 From Star Wars to Sweet William |
|
Tuesday, September 18 2007 @ 04:48 PM BST
Author: Dan. Views: 98
|
 Michael Pennington performs his highly original one-man Shakespeare show, Sweet William, in the Minerva Theatre, Chichester from 11th -13th October as part of a limited national tour.
Sweet William, which opened this August at The Angel Theatre in Islington, weaves together the life and works of Shakespeare whilst giving a rare and personal insight into Pennington�s own life and work over his expansive career. Despite being an actor with the RSC, and founder of the English Shakespeare Company, Pennington is perhaps best known to younger audiences as Moff Jerjerrod, commander of the Death Star in Star Wars - Return of the Jedi.
Recently, Chichester audiences immersed themselves in Mark Rylance�s exploration of whether the great works of William Shakespeare were really written by the man from Stratford. In Sweet William, Michael Pennington sets out to celebrate the life and work of this elusive man.
Pennington performs some of the great speeches from Hamlet, Cleopatra and Richard III intertwined with some of the lesser known including Timon of Athens, The Winter�s Tale and the rarely performed speech by the Richard of Gloucester in Henry VI Part III. Pennington also reflects on his long and international experience as a director and leading actor since Shakespeare �hit him like a hammer� when he was just eleven years old.
Michael Pennington�s career has spanned over forty years, during which he has played a wide variety of leading roles for the RSC, the National Theatre and the English Shakespeare Company, which he co-founded in 1986 and which toured the world three times.
Pennington said: �It occurred to me that I have spent 42 years of my life with Shakespeare and perhaps I could make an account of all that experience� But deciding what I could do was a huge task.�
Sweet William is at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester on Thursday 11 October � Sat 13 October at 7.45pm (Saturday matinee at 2.15pm). Tickets are �15, available online or from the Box Office.
More:
|
|
