Showing posts with label Samuel West. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Samuel West. Show all posts

Monday, 27 July 2009

A Family Affair with Samuel West

I went to see charity show called A Family Affair last night starring Timothy West, Prunella Scales and their son Samuel West, at the Oxford Playhouse. It was the first time I had seen them all together and it was truly spectacular. They each read from black folders, excerpts from plays etc. But the highlight of the evening personally for me was to see Sam performing a scene from Hamlet with his parents. I've always regretted not seeing Sam do Hamlet when he did the original show back in 2001. And now I have made my peace. From what I saw last night has convinced me more than ever that Sam could quite easily do Hamlet again. I mean if Mark Rylance and David Tennant can do it...then so could Sam! lol ;)

It was such a wonderful evening which raised lots of money for a good cause and I was really sad to see it end.

Here's another more detailed review...
A Family Affair

∗ wants to start a "Sam please do Hamlet again" petition ∗

Tuesday, 7 July 2009

A Tribute to Harold Pinter at Marxism 2009

© image of Sam West taken by m4sure



I went along last Sunday to the Marxism 2009 event here in London, that took place over a period of 5 days from 2-6 July. And attended the Harold Pinter talk at the Brunei Gallery. The speakers there were Samuel West and the Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington who has also written a few books on Pinter himself. The talk was fascinating for many reasons. To begin with for me personally, to discover that Pinter actually grew up a few streets away from where you live has always been most intriguing. The amount inner strength it took to break away from his meagre beginnings and to become one of the worlds greatest Playwrights is nothing short of amazing. It also meant that he understood real people. The inspiration he produced gave hope to many, that with enough faith in yourself anything is possible.

Both Sam and Michael discussed some of their personal experiences with Pinter, a few were moving and others were hilarious. Sam read from his own written speech that he did in response to Pinter's passing, and he also read from some of Pinter's plays and poems. With one of my favourites being Robert from BETRAYAL. Michael told us some of his very interesting interactions with Pinter as well. The evening ended with a short Q&A type discussion with the audience which at times was pretty amusing. It was a lovely and quite an emotional evening for everyone. Very informative, and great fun too. With the only person missing being Pinter himself, who I'm sure was there in spirit laughing at the lot of us!

Friday, 19 June 2009

Happy Birthday Sam


Waste rehearsals 2008

I hope you have a wonderful day celebrating...even if in rehearsals!!

(((Will be my turn in 10 days time))) lol :)

Wednesday, 10 June 2009

Harold Pinter A Celebration...(Review)


Images from the programme


On Sunday 7 June 2009 at the National Theatre, I attended the memorial event for the legendary playwright, Harold Pinter who sadly passed away on Christmas Eve 2008. The stage was set as black with two rows of silver chairs which ran along two sides of a black square performance area. All the actors who took part in the show were seated on the chairs throughout, and took turns to deliver their pieces. Samuel West was on in the the second half. It was lovely to see him again, although from where us mere mortals were seated it would of taken the use of binoculars to see any of the actors faces properly! There was sadness as well as a lot of comedy and my favourite being "Mac" The evening finished after 2.5hrs with a big b&w picture of Harold Pinter appearing on the back of the stage area and the actors slowly leaving. Walking away with their heads bowed. That was very moving.

The evenings performances were...

Death, 1997.....Stephen Rea

Voices in the Tunnel.....Henry Woolf

From Celebration, 1999
Waiter.....................Jude Law
Lambert.................Henry Goodman
Julie........................Susan Wooldridge
Matt.......................Andy De La Tour
Prue........................Lindsay Duncan

Poems to A, Part 1
Paris, 1975.............Colin Firth
I Know the Place...Penelope Wilton
To Antonia, 1987...Kenneth Cranham

Apart from That, 2006
Gene........................Jeremy Irons
Lake.........................Indira Varma

From the Caretaker, 1959....David Bradley

The Black and White, 1959
First Old Woman....Eileen Atkins
Second Old Woman..Sheila Hancock

From Mac, 1966.....Douglas Hodge

From Old Times, 1970
Deeley......................Alan Rickman
Anna.........................Lindsay Duncan
Kate..........................Gina McKee

From The Homecoming, 1964.....Kenneth Cranham

From The Lover, 1962
Richard......................Jude Law
Sarah..........................Indira Varma

Arthur Wellard, 1981........Samuel West

Tess, 2000.........................Penelope Wilton

From The Birthday Party, 1957
Stanley.......................Kenneth Cranham
Goldberg....................Henry Goodman
McCann......................Lloyd Hutchinson

From Mac, 1966.................Douglas Hodge

From The Homecoming, 1964.....Lia Williams

From No Mans Land, 1974..........Andy De La Tour

Political Poems
The Bombs, 2003...........................................Roger Lloyd Pack
The Disappeared, 1998..................................Janie Dee
I shall Tear Off My Terrible Cap, 1951.......Harry Burton
Cricket at Night, 1995....................................Jeremy Irons
After Lunch, 2002..........................................Lindsay Duncan

Weather Forecast, 2003................................David Bradley

Meeting, 2002.................................................Gina McKee
From Betrayal, 1978
Emma...............................Janie Dee
Robert..............................Michael Sheen

From The Caretaker, 1959....Colin Firth

Poems to A, Part 2
It is here, 1990..................Jude Law
To My Wife, 2004.............Lia Williams
Poem (To A), 2007...........Jeremy Irons

From his Nobel Prize address, 2005...........Students From LAMDA

From Celebration..............Stephen Rea

Samuel West on Acting, Directing and Family Heritage

© theatreland.tv


Sam West

A great video and very amusing...

..Sam West talks to his old mate Clemency Burton-Hill..

And nice to see Sam interested in Family History too! :)

Tuesday, 31 March 2009

Some Olde Kiddie Pix

© m4sure

Just found these adorable pictures of me as a small kid many years ago...


In my Grandparent's garden (I still have the plastic fish)


My 1st ever bike. (remember being terrified of it at 1st)

I wont tell you what year(s) these pictures were taken. But I will give you a small clue. I am 10 days younger than Samuel West. Now go work it out! haha! ;)

Friday, 27 February 2009

Don't Know Why I Bother Sometimes

I really hate it when tickets to shows sell out almost before they even go on sale to the public. I really wanted to see the one off production of Freshwater at the Charleston Festival starring the West family, but instead I ended up wasting my time and phone bill by being put on hold for over 30 mins, only to be told that the tickets had already sold out ages ago. Simply wonderful...not. :(

Monday, 23 February 2009

Samuel West Charity Auction Picture



The ever so wonderful Sam has kindly supplied an un-dedicated autographed picture of himself for a Scottish charity that I belong to called 'Pathfinder Dogs'. This charity specializes in training German Shepherd dogs to guide blind people.

Click on link below...
Sam West Auction

∗ Pathfinders have other celeb auctions so please check them out too ∗

More info on Pathfinder Dogs...(website having make over at the mo)
Pathfinder Dogs

Shame I can't bid on the pic myself, but I hope whoever wins it will treasure it forever. *sigh*

Wednesday, 11 February 2009

A Family Reunion Video



∗ it could of done with some more Harry pix but it's still very good ∗

Samuel West talks about Civil Liberty

© all images and transcript taken from the guardian.co.uk video


"The erosion of civil liberties, is something that happens very gradually and very invisibly. And it's extraordinary how under a blanket of fear, these small slivers have been taken off things we fought for, for centuries without really there being a consensus about how best to fight them."



"I find it extraordinary that we could contemplate putting our DNA on a database, on mass in order that our children should inherit the possibility of being tracked down. As that's happened to my own family. Members of my family, who had members of their family interviewed because their DNA happened to be on a database."



"And you just think, that is totally random. And totally unacceptable. Being an actor means pretending to be someone else. And if you do that well, then it becomes impossible to be racist or sexist, or any of the other things that one hopes not to be because one spends ones time imagining what it's like for the other person."



"I feel very privileged in my job. To be habitually required to do that empathising. And perhaps that makes it easier for me to support this campaign."


More info here...
The Convention on Modern Liberty

Thursday, 29 January 2009

The Scene and Heard Project

Scene and heard is an inner city project in London set up 10 years ago to help children (9-14) on a one-2-one basis, to write and produce their own plays.

And Samuel West is one of their patrons...
Scene and Heard

*so pleased to hear this* :)

Wednesday, 28 January 2009

Sam West at The Convention on Modern Liberty event


Sam signs the book with a "Good Luck" message

Samuel West recently attended the launch party for the forthcoming Convention on Modern liberty event which begins next month here in London. Great to see the old boy out and about again...and a pic on his own too. Wow we've been spoiled! hehe! ;)

credit to spiffyjellybean for finding the pic

Wednesday, 14 January 2009

The Isles of Scilly paradise



Link to interview...
Sam West's Heaven on Earth

I've always admired the Isles of Scilly. Was meant to go there many years ago with my Mum, but never got around to it. From what I've seen on the tv etc, it's an extremely beautiful place to visit. Quite near Cornwall. The nearest I've been to this place was facing its direction from ontop of the Land's End landmark about 15 years ago now. I hope to get the opportunity to visit the islands one day. It's on my 10 things to do before I'm too old to care list. :)

Sunday, 11 January 2009

How to get rid of an annoying cough


1. Make a new airway (see pic)
or
2. Go buy some cough mixture

Definition for cough
To expel air from the lungs suddenly and noisily, often
to keep the respiratory passages free of irritating material.

Family Reunion time is now over

"Why I have this election I do not understand.
It must have been preparing always, and I see
what I always wanted. Strength demanded that
seems too much, is just strength enough.
I must follow the bright angels."


I went to last nights final performance of TS Eliot's play Family Reunion at the Donmar Theatre. My 5th time. But it so nearly didn't happen. Had to drag myself out of my sick bed to attend. I decided to go along to support Samuel West like I promised one last time, even if it finished me off in the process. I tried so hard not to have a coughing fit during the play. A difficult task I can tell you from way up in the rafters, better known as the notorious circle area. A place where the phantom birds like to hide, and secrets are kept. A world few seldom see...unless you happen to like heights and confined places. The show itself was excellent as ever, and I felt sad that it was all coming to an end. So much had happened during its run. Christmas had been and gone, the conflict in Gaza dominated the news, Harold Pinter's subsequent death, and the beginnings of a new year. All this, yet here in the Donmar time stood still for just over 2 hours. Some would say a perfect escape from the harsh realities of the outside world. When the play had uttered its last word and cheer, I made the lonely walk down the many flights of stairs, past the auto hunters, before I snuck out into the cold dark night to become just a memory again.

I hope the bird brought you luck Sam. It was meant too. All the best for your next project, whatever that may be.

Saturday, 27 December 2008

A few Family Reunion Reviews


Samuel West as Harry Monchesney in TS Eliot's Family Reunion


The Telegraph...
.."Daunting, yes, but the cast, spearheaded by Samuel West's haunted Harry, have got the measure of it. At times they're consciously and comically aware of how peculiar they must sound as they grope for a language to describe their nameless familial dread"..

The Independant...
.."Samuel West's insistently self-dramatising Harry may have all the best arguments about the trouble we're in – he's living the nightmare – but Jones's Amy becomes the still, throbbing centre of tragic deprivation"..

The Guardian...
.."In the past, reviewers have thought Harry a prig, but in Samuel West's performance he is a sympathetically tormented soul searching for peace"..

The British Theatre Guide...
.."Already, before Sam West's character makes his entrance, a quartet have transformed themselves into a poetry-spouting chorus, chanting mysterious lines that might have been drawn from The Four Quartets, in unison"..

Variety...
.."A typically buttoned-down yet immensely articulate Samuel West is Harry, Eliot's re-imagining of the Greek hero Orestes. He returns to his chilly family pile in the north of England after wandering for eight years, during which time his wife has died"..

The Sunday Times...
.."It is a homecoming for young Lord Harry Monchensey (Samuel West) and a birthday party for his indomitable mother (Gemma Jones)"..

The Stage...
.."In particular Harry, the troubled Orestian hero, who returns to his family home pursued by avenging Furies, is played here by Samuel West with an almost insolent throwaway style that heightens and deepens the drama"..

Wednesday, 3 December 2008

The Hamlet Twins



Being a huge fan of the Shakespearean play 'Hamlet' I thought I had to mention my thoughts on a recent sitting of this production in the company of a certain David "Dr Who" Tennant. I've seen this play performed by other thespians apart from and most regrettably by Samuel West who managed to do a whole year of strutting his Hamlet stuff without me even knowing. Bad Bad me.

I've been to see Mark Rylance do this role at the Globe theatre as a birthday treat a few years ago, I thoroughly enjoyed Mel Gibson's film adaption of the great Dane, and have seen the Factory's version too which was brilliant. I used to have a cat named 'Ophelia' and my new one has the middle name Hamlet which he's not too impressed with so I've had to call him Sam instead. I've even found time to visit Hamlet's Castle also named Kronburg in Helsingør Denmark on my birthday during a visit to the country in 2003 which was excellent apart from the bit when I hit my head on the dungeon ceiling and almost knocked myself out while on a tour. It bloody hurt too. *Ouch*

Anyway I went to see this David Tennant version of Hamlet at the Norvello Theatre in London. First of all I thought David although favourable to the eyes talked so damn fast. I never remember Hamlet being done like that? David also tried to encourage the audience to laugh at parts of the play that I thought weren't necessarily funny in my opinion. Mainly the scenes in which Hamlet appears to be in distress. I know that some of the madness was comedic, but there were other moments of genuine grief also and this shouldn't be laughed at. But maybe I'm wrong? I don't know. I'm sure Sam was a lot better. Mark was outstanding in this role and I would like to think Sam can be added to this category. David in my opinion was more interested in trying to entertain his many fans. Most of the audience came alive when he entered the stage. Those other unfortunate characters including the poor Ophelia were ignored when trying to get a reaction in the same way. Another observation that I need to mention was the way that David was dressed quite similar to Sam in one scene. (see above image) They could be twins! I don't understand why this director had to copy Steve Pimlott with the costumes? I wasn't impressed. Overall I did enjoy this production but only because I like Hamlet. I just hope that maybe with David playing this role it will encourage a younger generation to explore Shakespeare's work...which isn't a bad outcome I guess.

*updated to say sorry to hear that poor David did his back in. Maybe he shouldn't of overplayed the character by throwing himself all over the stage? Anyway I hope he recovers soon. Not a nice injury to have. Damn*

Wednesday, 26 November 2008

Some Sam West Videos

Here are two videos I have on my youtube page...

One of my favourite scenes in Howard's End...
Leonard Bast reciting poetry

My edited version of Sam's brief role in Van Helsing...
Victor Frankenstein