This is an EXCELLENT piece! I found your newsletter while researching an article I'm writing about Jamie Lloyd's celebrity casting in his Shakespeare seasons, and I couldn't agree more.
Here’s a question as I think we share an interest in De Gaulle, in my view the most successful WW2 leader out of Churchill, FDR and Stalin. I’m trying to assemble the resources for a radio play about his extraordinary rise from London 1940 to self-imposed exile in early 1946. Who would you cast to play CDG?
How absolutely fascinating! I am very interested in de Gaulle. Let me have a think about it. I mean, as its a radio play you don't need an actor of 6'3" do you?
I love Shakespeare with or without celebrities but if celebs pull them in then why not? I've seen John Simm do Hamlet boringly, and Jude Law do Hamlet with sex appeal. David Tennant as Richard II was def a celebrity draw. Your review of AMND reminded me of my first London trip to see Shakespeare- back in 1988, Jonathan Miller's production with Max Von Sydow as Prospero (forgot his lines) and Alexei Sayle as Trinculo- a revered film star and tv comedy favourite template already well established. And of course we all loved Alexei Sayle who stole the stage every time he entered. I still remember his devastating delivery of 'The state totters.' You had to be there...
Jealous of that. I don’t have much sense of how GdG is regarded in today’s France. His self-exile in Colombey after Jan ‘46 still seems extraordinary to me.
I also feel that if celebrity casting can bring young people to the theater/re, why not. I'm also quite for pairing up current artists with symphony orchestras. The Philharmonie de Paris did a concert a few years back with the French rap artist MC Solaar, for example. My young-ish daughter and her husband went and ended up buying three tickets for the next season, including two traditional classical music performances. It's not that they were totally ignorant of classical music, they just hadn't made it a priority.
This is an EXCELLENT piece! I found your newsletter while researching an article I'm writing about Jamie Lloyd's celebrity casting in his Shakespeare seasons, and I couldn't agree more.
Thankyou v much Marcela!
Here’s a question as I think we share an interest in De Gaulle, in my view the most successful WW2 leader out of Churchill, FDR and Stalin. I’m trying to assemble the resources for a radio play about his extraordinary rise from London 1940 to self-imposed exile in early 1946. Who would you cast to play CDG?
David Morrissey would be good I think. Has the right gravitas.
Great idea. I’m a huge DM fan. I’d thought of Jeremy Irons but may have been influenced by height and nose!
Le Boisserie...to see house & grave of the great General !
Guess where I've been?
I think JI is too posh English tbh. Do let me know how you get on.
How absolutely fascinating! I am very interested in de Gaulle. Let me have a think about it. I mean, as its a radio play you don't need an actor of 6'3" do you?
I love Shakespeare with or without celebrities but if celebs pull them in then why not? I've seen John Simm do Hamlet boringly, and Jude Law do Hamlet with sex appeal. David Tennant as Richard II was def a celebrity draw. Your review of AMND reminded me of my first London trip to see Shakespeare- back in 1988, Jonathan Miller's production with Max Von Sydow as Prospero (forgot his lines) and Alexei Sayle as Trinculo- a revered film star and tv comedy favourite template already well established. And of course we all loved Alexei Sayle who stole the stage every time he entered. I still remember his devastating delivery of 'The state totters.' You had to be there...
That is so interesting! Alexei Sayle would have been brilliant to see. Agree too about David Tennant as Richard II.
We ARE such stuff are dreams are made of, but there is no accounting for the content of contemporary dreams...
Jealous of that. I don’t have much sense of how GdG is regarded in today’s France. His self-exile in Colombey after Jan ‘46 still seems extraordinary to me.
You can see what drove him when you see the untampered view from his study window..rolling hills and fields of La Belle France etc
I also feel that if celebrity casting can bring young people to the theater/re, why not. I'm also quite for pairing up current artists with symphony orchestras. The Philharmonie de Paris did a concert a few years back with the French rap artist MC Solaar, for example. My young-ish daughter and her husband went and ended up buying three tickets for the next season, including two traditional classical music performances. It's not that they were totally ignorant of classical music, they just hadn't made it a priority.