23rd December 2010
I’d like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and, as well as a prosperous and
healthy New Year, I also hope you all have some very enjoyable theatre-going trips
in 2011.
13th December 2010
Further to the note about the Anton Chekhov Collection DVD I understand that it is
also available from Amazon.com at a cheaper price. The address is: http://www.amazon.com/Chekhov-Collection-Platonov-Proposal-versions/dp/B0013D8M4O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=129 1993498&sr=1-1
. You can also buy a copy of Edward II which includes the television production
of The Marlowe Inquest in which Michael played Thomas Kyd. The address is: http://www.amazon.com/Edward-II-Ian-McKellen/dp/B001RUALEC/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=129 1993697&sr=1-1
. Both of theses Dvds are, of course, Region 1, so make sure you have the right equipment!.
10th December 2010
I notice that on the BBC America Shop they have The Anton Chekhov Collection DVD
for sale. Amongst television and radio broadcast s of his plays they’ve included
the Omnibus programme Pennington on Chekhov. You can check out details on http://www.bbcamericashop.com/dvd/the-anton-chekhov-collection-14676.html
14th November 2010
There were a few reviews for Heavenly Ivy which I’ve added to the page. No photograph
I’m afraid, but you can check out The Ivy web site for a few photographs of the production.
8th November 2010
I’ve just come across a book which might be of interest. It’s called Playing for
Real: Actors on Playing Real People (ISBN 978-0-230-23042-2). It includes, amongst
other actors, Michael being interviewed about Furtwängler and Strauss, and also
a short reference to George III.
If any of you fancy a meal (and have also already booked a table!!) Michael will
be appearing at London’s Ivy Restaurant in a play by Ronald Harwood entitled Heavenly
Ivy from the 8th-12th November. The play is directed by Sean Mathias and looks at
the Restaurant’s past.
Michael will be reading at the Home-Start Christmas concert on the 6th December at
the Royal Hospital in Chelsea. Tickets will be £45, and, according to the web site,
will be available soon. The web site address is: http://www.home-start.org.uk/news/events/home_start_christmas_carol_concert_2 010
4th October 2010
I was just channel hopping and came across Michael narrating a documentary entitled
The Da Vinci Code - the Greatest Story Ever Sold. It was on BBC4 so you should be
able to catch up with it on BBC iplayer.
2nd October 2010
I hope you’ve managed to get down to see The Master Builder - a 5* review in last
weeks Sunday Times. I’ve added a few more reviews if you want to read them.
I’ve also added a couple of Sweet William dates - one in Spain, the other in Bangor
(North Wales not Maine!!)
I understand that the tickets for Love is My Sin up in Stratford in January are selling
well, so if you haven’t already booked if you intend to go, I suggest you do so as
soon as possible!
17th September 2010
I’ve started adding reviews for The Master Builder as they appear.
Michael will be giving a talk and read extracts from both Chekhov’s work The Island
of Sakhalin and from his correspondence during the journey, for the Pushkin Club
on the 30th November. Full details of the event are on: http://www.pushkinhouse.org/en/events/an-evening-with-michael-pennington
You can book either by phone, 020 7269 9770 or via e-mail, bookings@pushkinhouse.org.uk.
A non-Michael item which might be of interest to theatre-goers is a talk about the
newly discover site of The Theatre in Bishopsgate, the first purpose built theatre
in Elizabethan London and where several of Shakespeare’s were first put on . You
can listen to the interview with Heather Knight of the Museum of London and Penny
Tuerk of the Tower Theatre at: http://www.theatrevoice.com/listen_now/player/?audioID=896
5th September 2010
Not long now till The Master Builder opens, so you might like to check out the Chichester
web site as they have added some rehearsal photos to the page.
There will be three performances of Love Is My Sin at The Swan in Stratford on the
7th and 8th January 2011. Public booking opens on the 11th October 2010 - www.rsc.org.uk
or 0844 800 1110.
6th August 2010
A couple of repeats of TV appearances/narrations this coming week. On Sunday 8th
BBC4 begins a repeat of the three-parter entitled Women’s Institute which Michael
narrates and on Thursday 12th, again on BBC4 you can catch Florence Nightingale if
you missed the previous showing. Michael plays W E Nightingale.
24th July 2010
The Chichester Theatre has produced a very informative Resource Pack on The Master
Builder. This is one of Ibsen’s less rarely staged plays (I’ve only seen it once
before) and so this pack will be very useful for those of you who are going to see
the play in Chichester and want to know a bit more about it before you go. You can
download it by going to The Master Builder’s page on the web site - www.cft.org.uk
. They are also planning to supplement this with a post-rehearsal resource pack which
will be available to download from the 16th September.
23rd July 2010
Michael will be presenting a performance of Anton Chekhov at the Holt (Norfolk) Summer
Festival this coming Sunday (25th July). It will be at the Auden Theatre at Gresham
School. Box Office 01263 712635.
20th July 2010
As I have finally got round to archiving the first 6 months of 2010 News (where does
the time go!) just a reminder that Michael will be appearing in Chichester again
this year. This time he is playing Halvard Solness in Ibsen’s The Master Builder.
The play is showing in the Minerva from the 9th September to the 9th October. You
can check out for details on www.cft.org.uk.
Also if you haven’t already spotted it John Barton’s 1982 Playing Shakespeare has
been issued on DVD - it seems to be quite widely available as I’ve seen it both in
the RSC shop at the Courtyard and also on Amazon. For those of you that have never
seen it, it’s well worth a watch.
It’s also been pointed out that I haven’t included a book in the relevant list which
includes an interview with Michael. It’s entitled Live Not What I Am: The Experience
of Performing 2. It was published in 1995.