Samuel West - recent music and radio narration; Close the Coalhouse Door

Nicholas Lumley as Thomas in Close the Coalhouse Door (Photo: Keith Pattison. Source: Northern Stage - used with permission).

Weltethos will be available on iPlayer until 28 June (via Sam's Twitter, @exitthelemming). Some quotes from reviews:

The Classical Source
"What came across most forcefully was the intensity of the choral response – abetted by a no-less-impressive input from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Edward Gardner... along with a typically thoughtful and eloquent showing by Samuel West."

Behind the Arras
"The work is very tightly structured with each movement highlighting a different faith... Each section in turn features a spoken part, delivered with perfect timing and gravity by actor Sam West..."

5 Against 4
"Samuel West’s warm, impassioned delivery of the portions of narrative were matched with genuinely thrilling music in the orchestra..."

Sam is the reader for this week's Sunday Feature The Other Dickens (via @exitthelemming).

An excerpt from a recent review of Close the Coalhouse Door from the Oxford Times:

"The production is directed with great pace and vitality by Samuel West... The action is delivered in a free-wheeling Brechtian style, with smashing, pointedly political songs by Alex Glasgow, accompanied by the multi-instrumentalist cast, and lots of good jokes."

The play finishes its tour this week - it will be performed at the York Theatre Royal until 30 June.

A couple of reviews of Britten Films have highlighted the technicalities involved in the performance.

One Suffolk
"Conductor, Nicholas Collon, ensured that narration and music accurately kept pace with the films... Samuel West had to get it [narration of Night Mail] right first time – and did!"

Where's Runnicles
"Collon ensured they [the Aurora Orchestra] and West were well co-ordinated with the pictures, no mean feat as the films are full of gaps between music or between narrations."

Dan Stevens

Dan went to three events at the London Collections: the Christopher Raeburn Spring/Summer 2013 show, a Burberry party and a GQ dinner.
The Authors Cricket Club will play some fixtures in July and August.

Audiogo shared a clip of Dan reading Casino Royale on Audioboo.

He reads next week's Book of the Week, The Old Ways.

Samuel West - Britten Films, Close the Coalhouse Door, Shakespeare's Globe

The Ipswich Star has a positive review of Britten Films. An excerpt:

"This splendid and fascinating concert brought together Aldeburgh Voices, Jubilee Opera Chorus and Aurora Orchestra with Samuel West as narrator, all under the assured baton of Nicholas Collon."

A transcript of Sam's talk about Close the Coalhouse Door at Newcastle University is now available (via his Twitter, @exitthelemming).

In May, he wrote a post for the Shakespeare's Globe blog about a production of Richard II by Ashtar Theatre. It will form part of an essay for an upcoming book (@exitthelemming 1|2).

Samuel West - Britten Films, Contemporary Shakespeare, Oxford Times interview

Jane Holman as Mary in Close the Coalhouse Door (Photo: Keith Pattison. Source: Northern Stage - used with permission). Screenshot from Moomin, Mymble and Little My.

Britten Films was performed at the Aldeburgh Festival on Thursday. John Harte shared a picture of Sam in rehearsal. Here are some tweets about Sam from conductor Nicholas Collon and pianist John Reid, and audience members Keely Taylor and Tam Pollard:

@nicholascollon: "extraordinary virtuoso performance from @exitthelemming this eve.No-one else cld get near that!What fun with britten's films@auroraorchestra"
@johnreidpiano (1|2): "Cor, this #aldeburghfestival concert of Britten film scores is a minefield of notes, sound-effects cuts+rests... Still, it's all worth it just to hear the line 'I have a great apprehension of poisonings' and @exitthelemming 's '30s RP.."
@keelyktss: "@exitthelemming Superb performance tonight! Very difficult stuff, well done to you, orchestra & choruses."
@wheresrunnicles: "Wonderful evening of Britten's GPO films @aldeburghmusic - live music by @nicholascollon @auroraorchestra and narration by @exitthelemming"

and a tweet from Sam about the performance:

"Thanks to all who came to @aldeburghmusic tonight; had a fine time with @nicholascollon & @auroraorchestra. That Britten's got talent."

On Friday, he gave a lecture titled "On Acting and Directing Shakespeare" at the Contemporary Shakespeare conference. Positive comments about his lecture have been shared by @contemposhake (the organisers of the conference) and catroofdance, an attendee.

The Oxford Times has an interview with Sam, in which he discusses his connections to Oxford. As a student, he read English at Lady Margaret Hall and performed at the Oxford Playhouse. He recently became a patron of the Oxford Playhouse, and Close the Coalhouse Door will be performed there 19-23 June.

He did some filming in Willesden for Mr Selfridge earlier this week (@exitthelemming).

Below is a very lovely tweet from @vornster praising Sam's narration for the app Moomin, Mymble and Little My:

"@exitthelemming Moomin app going down very well in our house. 5 yo refuses to even *try* to read it herself "I like the man reading" :)"

Money will be repeated 1 July on BBC Radio 3 (BBC Media Centre).

Dan Stevens

Dan and Emily Bruni star in Shallow, a short film written and directed by Will Bridges.

His "My Week" for June can be viewed on the Telegraph website and as a scan in the dan-stevens.co.uk gallery.

The Heiress website is now live. The production also has a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

Dan narrates a new recording of Casino Royale by Ian Fleming which is available for pre-order on 1st August. It will be released on 6th September 2012.

Samuel West - Codebreaker, London 2012 Festival

Sam is the narrator for Codebreaker, a drama-documentary about Alan Turing. It will be screened at the 2012 European Science TV and New Media Festival on 15 July.

Weltethos by Jonathan Harvey will have its world premiere at the London 2012 Festival Opening Night on 21 June. Four ensembles from the City of Birmingham will perform: the Symphony Orchestra, the Chorus, the Youth Chorus and the Children's Chorus. It will be narrated by Sam and conducted by Edward Gardner.

Samuel West - Moomin app, Uncle Vanya, Birkbeck Theatre Conversations

Screenshot from Moomin, Mymble and Little My (source: iTunes).

Sam is the narrator for the app Moomin, Mymble and Little My (via his Twitter, @exitthelemming). The producer Spinfy is working on three more Moomin apps which will be released later this year (@Spinfy).

He will play Astrov in a production of Uncle Vanya which will be directed by Lindsay Posner. It will have previews at the Vaudeville Theatre in late October (Baz Bamigboye).

A recording of a Birkbeck Theatre Conversation featuring Sam and Michael Dobson from late 2007 is available for download.

Charles Edwards - This House at the National Theatre

Charles has been cast in This House by James Graham at the National Theatre (his Twitter, @CEdwardsActor). Other cast members include Philip Glenister, Phil Daniels and Julian Wadham. The play will be directed by Jeremy Herrin, and will be performed in the Cottesloe from 18 September to 1 December.

Samuel West - Close the Coalhouse Door, International Wimbledon Music Festival, Kreutzer vs Kreutzer, Mr Selfridge

[updated 16 November]


Chris Connel as Jackie and Jane Holman as Mary (Photo: Keith Pattison. Source: Northern Stage - used with permission).
Sam stepped in to play Jackie for the matinee and evening performances of Close the Coalhouse Door at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre on Saturday. During the matinee, Chris Connel had fallen from a ladder on stage and was taken to hospital (BBC News and @loufarrant).
After a short break, the play will continue its tour: the Gala Theatre (12-16 June) where it has sold out, then the Oxford Playhouse (19-23 June).

Sam is listed as "narrator (TBC)" for a recital on 18 November with oboist Nicholas Daniel and the Britten Oboe Quartet at the International Wimbledon Music Festival. [edit, 16 November: Benedict Cumberbatch will be the narrator]

A recording of Kreutzer vs Kreutzer was broadcast on New Zealand Radio on Wednesday. Due to copyright restrictions, it is not available for streaming on demand.

Links to some of Sam's tweets about filming Mr Selfridge:

• A woolly costume that was unsuitable to wear in warm weather
• His character Frank Edwards is based on Frank Wallis [edit, 11 October: based on Frank Harris, according to this Twitter conversation]
• He drove a 1913 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost 1|2|3 (a picture of the car)

Dan Stevens

PuzzlePix and FlyNet have photos from the set of series 3 of Downton Abbey.

The Jubilee Lines poems are now available on The Space.

Radio - Publish and Be Damn'd

Nancy Carroll, Charles Edwards and Blake Ritson star in the Classic Serial Publish and Be Damn'd: The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson. A two-parter, episode 1 will be broadcast tomorrow, and episode 2 next Sunday.