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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.






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