Alex is back on Radio 4 tomorrow, appearing as King George VI in the afternoon play, "A King's Speech". The BBC website gives the following description:
"It is 1937, the day of the Coronation, and the newly-crowned George VI must broadcast to the nation and the empire - a terrifying prospect for perhaps the most notable Briton to have suffered from a stammer. This play focuses on the close working relationship between the King and his speech therapist."
The play was written by Mark Burgess and stars Joan Walker as Queen Elizabeth.
The play will be broadcast at 14.15 on April 30.
For a full cast list see:
BBC Radio 4
Thanks again to Penny!
The Southbury Child
1 July to 27 August 2022 at the Bridge Theatre
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The Siege Of Krishnapur
From the BBC Press Office:
It is 1857, and British rule in India is under siege. Inspired by the sieges of Cawnpore and Lucknow, this dramatisation, by Olivier, Sony and Writer's Guild award winning Shelagh Stephenson, details the siege of a fictional town during the Indian Rebellion, from the perspective of the British residents.
The main characters find themselves subject to the increasing strictures and deprivation of the siege, which reverses the "normal" structure of life where Europeans governed Asian subjects. The absurdity of the class system in a town that no-one can leave becomes a source of comic invention, though the text is serious in intent and tone.
Heat, starvation, disease and death take their toll on the besieged colonists. But though vaguely absurd and impossibly insular in their outlook, they are given the opportunity to show the stuff of which they are made. Some, remarkably, rise to the occasion, surprising even themselves, while others betray the more preposterous traits of 19th-century colonialism and the reason why the Raj was ultimately destined to collapse.
Alex Jennings stars as The Collector, charged with care of a small and often fractious British community. Malcolm Tierney plays Dr Dunstable and Jasmine Hyde plays Louise.
The Siege Of Krishnapur Ep 1/2, Sunday 10 May, 3.00-4.00pm BBC RADIO 4
It is 1857, and British rule in India is under siege. Inspired by the sieges of Cawnpore and Lucknow, this dramatisation, by Olivier, Sony and Writer's Guild award winning Shelagh Stephenson, details the siege of a fictional town during the Indian Rebellion, from the perspective of the British residents.
The main characters find themselves subject to the increasing strictures and deprivation of the siege, which reverses the "normal" structure of life where Europeans governed Asian subjects. The absurdity of the class system in a town that no-one can leave becomes a source of comic invention, though the text is serious in intent and tone.
Heat, starvation, disease and death take their toll on the besieged colonists. But though vaguely absurd and impossibly insular in their outlook, they are given the opportunity to show the stuff of which they are made. Some, remarkably, rise to the occasion, surprising even themselves, while others betray the more preposterous traits of 19th-century colonialism and the reason why the Raj was ultimately destined to collapse.
Alex Jennings stars as The Collector, charged with care of a small and often fractious British community. Malcolm Tierney plays Dr Dunstable and Jasmine Hyde plays Louise.
The Siege Of Krishnapur Ep 1/2, Sunday 10 May, 3.00-4.00pm BBC RADIO 4
Friday, April 24, 2009
The Habit of Art
Playbill.com announces that Alex will star with Michael Gambon in Alan Bennett´s new play "The Habit of Art" at the National's Lyttelton this November. Alex will play WH Auden, Gambon will play Benjamin Britten. The play will be directed by the National's artistic director, Nicholas Hytner.
Playbill.com says: "The play is based on an entirely fictional meeting that takes place when poet Auden and composer Britten are respectively aged 70 and late 50s, when Auden was living in Oxford in the early 1960s before he died. In fact, though the two had collaborated on several works earlier in their careers – which included Auden writing the libretto for Britten's operetta Paul Bunyan and the song cycle "Our Hunting Fathers" – their relationship came to an uneasy end and they had not spoken since the mid-1940s."
Dates and further production details are still to be announced.
Full article at: Playbill
Playbill.com says: "The play is based on an entirely fictional meeting that takes place when poet Auden and composer Britten are respectively aged 70 and late 50s, when Auden was living in Oxford in the early 1960s before he died. In fact, though the two had collaborated on several works earlier in their careers – which included Auden writing the libretto for Britten's operetta Paul Bunyan and the song cycle "Our Hunting Fathers" – their relationship came to an uneasy end and they had not spoken since the mid-1940s."
Dates and further production details are still to be announced.
Full article at: Playbill
Friday, April 17, 2009
Dormouse
As part of the John Mortimer Tribute Season BBC Radio 7 broadcasts "The Summer of a Dormouse" this week, with Paul Scofield, Imelda Staunton and Alex.
An elderly man stands in the darkening garden of a vicarage by the sea and looks back on a life which seems to have passed as swiftly as Lord Byron's dormouse summer. John Mortimer's funny and poignant recollection of missed opportunities stars can be heard Tuesday at 10am, 3pm and 3am. It was first broadcast in 1999, the producer was Marilyn Imrie.
An elderly man stands in the darkening garden of a vicarage by the sea and looks back on a life which seems to have passed as swiftly as Lord Byron's dormouse summer. John Mortimer's funny and poignant recollection of missed opportunities stars can be heard Tuesday at 10am, 3pm and 3am. It was first broadcast in 1999, the producer was Marilyn Imrie.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Lambeth Palace
The Saturday Play today also features Alex. Lambeth Palace (Radio 4, 2.30pm), is a comedy of church politics by Christopher William Hill. Alex stars as a prime candidate for succeeding a lately deceased Archbishop of Canterbury. But he’s having doubts about his faith plus his liberal views stand accused, by his rival, the Archbishop of York (Geoffrey Whitehead), of being possibly schismatic. It was written by Christopher William Hill.
Cast:
Michael Lombard ...... Alex Jennings
David Channing ...... Geoffrey Whitehead
Grace Lombard ...... Phoebe Nicholls
Patrick Latimer ...... Murray Melvin
Alicia Latham ...... Susan Jameson
Simon Brooker ...... Philip Fox
Anthony Taylor ...... Sam Dale
Russell Graves ...... Stephen Hogan
Claudia ...... Caroline Guthrie
Robin ...... Jonathan Tafler
Cardinal Daeneker ...... Malcolm Tierney
Seb ...... Benjamin Askew
Jade ...... Lizzy Watts
With Kirsty Wark and Jonathan Dimbleby as themselves, other parts are played by Janice Acquah, Matt Addis and Paul Rider. It is directed by Mary Peate.
Cast:
Michael Lombard ...... Alex Jennings
David Channing ...... Geoffrey Whitehead
Grace Lombard ...... Phoebe Nicholls
Patrick Latimer ...... Murray Melvin
Alicia Latham ...... Susan Jameson
Simon Brooker ...... Philip Fox
Anthony Taylor ...... Sam Dale
Russell Graves ...... Stephen Hogan
Claudia ...... Caroline Guthrie
Robin ...... Jonathan Tafler
Cardinal Daeneker ...... Malcolm Tierney
Seb ...... Benjamin Askew
Jade ...... Lizzy Watts
With Kirsty Wark and Jonathan Dimbleby as themselves, other parts are played by Janice Acquah, Matt Addis and Paul Rider. It is directed by Mary Peate.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Ayckbourn at 70
Alex takes part in the celebrations for Alan Ayckbourn's 70th birthday on BBC Radio.
On 11 April he will appear in Radio 4's Saturday Play, Man Of The Moment. This is Ayckbourn's play which examines the cult of celebrity and reality television. Vic Parks (Tim Piggott Smith), a failed criminal turned television celebrity, agrees to appear on a reality show with Douglas Beechey (Alex Jennings), the unassuming bank clerk who foiled the robbery. But the documentary starts to free-fall and events take an extraordinary turn.
Saturday Play: Man Of The Moment, Radio 4, Saturday 11 April at 2.30pm
On 11 April he will appear in Radio 4's Saturday Play, Man Of The Moment. This is Ayckbourn's play which examines the cult of celebrity and reality television. Vic Parks (Tim Piggott Smith), a failed criminal turned television celebrity, agrees to appear on a reality show with Douglas Beechey (Alex Jennings), the unassuming bank clerk who foiled the robbery. But the documentary starts to free-fall and events take an extraordinary turn.
Saturday Play: Man Of The Moment, Radio 4, Saturday 11 April at 2.30pm
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