What a great summer of theatre this is for Hobbit fans in the London area! Not only is Richard Armitage appearing in The Crucible at The Old Vic; Middle-earth lovers can also see Bilbo himself, Martin Freeman, starring as Richard III at Trafalgar Studios. This promises to be a thrilling, visceral production; director Jamie Lloyd last year staged Macbeth (with James McAvoy), in a production which a reviewer described as ‘a gripping and genuinely startling production’. For this staging of Richard III, audience members have apparently been warned that the front rows might get splashed with blood! The official press release describes the play thus:
“In the aftermath of civil war, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, makes a hateful resolution to claw his way to political power at any cost. A master of manipulation, subtle wit and beguiling charm, he orchestrates his unlawful ascent by spinning a ruthless web of deceit and betrayal. His staunch ambition soon begins to weigh heavy, as the new ruler finds himself utterly alone and steeped in dread, forced to answer for his bloody deeds and face the horrifying consequences.”
Continue reading “Martin Freeman in Richard III – Trafalgar Studios, London”
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The Official Day 1 of FantasyCon was yesterday, July 3 and was filled with cosplay, LARPing, music and heraldry. A few awesome Middle-earth costumers visited our booth, and we even had a Dwarf in a Barrel. The barrel and the 4 Hobbits standee proved to be quite popular with those holding a camera, especially the children.
At 11am TheOneRing.net hosted their first panel at the convention with the Preview of The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies to an enthusiastic crowd. We fully expect that the trailer will be out by the time San Diego Comic Con rolls around in a few weeks, at which point our Preview panel will be dramatically updated.
Near the end of the day, the entirety of the Tolkien programming track was introduced on stage at the Middle-earth kickoff party. Artists, musicians, writers and TheOneRing.net staff on hand, plus an Avalanche of Dwarves, as John Rhys-Davies put it, a Wizard and a pair of Hobbits converged on the Main Ballroom stage to thunderous applause. Moments later, the entire room went silent, you could almost hear a pin drop, along with one wee Hobbit singing his heart out.
During the panel, numerous questions were asked of many Dwarves, Hobbits and a Wizard, but none were handled with quite so much originality as the one about the Dwarven prosthetics.
The day ended with the Red Party, a less bloody affair than the Red Wedding. Costumed denizens of Westeros and many other realms all danced the night away.
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Empire Magazine grabbed Elijah Wood for a forty-minute live interview and Q&A at the Edinburgh International Film Festival just the other week. At around 30-minute-mark they asked him about The Hobbit.
Empire: Speaking of tiny, tiny independent productions, what can we ask you about The Hobbit?
Elijah Wood: You can ask me anything. I don’t know that much. I don’t know that much about it, but you can.
Empire: There must be a kind of joy to that with people going “Oh go on, spill us a secret”. “Nothing. Got nothing”.
Elijah Wood: I kinda don’t have anything. *pause* I know how it ends.
Empire: Woah.
Elijah Wood: That is actually a secret I do hold. So I do know that. And it’s great. Oh, it’s good. It’s really good.
You have to listen to this just to hear the way Wood teasingly says Oh, it’s good. He’s so evil! 🙂
Big tease aside, this must surely re-open thoughts of a book-end conclusion that mirrors the opening of An Unexpected Journey? Thanks to Ringer Martin for the heads-up!
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Martin Freeman’s Richard III production opens in a few weeks at Trafalgar Studios in central London. Here he talks about it with the UK’s Daily Telegraph.
He also touches very briefly, and quite diplomatically, on the Viggo Mortensen CGI-non-stoush that made predictably made a bunch of waves on the internet a few months back.
The man sitting in front of me in a south London rehearsal space doesn’t look much like a bottled spider or a foul bunch-back’d toad. He’s upright in his chair, trim, almost prim, in dress trousers and top-buttoned Lacoste shirt. Only the rough, grey-flecked beard hints at some incipient transformation.
This is Martin Freeman, three weeks shy of the opening of Richard III. The actor is playing the deformed Machiavellian regent at Trafalgar Studios in central London. It’s his first play in four years, since a production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Clybourne Park at the Royal Court. Continue reading “Freeman chats about his Richard III”
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As TORN’s readers no doubt know, Richard Armitage is currently appearing as John Proctor in Arthur Miller’s brilliant play The Crucible, which is being staged at The Old Vic in London, by director Yaёl Farber. Previews began on 21st June; here’s what the official press release tells us:
“Yaёl Farber directs Arthur Miller’s modern American masterpiece about the Salem witch trials drawing parallels with his experience of McCarthy’s anti-communist investigations in the 1950s. The Crucible tells the story of one man’s fight to save his identity in a repressive Puritan community where intolerance collides with lust and superstition, fuelling widespread hysteria with tragic results. Continue reading “Richard Armitage in The Crucible at The Old Vic, London”
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NPR has something rather precious happening in Brooklyn next week.
Ask Me Another, their energetic, borderline rambunctious quiz show, is taking actor and director Andy Serkis from the big screen and putting him in the trivia hot seat at a live event on July 8 at The Bell House in Brooklyn. Continue reading “Andy Serkis to feature on NPR’s Ask Me Another”
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What a great summer of theatre this is for Hobbit fans in the London area! Not only is Richard Armitage appearing in The Crucible at The Old Vic; Middle-earth lovers can also see Bilbo himself, Martin Freeman, starring as Richard III at Trafalgar Studios. This promises to be a thrilling, visceral production; director Jamie Lloyd last year staged Macbeth (with James McAvoy), in a production which a reviewer described as ‘a gripping and genuinely startling production’. For this staging of Richard III, audience members have apparently been warned that the front rows might get splashed with blood! The official press release describes the play thus:
