On Expenses - Pictures

On Expenses is available until Tuesday 2nd March on the iPlayer.

I've grabbed a few pictures from it below. Alex played the Head of the Fees Office Andrew Walker; a man who won't look through his glasses if he can possibly look over them.




The trailer for the show can be found on Youtube here.

On Expenses - Preview

There were a few clips of 'On Expenses' shown during the interview this morning, on BBC Breakfast, with Heather Brooke and Anna Maxwell Martin.

The video of the interview can be found here.

Front Row

Front Row on BBC radio 4 on Friday evening had a short discussion about 'On Expenses'. There is a short audio clip of the production at the start of the programme.

You can listen to this edition of Front Row here until Friday the 26th.

Vortigern and Rowena

It's 1796 and a young antiquarian claims to have discovered a lost play by Shakespeare. He takes the play to Richard Sheridan, who agrees to produce it. By the second act, the audience are gleefully aware the play is a fake...

Vortigern and Rowena will be broadcast on Wednesday the 3rd March at 2.15pm on Radio 4.

Lorcan Cranitch plays Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Alex Jennings plays John Philip Kemble and Rufus Wright plays William Henry Ireland. The play was written by Melissa Murray.

On Expenses

On Expenses, which has been renamed from Bringing Down The House, will be broadcast on BBC 4 at 9pm on Tuesday the 23rd February.

The 60 minute drama is a humorous take on the recent furore over MP's expenses. Alex plays the head of the Fees Office, Andrew Walker; other actors include: Brian Cox, Anna Maxwell Martin and Neil Pearson. The drama was written by Tony Saint.

The BBC Press Pack can be found here.

An Ideal Husband

There's another chance to hear the radio production of 'An Ideal Husband' this Sunday 14th at 8pm on Radio 3. It will be available on the iPlayer for one week after transmission.

Thanks to Jen.

Edit: iPlayer link (available until 21st February).

In Conversation With Alex Jennings

Alex will be talking about his career and current role in a platform at the National Theatre, chaired by Al Senter, on the 30th April 2010 at 3pm. Tickets are available here.

This platform was originally scheduled for December 2009, but was canceled due to Alex's unavailability.

Goldfish Girl

The beautiful short play "Goldfish Girl" will be broadcast again this Friday on BBC Radio 7 at 11.15 and 21.15 and will then be available on the IPlayer for seven weeks. Alex stars with Juliet Stevenson.

Thanks to Jen!

Broadway?

The Mail Online reports that "The Habit of Art" might transfer to Broadway in the spring of 2011, if possible with the current cast. Read the full report at:
Mail Online

Thanks to the other Lori, now also from Florida....

Personal Reviews

Two of our "regulars" went to see Alex at the end of November, beginning of December and both have written a review. So thanks to Lori and Penny for the following:

29 November matinee

The play is very good, with plenty of funny lines and superb performances from everyone. Frances de la Tour was marvellous as the stage manager; getting laughs from terse repetitions of 'Go on!' to simply a look. She's fantastic in the play, if underused during the second act.

Richard Griffiths Auden/Fitz is the main role of the play and he's very good as a slightly irascible, forgetful Fitz and is just as good as the punctuality obsessed, forgetful Auden, who is inclined to pee in the basin.

Adrian Scarborough's Donald is a bit sensitive, a bit neurotic and makes an unforgettable second act entrance! His Humphrey Carpenter is a competent fellow, at first alarmed by Auden mistaking him for a rent boy, but then calming down to interview the poet.

Alex's Henry is a confident, proficient actor, with hints of a slightly seedy youth. He's occasionally exasperated by Fitz and like Frances de la Tour can get a laugh with just a sharp look, discontented sigh or reluctance to shake hands goodbye with a just returned from the lavatory Auden. His Britten is reserved and anxious. Britten's desire for Auden's appreciation of 'Death in Venice' is a bit childlike, but eloquent and passionate.

The balance of rehearsal room and play is perfect, we see enough of the rehearsal to engage with the actors and the learn about the play and then we see what would be the heart of 'Caliban's Day', the meeting between Auden and Britten. All the actors are equally fantastic and seem to relish their roles.

Penny



Alan Bennett's The Habit of Art is a frame-story, a play about rehearsing – and making -- a play. In it, then, Alex plays Henry, an actor who takes two parts in the rehearsal of the play-within-the-play, the major role of Benjamin Britten and the role of Auden's servant Mr Boyle. Of these three parts, none is entirely what he might seem to be.

Alex, of course, delineates each character beautifully – watch the way in which body language alone can convey a shift from Benjamin Britten to Henry – and Act II is in some ways his act. He's onstage all of Act I, but often wandering around the margins or simply watching from the side; that act belongs more to Richard Griffiths as the actor Fitz who plays W.H. Auden. The play is structured around the withholding of Henry and Britten, because the character(s) Alex plays reveal themselves behind their masks in Act II, but I confess I wanted him to have more to do earlier on!

It's an interesting, overstuffed play, full of wit and sharpness as well as a few melancholic touches. Frances de la Tour, Adrian Scarborough, and Richard Griffiths are wonderful in the piece. But Alex is a real anchor for the complications of the work – Henry and Benjamin Britten need an actor of his theatrical weight-- and he does a marvelous, perfectly pitched job.

Lori

To Be

The BBC have put a short clip of Alex performing the Hamlet soliloquy up on the Open University site: BBC OU

Riot at the Rite

Riot at the Rite, with Alex playing the part of Diaghilev, can be seen again on BBC 4 this Friday at 21.00. It is part of the Ballet Russes Season. More information on the BBC website at BBC Four

Thanks to Penny!

Miss Marple

"They Do It with Mirrors", the Miss Marple mystery starring Alex as Inspector Curry will be broadcast on ITV 1, on 1 January 2009.

Bringing Down the House

The BBC has provided more details of the film on the MPs expenses scandal that is currently being filmed. It is to be called "Bringing Down the House" and will be broadcast on BBC 4 early next year. Brian Cox will play Michael Martin, former speaker of the House of Commons. The play will be a single 60-minute drama.

More details on BBC News

MP's Expenses

In an interview with the Telegraph Tim Piggott-Smith mentions that he has just started working on a forthcoming BBC Four drama about the MPs’ expenses investigation. The piece reads:

"The cast includes Brian Cox, the Emmy award-winning Scottish actor, as the former Speaker Michael Martin, and Alex Jennings – best known for his role as Prince Charles in The Queen – as Andrew Walker, the man in charge of the House of Commons’ fees office, the unit that was supposed to scrutinise MPs’ expense claims."

No mention yet of broadcast dates.

Full interview

Cranford Dates

The Cranford Christmas special will be broadcast in two parts. The first one will be shown on Sunday 20 December on BBC 1 at 21.00-22.30, the second one a week later at the same time.

Being Alan Bennett

This Saturday evening, 5 December, BBC2 shows a documentary on Alan Bennett. From the description on the BBC website: "Given exclusive access to the key moments in his year, including final rehearsals of his new play, The Habit of Art, the programme gains unique insight into someone who can truly be described as a national treasure - a title Bennett would, no doubt, hate."

The programme will be shown at 21.30, and will be repeated on Thursday 10 December.

Full details and description:

BBC Website - Being Alan Bennett

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

This Sunday at 15.00 BBC Radio 4 will broadcast the first episode of John le Carré's George Smiley novel. Simon Russell Beale plays the title role, Alex plays Oliver Lacon. This is the first of three episodes.

The series is part of the "Series Catch-up Trial", which means all episodes will be available on BBC IPlayer after broadcast until 20 December.

Return to Cranford

The BBC has just announced a two-part Cranford Christmas special. The special was recorded earlier this year and will have old favourites taking part as well as new characters. Alex will be back in the role of the Reverend Hutton.

BBC Press Office

Observer Review

Susannah Clapp reviewed the Habit of Art in yesterday's Observer. About Alex she writes: "Alex Jennings is trim and buttoned-up as Britten; as the actor who plays the composer, he is lissome, arch and knowing. Both Griffiths and Jennings are terrific, though neither of them are particularly like the famous men they play: they are actors not impersonators."

Full review:
Observer

NT Live - "Habit of Art"

The date for the live broadcast to cinemas around the world has changed to 22 April 2010. More details about tickets on the NT Live Homepage.

More Reviews

Susan Elkin in The Stage has the following description of Alex: "It means several actors play two or three roles. Alex Jennings, for instance, gives us a conscientious, competent, nicely camp actor playing Britten with tortured vowel sounds and awkward, anxious body language, who relaxes only at the piano keyboard. The Jennings character also ‘reads’ for the all-knowing servant in Auden’s rooms, supported by de la Tour as Stage Manager, reading for a cleaner to good comic effect. There are some lovely moments, too, when the fictional playwright gets carried away with artistic pretensions and the cast try - and fail, of course - to make sensible drama of it."

Full review: The Stage


Henry Hitchings in London Evening Standard says: "Bennett frames the incident theatrically: we are backstage during rehearsals for a drama that deals with the two
men’s reunion. So, Richard Griffiths is crabby Fitz, an actor playing Auden. Alex Jennings with beautiful precision incarnates Britten through the actor who plays him, as well as playing an Oxford college servant unsettled by Auden’s personal habits, which include a taste for rent boys and an enthusiasm for pissing in the sink."

Full review: ThisisLondon

Reviews

The reviews are coming in for "The Habit of Art". There are mixed feelings about the play, though most reviewers have written favourable reviews. I give just the bits written specifically about Alex's performance, if you want the whole review, there is a link to the various papers.

Benedict Nightingale writes in The Times: "Does Jennings overplay Britten’s preciosity? Maybe, but he successfully comes across as defensive, insecure and envious of the rival composers he names with a staccato sneer. He’s primly unappetising while Griffiths’s Auden, despite such displays of coarseness as peeing in kitchen bowls, is warmer, more appealing — and, at the end, a bit lost and pathetic."

Full review: Times

Michael Billington in The Guardian: "A play that could easily seem tricksy is also given a superbly fluid production by Nicholas Hytner and is beautifully acted. Richard Griffiths bears no physical resemblance to Auden but he becomes a vivid metaphor for the poet. At the same time, Griffiths reminds us of the tetchy actor who is simply playing a role. Alex Jennings offers an equally potent echo of the angst-ridden Britten, spitting out the name of "Tippett" with calculated asperity.
Adrian Scarborough as Carpenter and Frances de la Tour as the stage manager are no less magnetic."

Full review: Guardian

Quentin Letts in the Mail Online calls Alex "nicely queeny".

Full review: Mail Online

Michael Coveney in Whats on Stage refers to Alex's Britten as "uptight, prissy and over-sensitive"

Full review: What's On Stage

Charles Spencer in the Telegraph: "Alex Jennings is superb, too, as the pained, prissily fastidious Britten and as a college scout grumbling about the squalor of Auden’s room, while Frances de la Tour, as the stage manager, and Adrian Scarborough, as the biographer Humphrey Carpenter, give performances of comic perfection."

Full review: Telegraph

The First Review

The first review of "The Habit of Art" has appeared, even while the play opens. The honour goes to the Independent. Paul Taylor has a very favourable review of the production and the actors. About Alex he says: "the inset drama is set in 1972 and stages an imaginary meeting, after a gap of twenty-five years, between Auden and his erstwhile collaborator, friend and psychological protégé, the composer Benjamin Britten. The latter is excellently portrayed in both his comic bassoon-up-the-bum inhibitedness and his tragically recessed self-repression by Alex Jennings who also plays his portrayer Henry, the kind of gay man that “trade” might call “a bit of neat”."

Full review: The Independent

More Praise for "Our Mutual Friend"

The Telegraph has a review of "Our Mutual Friend", written by Gillian Reynolds:

"Walker uses Dickens (played by Alex Jennings) as his narrator, stalking foggy streets, ears alert, eyes open for telling details of dress or manner. We follow him, let him show us the boat on the Thames, rowed by a girl, steered by her father. There’s a body in this boat. Whose is it? Why does it matter? Before the first 15-minute episode was out you knew. You could also tell it wasn’t going to be as simple as that."

Full review at: Telegraph

"Habit of Art" Pictures - More

Photographic press agency Rex has published a set of production pictures on: Rex

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Alex will appear in the radio adaptation of John Le Carré's George Smiley novel, with Simon Russell Beale playing Smiley. The adaptation is in three episodes, to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from Sunday 29 November, 3.00 to 4.00 pm.

For more details: BBC Press Office

Thanks to Penny!

"Habit of Art" Tickets

All performances this year and January 2010 are sold out, but "The Habit of Art" will continue in to February and March 2010. Booking for February and March dates will open as follows:

SUPPORTING CAST: Online booking opens on Fri 13 Nov
PRIORITY MEMBERS: Online booking opens on Sat 14 Nov
ADVANCE MEMBERS: Online booking opens on Fri 20 Nov
GENERAL PUBLIC: Online booking opens on Wed 2 Dec

From the National Theatre Website

"Habit of Art" Pictures

The Playbill website has published a gallery of 13 pictures from the new play. They are at:Playbill

Series Catch-up Trial BBC Radio 4

The BBC are running a Series Catch-up Trial. This means that all episodes of "Our Mutual Friend" will be available on the iPlayer until one week after the end of the full serial, that is 11 December 2009. So for the patient, they can listen to all episodes in one go from 4 December on!

"Our Mutual Friend" Review

The Independent has a review of the new Dickens serial, written by Jane Thynne:

"If there's one realm in which television is supposedly pre-eminent, it's costume drama, and of all costume dramas, it's Dickens. So how could Dickens on radio, without bonnets and lamplight and all the glories of the BBC prop department possibly compete? The answer is magnificently. Woman's Hour's adaptation of Our Mutual Friend is like Christmas come early. Its timely theme is money and its power to corrupt. Old Harmon, a misanthropic miser who made his money from London's rubbish tips, has left a fortune to his estranged son, on condition that he marries a woman he has never met, Bella Wilfer. Yet at the start of the story a body pulled from the Thames is identified as that of the Harmon heir.

No one was more alert than Dickens to the importance of vivid dramatisation. In Our Mutual Friend, Sloppy is commended when reading out the paper because "he do the Police in different voices" whereas Silas Wegg reads "in a dry, unflinching way". Assisted by fabulously atmospheric music from Roger Goula, Jeremy Mortimer's production luxuriates in Dickens's language and the actors, including Pauline Quirke as Mrs Boffin, Alex Jennings as Dickens and Daisy Haggard as Bella, plainly relish their scripts. Our Mutual Friend was Dickens's last finished work and when it came out contemporary critics complained about the complexity of the plot, but judging by the first three of 20 episodes, Mike Walker's adaptation has overcome this problem. Even if you can't make a date with Woman's Hour, it's well worth catching the 7.45pm repeat."

The original review

That Elusive Alfonso Bonzo

The final episode of this children's series, with Alex playing exchange student Alfonso, has turned up on YouTube in three parts. The first one is at the following link, from there you can find the next two!

Alfonso Bonzo on YouTube

Brilliantly Cool

The Guardian's Elizabeth Mahoney has a few lines on "Our Mutual Friend":

"It's good that the weather has turned properly chilly in time for Our Mutual Friend in the Woman's Hour Drama slot (Radio 4). A month-long treat just right for winter, this adaptation is stylish and gripping from the start and Alex Jennings is brilliantly cool as Dickens. "Let's throw a stone into this pool," he says, observing his characters and relishing the ripples to follow. Almost every character and event is greeted with strong drink, with hot gin the favoured tipple when there's a nip in the air."

The Guardian Radio Review

Thanks to Jen!

Our Mutual Friend Blog

The new instalment of the Radio 4 Blog for "Our Mutual Friend" has an entry on Alex:

"15 May. Alex Jennings. So completely at ease with Dickens, Mike's writing, the microphone. He's a joy. He's disappointed to have been such an outsider to the process, having called in to studio the day before and 'felt the love', but we can tell how crucial his voice and his interest will be to the pieces as a whole."

The whole blog is at: BBC Radio 4 Blog

Thanks to Lori

Our Mutual Friend broadcast dates

Broadcasting of the new Dickens adaptation "Our Mutual Friend" will start on BBC Radio 4 on 9 November. The broadcasts will be part of Woman's Hour and will be at 11.45 a.m. They will be available for a week after broadcast on the BBC IPlayer.


See: BBC Press Office

Our Mutual Friend

Alex has been playing the part of Dickens in a radio adaptation of Our Mutual Friend for BBC Radio 4. The BBC has created a blog for the series, which contains a short film (available only in the UK), and some nice pictures of the members of the cast. More instalments of the weblog should be added in the near future.

See: BBC Radio 4 blog

The Habit of Art

Michael Gambon has withdrawn from "The Habit of Art" due to health reasons. The play will open on the date already announced, the part of Auden will now be played by Richard Griffiths.

For the official announcement see: National Theatre

Roald Dahl Day

To celebrate the fourth annual Roald Dahl Day, his principal illustrator Quentin Blake once again draws live on stage, and is joined by actors Frances de la Tour, Alex Jennings and Adrian Scarborough, who read from Dahl’s wonderful work. The event will take place on Saturday 3 October at 10.30 a.m. at the National Theatre, and will last about an hour. The Platform is followed by a booksigning. Tickets cost £3.50 / £2.50 (concessions)

For more information and tickets: National Theatre

Silas Marner

Alex appeared in the BBC Radio 7 adaptation of George Eliot's novel, which was broadcast yesterday and today. Can be heard for seven days after original broadcast on the BBC IPlayer!

Thanks again to Penny!

Lehman Brothers

Some images from "The Last Days of Lehman Brothers", broadcast on BBC2 last Wednesday 9 September.

Erskine May

Alex stars in "Erskine May" on BBC Radio 7 this week. The play will be broadcast Thursday 17 May at 11.15am, 9.15pm and 2.15am. It can be heard for a week after initial broadcast on BBC Iplayer.

"Unhappy with its design, a man blows up the Palace of Westminster. An assistant librarian is called upon to help rebuild it in time for Queen Victoria to open. Written by Dan Rebatello and starring Alex Jennings, Roger Sloman, Ewan Hooper, Amanda Root and Lucy Robinson. Directed by Polly Thomas it was first heard in 2000.

Lehman Brothers

"The Last Days of the Lehman Brothers" can be seen on BBC2 this Wednesday evening, 9September, at 9 p.m. UK time. Alex plays Timothy Geithner, then New York Fed president, now U.S. Treasury secretary. Other cast members are James Bolam, James Cromwell and Ben Daniels.

BBC2 Feature Lehman Brothers

Lehmann Brothers

The BBC have announced a new drama for the autumn called "The Last Days Of Lehman Brothers" about the collapse of Lehmann Brothers. Alex is mentioned as a member of the cast, and the one hour drama will be transmitted some time in the autumn on BBC Two.

Thanks again to Penny!

NT Platform in December

The National Theatre announced the NT Platform "In conversation with Alex Jennings" today: "Alex Jennings, company member in The Habit of Art, chats informally about his career and answers your questions."

The platform will be chaired by Al Senter, will take place on 8 December 2009 at 3 p.m and will last about an hour.

For tickets see: NT Platforms

Dates for "The Habit of Art"

The National Theatre has announced dates for "The Habit of Art". Previews start november 5, dates for November, December and January are up on the website.

The NT live broadcast to cinemas around the world is now set for 22 April 2010.

See National Theatre

The Guardian has the best announcement so far:

"Two of Britain's greatest living stage actors, Michael Gambon and Alex Jennings, will take the lead roles this autumn in Alan Bennett's new play The Habit of Art, the National Theatre announced today.

Gambon returns to the National for the first time in four years and will play the poet WH Auden in an imagined meeting with his former artistic collaborator Benjamin Britten, to be played by Jennings.

The words "much-anticipated" are artistic cliches, but in Bennett's case they ring true. There is genuine excitement about his new play – his first since The History Boys became such a global success, on stage and screen, in 2004.

The National today said The Habit of Art would be "as much about the theatre as it is about poetry or music", and that it will look at "the unsettling desires of two difficult men, and at the ethics of biography". Directed by Nicholas Hytner will be a cast including Frances de la Tour, Adrian Scarborough, John Heffernan, Stephen Wight and Elliot Levey."

For full article see: Guardian

Poetry!

Alex was one of the readers on Words and Music on BBC Radio 3 last Sunday. Tamsin Greig is the other reader. They read a selection of poems recommended by BBC Radio 3 presenters. The programme includes work by Gerard Manley Hopkins, Keats, WH Auden, Emily Dickinson, Edna St Vincent Millay and Maya Angelou, and music by Bach, Shostakovich, Nina Simone, Schubert, Martinu and Yasmin Levy.

The episode is available on the iPlayer until next Sunday on: Words and Music

Thanks to Penny!

Mirrors

The PBS Masterpiece website has the new Miss Marple "They Do It With Mirrors" available for viewers in the US until 2 August. Alex plays the part of Inspector Curry.

The website: PBS

The Top of the World

Next Friday Alex appears again on BBC Radio 7 in the radio play "From The House At The Top of the World". It is about a major Buddhist artefact discovered along the legendary Silk Road. A German archaeologist becomes involved in an attempt to steal it. Written by Ray Jenkins, it also stars Siobhan Redmond, Sean Baker and David Tse, and is directed by Janet Whitaker. The play was first heard in 1999.
Friday at 11.15am, 9.15pm and 2.15am

Odysseus on an Iceberg

A very early radio outing for Alex in 'Odysseus on an Iceberg'. It was repeated on radio 7 earlier this week and can be hear on the iplayer until Sunday afternoon: BBC Iplayer

Thanks to Penny!

Casino Royale

Alex reads "Casino Royale" on BBC Radio 7 all this week. You can listen live at 20.30 every night, or listen again at: BBC Radio 7

Thanks to Jennifer!

Through a Glass Darkly

Penny found an image of the reading in Stockholm:

A Tale Told by Moonlight

Alex read this story by Leonard Woolf for Radio 3 last Friday. It is available through the BBC Iplayer for a week through BBC Radio 3.

Thanks to Penny!

Electric Ink

Alex will be appearing in a new BBC Radio 4 comedy called "Electric Ink". This will be a six-part series starting on Friday 5 June.

The BBC Press Office provides the following information:

"Robert Lindsay stars as old-school hack Maddox Bradley, in this satire set in the world of journalism.

Finding himself lost in the ever-changing world of newspapers, Maddox struggles to keep up with new technology and marketing techniques. He feels the art of getting out there and finding stories is being forgotten and he is not about to let that happen. So he intends to remind his colleagues that journalists are meant to ask difficult questions and report proper news – and turns his nose up at soft-sell celebrity interviews, rehashed PR stories and the lifestyle questionnaire.

Written by well-known satirist Alistair Beaton and comic writer and journalist Tom Mitchelson, the cast also features Alex Jennings as the Editor, Elizabeth Berrington as the News Editor, Ben Willbond as Head of Online, Zita Sattar as Marketing Director and Debbie Chazen as Head of Moderation."

Thanks, once again, to Penny!

Scarlet on Black

Alex's weekly appearance on BBC radio this time is in "Scarlet on Black" on BBC Radio 7. From the announcement:

"In Roger Danes' fast-moving thriller, set in Paris, there is a link between the kidnap of Yvette Lalande and events in Algeria thirty years ago. 'Someone in authority' has good reason to hamper Commissaire Grosset's investigations. With David Calder, Peter Jeffrey and Alex Jennings."

It will be broadcast on Saturday 23 May at 1pm and 1am

At a Cinema Near You?

The National Theatre has created the NT Live scheme, broadcasting selected live performances to cinemas around the world. The first production to be broadcast will be "Phèdre" starring Helen Mirren this June. Next year the NT intend to broadcast Alan Bennett’s latest play The Habit of Art, which stars Alex, Michael Gambon, and Frances de la Tour

For more details and a list of cinemas in the UK and abroad taking part in the scheme see: NT Live

For more details on the story also see: Whatsonstage

Bergman Festival

For any Alex fans in Sweden: Alex will appear at the Bergman Festival in Stockholm later this month.

The announcement by the festival reads:

"A reading from The Almeida Theatre of a stage adaptation of Bergman’s film Through A Glass Darkly. Performed, script in hand, by four British actors, this new adaptation by Andrew Upton is currently being developed by director Michael Attenborough and Dramaturg Jenny Worton, with a view to a full production at the Almeida Theatre in London in 2010.

The film Through A Glass Darkly from 1962 was both written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The film is often referred to as a “chamber film” because it features only four characters, takes place in a mere 24-hour period and entirely on an island."

The readings will take place on May 28 at 6.00 pm & May 29 at 8.00 pm on the Small Stage, Dramaten, Stockholm.


For more information check the festival's official website at Bergmanfestival

Happy Birthday!

to Alex on his 52nd birthday!

Royal Again

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 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

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

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.

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.

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

BBC Radio 7 This Week

A lot of Alex on BBC Radio 7 again this week:

Without The Option 1/2
P G Wodehouse's delighfully scatty Bertie Wooster causes chaos when he persuades his friend Sippy to 'nab a policeman's helmet'. As usual, Jeeves is on hand to resolve the situation. This Radio 7 commission is unabridged and read in two parts by Alex Jennings, It was produced by Katherine Beacon.
Friday at 5pm


Speaking For Themselves - 1-5 of 10
An insight into the lives and personalities of Winston Churchill and his beloved wife, Clementine - as revealed in their letters. Starring Alex Jennings and Sylvestra Le Touzel, narrated by Helen Bourne, directed by Di Speirs and first broadcast in 1999.

Monday to Friday at 10am, 9pm and 2am

Stream, River, Sea

Alex will appear in the afternoon Play "Stream, River, Sea" on Friday 27 March,
2.15-3.00pm, on BBC RADIO 4. It is a play about the aftermath of bereavement. Juliet Stevenson also stars.

See: BBC website

Thanks, again, to Penny!

An Actor for All Seasons

Alex will be compere at a celebration of the life and work of the actor Paul Scofield, which will be held on the first anniversary of his death.

Other contributors are Eileen Atkins, Claire Bloom, Anna Calder- Marshall, Ralph Fiennes, Robert Hardy, John Harrison, John Hurt, Nicholas Hytner, Michael Pennington, Diana Rigg, Donald Sinden and John Tydeman. The tribute is directed by Gregory Doran.

Tickets are free but must be obtained in advance, in person or by telephone, from the National Theatre box office: 0207 452 3000 .

See: National Theatre

Thanks to Penny!

Big Thank You...

to Penny for blogsitting the diaries over the past three months while I was skiving off again way down south.....

Victoria and Albert

Alex will appear on BBC Radio 4 Front Row this Tuesday 17 March, 7.15-7.45pm
With producer Nica Burns he will visit the new theatre and performance gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Thanks to Jen!

Cry Babies - Radio 4

Alex plays Dr Rossiter in Kim Newman's Cry Babies, on Monday 9th of March at 2.15pm on Radio 4.

Cry Babies

By Kim Newman

It's the near future and busy, successful couple Angela and Barty Flitcroft want a child, but do not have the time to look after it. The solution is a genetically-enhanced daughter, Joy, birthed by a surrogate mother and reared to adulthood in a cryogenic chamber.

Joy experiences brief moments 'out of the machine', and as time passes each opening brings shocks and surprises as her parents and their society undergo incredible changes. And for Joy, stuffed with education by the machine but denied everyday experiences, life is not just a strange new country, but a frightening, confusing and often funny one, too.

Dr Rossiter ...... Alex Jennings
Angela Flitcroft ...... Natasha Little
Barty Flitcroft ...... Rupert Degas
Joy ...... Sia Berkeley
Roger ...... Colin Morgan
SleepLearn Machine ...... Sarah Douglas
Aruna ...... Emma Darwall-Smith
Jeff ...... Sam Alexander
Daisy ...... Kirsty Stuart
Ari ...... Rob Kendrick
Nurse Marketa/Girl ...... Emma Handy

Director Neil Gardner.

Edit: The play is available to listen again here until March 16th.

BBC Radio Sci Fi Season

There are more details of the BBC Radio Sci Fi season in this weeks RadioTimes and an eyecatching article promoting it.


The full article in two parts is here and here. I also missed this recent NT Platform, sorry.

Whitechapel - Episode 3

Even less of Alex in this final episode than the last one and then only looking very serious. Screengrabs below.



The final episode is available to watch on the ITV website here.

Erskine May

This play was broadcast on Wednesday on BBC Radio 7 and you can still catch it on iPlayer for the next four days here. Alex plays Thomas Erskine May.

With the Palace of Westminster blown up, can an assistant librarian rebuild it for Queen Victoria to open? Written by Dan Rebellato.

Whitechapel - Episode 2

Only fleeting glimpses of Alex in episode two. Screengrabs below.



The second episode is available to view here for 33 days. A preview of episode three is online here.

Whitechapel - Episode Two Preview

ITV have a preview synopsis and clip of episode two on their website and it is worth a look.

Whitechapel - Episode 1

The first episode of Whitechapel was entertaining enough, if somewhat gory. Not a lot of Alex: the clip that I posted yesterday had pretty much all of his appearance in it, with a tiny part a little later on. A few screengrabs below.



Episode one is available on the ITV player for the next 29 days.

Whitechapel - Clip

As I'm snowed in today and have had time to peruse the wonders of the internet, I found a short clip of Whitechapel nestling at the top of an interview with Rupert Penry-Jones from the The Telegraph. No mention of Alex in the interview, but the video clip is more fruitful and can be found here.

Critics' Circle Awards

Alex attended the Critics' Circle Awards yesterday, and here he is with winner of the Best Actress Award, Margaret Tyzack.


More pictures are available at Whatsonstage.

Whitechapel

Whitechapel will be broadcast on ITV at 9pm from the 2nd of February for three weeks. Alex plays Commander Anderson.

"A series of bloody, tragic and impossible crimes suggest someone is carrying out copycat Jack the Ripper murders 120 years after the killer first struck..." So not one for the faint hearted then.

There are more details on the ITV minisite for the programme. The press release with details of the first two episodes can be found here.

Cry Babies

In the first post of the New Year, The Stage newspaper announces BBC radio's SciFi season and that Alex will be playing the part of Dr. Rossiter (a cryogenics expert) in a play by Kim Newman, called Cry Babies. There's no news on the date of transmission or which radio station will be airing it.

Full article can be found here.

The Thirty-Nine Steps - Pictures

The adaptation of "The Thirty-Nine Steps" was broadcast last night on BBC One. It wasn't a patch on the 1935 Hitchcock film, but nevertheless a perfectly entertaining 90 minutes on a Sunday evening.

Captain Kell is the head of the Secret Service Bureau, an organisation that is contactable via the operator apparently! A few screen grabs:


Alex doesn't feature in this too much; my best advice would be not to blink!

The film is available here on the iPlayer until the 4th of January.

Amusing Chatter in the Cocktail Party

The rehearsed reading of T.S. Eliot's "The Cocktail Party" was reviewed by Nicholas De Jongh in the Evening Standard:

"Adultery, favourite pastime in plays of the period, rears an indiscreet head when Alex Jennings’s Edward, absolutely superb in his shuttered anguish, after romancing Rosamund Pike’s Celia, and Chancellor’s Lavinia own up to sexual dallying. The play shifts with mesmerising stealth into terrain of suffering and death."

Full story: Evening Standard.

The Old Curiosity Shop

BBC Radio 7 are repeating the 25 part, 15 minute full-cast adapation, with Alex narrating, of "The Old Curiosity Shop" from the 29th of December at 10am every weekday morning, with an omnibus on Sunday mornings at 8am.

The Cocktail Party

There is to be a rehearsed reading of T.S. Eliot's "The Cocktail Party" at the Donmar on December 17th, as part of it's T.S. Eliot festival.

Alex will participate along with: Rosamund Pike, Anna Chancellor, Charlie Cox, Rosalie Craig, Nicky Henson, Paul Phys and Una Stubbs. Jamie Lloyd is directing. Tickets cost £10.

How To Be An Internee With No Previous Experience

Another week, another Afternoon Play; this time in the second of a two play PG Wodehouse special, Alex will play Malcolm Muggeridge. It will be broadcast on Tuesday, 16th December on Radio 4.

How To Be An Internee With No Previous Experience

By Colin Shindler

In 1944, Wodehouse was questioned by MI5 after broadcasting to America from a German internment camp. One of the interrogators was an up-and-coming journalist called Malcolm Muggeridge. The other was Major EJP Cussen, who later became a high court judge. The stakes were high: one of Britain’s best loved authors was facing the possibility of the death penalty.

Wodehouse .....Tim McInnerny
Muggeridge ...... Alex Jennings
Cussen ..... Anton Lesser
Connor ..... Stephen Critchlow
Flannery ..... Gunnar Cauthery

Producer/director Peter Leslie Wild.

It will be available on the BBC iPlayer until Tuesday, 23rd December.

The People's Princess

The afternoon play on Thursday 11th December on Radio 4, stars Alex as an earlier Prince of Wales, George the IV.

The People's Princess

By Shelagh Stephenson

Facing financial ruin George, Prince of Wales is obliged to marry his first cousin - Princess Caroline of Brunswick. But if he had been expecting a docile partner with whom he could maintain appearances, George has seriously underestimated his wife-to-be.

George IV ...... Alex Jennings,
Caroline of Brunswick ...... Rebecca Saire
Henry Brougham ...... Julian Rhind Tutt
Lord Sidmouth ...... Chris McHallem
Lord Liverpool ...... Richard Howard
Sir Robert Gifford ...... Mark Lambert
Lady Jersey ...... Jill Cardo
Mr Majoucci ...... Nial Cusack

Director Eoin O’Callaghan.

Available on the BBC iPlayer until Thursday 18th December.

Captain Kell

Alex will play a character called Captain Kell in the BBC's adaptation of "The 39 Steps". The episode is set to air on Sunday the 28th of December at 8pm.

For more information please see the BBC Presspack article.

Exmouth Community College

Alex will be at Exmouth Community College talking to the students of Filmclub. on Wednesday, December 3 between 2pm and 4pm to talk to its members about his role as Prince Charles in feature film The Queen.

See FilmClub.

Evening Standard Awards

Alex attended the Evening Standard Awards at the Royal Opera House today. Here he is with Kenneth Cranham. More pictures of the event at Whatsonstage

Cambridge Charity

Alex will be appearing in Cambridge on 10 December in a charity event to raise money for the Vet School's Hope Appeal. Tickets are £20 each and the evening starts at 6.30 pm.

The evening is described as follows:

“Hosted by Julia McKenzie (the new Miss Marple) and featuring Brian Kay, Alex Jennings, The Classic Buskers and the A-Cappella Company, this evening will be jolly, friendly and a nice event for a local good cause. Join us for a wonderful evening - singing and enjoying the music, readings and refreshments - to raise funds for The HOPE Appeal for Cambridge Veterinary School’s Cancer Therapy Unit,” says Meredith Lloyd-Evans, a Hope Appeal Trustee and local businessman.

Suitable for company outings, families and anyone who would like to have a good time and raise money at the same time!"

For more information check: Cambridge Network

Silent Planet

Alex will be reading C.S. Lewis sci-fi thriller "Out of the Silent Planet" on BBC Radio 7 starting Monday 24 November. There are 12 episodes. BBC Radio 7

My Year Off

The afternoon play last Thursday has Alex playing one of the characters:

My Year Off

By Robert McCrum

At the age of 42, Robert McCrum, the chief editor of Faber and Faber suffered a devastating stroke. This is a searingly honest account of his experience which includes extracts from his diary and that of his wife Sarah.

Robert McCrum ...... Alex Jennings
Sarah Lyall ...... Madeleine Potter
Doctor/Dentist/
Occupational Therapist ...... Richard Laing
Paramedic/Speech Therapist/Physiotherapist……Rachel Atkins

Sound design by David Thomas; producer Karen Rose.

You can listen on the BBC iPlayer until Wednesday!

iPlayer

Thanks to Penny!

Bond, James Bond

Next Monday Alex will start reading "Casino Royal" on BBC Radio 7 in five daily episodes.

Check: BBC Radio 7 for details.

Drama Queens Pictures

The Joseph Fiennes web has some pictures of the actors on stage with their characters at the Old Vic:

Joseph Fiennes Web

Swearing and Grumbling?

Just a couple of details of Alex's performance at:
Artinfo

Solid Granite

Louise Jury at the Evening Standard has reviewed Alex's performance as solid granite block:

"Bravo to the Old Vic for presenting one of the most weird and wonderful British premieres I've seen in quite some time.

Drama Queens, the brainchild of German artists Elmgreen and Dragset, presented five remote-controlled sculptures on stage with the actors providing a live voiceover from the sidelines.

Joseph Fiennes played an abstract, angular sculpture by Sol Lewitt flirting monstrously with a Barbara Hepworth sculpture played by Lesley Manville.

Spacey himself gave voice to an infuriatingly chatty silver rabbit based on the famous work by the American Jeff Koons. Jeremy Irons played Giacometti's tall thin walking man while Alex Jennings voiced a solid granite oh-so-Germanic untitled block inspired by the German artist Ulrick Ruckriem. [u umlaut]"

Full story at: Evening Standard

Sherlock Holmes

And there is more Alex on BBC Radio 7 this week. On Wednesday at 10.15 a.m. they will broadcast an episode from the Sherlock Holmes recordings, recorded in July 1993, called "The Dying Detective". Alex plays Savage. As usual, the show. can be listened to for a week after initial broadcast.

BBC Radio 7

Drama Queens

Alex is due to "appear" in a production of "Drama Queens" at the Old Vic on 12 October. This is a Gala event to raise money for The Old Vic Theatre Trust Creative Development Programme.

For more information see: Old Vic Theatre

Sentimental Education

Well, there's more Alex on BBC Radio over the next couple of weeks. He is reading the book at bedtime, Sentimental Education, by Gustave Flaubert. Readings are availabe for seven days after the original broadcast. The first episode was broadcast on 6 October.

Book at Bedtime

Thanks to Penny!

Miss Marple, Murder and Mirrors

Alex plays Inspector Curry in an episode of the Miss Marple mysteries. The episode is called "They Do It With Mirrors", Julia McKenzie plays Miss Marple, Joan Collins, Tom Payne and Penelope Wilton also appear. The episode is due to be broadcast in 2009 on ITV1.

39 Steps

Filming has started in Scotland on a new adaptation of John Buchan's "The 39 Steps". The IMDb has Alex in the cast list, but doesn't say which part he plays. The film is due to be broadcast by the BBC on Boxing Day this year.

Thanks to Lori!

Irish RM

On Sunday 5 October from 3.00 to 4.00 pm Alex can be heard in the classic serial "The Experiences of an Irish RM". The BBC gives the following description:

"When the affable, if somewhat foolish, Major Sinclair Yeates leaves the British Army and opts to become a Resident Magistrate in turn-of-the-century Ireland, he has no idea what adventures await him. As he tries to get on with his job, he finds the locals are out-thinking and out-manoeuvring him every step of the way. He plods on, trying his very best to do his job, but finds himself frustrated by a people whose every waking moment seems dedicated to thwarting the poor man.

The Experiences Of An Irish RM stars Alex Jennings as The Irish RM and Mark Lambert as Flurry Knox. Other cast members include Marion O'Dwyer, Cathy Belton, John Hewitt, Ingrid Craigie and Miche Doherty. The Experiences Of An Irish RM was dramatised by Christopher Fitz-Simon."

Radio 4

Thanks Penny!

Candide

This Saturday BBC Radio 3 will broadcast a recording of ENO's "Candide" with Alex playing the roles of Voltaire, dr. Pangloss and Martin. The BBC press release gives the following information:

"From the opening bars of the overture, the scintillating score and succession of brilliant and witty numbers, Leonard Bernstein's Candide is an enthralling, breathtaking, roller-coaster of a piece. With its affectionate parodies of operatic conventions and forms, it was a personal favourite of Bernstein's and, from its 1956 première, he tinkered with it, on and off, for three decades.

Candide is based on Voltaire's savage satire on 18th-century institutions and manners, whose ridiculously optimistic dictum "All's for the best in the best of all possible worlds" is relentlessly disproved by an unending sequence of misfortunes and disasters, death and destruction.

In this controversial production, recorded at the English National Opera in July, director Robert Carsen triumphantly updates the often surreal action from 18th-century Europe to Fifties America, and beyond, revealing the dystopian reality of the American Dream. Westphalia becomes West-Failure; the Spanish Inquisition is transformed into Senator Joe McCarthy and the Ku Klux Klan; Venice is Vegas; Eldorado, Texas. And, in a move that nearly caused the cancellation of the show in Milan, Voltaire's five deposed kings become Blair, Chirac, Bush, Putin and Berlusconi.

The acclaimed cast comes from the worlds of musical theatre and opera: the multi-talented Alex Jennings plays Voltaire, Pangloss and Martin; Beverly Klein is the Old Lady; Soprano Marnie Breckenridge is a sparkling Cunegonde; and the title role is taken by leading British tenor Toby Spence. Rumon Gamba conducts them and the Chorus and Orchestra of English National Opera."


Opera On 3 – Candide
Saturday 4 October
6.00-9.30pm BBC RADIO 3

Radio 3 - Candide

Thanks again to Penny!

Wodehouse, Second Part

This Friday Alex will be reading the second part of "Without the Option" by P.G. Wodehouse. The programme can be heard on BBC7 from 17.00 to 17.30, and for seven days after the original broadcast through the Listen Again service. Part one is still available there, until Friday.

BBC7

Jeeves - Without the Option

This Friday Alex will be reading part one of one of P.G. Wodehouses stories, "Without the Option" on BBC Radio 7. The reading will be broadcast at 5 pm and 6.30 am. The story can be heard for a week after the original broadcast through the Listen Again option.

Listen at: BBC7

Frightfest

Alex's latest film, "The Disappeared", will be shown at the Frightfest Film Festival in London on 25 August at 3.40 p.m. The festival takes place at the Odeon West End.

For more information see the Frightfest website.

There is a picture gallery at the film's website now, which has some pictures of Alex. See: Disappeared Picture Gallery.

Return of Ashenden

Alex is back reading Ashenden, Gentleman Spy on BBC7: Alex Jennings reads Somerset Maugham's series of short stories, based on his own experiences during the First World War and featuring Ashenden, recruited by the British Secret Service as a spy. Abridged by Neville Teller the producer was Eoin O'Callaghan and it was an original BBC 7 commission.

Monday to Friday at 9.30am 8.30pm and 1.30am

Saturday Review

BBC Radio 4's Saturday Review has an item on Candide. It was mentioned that BBC Radio 3 will broadcast a recording of the production in the autumn!

The review can be heard until 4 July on Radio 4.

More Candide

MusicalCriticism.com has a good review of Candide and seems happy with Alex: "Thank goodness for the sensational, suave Alex Jennings: he's perhaps the only person completely at home and relaxed with the material, which is miraculous given the challenge of the triple role he plays. As Voltaire, he draws the audience in with his ironic declamations; as Pangloss, he plays the bogus teacher to a tee; and his portrayal of Martin's deep cynicism is one of the most touching moments of the evening. His singing and diction are just right for the piece, and, in a way, it's worth going just to see him."

They also have the first picture!


Full review: Musical Criticism

More mixed feelings about the production from Edward Seckerson in The Independent, but again only praise for Alex: "It was Bernstein and Hellman’s idea that Candide’s tutor, the philosopher Dr. Pangloss, should, as a re-embodiment of Voltaire, become our master of ceremonies. Subsequent rewrites have made this more explicit and here we have the brilliant Alex Jennings slipping nonchalantly between the two – not to mention Pangloss’s alter ego, the cynic Martin, whose belief in “the worst of all possible worlds” achieves greater resonance in this production with his bitter laughing song “Words, Words, Words”. Jennings nails that."

Full review: The Independent

First Candide Reviews

The first reviews are in. Richard Morrison in the Times on line isn't happy about the production but puts brilliant and Alex Jennings in the same phrase: "a smartypants Rumsfeld-like Doctor Pangloss (the brilliant Alex Jennings, who is also Voltaire, a cynical dustman, and the night’s chief redeeming feature)".

Full review: Timesonline

Fiona Maddocks on Thisislondon.co.uk has mixed feelings about the production, but "We're tuned to Volt-Air TV with the French Enlightenment philosopher himself as the channel-flicking narrator - played superbly by Alex Jennings who, doubling as the perfectly flossed optimist Pangloss and the old tramp-pessimist Martin, stole the show."

Full review:This is London

Rupert Christiansen in the Telegraph calls Alex's performance "deliciously wry".

Full review: Telegraph

More From Toby Spence

Toby Spence has more to say about Alex in a preview in the Independent:

"In this production the actor Alex Jennings will play Pangloss. Can he sing? "Yes – he did My Fair Lady – but when you ask me a question like that, I have to ask you, what is singing?" OK, what is singing? "It's projecting words through music. Which is why actors often make fantastic singers." But has he a voice? "It's quite annoying – he can't read music, but he sings on pitch, and he's got a good ear. He's a really good Pangloss.""

The Independent

Toby Spence on Candide and Alex

The Times Online has an interview with Toby Spence on his part as Candide. He mentions Alex and the difference between actors and opera singers:

"Spence obviously can't wait. He thrives on Carsen's brand of aggressive theatricality, and is keen to work with stage actors (Alex Jennings plays Pangloss). “Every day I see him adding something, or taking something out. Whereas we opera singers arrive having made a lot of decisions, he's putty, and that's fascinating for me.”"

For the full interview see: Times Online

Candide Goodies

English National Opera has published more information on Candide on their website.

There is a short trailer on their weblog, which does not feature Alex but has information on the production. This is the first instalment. You can find it at English National Opera's Weblog.

Then there is a podcast with director Robert Carsen, conductor Rumon Gamba, Jamie Bernstein, Alex and Toby Spence discussing Candide. You can download it from: ENO podcasts.

Scarlet on Black

Alex is back on BBC Radio 7 this week, in Roger Danes' fast-moving thriller, "Scarlet on Black", set in Paris. David Calder stars as Commissaire Grosset, and the cast also features Peter Jeffrey and Jonathan Tafler. This production was fist heard in 1992. Saturday 31 May at midday and 1am on BBC7.

51

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Midwich Cuckoos

Alex's weekly appearance on BBC7 Radio will this week be on John Wyndham's sci-fi classic "Midwich Cuckoos". It was first broadcast on The World Service in 1982. It is about a mysterious force-field which descends upon a sleepy English rural village, but then vanishes. Later it emerges that all the female villagers have become pregnant and the resulting children appear to have strange powers.

This also stars Charles Kay, Pauline Yates, William Gaunt, Rosalind Adams, Ronald Baddiley and Peter Tuddenham. Wednesday – Friday at 6pm and Midnight, with a chance to "listen again" for 7 days after the original broadcast.

The Week on BBC Radio 7

A few chances to catch Alex again on BBC 7 this week.

First, on Saturday he can be heard in "Small Gods", which is part of the mini-season celebrating Terry Pratchett’s 60th birthday. Small Gods is dramatised in 4 parts by Robin Brooks and the cast features Anton Lesser, Patrick Barlow, Carl Prekopp, Alex and Michael Kilgarriff. It will be broadcast on Saturday at 6.30pm and 00.30am

Then, he can be heard in "Stolen" by Ray Jenkins. The short play is about a German archaeologist who gets involved in a race to steal Buddhist treasures from ancient lost towns along the Silk Road. With Siobhan Redmond, Sean Baker and David Tse, it was directed by Janet Whitaker and first heard in 1999. The programme will be broadcast on Monday at 10.15am, 9.15pm and 2.15am

As usual the programmes can be heard for seven days after the original broadcast on the "Listen Again" page at
BBC7.

Torture Team

On May 18 Alex will appear at the Tricycle Theatre in London in TORTURE TEAM: the people who brought cruelty and criminality to Guantanamo. Vanessa Redgrave, Philippe Sands, Joanna Lumley, Bill Hoyland, Clive Stafford-Smith and Paul Bhattarchargee will also appear. Proceeds from the event, which has been devised by Redgrave,Sands, and Nicholas Kent, will benefit the Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture and Reprieve.

For more information see the Tricycle Theatre.

The Disappeared Website

Alex appears in a film called "The Disappeared". The website for the film is at: The Disappeared.

Apart from some background information you can see the trailer for the film there. The film is due to be released later this year.

Book at Bedtime

Alex is one of the readers of the Book At Bedtime from Monday 28 April to Friday 9 May from 10.45-11.00 pm on BBC RADIO 4. The book is The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry. The BBC press release gives the following information:

"As she nears her 100th birthday, Roseanne McNulty faces an uncertain future, the Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital, where she has spent the best part of her adult life, is soon to close. In the weeks leading up to this upheaval, Roseanne talks with her psychiatrist, Dr Grene, and their relationship intensifies and becomes increasingly complicated.

The story is told through Roseanne and Dr Grene's fictional journals, and it is at once both shocking and deeply beautiful. Refracted through a haze of memory and retelling, Roseanne's story becomes an alternative, secret history of Ireland's changing character and the story of a life blighted by terrible mistreatment and ignorance, and yet marked still by love, passion and hope.

Roseanne's journal is read by Doreen Keogh and Dr Grene's by Alex Jennings."

A Dance to the Music of Time

Alex is appearing in the BBC Radio 4's classic serial "A Dance to the Music of Time", the first episode was broadcast on 6 April. You can listen to each episode for seven days after the original broadcast. To listen to the latest episode go to the Classic Serial webpage.

Thanks to Penny for all the radio news!

Archers

Alex appeared on the Archers all of last week, playing a barrister in the trial. The trial isn't over yet, so he might appear again this week. Last week's episodes can be downloaded as podcasts from the BBC Archers webpage.

Hancock and Joan - The Reviews

Robert Hanks in the Independent was not impressed by the play but he was impressed by Alex's performance: "Ken Stott and Alex Jennings played Hancock and Le Mesurier, neither of them looking remotely the part, but both managing at times to evoke them quite beautifully. I especially liked Jennings's impression of that self-depreciating wave of the hand Le Mesurier did: such a distinctive gesture, but so hard to pin down, a matter of angle and speed that you could never measure."

David Belcher in The Herald was less impressed by Alex: "John Le Mesurier was the good old boy whom Joan married but didn't truly fall for, unluckily for him. Unluckily for us, Alex Jennings didn't get very far beyond providing a pallid impersonation of the languid Dad's Army star, an innate gentleman who chose not to kick up a bally fuss about having his heart broken by his best pal's theft of his wife because he simply loved them both, don't you know."

Goldfish Girl

This Wednesday, 2 April, Alex appears with Juliet Stevenson in the play "Goldfish Girl" on BBC Radio 4. The Publicity Department gives the following synpsis:

"What if you couldn't remember a single minute of the 10 years you'd spent with the love of your life? Goldfish Girl, by Peter Souter, is a romantic and tender play. A husband slowly leads his amnesiac wife, who is lying in a hospital bed recovering from a brain injury, through the story of their passionate love affair and on to the terrible and tragic reason that they are no longer together.

The journey he takes her on, day after day, is to help her recover – but he knows that recovery will inevitably lead to his ultimate rejection."

Whitechapel

According to the IMDb Alex is working on a three-part thriller for ITV called "Whitechapel". He plays the part of Commander Anderson, other parts are played by Rupert Penry-Jones, Philip Davis, Johnny Harris, Steve Pemberton. The release date says 2008, other websites say it is part of ITV's autumn schedule. The series is about a modern day Jack the Ripper.

Candide Trailer

The ENO have posted a Candide trailer on their weblog. You can find it at the: ENO weblog. The trailer gives a sense of the production.

The ENO have also set up a website for the production. There is an image gallery with images from earlier productions and there is a competition to win tickets to the opening night.

Candide website.

Failure Is Not an Option

Tonight Alex plays the role of Vincent, the Commons Whip, in the BBC serial "10 Days to War".

Hancock and Joan

Alex plays the role of John Le Mesurier in a BBC4 drama on the relationship between Joan Le Mesurier and Tony Hancock. It's an episode in the series "The Curse of Comedy" called "Hancock and Joan". Broadcast date is Wednesday March 26, Ken Stott plays Hancock, Maxine Peake plays Joan. More information on:

BBC 4

Memory

Last Sunday 2 March Alex was one of the readers in the BBC Radio 3 broadcast "Memory", one in the "Words & Music" series. He reads works by D.H. Lawrence, Seamus Heaney, Billy Collins, Kenneth Grahame. Ted Hughes, Patrick Kavanagh and Philip Larkin.

The programme is available on the website for 7 days after the broadcast at Listen Again.

Rapunzel

BBC Northern Ireland has created a mini-site for the fairy tale 'Rapunzel', which was broadcast last January. It has this nice picture of Alex in his role as "smoothie" Roger Bateman.

The website: BBC Northern Ireland

10 Days to War

Alex will appear in an episode of a new series of short dramas to be broadcast on BBC2 over the next couple of weeks. The series starts on Monday 10 March, Alex appears in episode 7, "Failure Is Not an Option", on Tuesday March 18. The series deals with the run-up to the war in Iraq.

More information on:BBC website

Blinded By the Sun

From Saturday 8 March Alex stars with Harriet Walter in a new radio version in 4 parts of an award-winning play about scientific fraud by Stephen Poliakoff on BBC 4 at 14.30.

For more information check the BBC Press Release

Still Life

Owen from London went to see the reading of "Still Life" at the National Theatre in which Alex played/read Alec last January. His personal review is at:

Plastic Bag

Cranford - Behind the Scenes

A picture of Alex waiting to start his scene is at:

Judi Dench fansite

Cranford - Last episode

Penny has provided some more pictures, thanks again!

Alex Plays Voltaire

Alex will make his operatic debut this summer in English National Opera’s new version of Candide which runs at the London Coliseum for 13 performances only from 23June 2008.

For more information and tickets, check the ENO website.

Back

Well, I´m back from a long working holiday in the far south, and over the next few days I will try and add some old and new news to the blog. If you have more, let me know!