed performance in the title role of Eugene O'Neill's play Anna Christie. Her sartorial mentor for the awards, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, has already helped Wilson choose a dress.
"The difficult thing for me is going to a event...
- 4/13/2012
- by Stuart Jeffries
- The Guardian - Film News
To mark the 50th Anniversary of one of the most successful movie franchises of all time and with filming well underway on James Bond’s 23rd official outing in Skyfall due for release later this year, I have been tasked with taking a retrospective look at the films that turned author Ian Fleming’s creation into one of the most recognised and iconic characters in film history.
With James Bond well established as a worldwide phenomenon raking in countless millions at the box-office, the tenth film in the series, The Spy Who Loved Me proved unexpectedly problematic in its journey to the screen and marked the longest gap between films since the series began. Due to personal financial issues Bond producer Harry Saltzman decided to sell his 50% stake in Danjaq S.A., the company he had established with Albert R. Broccoli to produce the Bond series. United Artists, who had...
With James Bond well established as a worldwide phenomenon raking in countless millions at the box-office, the tenth film in the series, The Spy Who Loved Me proved unexpectedly problematic in its journey to the screen and marked the longest gap between films since the series began. Due to personal financial issues Bond producer Harry Saltzman decided to sell his 50% stake in Danjaq S.A., the company he had established with Albert R. Broccoli to produce the Bond series. United Artists, who had...
- 3/29/2012
- by Chris Wright
- Obsessed with Film
Theatrical farce adapted from the classic Ealing comedy set to tour into 2013 after record ticket sales in the West End
Little old landladies are to get their revenge all over the country after Graham Linehan's stage adaptation of The Ladykillers, currently playing at the West End's Gielgud theatre, announced that it will embark on a tour of the UK and Ireland.
After receiving five Olivier award nominations last week, The Ladykillers will start its tour in Plymouth on 14 September. The production will continue to tour into 2013, with further dates to be announced.
As well as garnering positive reviews, Linehan's adaptation, which turns the classic Ealing comedy into a theatrical farce, has already proved a big earner for its producers Fiery Angel. Following a pre-West End run in Liverpool, the show recouped its entire £750,000 outlay only six weeks after opening in London. During the Christmas period, it broke the Gielgud's box office record,...
Little old landladies are to get their revenge all over the country after Graham Linehan's stage adaptation of The Ladykillers, currently playing at the West End's Gielgud theatre, announced that it will embark on a tour of the UK and Ireland.
After receiving five Olivier award nominations last week, The Ladykillers will start its tour in Plymouth on 14 September. The production will continue to tour into 2013, with further dates to be announced.
As well as garnering positive reviews, Linehan's adaptation, which turns the classic Ealing comedy into a theatrical farce, has already proved a big earner for its producers Fiery Angel. Following a pre-West End run in Liverpool, the show recouped its entire £750,000 outlay only six weeks after opening in London. During the Christmas period, it broke the Gielgud's box office record,...
- 3/20/2012
- by Matt Trueman
- The Guardian - Film News
Scrubs star Zach Braff has been hit with a slew of bad reviews after his debut appearance on London's West End stage.
Britain's leading theatre critics were less than impressed when the curtain went up at a press showing of All New People, which Braff also wrote, on Tuesday.
Michael Billington of The Guardian newspaper called the production a "muddled, meandering affair that reeks of self-gratification", while The Times' Libby Purves declared it "the most aimless, pointless play I have ever seen".
In The Independent's critique, Paul Taylor wrote that Braff "is still writing in the rhythms of television sitcom where the wisecrack and its instant gratifications predominate over longer-term goals".
However, Braff did receive a four-star review from the Daily Telegraph's Charles Spencer, who praised the show's blend of "the comic and the poignant" and said it "deserves to prosper".
Spencer added, "This 90-minute piece never outstays its welcome."
All New People, which was staged at New York's Second Stage Theatre without Braff in the cast last year, centres around a man contemplating suicide on his 35th birthday.
Britain's leading theatre critics were less than impressed when the curtain went up at a press showing of All New People, which Braff also wrote, on Tuesday.
Michael Billington of The Guardian newspaper called the production a "muddled, meandering affair that reeks of self-gratification", while The Times' Libby Purves declared it "the most aimless, pointless play I have ever seen".
In The Independent's critique, Paul Taylor wrote that Braff "is still writing in the rhythms of television sitcom where the wisecrack and its instant gratifications predominate over longer-term goals".
However, Braff did receive a four-star review from the Daily Telegraph's Charles Spencer, who praised the show's blend of "the comic and the poignant" and said it "deserves to prosper".
Spencer added, "This 90-minute piece never outstays its welcome."
All New People, which was staged at New York's Second Stage Theatre without Braff in the cast last year, centres around a man contemplating suicide on his 35th birthday.
- 2/29/2012
- WENN
Producer Scott Rudin has axed the Broadway run of the hit play after falling out with its writer, Bruce Norris, according to reports
The producer of Clybourne Park has cancelled the play's run on Broadway after falling out with its writer, Bruce Norris, according to the New York Post.
Norris was due to appear in an acting role in producer Scott Rudin's HBO adaptation of Jonathan Franzen's book The Corrections, but is reported to have pulled out on Monday after three months of contractual wrangling, saying: "I don't like to do pilots."
Rudin, regarded as the most powerful producer on Broadway, then axed Clybourne Park, which was due to reach Broadway in the spring, as well as two other Norris plays he was planning to produce in 2013.
The theatre is not accepting ticket bookings, while the play's publicists, Boneau/Bryan-Brown, said they were no longer representing the show.
The producer of Clybourne Park has cancelled the play's run on Broadway after falling out with its writer, Bruce Norris, according to the New York Post.
Norris was due to appear in an acting role in producer Scott Rudin's HBO adaptation of Jonathan Franzen's book The Corrections, but is reported to have pulled out on Monday after three months of contractual wrangling, saying: "I don't like to do pilots."
Rudin, regarded as the most powerful producer on Broadway, then axed Clybourne Park, which was due to reach Broadway in the spring, as well as two other Norris plays he was planning to produce in 2013.
The theatre is not accepting ticket bookings, while the play's publicists, Boneau/Bryan-Brown, said they were no longer representing the show.
- 2/1/2012
- by Alex Needham
- The Guardian - Film News
Yasmina Reza's 2008 play God of Carnage was a worldwide hit. Here she talks about working with director Roman Polanski on the film adaptation and the year she spent with Nicolas Sarkozy
In late 2005, playwright Yasmina Reza was approached by a German theatre director who wanted to commission a new work from her. "I said, 'No, I'm tired, I've got too much on; I don't want to do it,'" Reza says, sitting in the corner of a darkened hotel bar in her native Paris. She gives a dismissive flap of her hand, as if reliving the refusal. But then, something happened to change her mind.
"There was a little incident in the life of my son," she says, refilling her cup of herbal tea from an Oriental-style teapot as she talks. "He was then about 13 or 14 and his friend was in a fight with another friend; they exchanged blows...
In late 2005, playwright Yasmina Reza was approached by a German theatre director who wanted to commission a new work from her. "I said, 'No, I'm tired, I've got too much on; I don't want to do it,'" Reza says, sitting in the corner of a darkened hotel bar in her native Paris. She gives a dismissive flap of her hand, as if reliving the refusal. But then, something happened to change her mind.
"There was a little incident in the life of my son," she says, refilling her cup of herbal tea from an Oriental-style teapot as she talks. "He was then about 13 or 14 and his friend was in a fight with another friend; they exchanged blows...
- 1/22/2012
- by Elizabeth Day
- The Guardian - Film News
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