April 29th, 2008
Click and
Hero the two short films I made with Kevin Curtis, are up at
Cobravision - go search, watch, vote and comment
here... They can also be seen on the
Acting page...
April 25th, 2008
Finished the sell-out run of
5pm, No Particular Afternoon, a devised piece with the physical theatre company
Likely Story. I played Alex, a soldier returning from war suffering from PTSD. We used some of the Greek myths as starting points for the characters, and Alex was a modern version of Hercules, who, like the mythological fellow, kills his wife and daughter. Nice, light piece then. See the
Gallery for pics...
April 8th, 2008
Performed for the
Liar's League for the second time, reading Peter LaChaise'
Red. Clip
here...
March 26th, 2008
For those of you that do, there's now a
Facebook Group for
Shakespeare on Toast - Getting a Taste for the Bard. Search, join, and whether you love Shakespeare or hate him, let me hear from you...
March 13th, 2008
Apologies for the hiatus in updates, it's been a rather busy couple of months... See below...
March 13th, 2008
The biggest news I have on offer - and much of the reason for the recent hibernation - is that my first solo book,
Shakespeare on Toast - Getting a Taste for the Bard, will be published by the incredibly nice people at
Icon Books in September. Take a look at the
Writing page for more; follow the links there to pre-order it from Amazon, to hit the book's website (which is being written as I type), or to watch a video I made for MeetTheAuthor.com, which features ME talking about exactly why the book is brilliant, and why it's so different from every other book on Shakespeare...
March 12th, 2008
Performed for the
Liar's League monthly reading of new writing. Reading Emily Cleaver's
The Frog. Clip
here...
March 11th, 2008
Narrated the upcoming (screening on the BBC in the early hours of April 1st / 8th) BBC Bitesize Key Stage 3 English revision programmes! I get to hold forth about Shakespeare AND teach the wee nippers. See the
Voice page...
March 5th, 2008
Worked with the hugely talented Kevin Curtis, making two short films,
Click and
Hero. See them on the
Acting page...
February 26th, 2008
Recorded a TV advert for The Guardian newspaper's Guide to DIY. Click
here to have a listen...
February 14th, 2008
Escaped the Valentine's madness, and find myself in Eindhoven, south Holland, to lecture student theatre technicians on how to get into Shakespeare... Obviously.
December 2007 - January 2008
Hibernating in writer's garrett...
November 17th, 2007
Performed in two Beckett plays,
Ohio Impromptu and
Rough for Theatre 2, at the Capital Centre, Warwick, for
Fail Better Productions. See
Acting page...
November 4th, 2007
Having recorded the narration in Amsterdam for a rather lush-looking new documentary,
Cymbalom Legacy (directed by
Mano Amani) will be shown as part of the 2nd London Gypsy Film Festival, at the Ritzy Picture House, on Nov 4th at 6.30pm. Click
here to listen to a clip of the narration, or see Mano's
website for a teaser...
October 22nd 2007
A
Speaking Shakespeare podcast, recorded after the 3rd British Shakespeare Association panel I spoke on (see below, August 31st), featuring a blast of Original Pronunciation from yours truly, is now online. Click
here to listen...
October 7th 2007
Gallows Hill Inn, a radio play from the stable of
Bunbury Banter and featuring the vocal talents of yours truly as The Traveller, will be aired Sunday 7th on 91.8 Hayes FM, and streamed live
here. Air time within the 11:30-12:00pm slot...
September 25th 2007
Will Sutton, a very fine actor and equally fine friend, knows all 154 of Shakespeare's Sonnets off by heart. Check the
Back To Aristotle entry on his
also rather fine blog...
September 16th 2007
The Real Godfather (see
Voice page) airs tonight, BBC2 9pm.
September 14th 2007
Money, the first of the radio plays I recorded with
Bunbury Banter, will be aired Sunday 16th on 91.8 Hayes FM, and streamed live
here. Exact time tbc...
August 31st 2007
Speaking at the
British Shakespeare Association, on a panel on Speaking Shakespeare, together with RSC actor Patrice Naiambana, RSC actor Janet Dale, and the broadcaster & writer Paul Allen.
August 30th 2007
Recorded a series of radio plays, with
Bunbury Banter, a new radio drama company. The specially commissioned scripts were a mix of new and old folk tales, and used Angela Carter's
The Bloody Chamber and Grimm's
Fairy Tales as a starting point. Details of airplay and some clips will follow shortly...
August 21st 2007
Narrated the
All About Elephants audiobook for the children's book series
My Animal Kingdom, voicing the Elephant too. See
Voice Page. I love my job.
August 17th 2007
Delving into the underworld, recorded the voice-dub for Rome Duomo, an Italian agent who was working undercover in the bust of the
The Real Godfather, due to be aired September on BBC2, narrated by
Steven Mackintosh. Air date to follow...
July 24th 2007
It's 2am, and I've spent the last couple of hours in a circus tent 3 hours north of Vienna, somewhere in the south-east of the Czech Republic, reciting Shakespeare Sonnets in English to a crowd of over 200 Czechs, most of whom were under the age of 25 and all completely rapt. Electric atmosphere... Picture of me looking thoughtful before launching into one of the Sonnets, now on the
Gallery...
July 18th 2007
Preparing to go to the
Czech Summer Film School Festival to perform a selection of Shakespeare’s sonnets, and introduce the spectacular film
Korol Lir (King Lear), by Korintsev. Where on earth is Uherské Hradište??
June 23rd 2007
Finished the sell-out 3 week run of Caligula at the Union Theatre. See
Gallery.
June 13th 2007
Caligula has opened with great success! Receiving Critics' Choice from
Time Out, and great notices:
"Pride of place, though, has to be given to the interaction at the heart of the play between Caligula and his other-self, the poet Scipio (Ben Crystal), who watches over all. It is through the eyes of Scipio that we see Caligula's psychological torment, and Crystal's finely judged characterization manages to convey exactly the right mix of empathy and detachment. It is a part which requires a lot of reaction, and in his eyes we see Caligula's pain. The meeting of minds between these two is stunning. Great theatre."
posted on the New York Times website