25th June 2010
It’s been a bit quite recently, but news has started to trickle through about casting
for The Master Builder in Chichester - Maureen Beattie is to play Aline Solness.
Last time I checked the tickets were selling well, so if you haven’t already bought
yours I should hurry! Check them out at www.cft.org.uk
4th April 2010
I’ve just added some New York reviews for Love is my Sin
21st February 2010
Something I appear to have overlooked when compiling the site is a video I have entitiled
The Poetry Video. It’s primarily a teaching aid and on it Michael reads Wordworth’s
Daffodils , Browning’s My Last Duchess and William Blake’s London. It’s now available
on DVD and you can check the details at: http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/publications/cat_detail.php?i temID=476
19th February 2010
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. Booking for Friends is already open, but
general online booking opens on the 1st March and telephone booking on the 4th. You
can check out for details on www.cft.org.uk.
7th February 2010
I’ve come across a short film from 2009 in which Michael appeared. It’s called Britain
isn’t Working and he plays the part of Mayor Bunion. It lasts about 10 minutes and
you can view it on the director’s web site, which is: http://shootingpeople.org/cards/RockyPalladino.
It’s very funny and quite topical - well worth a look.
I’ve also added quite a bit of detail on Michael’s various television appearances
for the 1970s/80s!
5th February 2010
Michael will be continuing the tour of Love is my sin in New York from the 27th March
to the 17th April 2010 - it will be playing at the Duke Theatre on 42nd Street and
you can access details at: www.tfana.org/love_is_my_sin.html
Following on from the David Tennant’s Hamlet which the BBC broadcast over Christmas,
they’ve put together a very good page on previous Hamlets on both stage and screen.
To access it click on the following link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/hamlet/past_productions/rsc_stage_1980. shtml
22nd January 2010
I’ve added to the Anton Chekhov page Michael’s contribution to an article which appeared
in The Evening Standard on the 19th entitled The Chekhov I Love. Plus a review for
Chekhov’s Vaudevilles which Michael Billington wrote for The Guardian.
21st January 2010
I’ve added details of the plays included in Chekhov’s Vaudevilles last Monday at
Hampstead.
20th January 2010
The five Chekhov stories Michael recorded for radio are being broadcast on the five
mornings from Monday 25th - Friday 29th January. Entitled About Love they are on
at 10.45 each morning on BBC Radio 4. There are also some other very interesting
looking radio programmes on Chekhov during the week - The Cherry Orchard is on Radio
3 on the 24th, Words and Music again on BBC Radio 3 at 10.45 on the same evening
explores male fragility in Russian literature, and, again on Radio 3, each evening
at 11.00 a series of programmes entitled The Essay: Chekhov Essays.
18th January 2010
A Jubilee for Anton Chekhov commences today at the Hampstead Theatre. Click here
to read details of the schedule and to access a couple of articles (one by Michael)
which have been in the newspapers over the last couple of days.
15th January 2010
You might like to check out the following web site in which Michael has been interviewed
about Chekhov: http://www.theatrevoice.com/
12th January 2010
The 19th January sees the first radio broadcast which I first mentioned back in November.
Entitled The House That Chekhov Built, it’s a documentary about Michael’s journey
to Yalta and the dilapidated state in which he found Chekhov’s home. It’s on BBC
Radio 4 at 11.30
8th January 2010
Michael is appearing in Silent Witness on BBC1 this week. The episode is entitled
Voids and is on over 2 nights - the 14th and 15th January at 9pm.
7th January 2010
Perhaps Michael’s first published article (should you know better please let me know!)
appeared in the Granta Magazine in the 9th November 1963 - it was entitled Pinter
Now, And Then - click here to read a transcript.
1st January 2010
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE - I HOPE 2010 IS A VERY GOOD YEAR FOR YOU ALL.
My correspondent Grant has let me know that the 2nd volume of the RSC Essential Shakespeare
CD has a clip from Timon of Athens with Michael and Richard McCabe. These CDs are
copies of live recordings from the RSC archives and well worth a listen. I must admit
to have looked at the CD when I was in Stratford last month and the fact that Michael
was included completely missed the radar - I must be slipping! (Although having now
bought a copy I see that his name wasn’t included on the cover and so I would indeed
have to have been psychic to have spotted it!)
(For new readers you might not know who Grant is - he is artistic director and co-founder
of the Northwest Classical Theatre in Portland. In 2005 Michael recorded the part
of Chorus for his production of Romeo and Juliet. You can listen to the excerpts
by clicking here.)
I’ve bought forward the following from November as it is only a couple of weeks before
the Chekhov celebration begins: The 16th January 2010 marks the 150th birthday of
Anton Chekhov. To celebrate this event the Hampstead Theatre is hosting a Jubilee.
It runs from the 18-23 January and will be hosted by Michael and leading Chekhov
specialist Rosamund Bartlett. The event has been organised to raise money to restore
the White Dacha - Chekhov’s house in Yalta (to read the article Michael wrote for
The Independent on the 20th November 2008, click here). A different show will take
place each night over the week - full details are on the Hampstead web site - www.hampsteadtheatre.com,
but public booking doesn’t open until the 23rd November. A final note - Michael will
be performing his one-man show Anton Chekhov on Saturday 23rd at 3pm.
Michael will be reading five Chekhov short stories for BBC Radio in January and has
also made a documentary for BBC Radio about the house in Yalta which will be broadcast
at the same time. More details when I have them.
