Hymn Production Gallery

The NT have published some pictures of Alex as Alan Bennett in Hymn. They are on the NT website.

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.

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!

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!

London Evening Standard Drama Awards 2012

The longlist for the London Evening Standard Drama Awards has been published. Alex is one of the nominees for best actor for his part in Collaborators. Simon Russell Beale is nominated for the same play.

The shortlist will be announced on November 12 and the winners revealed at a ceremony presented by James Corden at the Savoy Hotel on November 25, when the recipients of five special awards will also be revealed.

For a full list of nominations see: London Evening Standard.

Bajazet Reading

Alex will take part in a reading of Racine's Bajazet at the Donmar Warehouse on 31 October at 2.30 pm. Other readers are Hayley Atwell, James McAvoy and Ruth Negga.

Tickets can be booked at Donmar website.

Thanks Uli!

Strange Meeting

Scheduled to mark Armistice Day, BBC Radio 4 Extra will broadcast Peters Wolf's Play "Strange Meeting" on Thursday 8 November at 11.15 a.m.

The play is inspired by Wilfred Owen’s First World War poem and dramatises events leading up to Owen’s death on the eve of the Armistice. Alex is the Captain and Paul Rhys is Wilfred Owen.

What Love Sounds Like

What Love Sounds Like centres around the meeting of a blind man, Dom, and a deaf woman, Thea, in a faith-healer's waiting room. Dom has only recently gone blind and is at odds with the world and himself. Thea, using her computer voice generator, plies him with questions - particularly about an old, painful relationship which Dom is initially reluctant to talk about. As the play progresses we realise that all is not quite as it seems, and that this meeting may have profound consequences for them both. Alex Jennings and Juliet Stevenson star in a new play by award-winning playwright Peter Souter.

The production can be heard on BBC Radio 4 this Wednesday 24 October at 14.15.

Taken from the BBC Website.

Reading Gaol

From BBC Radio 4's Twitter feed: "Alex Jennings reads Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol 4.30pm today, on Poetry Please."

Casino Royale

BBC Radio 4 Extra again broadcasts Alex reading the James Bond story "Casino Royale". There will be ten episodes starting this Monday. For times check BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Thanks to Jen!

New Tricks

I've added pictures and details of last Monday's episode of "New Tricks" to the AJ Archives.

Collaborators

More information on this Sunday's BBC Radio 3's broadcast of Collaborators is now available at Drama on 3. The play will be broadcast at 8.30 pm.

New Tricks

Alex will appear in the next episode of "New Tricks" tomorrow night, 25 September at 9 p.m. on BBC One.

More information on the BBC Website.

Collaborators on radio

BBC Radio 3 will be broadcasting a series of three plays in September which portray the ruthlessness and dilemmas of absolute rule. The first to be broadcast on 16 September is Marlowe's Tamburlaine. The series continues in subsequent weeks with Friedrich Schiller’s Mary Stuart and Collaborators, the recent National Theatre success with Simon Russell Beale as Stalin and Alex Jennings as Bulgakov. The first play will be broadcast at 20.30. No date or time has been given yet for the Mary Stuart or Collaborators broadcast.

For more information see the radio 3 website.

Bennett Double Bill

More details about the Bennett double bill at the National Theatre Website now.

Cry Babies

Kim Newman's "Cry Babies" will be broadcast again on BBC Radio 4 Extra, Wednesday 5 September at 11.15.


Details at BBC Radio 4 Extra

Back at the National

Alex will be joining the National Theatre again towards the end of the year. The company has two short pieces planned to accompany the new Alan Bennett play "People', both performed by Alex as Alan Bennett.

Performed alongside People at the Lyttelton will be Hymn (a 30-minute piece beginning November 22) and Cocktail Sticks a 60-minute piece beginning December 5), two recollections by Bennett. The pieces will be directed by Nicholas Hytner.

For more infomation: Theatermania and The National Theatre.

The Lady Vanishes

Alex will play the professor in a new BBC One adaptation of The Lady Vanishes. Other parts will be played by Keeley Hawes, Tuppence Middleton, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Gemma Jones and Tom Hughes. The film will be shown on BBC One at Christmas. Filming starts in August in Budapest.


The production was announced by the BBC earlier this week. More information at BBC Press Centre.

The Truth

Alex reads this week's Book at Bedtime, "The Truth" by Michael Palin, for BBC Radio 4 daily at 22.45. There are 10 episodes, and they can be heard on the BBC iPlayer for a week after initial broadcast.

More at:
BBC Radio 4

Damn His Blood

Alex reads Peter Moore's true tale of brutal murder in a remote English village on Midsummer's Day, 1806 as BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week this week. A shocking case of greed and revenge that gripped the nation.

The reading starts tomorrow, 25 June at 9.45 and there will be 5 programmes.

BBC Radio 4 Website

Thanks again to Jen!

Singles and Doublets

Alex plays Simier in the radio drama "Singles and Doublets" on BBC Radio 3 tonight at 20.30. Celia Imrie plays Queen Elizabeth I. This radio play about "Elizabethan Real Tennis culminates in an epic match, poetry and death by strawberries and cream."

The tennis scenes were recorded at the Millennium Real Tennis Court, Middlesex University

The play was written by Martyn Wade.

BBC Radio 3 website

Thanks to Jen!

More Rêverie

The Rêverie with Lucy Parham will be repeated at London Guildhall on 25 October this year. For a full list of Parham's appearances and other shows, check her website: Lucy Parham Website. No more details are available at the moment.

Rêverie: The life and loves of Claude Debussy

Celebrating the 150^th anniversary of Claude Debussy, one of the most prolific and innovative composers of the early 20^th century, Rêverie is the fourth biographical programme of composers’ words and music to be compiled and scripted by concert pianist Lucy Parham. 

The narrative of Rêverie, which takes the form of a personal journal, follows him from his initial success with the Prix de Rome in 1885 to his untimely death in 1918. It is punctuated with solo piano works ranging from the ever-popular lyricism of Clair de Lune, Reverie, 1^st Arabesque, and The Girl with the Flaxen Hair to such virtuosic showpieces as Jardins sous la pluie, the Etudes and L’isle joyeuse.

                         

Critically acclaimed pianist Lucy Parham will be joined by Olivier Award winning actor Alex Jennings in this advance perfomance of Rêverie, before its Wigmore Hall debut.

This performance will take place on Wednesday 11th of July at 8 pm in The Wesley Chapel in Harrogate. 
 
For more information, please click here.

Tickets cost £18 and can be booked using this link.  BOOK HERE

Many thanks to Vicky for alerting us to this. 
 

Silk - Episode 4

A little more Alex this time:

New Layout

Last week I, more or less inadvertently, changed the layout of the Diaries. A side-effect of this change is that it is now much easier to read the blog on mobile phones. Hope you like it.

Silk - Episode 3

Part three of Silk sees Alex appear as a judge:

South Bank Show: Nicholas Hytner

Last Sunday night Sky Arts showed a South Bank Show on Nicholas Hytner, the director Alex has collaborated with on many productions in the course of his career. A short scene from "Collaborator" was also shown.

For more information:

Sky Arts

BBC entertainment news

Electric Ink

The second series of this radio comedy will be repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra on Mondays at 9.30 am from this Monday, June 4.

Orlando Figes Platform

Alex will take part in a platform performance with Orlando Figes on 7 June at the National Theatre. There will be an interview with the historian and Alex will read from his letters with Jacqueline Defferary. For information about the performance and tickets check: NT Website Thanks to Penny and Ulrike!

Hymn

Alex will perform again with the Medici Quartet on 27 October at the Harrogate Royal Hall. They will perform Alan Bennetts Hymn. For more information and booking tickets check the Harrogate Theatres website at Harrogate Theatre

More Silk

Some more pictures from the first episode, provided by Penny!

The Conor Hawes Pictures

After Silk Alex also appeared in the first episode of the new series of Lewis. He played the reverend Conor Hawes. Some pictures from the episode:

The Alan Cowdrey Pictures

A few pictures from the first episode of the new Silk series:

The Soul of Genius

This Wednesday, 16 May, ITV shows the first episode of the new series of Lewis. The episode is called "The Soul of Genius" with Alex playing the part of the reverend Conor Hawes. The episode is shown at 8 p.m.

Alan Cowdrey

Tomorrow night, 15 May, BBC One will start showing the new series of Silk, with Alex taking the part of Alan Cowdrey. There is a page on the BBC Silk Website for the character, not much information, but there is a picture. This will be a six-part series and Alex will appear in several episodes. The first episode is shown on 15 May at 9 p.m. on BBC One. Alan Cowdrey

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Silk

The second series of "Silk" will start on BBC One on Tuesday 15 May at 9.00 pm. Alex will again take the role of Alan Cowdrey, the head of chambers. More information at the BBC website.

Collaborators in the Olivier

"Collaborators" has transferred to the Olivier, a reason for new reviews. The London Evening Standard's Fiona Mountford focusses mainly on the performance by Alex and Simon Russell Beale. She feels:

"Russell Beale is deliciously droll but it’s Jennings who steals the honours with his portrait of a touchingly conflicted and vulnerable man who slowly realises that his seeming salvation will be the thing that damns him."

Full review at: London Evening Standard

More Radio

More Alex on the radio this week. BBC Radio 4 Extra will be broadcasting "Ashenden" again, starting on Monday 23 April. For times check BBC Radio 4 Extra website.. "Erskine May" will be broadcast on Wednesday 26 April, also by BBC Radio 4 Extra. For more information check: BBC Radio 4 Extra website. Thanks to Jen!

That's Mine, This Is Yours

This Thursday 26th April, at 14.15, BBC Radio 4 will repeat Peter Souter's romantic comedy "That's Mine, This is Yours". Alex stars with Tamsin Greig.

Olivier for Collaborators

Collaborators was named best new play at the Olivier award ceremony last night. Writer John Hodge accepted the award thanking the two main actors, Alex and Simon Russell Beale. The production moves from the Cottesloe to the Olivier Theatre later this month.

Tchaikovsky in Abu Dhabi

Alex appeared in the Royal Opera House production of "Beloved Friend" by Ronald Harwood in Abu Dhabi. The production was part of the Abu Dhabi Classics festival. The production was based on the letters of Tchaikovsky and Nadezhda von Meck. Alex narrated the story with Simon Russell Beale and Harriet Walter reading out the letters. Tchaikovsky's music was performed by a Royal Opera House quintet, including a Swan Lake pas de deux, gracefully danced by Royal Ballet duo Roberta Marquez and Valeri Hristov. Baritone Vasily Ladyuk and soprano Hibla Gerzmava performed some of Tchaikovsky’s songs from Six Romances and Eugene Onegin.

For more information check: Khaleej Times Online or Emirates 24/7.

OffWestEnd Theatre Awards 2012

Alex presented a couple of awards at the Offie Awards last month.  These awards are for independent and fringe performances across London.

You can find more photos of the winners and the presenters at the OffWestEnd website.

In addition, there are video clips of the entire awards ceremony and you can see Alex present the awards for Best New Musical and Best Musical Production.

Alex Portraits

There are 5 amazing photographic portraits of Alex on Flickr. You can find them on Lewis K. Bush's photostream.  Please do have a look.
 
I don't have permission to show them here, but if by any chance the photographer is reading, please answer my flickrmail, thank you.

Dicken's in London - Woman's Hour Drama

Alex played Charles Dickens in two of the Woman's Hour Dramas last week, in the 'The Sparkler of Albion' and 'The Uncommercial Traveller'.  Hurry, as there's only a day or two to catch them on the iPlayer.

We'll Take Manhattan - BBC4

This programme will be repeated on BBC 4 on Sunday 12th February at 9pm and on the BBC HD channel on Wednesday the 15th February.

This is a drama which tells the story of David Bailey and Jean Shrimpton, of a wild week, their love affair, terrible fights with their fashion editor - and how two young people with no such intention happened to change the world of fashion forever.

Alex plays John Parsons at Vogue magazine.

Being Human on BBC America

Being Human will be broadcast on BBC America starting on February the 25th. 

Many thanks to Lori from Florida for this information.

Being Human - Episode One

Alex made an appearance in last nights episode of Being Human and here are a few screencaps for you. I hope you all like the uniform.

Note: if you click on the pictures, they will become nice and big.

Being Human - Sunday February 5th on BBC3

Casting news:  Alex will be playing the Head of a Vampire Coven in the new series of Being Human.  It starts this Sunday (5th of February) at 9pm on BBC3 and will follow shortly on the iPlayer.

Nicholas Nickleby - BBC Radio 4 Extra

Alex will be in the radio reading of Nicholas Nickleby which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on weekdays at 2pm.  It should also follow shortly on the iPlayer.

When his father dies, Nicholas Nickleby is forced by his cold-hearted uncle to seek his fortune in the world, away from his loving mother and sister. From the schoolroom cruelty of Dotheboys Hall to treading the boards with flamboyant travelling player Mr Crummles, Nicholas has some remarkable adventures – but all the while, his wicked uncle’s scheming continues. Oliver Milburn, Alex Jennings, Janine Duvitski and Alex Jennings star. Adapted by Mike Walker from Charles Dickens's novel, directed by Jeremy Mortimer and broadcast first in 1999.

Alex is obviously so good they listed him twice! 

Being Human - Trailer

Alex will be playing Griffin in the new series of Being Human which is coming very soon to BBC Three.

Again, according to the trailer and the above publicity photo, he appears to be playing a police officer; admittedly, he does fill the uniform very well.

The trailer for the series can be found on the BBC website and on YouTube.

Dickens in London

Antony Sher, Samuel Barnett and Alex Jennings all play Dickens in a five-part adaptation of his journalistic works from February 6-10 at 10.45 on BBC Radio 4.

New Year News

Alex will have a guest role in the new series of BBC 3 series 'Being Human'; the series begins broadcasting soon.

In other news, IMDB has Alex listed as appearing in at least two new episodes of 'Silk', an episode of 'Lewis' and will be in a new film by Iain Softley called 'Trap For Cinderella'.

If you prefer the radio, Alex is reading the last five episodes of 'Cousin Bette' on Radio 4 in the 'Book At Bedtime Slot' this week and can also be caught reading 'The Old Curiosity Shop' on Radio 4 Extra or on the iPlayer.

Book at Bedtime - Cousin Bette

From Monday the 2nd of January 2012, Alex will be reading the book at bedtime on Radio 4, on weeknights at 10.45 pm.

A tale of seductive women and philandering men, of passionate affairs and spiralling debts, Cousin Bette paints a vivid portrait of Paris in the 1830s and '40s. It's a city full of temptations, in which money is king, morals are loose and the appeals of the virtuous are usually in vain. In the midst of it all sits a poor relation, Cousin Bette, like a spider in her web. Fuelled by bitterness and jealousy, she is determined to weave destruction into the lives of her extended family, the socially superior Hulots.

With her friend and accomplice, the beautiful Madame Marneffe, Bette sets out to manipulate events so that men are brought to their knees and their wives to despair, and she attains the power and prestige she seeks.
Cousin Bette was written in less than a year, in serial instalments, often only completed just before the deadline. Within its pages, Balzac conjures a kaleidoscope of characters from all walks of life, chronicles the rise of a grasping bourgeoisie and tells a gripping tale of jealousy, passion and treachery.

Many thanks to Jen.

Behind the Scenes at NT Live

The twitter feed for NT Live (@ntlive) has a few backstage pictures. None of the cast unfortunately.

The all important typewriter:

One picture from the broadcast truck midway through the play:

NT Live Collaborators Review

 
Unfortunately I was unable to attend the live performance of Collaborators a couple of weeks ago due to illness, but I was able to get a ticket to see the NT Live cinema broadcast of the show this evening.

The play is set 'in the round', but not actually in the round, the set is like two islands connected by a corridor of stage.  This means that there is one pocket of audience marooned on one side, but it's an interesting set.

It's 1938 and Bulgakov lives in a cramped Moscow apartment, so cramped they have a lodger living in the kitchen cupboard, he wants to stage his long gestated Moliere play, but it's been banned.  Then he's offered a choice by the secret police, write a celebratory play for Stalin's 60th birthday and get the play reinstated...

Bulgakov is first introduced in his vest and long johns hopping out of bed to investigate the loud knocking from his kitchen cupboard, as he approaches, Stalin leaps out and chases Bulgakov around the department.  This is of course a recurring nightmare and not reality. Also Bulgakov isn't well and his wife (the excellent Jacqueline Defferary) drags him to an overworked and slightly libidinous doctor, who eventually diagnoses nephrosclerosis, a terminal disease.  Then to make matters worse he's coerced into writing a play for Stalin's sixtieth birthday by the secret police, an avuncular, yet cruel Vladimir (Mark Addy) and his largely silent subordinate (Marcus Cunningham).  Only after a trip to the wood panelled execution room and veiled threats towards his wife, does Bulgakov reluctantly accept the commission.

He has difficulty starting the play and eventually he gets a call from someone unknown to meet him in a secret room beneath the Kremlin.  The unknown voice is, of course, that of Stalin who limps in smiling.  Simon Russell Beale makes Stalin both oddly buffoonish, yet in a heartbeat his face hardens and you can believe that he's a man capable of the utmost cruelty.  Stalin begins to dictate what he'd like Bulgakov to write: a lurid melodramatic story of his rise from humble cobbler's son to dictator. Bulgakov can't keep up with Stalin's fast pace and Stalin ushers Bulgakov to the other side of the table and begins to type the play up himself to save time. The play is interspersed with snippets of Stalin's play, which is in fact quite a clunker.

On the next occasion Stalin is late for the writing session and blames affairs of state. He's brought a pile of paperwork with him and exhorts Bulgakov to attend to it. Bulgakov capitulates and writes an innocuous comment in red pencil on the steel production report: 'make more, or else'.  At the next session he's amazed to find that production has increased by over half. Then when Bulgakov reads a report that some members of the Communist party have been conspiring to murder Stalin, his somewhat bland and inexact 'make further enquiries' has a devastating impact. There is a mounting sense of terror, there are suicides, his lodgers are snatched from the street by the secret police and Bulgakov begins to feel like an apologist for Stalin's actions and feels the corrupting influence of absolute power.

The performances are uniformly excellent and well characterised, from the small role of Sergei (Pierce Reed), the cupboard dweller, to Mark Addy's Vladimir. Sergei  is a slip of a thing, dressed in well worn work clothes and Mark Addy as Vladimir impresses.  Simon Russell Beale is of course fantastic as Stalin; he's at times funny, but then flips to being capricious and megalomaniacal.  His soft West Country burr makes him seem more cuddly than he seems.

Alex plays Bulgakov and, what many of the reviews failed to mention, he's on stage for the entire performance; he is the steady centre of the play, the character around whom everything else revolves. He's dressed in well worn clothes, that are neat, but shabby, his greatcoat is just slightly too big for him, an indication of his illness.  He's principled, kind, generous and intelligent, he wants to refuse yet his love for his wife means that he can't refuse the commission.  When he begins working with Stalin, he's afraid and wary, calling him Sir instead of Joseph, but as he relaxes, it becomes 'Joseph'. His apartment now has heating and hot running water and Bulgakov gets a sharp new pinstripe suit and his own personal driver.

Alex really has to drive the play along and he does so in an unshowy and expert way, his performance isn't selfish, his role doesn't over shadow anyone else and he's a generous enough performer to allow the lions share of the laughs to go to other characters.  John Hodge's play is very good, a small dialogue between Vladimir and his wife tells us so much about his social status and his sub-plot about the writer Grigory (an intense William Postlesthwaite) is woven with care into the play.  The direction (by Nicholas Hytner)  is superb, the play is well paced and structured. If I had one criticism, it would be that the play is so generously stuffed with ideas that the heart and emotion between Bulgakov and his wife is a little swamped.

The NT Live experience is different to a theatre experience, for one, you are are gifted with a plethora of close ups of the actors, so close you can see the tears about to spill from Yelena's eyes and mad glare that replaces the avuncular look on Stalin's face.   It's a treat to be able to see the actors in such close up and the camera positions and direction were very good. 

I hope that everyone who would like to see the play gets to see it.  I heartily recommend it and I'm hoping to see it again in the Olivier (if I can get tickets). 

NT Live Cinema Broadcast

The NT live cinema broadcast is tonight at 7 pm GMT. Is anyone else going?

To celebrate the month of December the National Theatre is having a month of giveaways and competitions and today is the turn of Collaborators: John Hodge’s darkly comic new play Collaborators broadcasts live tonight around the world with NT Live . We’re giving away digital programmes to the first ten people to tell us which Bulgakov play was staged in 1926 at The Moscow Art Theatre, and boasted Stalin as a fan?

BONUS: The first 5 people to also tell us which of Bulgakov's characters was inspired by his third wife Yelena Shilovskaya will win a pair of tickets to see the play live in the Olivier Theatre in May, 2012. Email ntcheer@nationaltheatre.org.uk with your answers. Last entries 4pm today –winners will be notified by 6pm. Good luck.

Collaborators in The Olivier

The National Theatre announced today that once the current run in the Cottesloe theatre has concluded, Collaborators will transfer to the Olivier Theatre, where it will open the 2012 Travelex £12 Tickets Season for a limited run from 30 April. 

Booking for new performances opens at 9.30 a.m. on Wednesday 23rd November.  

Time Out Review

Time Out gives the play 4 stars out of 5. Caroline McGinn says the following about the character and performances:

"...the dying liberal writer (played by a patrician Alex Jennings) is haunted by his country's devilish Master Josef Stalin (Simon Russell Beale), a papa-tyrant who claims to be his 'Number one fan'."

"...Half reality and half dream, it's a cat-and-mouse game between Jennings's mild, elegant writer and Russell Beale's cuddly but sinister tyrant. Hytner's production even opens like a Soviet 'Tom and Jerry', in which Russell Beale's plump and growling Stalin leaps out of Bulgakov's wardrobe and chases him round the room."

"...Russell Beale has a wonderful talent for portraying the banality of evil but never seems really dangerous here. But 'Collaborators' is designed to neuter him. Bulgakov evades his thick-whiskered pursuer precisely because the conflict between art and power is restaged on Bulgakov's ground: the bloodless arena of the imagination."

Full review at: Time Out

Sunday Reviews

Susannah Clapp in the Observer has the following to say about Alex's performance:

Still, the wings of the play are Alex Jennings and Simon Russell Beale.

As Bulgakov, Jennings is reed-like, glistening with anxiety: the embodiment of febrility and ill-fated aspiration.

Full review at the website: Observer




In the Telegraph's Seven Magazine Tim Walker writes: "Simon Russell Beale’s well-upholstered, bewigged Stalin has something of the air of a salt-of-the-earth northern farmer out of All Creatures Great and Small, and this contributes greatly to the sense of the surreal. There is a splendid chemistry between the old brute and Alex Jennings’s bookish, bow-tied and somewhat fey playwright."

Full review: Telegraph


Claudia Pritchard in the Independent has the following to say: "Playing cat and mouse in this gradually darkening burlesque are Simon Russell Beale as Stalin, rugged and coiffured, limping and threatening, playful and steely, and Alex Jennings, airily courageous, bohemian and correct. This star casting coupled with the 24-carat direction of Nicholas Hytner made the show a sell-out before it opened."

Full review at: Independent


Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times: "Simon Russell Beale and Alex Jennings deliver these scenes superbly. ... Jennings’s tense, waxy Bulgakov suggests his character’s appalled fascination with his tormentor and his ghastly realisation that he has been played."

Full review: Financial Times

Front Row Review

"Collaborators" was reviewed on BBC Radio 4 Front Row on 2 November. If you want to listen, the episode is available as a podcast to download on BBC Podcasts.

Thanks to Penny!

Collaborators Programme and Playtext

Both the programme and the full text of the play are now available from The National Theatre shop on the website.

See NT Shop for more information.

Evening Standard Review

Henry Hitchings praises the performances of Alex and Simon Russell Beale:

"And Nicholas Hytner's agile production is illuminated by fine performances from two of the National Theatre's stalwarts, Alex Jennings and Simon Russell Beale."

"Jennings eloquently conveys the pain of Bulgakov, whose circumstances improve as he turns into an apologist for Stalin's politics."

See: Evening Standard for the full review.