The NT have published some pictures of Alex as Alan Bennett in Hymn. They are on the NT website.
The Southbury Child
1 July to 27 August 2022 at the Bridge Theatre
Friday, November 30, 2012
The Alan Bennetts
The Telegraph has an interview with Alan Bennett at the National, which refers to the two productions Alex is working on. A nice picture of the two Alan Bennetts:
From the interview:
"Five minutes later, another Alan Bennett walks in. He is taller, blonder, more youthful. “Oh good, they’ve made you a bit more rumpled,” says the first Alan Bennett to his sort-of twin. “You looked very good coming through the door.”
The second Alan Bennett is the actor Alex Jennings, who is playing the playwright in two short memoirs staged at the National Theatre to complement his new play People. In one, Hymn, Bennett’s reminiscences are set to music for string quartet by his long-time collaborator George Fenton. In the other, Cocktail Sticks, Bennett looks back on his “ordinary” childhood, and the way it has affected his writing.
When Hymn was premiered at the Harrogate Festival in 2001, Bennett took to the stage himself. Watching an actor play him is odd. “I think 'do I talk like that?’” he says. “But I don’t think of Alex as me, I think of him as Alex, though that doesn’t imply shortcomings in his performance. I don’t think you can think of yourself as somebody else.”
Because Jennings is giving a performance rather than an impersonation, his demeanour and delivery are indeed not exactly like Bennett’s. The voice has the familiar Yorkshire cadence, but it is more forceful than the author’s, which in conversation at least rises and falls as thoughts form themselves; he has a habit of letting some sentences fade away into a little “mmm”."
The full interview is at The Telegraph.
From the interview:
"Five minutes later, another Alan Bennett walks in. He is taller, blonder, more youthful. “Oh good, they’ve made you a bit more rumpled,” says the first Alan Bennett to his sort-of twin. “You looked very good coming through the door.”
The second Alan Bennett is the actor Alex Jennings, who is playing the playwright in two short memoirs staged at the National Theatre to complement his new play People. In one, Hymn, Bennett’s reminiscences are set to music for string quartet by his long-time collaborator George Fenton. In the other, Cocktail Sticks, Bennett looks back on his “ordinary” childhood, and the way it has affected his writing.
When Hymn was premiered at the Harrogate Festival in 2001, Bennett took to the stage himself. Watching an actor play him is odd. “I think 'do I talk like that?’” he says. “But I don’t think of Alex as me, I think of him as Alex, though that doesn’t imply shortcomings in his performance. I don’t think you can think of yourself as somebody else.”
Because Jennings is giving a performance rather than an impersonation, his demeanour and delivery are indeed not exactly like Bennett’s. The voice has the familiar Yorkshire cadence, but it is more forceful than the author’s, which in conversation at least rises and falls as thoughts form themselves; he has a habit of letting some sentences fade away into a little “mmm”."
The full interview is at The Telegraph.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Napoleon Rising
Alex plays the part of Talleyrand in Anthony Burgess' drama charting Napoleon Bonaparte's meteoric rise in the early years of the French revolution. The part of Napoleon will be played by Toby Jones, Jenny Jules is Josephine.
The play will be broadcast on Sunday 2 Dec 2012 at 20:30 on BBC Radio 3 and is part of the Radio 3 Napoleon season.
For more information check the BBC Website.
Thanks again, Jen!
The play will be broadcast on Sunday 2 Dec 2012 at 20:30 on BBC Radio 3 and is part of the Radio 3 Napoleon season.
For more information check the BBC Website.
Thanks again, Jen!
Monday, November 12, 2012
Boys From Brazil
BBC Radio 4 Extra will broadcast "The Boys From Brazil" again this week. For details check: BBC Radio 4 Extra.
Thanks to Jen!
Thanks to Jen!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)