Idris Elba, James Corden and Gok Wan all appeared at Advertising Week Europe at BAFTA this month, speaking on various panels about the advertising and creative industries.
Victoria Pendleton, Freddie Flintoff, Morgan Spurlock, Sir Trevor McDonald, Natasha Kaplinsky, Caitlin Moran Steve McManaman, Ashley Roberts, and Steve Coogan all also attended. It was pretty star-studded and we have some pictures.
Cate Blanchett, Anne-Marie Duff, Rupert Everett, Adrian Lester, Eddie Redmayne, Joely Richardson, Michael Sheen, Sheridan Smith and David Suchet are among the stage stars tipped
The London Evening Standard today unveils the longlist for its 2012 Theatre Awards, presented for the first time this year in association with Burberry.
· In a remarkable year for Nicholas Hytner’s National Theatre, it leads the longlist with 22 entries; followed by the Royal Court with 13.
· With four nods, the most longlistedplay this year is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Simon Stephens’ adaptation of Mark Haddon’s novel about a boy with Asperger’s.
· Olympic Closing Ceremony set designer Es Devlin is longlisted in the Design category for The Master and the Margarita, at the Complicite at the Barbican.
· Eddie Redmayne, Simon Paisley Day and Michael Sheen battle it out for Best Actor with their leading Shakespeare roles in Richard II, Taming of the Shrew and Hamlet.
· It is a good year for women, with inaugural productions from new female artistic directors recognised and a host of stellar performances in strong female roles.
· This year a new award has been announced with the Burberry Award for Emerging Director. The award celebrates a young director who is set to be a star of tomorrow’s London stage.
From Hollywood A-listers to Britain’s most celebrated playwrights, the longlist for the 2012 London Evening Standard Theatre Awards, in association with Burberry, puts an array of big names – and rising stars – in the running for a statuette. All are recognised for contributing to a stellar year in the capital’s theatres.
This year’s winners will be revealed at an evening dinner and Awards ceremony, presented by One Man, Two Guvnors star James Corden at the Savoy Hotel on Sunday 25th November 2012.
The event is co-hosted by London Evening Standard Owner Evgeny Lebedev, Burberry Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey and American Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour.
The longlist reflects a heavy-weight year for women, with the Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress category featuring some of the biggest female roles for the stage. Three Ibsen plays provided meaty roles for: Sheridan Smith, thrilling as the capricious Hedda in Hedda Gabler; Hattie Morahan, moving as the trapped housewife Nora in A Doll’s House; and Joely Richardson, luminous as Ellida in Lady from the Sea. In this role, Richardson follows her mother Vanessa Redgrave’s 1979 portrayal and the 2009 performance of her late sister, Natasha, in whose memory this award is given.
Cate Blanchett’s sellout performance as Lotte in the translation of German play Big and Small is also recognised, along with Imelda Staunton’s Mrs Lovett in the hit West End production of Sweeney Todd.
It is a good year for women behind the scenes too, with two new artistic directors hitting the mark with their inaugural productions. New Donmar chief Josie Rourke is up for Best Director for her exciting staging of The Recruiting Officer. At the Tricycle, Indhu Rubasingham’s opening production, new play Red Velvet, wins a longlist place for its first-time author, Lolita Chakrabarti, in The Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright category. Red Velvet also offers Adrian Lesterthe chance to pick up the award for Best Actor, as real-life 19th century black actor Ira Aldridge, who was hounded off the London stage.
Also featuring on the longlist is Es Devlin, the Olympic Closing Ceremony set designer whose work for Master and the Margarita puts her in the Best Design category.
Battling it out with Lester and others for Best Actor are Eddie Redmayne, Simon Paisley Day and Michael Sheen – all for their leading roles in Shakespeare productions, with Redmayne playing Richard II at the Donmar Warehouse, Paisley Day playing Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew and Sheen in the Young Vic’s production of Hamlet.
The most longlisted play this year is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Simon Stephens’ adaptation of Mark Haddon’s novel about a boy with Asperger’s. The National Theatre production, in the Cottesloe space, is mentioned in four categories: Best Director, Best Play, Best Actor and Best Design.
Two musical productions that originated at the Chichester Theatre and transferred to the West End are rivals for the Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical: Sweeney Todd and Singin’ in the Rain. The consistently strong fringe venue Southwark Playhouse also fields two shows in this category: Floyd Collins (directed by Derek Bond) and Mack & Mabel (directed by Thom Southerland). Swallows and Amazons, which features the music and lyrics from Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon, is also in the running.
The National Theatre leads the longlist, with 22 entries across its three stages. Next, the Royal Court, home of new writing, has 13.
This year’s awards has eight categories: with Best Play, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Design, Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress, Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical, Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer and Charles Wintour Award for Most PromisingPlaywright – an award named in memory of the former Editor of the Evening Standard and Anna Wintour’s father.
In addition to eight longlisted awards, which are decided by a panel of theatre critics and London Evening Standard’s editor, Sarah Sands, five other special awards will be presented on the night. These are the Burberry Award for Emerging Director (new for this year), the Lebedev Special Award, the Editor’s Award, Beyond Theatre and the Moscow Art Theatre’s Golden Seagull.
The shortlist will be announced in the London Evening Standard on 12 November.
The London Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2012 in association with Burberry.
BEST PLAY
Choir Boy by Tarell Alvin McCraney, (Royal Court Upstairs)
Constellations by Nick Payne (Royal Court Upstairs)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Simon Stephens (National’s Cottesloe)
Jumpy by April De Angelis (Royal Court Downstairs)
The Last of the Duchess by Nicholas Wright (Hampstead)
Love and Information by Caryl Churchill (Royal Court Downstairs)
Love Love Love by Mike Bartlett (Royal Court Downstairs)
Reasons to Be Pretty by Neil LaBute (Almeida)
South Downs by David Hare (Chichester Minerva)
This House by James Graham (National’s Cottesloe)
The Witness by Vivienne Franzmann (Royal Court Upstairs)
BEST DIRECTOR
Benedict Andrews for Three Sisters (Young Vic)
Lucy Bailey for Uncle Vanya (The Print Room)
Tom Cairns for Scenes from an Execution (National’s Lyttelton)
Carrie Cracknell for A Doll’s House (Young Vic)
Marianne Elliott for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (National’s Cottesloe)
Polly Findlay for Antigone (National’s Lyttelton)
Sean Foley for The Ladykillers (Gielgud)
Jeremy Herrin for This House (National’s Cottesloe)
Nicholas Hytner for Timon of Athens (National’s Olivier)
Jonathan Kent for Sweeney Todd (Chichester Festival and Adelphi)
James Macdonald for Love and Information (Royal Court Downstairs)
Roger Michell for Farewell to the Theatre (Hampstead)
Lindsay Posner for Noises Off (Old Vic)
Ian Rickson for Hamlet (Young Vic)
Josie Rourke for The Recruiting Officer (DonmarWarehouse)
Lyndsey Turner for Philadelphia, Here I Come! (Donmar Warehouse)
BEST ACTOR
Simon Russell Beale, Collaborators (National’s Cottesloe)
Charles Edwards, The King’s Speech (Wyndham’s) and This House (National’s Cottesloe)
Rupert Everett, The Judas Kiss (Hampstead)
Laurence Fox, Our Boys (Duchess)
David Haig, The Madness of George III (Theatre Royal Bath and Apollo)
Douglas Hodge, Inadmissible Evidence (Donmar Warehouse)
Alex Jennings, Collaborators (National’s Cottesloe)
Rory Kinnear, The Last of the Haussmans (National’s Lyttelton)
Adrian Lester, Red Velvet (Tricycle Theatre)
Simon Paisley Day, The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare’s Globe)
Eddie Redmayne, Richard II (Donmar Warehouse)
Adrian Scarborough, Hedda Gabler (Old Vic)
Michael Sheen, Hamlet (Young Vic)
Scott Shepherd, Gatz (Elevator Repair Service at Noel Coward)
David Suchet, Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Apollo)
Luke Treadaway, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, (National Theatre’s Cottesloe)
NATASHA RICHARDSON AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS
Eileen Atkins, All That Fall (Jermyn Street)
Pippa Bennett Warner, The Witness (Royal Court Upstairs)
Eve Best, The Duchess of Malfi (Old Vic)
Cate Blanchett, Big and Small (Sydney Theatre Company for Barbican)
Anna Chancellor, The Last of the Duchess (Hampstead)
Anne-Marie Duff, Berenice (Donmar Warehouse)
Mariah Gale, Three Sisters (Young Vic)
Tamsin Greig, Jumpy (Royal Court Downstairs andDuke of York’s)
Sally Hawkins, Constellations (Royal Court Upstairs)
Martina Laird, Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (National’sCottesloe)
Helen McCrory, The Last of the Haussmans (National’s Lyttelton)
Laurie Metcalf, Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Apollo)
Hattie Morahan, A Doll’s House (Young Vic)
Joely Richardson, The Lady from the Sea (Kingston’s Rose Theatre)
Sheridan Smith, Hedda Gabler (Old Vic)
Imelda Staunton, Sweeney Todd (Chichester and Adelphi)
NED SHERRIN AWARD FOR BEST MUSICAL
Floyd Collins (Southwark Playhouse)
Directed by Derek Bond
Mack & Mabel (Southwark Playhouse)
Directed by Thom Southerland
Singin’ In the Rain (Chichester Festival and Palace Theatre)
Directed by Jonathan Church
Swallows and Amazons (presented by the National Theatre in association with The Children’s Touring Partnership at the Vaudeville Theatre)
Music and lyrics by Neil Hannon
Script by Helen Edmundson
Directed by Tom Morris
Sweeney Todd (Chichester Festival and Adelphi)
Directed by Jonathan Kent
Top Hat (Aldwych)
Directed by Matthew White
Adaptation for Stage: Howard Jacques and Matthew White
BEST DESIGN
Hildegard Bechtler, Top Hat ( Aldwych)
Miriam Buether, Wild Swans (A Young Vic/American Repertory Theatre/Actors Touring Company co-production)
Bunny Christie, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (National’s Cottesloe)
Kevin Depinet, Detroit (National’s Cottesloe)
Es Devlin, The Master and Margarita (Complicite at Barbican)
Soutra Gilmour, Inadmissible Evidence (Donmar Warehouse ) and Antigone (National’s Olivier)
Richard Kent, Richard II (Donmar Warehouse)
Ian MacNeil, A Doll’s House (Young Vic)
Peter McKintosh, Noises Off (Old Vic)
Vicki Mortimer, The Last of the Haussmans (National’s Lyttelton)
Lucy Osborne, The Recruiting Officer (Donmar Warehouse)
Michael Taylor, The Ladykillers (Gielgud)
Jamie Vartan, Misterman (National’s Lyttelton)
CHARLES WINTOUR AWARD FOR MOST PROMISING PLAYWRIGHT
Stephen Beresford, The Last of the Haussmans (National’s Lyttelton)
Lolita Chakrabarti, Red Velvet (Tricycle)
Ishy Din, Snookered (Bush)
Vickie Donoghue, Mudlarks (Bush)
Nancy Harris, Our New Girl (Bush)
John Hodge, Collaborators (National’s Cottesloe)
Luke Norris, Goodbye to All That (Royal Court Upstairs)
Nicholas Pierpan, You Can Still Make a Killing (Southwark Playhouse)
Tim Price, Salt, Root and Roe (Trafalgar Studios)
Hayley Squires, Vera Vera Vera (Royal Court Upstairs andTheatre Local Peckham)
Tom Wells, The Kitchen Sink (Bush)
THE MILTON SHULMAN AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING NEWCOMER
Jonathan Bailey, South Downs (Chichester Minerva and Harold Pinter)
Denise Gough, Our New Girl (Bush) and Desire Under the Elms (Lyric Hammersmith)
David Fynn, She Stoops to Conquer (National’s Olivier)
Cush Jumbo, She Stoops to Conquer (National’s Olivier)
Abby Rakic-Platt, Vera Vera Vera (Royal Court Upstairs and Theatre Local Peckham)
Matthew Tennyson, Making Noise Quietly (Donmar Warehouse)
Joshua Williams, Shivered (Southwark Playhouse)and Love and Information (Royal Court Upstairs)
Emi Wokoma, Soul Sister (Hackney Empire and Savoy)
,… or Two [Cyber]Men and a baby.
In my eyes Season 5 of the new Doctor Who was a weak and uninspiring slog, and easily poorest series since the show returned. But there was a real diamond in the rough; ‘The Lodger’.
Gareth Roberts’ adaptation of his own Doctor Who Magazine comic strip was a joyful, warm-hearted and spirited comedy episode that I loved to bits. So when it was announced that he would be penning a sequel I was pretty excited. But did he deliver? Well, yes and no,…
The Doctor is on a farewell tour, flitting around the universe to catch up on events and experiences that he’s missed out on over the years. He knows that death is on its way and he’s going to make the most of the time he’s got left. Which includes, it seems, a visit to his old mate Craig – now the proud but overwhelmed father of baby Alfie (or Stormageddon; Dark Lord of All, as he likes to be known).
But, this being Doctor Who, The Doctor’s flying visit is derailed by his discovery of Cybermen stalking around the ladies changing rooms at a local department store (ooer!) Cue slapstic monster fighting, Laurel and Hardy level bickering and frolics in the lingerie isle!
Now, for the most part, this episode is a fun and chucklesom romp; it’s Doctor Who; the Situation Comedy. All that’s needed is a wryly named coffee shop, a contractual visit to a bowling alley and a barely plausible laughter track and you’re away!
This isn’t, to my eyes, a bad thing; the programme has been many things in its time – Hammer Horror, surreal Buddhist morality tale, James Bond-esque action adventure – why not a sitcom? It wouldn’t work every week but I’d argue that the occasional flat-out funny episode is no bad thing. I mean it’s not Battlestar Galactica is it?
And it is, indeed, very funny! Matt Smith and James Corden have a brilliant chemistry, with Craig being the straight man to the Doctor’s geeky funnyman. The moment when Craig realises that they’ve been teleported to the Cybership is comedy gold, beautifully played by both. His ham-fisted interrogation of the shop girl had me in stitches.
However, the best lines were handed to young Stormageddon, ably translated by the Doctor – who speaks baby (yeah, right!) “and everybody else?,… Peasants. That’s unfortunate.”
It’s a great script of terrific comic moments and spanking dialogue.
And Cybermen. Damn, I knew you were going to bring them up.
This was not the Metal Men from Mondas’ finest hour. In fact the story would’ve probably worked better without them. All they do is stomp around the place looking mildly pathetic. Their presence is undermined by the revelation that they’re low on juice and low on spare parts. They’re not a fighting force, they’re Dads Army.
Which is a shame because they look wonderful. And the Cybermat is a welcome return from a classic series stalwart. But they’re entirely peripheral to the story and to throw away Doctor Who’s second biggest enemy as, essentially, comedy goons does nobody any favours, least of all the brilliant Gareth Roberts.
So, to me, the story didn’t deliver everything it promised; the comedy was brilliant but the action and threat were sorely lacking. Compared with Craig’s first outing, where his life, his relationship with the love of his life and, ultimately, the fate of the world was in jeopardy,… well this was a bit of a come down, really.
But as come-downs go, ‘Closing Time’ is one I’d watch again.
Bedtimes
We failed to install consistent bedtimes. We put the baby to bed at 7pm – he didn’t sleep. Then 8pm, then 9pm… Now, we just take the baby to bed when we go up at 11pm! If it’s this hard at four months, how are we going to cope when he’s older? He’ll fall asleep on the sofa, but as soon as you move him, he’s awake and crying. It can take up to an hour to get the baby to sleep. And sometimes he just won’t go to sleep at all.
When we’ve worked out a routine, I’ll let you know.
Deposits of posset
Yesterday, Dillon threw up three times but waited between each bout for me to change my top, so I got sick on three different outfits . It really is horrible having a load of churned-up milk down your front. At least it’s mainly milk, with a bit of baby rice and doesn’t really smell. Baby vomit is called posset and Dillon made his deposits.
Head scratch on Cosatto cot
On Tuesday morning, Dillon got a long scratch on his head from the Cosatto ‘Close to me’ bedside cot. There’s nothing wrong with the wooden frame of the cot itself, it’s the plastic clips inside it that are rough and sharp and unfortunately we didn’t notice this until Dillon’s head was bleeding. Since babies are growing beings with cells multiplying like crazy, it scabbed up quickly and has nearly healed in a week. We filed down the plastic clips and covered them in bubble wrap while one angry customer email to the manufacturer is on its way.
Just wait until he starts crawling, then I’ve got a lot more to worry about!
First tooth
The first tooth is coming up. He’s been crying with teething pain for a few weeks now, gnawing on his fist, on toys, on material, on teething rings and recently we tried a dummy which really helped. And now we can feel the first tooth which has broken through the bottom gum and is slightly protruding. How exciting!
Nicknames
It’s so tempting to give nicknames to the baby as he changes so quickly and looks so cute. Recently, we’re calling him The Tooth, The Overlip, The OverLord, Churchill, and since he got the scratch on his head, Gorbachev, Harry Potter and Zorro.
Celebrity babies
Dillon was born days apart from David Tennant’s daughter Olivia (born 31st March 2011 – on Dillon’s due date) and James Corden’s baby son Max (22nd March). He’ll also be growing up at the same time as the Beckham’s daughter, Harper Seven – what a name! When I see celebrity children in papers and magazines, it is odd to think my son is growing up at the same time and in some ways their lives will be running in parallel.
Swear Words
We tried to stop swearing when I was pregnant, but habits are hard to change. Now I’m worried every time a four letter word slips out of our mouths, our friends or someone on TV, that Dillon has heard it and one day will repeat it. We’ve set the parent locks on the TV and threatened to fine each other. I think a swear box will have to be started.
Until next time – my new four letter word is FLIP!
© Wendy Thomson 2011
Wendy Thomson is the editor of www.femalearts.com an online publication which promotes women in the arts and in business.