News

Updated 28^th April 2008

I’ve just received the brochure for the Stratford-upon-Avon Poetry Festival and see that Michael is performing Sweet William at the Shakespeare Centre on Sunday 29^th June. You can get a brochure with the application form from The Poetry Festival, The Shakespeare Bookshop, 39 Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6QW. Postal bookings open today (28^th April), whilst personal applications from the Bookshop and phone bookings (01789 292176) can be made from the 20^th May.

If you are in the area I see that Michael is performing Sweet William at the International Shakespeare Theatre Festival in Bucharest on the 12^th and 13^th May 2008. Also Michael will be attending The Colorado Festival of World Theatre which is celebrating its Fifth Anniversary from the 4^th-9^th September 2008. He will be performing Sweet William on the 8^th and (the at Armstrong Hall, Colorado College, Colorado Springs and also holding Master Classes on the 4^th, 5^th and 9^th at Colorado College. The following is the section regarding the latter from the Festival’s Press Release: “ Michael Pennington will meet with area students and theatre professionals to talk about changing styles of Shakespearean acting; giving a personal perspective as a director and actor who has worked on most major roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company and his own English Shakespeare Company.”

Sweet William

There are more dates being added to the Sweet William page as soon as I spot them – so if you’re interested in seeing if it’s coming to a town near you, check here regularly!

I’ve also spotted that there is a YouTube page showing an excerpt of Sweet William at, I think, the Guthrie. I came across it whilst doing a search, but hopefully you’ll be able to access it via Youtube.com and putting in” Michael Pennington’s Sweet William”.

Books

A note for your diaries! Sometime in September Nick Hern Books will be publishing a new book by Michael. Entitled Sweet William – Twenty Thousand Hours with Shakespeare, it has, as you would expect from the title, been written in conjunction with Michael’s one- man show.

Theatre

Michael will be appearing at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester between 16^th July and 30^th August in two Ronald Harwood plays. The first to open is Collaboration in which he plays Richard Strauss and the second is Taking Sides in which he is this time playing Wilhelm Furtwängler. This is the second time he has appeared in this particular play as he took the part of Major Arnold in the original production which premiered at Chichester and then transferred to the West End. They are separate plays, but complement one another. Full details can be found on the Chichester Festival web site – http://www.cft.org.uk

I’ve added a link on the Shakespeare productions page to allow quick access to photographs the RSC have on their web site from several of Michael’s performances. There’s also a very good Learning page with details on many productions.

You might also like to check out the following link: http://www.rscshakespeare.co.uk , then click on language. This is a site dedicated to the recently published RSC Shakespeare. The above link takes you to the discussion of Shakespeare’s language between one of the Editors, Jonathan Bate, and Michael – well worth a listen! There’s also an interesting blog as to what’s going on in the Shakespeare world!

Television

I’m pleased to see that after a long wait the BBC Shakespeare productions have finally released on DVD. I’m especially pleased that the production of Cymbeline in which Michael played Posthumus to Helen Mirren’s Imogen has finally been released, as it never appeared on video. Click here to read an article on the series which appeared in the Spring 2006 Globe Theatre’s magazine. I see that you can also get Summer’s Lease on DVD now. I was always sorry that it wasn’t repeated as I’ve had lots of enquiries about it since it was first shown – so here’s a chance for everyone to catch up on it.

Films

I noticed that the film Fragile that Michael worked on during the summer of 2004 has gone straight to DVD over here. I’m not sure whether it is in the shops, but I spotted it on Amazon.

As you might have seen in the Camden New Journal interview, Michael has just undertaken the role of Bomber Harris in a film called Churchill at War. I can’t find any other information at the moment, but will keep looking!

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