Last modified on Thu 4 Mar 2021 08.50 EST
A groundbreaking interactive Shakespeare production that features motion-captured actors alongside their avatars will have an extra treat for audiences: the presence of Nick Cave.
The Australian musician has recorded the voice for a virtual forest in the new 50-minute online show, which is inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream and combines virtual reality and video game technology with live performance.
The production follows Puck (played by EM Williams) on a journey through the forest, encountering Shakespeare’s fairies Moth, Peaseblossom, Cobweb and Mustardseed, as well as fireflies who can be controlled by viewers. Seven actors perform the show live in a motion-capture space at Portsmouth Guildhall. There is a symphonic score based on recordings by the Philharmonia Orchestra, featuring contemporary orchestral works composed by Esa-Pekka Salonen and Jesper Nordin.
Orange Tree Theatre announces Inside/Outside
February 22, 2021 Last updated:
March 17, 2021
Orange Tree Theatre today announces
Inside/Outside; a collection of world première short plays by six emerging and established writers, performed and live-streamed from the Orange Tree Theatre’s auditorium. The first three plays, written by Deborah Bruce, Joel Tan and Joe White, focus on the theme of Inside, and will be streamed live 25 – 27 March 2021. The final three plays by Sonali Bhattacharyya, Zoe Cooper and Kalungi Ssebandeke explore the theme of Outside, streamed live 15 – 17 April 2021.
The collection, directed by Anna Himali Howard and Georgia Green, cover stories of estrangement and loneliness; of connection and redemption; of despair in confinement to hope found in life outdoors.
Last modified on Tue 16 Feb 2021 11.59 EST
Derek Jacobi and Simon Callow first met at the Old Vic in London. Jacobi was treading the boards with Laurence Olivier, Peter O’Toole and other greats in the fledgling National Theatre company; the younger Callow was working at the box office. Prolific as ever through this lockdown year, both are juggling an assortment of stage and screen projects from home. They took time off to talk about Shakespeare, scathing reviews and how rifling through their family’s wardrobes led them into an acting career.
Derek Jacobi: Have we ever worked together, Simon? I can’t remember!
How The Dig s Archie Barnes became Britain s next child star
The young actor reveals the secrets of his brilliant performance in The Dig – magic tricks, cycling scrapes, family grief and ill-timed naps
8 February 2021 • 6:00am
14-year-old Archie Barnes as Robert Pretty in Netflix s hit film about the Sutton Hoo treasure
Credit: Netflix
As anyone who has watched E.T. or The Sixth Sense will attest, one of the things that leaves a lasting impression is the question of how America finds such brilliant child actors. Yet those who have enjoyed Netflix’s marvellous film about the 1939 Sutton Hoo excavation, The Dig, won’t fail to have noticed that Britain seems to have unearthed one of its own.
A comedy stage and screen legend, Henry was last on stage in
King Hedley II at Theatre Royal Stratford East. He was also meant to have appeared in a 2020 National show –
Richard Pryor on Fire – but the pandemic has sadly scuppered plans for now. He also has an unspecified role.
Peter Mullan
Trainspotting,
My Name Is Joe and more. Some may recognise him as the menacing Yaxley from the
Harry Potter films. He cut his teeth on stage as part of the left-wing theatre movement that emerged during Thatcher s time in office.
Lloyd Owen
Early in his career Owen worked extensively with Cheek by Jowl, with other credits including