About

My blog has quite a lot of posts about Samuel West (Julius Caesar, On Chesil Beach and Darkest Hour) and Charles Edwards (My Fair Lady Australian tour and Henry IX).

Friday 27 June 2008

Hayley Atwell - Film - The Duchess - international trailer screencaps

Screencaps



Links
The Duchess official site (UK) [link]
Comingsoon.net (direct downloads of the trailer are available here) [link]

Tags: , , , , ,

Thursday 26 June 2008

Hayley Atwell - Film - The Duchess, Brideshead Revisited - pictures

New stills have been released for The Duchess [link] and Brideshead Revisited [link].

Samuel West - Film - Albert Schweitzer

From Variety:
"Jeroen Krabbe and Barbara Hershey are starring in Schweitzer, British director Gavin Millar's biopic of Nobel Peace Prize-winning physician, philosopher and theologian Albert Schweitzer.

Produced by Alexander Thies' Berlin-based NFP, pic is set in 1949, early in the Cold War. German-born Schweitzer, already one of the most admired men in the world due to his humanitarian work, arrives in the U.S. to raise funds for his clinic in west central Africa (now Gabon) and finds himself caught in the battle lines of world politics. Krabbe portrays Schweitzer, with Hershey as his wife and assistant Helene. Pic also stars Judith Godreche, Samuel West, Jeanette Hain, Jonathan Firth and Armin Rohde (as Albert Einstein).

Schweitzer, which began principal photography in Cape Town and Port St. John, South Africa, last week, shoots through August..."


Links
  • IMDB [link]
  • Screen Daily [link]
  • Schweitzer-themovie.com [link]
  • NFP 1|2
  • Two Oceans Productions [link]
  • Hesse Invest [link]
  • Blakefriedmann.co.uk - James Brabazon (screenwriter) [link]


Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday 23 June 2008

Samuel West - Equity

From The Stage:
"Former Sheffield Theatres artistic director Samuel West is standing for re-election to Equity’s ruling council, this time as an independent candidate...In his election statement, West explained that he felt the union was stronger now than it had been for many years...'"


Below is Sam's election statement:
Samuel West
Proposed by Malcolm Sinclair, seconded by Kevin Spacey


Member since 1984. Council 1996-2000. Vice-Chair of London Deputies’ Committee. Deputy many times.
Equity feels stronger now than for many years. Our response to the recent round of Arts Council cuts was proud, loud and powerful. The Union was everything it should be in that fight — a pillar of strength, a hub of information, a voice of encouragement. Delighted to be asked to speak against the cuts in the weeks following the announcements, I was nevertheless an unelected representative. So I’m standing for Council now. There are many important battles ahead: the SOLT claim; backdoor TV commissioning; promotions designed as talent contests; the need to protect our identity and the professional nature of our work. For 25 years I’ve worked in most areas of the business as an actor, director and Artistic Director. I hope I’m young enough to work tirelessly on your behalf, and experienced enough to be useful.


His election statement is part of a document that can be downloaded here. Sam has also seconded Joseph Kloska, a RADA alumnus.

Links
Equity [link]
Joseph Kloska 1|2|3|4

Tuesday 17 June 2008

Samuel West - Duke of Ed

Last November, Sam gave a lovely speech at a Sheffield Duke of Edinburgh ceremony, which can be read here. Below are some excerpts from the speech:
"...I will talk about one thing about D of E that I think is particularly good: it takes AGES...I hope, and I believe, that you will look back on all the time invested in D of E with pride and fondness.
Because that’s what D of E is – investment. Not in a narrow, profit making sense – who cares? - but as something into which you have put a lot of time, energy and effort...We must remind ourselves that there is a world of difference between success and achievement. Everyone who gets a D of E award, of any type, has shown that they know the difference. That they have put in the hours, sweated the buckets, lived through the disappointments and come out smiling. They have achieved something of lasting worth..."


Links
Wikipedia - Duke of Edinburgh award scheme [link]
Duke of Ed - Sheffield [link]

Dan Stevens - talk at the V&A

From the Victoria and Albert museum website:
Andrew Davies and Dan Stevens - Re-telling the Regency
Friday 20 June 2008


Award-winning scriptwriter, Andrew Davies, author of the BBC's Pride and Prejudice and, most recently, Sense and Sensibility, and the actor Dan Stevens discuss the challenges of interpreting the Regency period for film and television.

£8, concessions available
Book online or call +44 (0)20 7942 2211.

Charles Edwards - Theatre - The 39 Steps - Broadway - Tony awards

The 39 Steps won two Tonys - lighting design (play) and sound design (play):
  • Lighting Design-Play: Kevin Adams, "The 39 Steps."

  • Sound Design-Play: Mic Pool, "The 39 Steps."


A complete list of Tony winners is here.

Saturday 14 June 2008

Dan Stevens - Audio - Day

From the Telegraph:
"... Day by AL Kennedy, read by Dan Stevens

The strength of bonds formed in wartime comes across forcibly in Dan Stevens's virtuoso reading of AL Kennedy's novel about Alfred Day, a tailgunner from the Black Country in a Lancaster bomber during the Second World War.

Alfred's story emerges in fits and starts: the mixed-up son of an alcoholic father, he finds a surrogate family among fellow crewmen and falls in love with a married woman. Stevens powers through a complex narrative, changing gear from first to third person and, unusually, to second person (addressing Alfred as "you")..."



Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Charles Edwards - Television - 2008 - Midsomer Murders

According to Joan Street's Midsomer Murders fansite, Charles will play Ned Fitzroy in the upcoming episode "Blood Wedding" which has a provisional air date 6 July.

Related entry: Charles Edwards - Television - 2008 - Midsomer Murders

Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,

Charles Edwards - Theatre - The 39 Steps - Broadway (Cort)

From Playbill:

"Sam Robards will play the man who doesn't know too much — the starchy, chased Britisher Richard Hannay — in the Broadway comedy The 39 Steps starting July 8...Edwards, who originated the role of Hannay in the Olivier Award-winning London production, will play his final Broadway performance on July 6..."

Also, there's an interview with Charles here.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Samuel West - Television - The Long Walk to Finchley

Reviews

The Times
"...Samuel West played Heath brilliantly..."

Digiguide
"...Sam West is great as mysterious ("is he batting for the other side"?) Ted Heath..."

Telegraph
"...[Ted Heath was] perfectly played by Samuel West..."

Articles

The Times
"...the drama calls for performances of pinpoint exactitude, and it finds them in a brilliantly cast trio of leads... Sam West, scheming and glowering as Ted Heath, sucked up all the sources, not least a Monty Python flexi disc from 1973 called Teach Yourself Heath. 'It's absolutely merciless', he says, 'but bitterly accurate'...'I didn't really want to come to a decision about his sexuality that would contradict what I was asked to find in the film,' he says. 'I don't for a moment suppose Ted ever had sex with a man. What I got from the research that I did and talking to the people who knew him was that he was enormously polite and a great politician but difficult to like'..."

Daily Mail
"...The film is also fortunate to have Sam West playing Heath. Mr West puts in a wonderfully scheming, inner-twitchy performance..."

Telegraph
"...The drama had a similar effect [of surprise] on Samuel West, who gives a highly entertaining turn as Mrs Thatcher's perennial rival and predecessor as Tory leader, Ted Heath. 'I'm a socialist and, like Ted Heath, no fan of Margaret Thatcher's,' says the actor. 'But I was fascinated by this script because for the first time it made it possible for me to admire her. This drama crystallises her struggle and unites her friends and foes. In the end, much to my surprise, I found myself rooting for her...'"

Links
BBC 1|2
IMDB [link]
Wikipedia [link]

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , ,