Eddie Izzard is to run 27 marathons in 27 consecutive days, as a tribute to Nelson Mandela.Each run will represent one year that Mandela spent in prison, and will retrace the 93-year-old's life in South Africa.Izzard said: �Everywhere that resonates with his life, we are going to run.�Maybe you'll get this visceral relationship between the struggle of 27 years and the struggle of me trying to run marathons�He will begin the 700-mile run in the Eastern Cape, where Mandela was born and take in Pretoria, where he was on trial, and Robben Island - where he was imprisonedHis efforts will be filmed for a documentary to go out on Sky.Izzard told Alan Carr he was going to do the run with �barefoot technique� � in ... Continue reading →
Richard Findlay, Chairman, and the Board of Directors of the National Theatre of Scotland, today announced that Vicky Featherstone has accepted the post of Artistic Director with the Royal Court Theatre in London. Vicky will take up her new position in Spring 2013 and will continue to lead the National Theatre of Scotland until the end of 2012. Vicky Featherstone was the inaugural Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the National Theatre of Scotland and, since taking up appointment in November 2004, has steered the Company to enormous artistic, critical and audience acclaim. She passes on to her successor a company in excellent creative and financial shape. The Board of the National Theatre of Scotland will begin the recruitment of a new Artistic Director immediately. ... Continue reading →
‘I have that within, which passeth show,” says Hamlet. That’s as maybe, but in the modern Elsinore fashioned by enterprising designer-director Tristan Sharps with his site-specific company dreamthinkspeak, you’re on show whether you like it or not. The Danish court has been confined to an arty installation: 11 chic, interlinked chambers line a courtyard space in which the audience stands and shuffles about. Each room – more like booths, some of them – has an ingenious frontage that serves as a mirror when not lit from behind but allows an unimpeded window on the occupant once the lights are up. It’s an inspired stroke – Shakespeare’s play speaks at once, without being overstated, to our surveillance society. There are shades of Big Brother – the ... Continue reading →
Inspecting the Buddha. Photo: Richard Termine An air of aloneness hovers over director Christopher Morahan’s production of Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker, now playing at BAM’s Harvey Theater in a co-production from Theater Royal Bath and Liverpool Everyman. As the production begins, a kindly, mostly quiet man named Aston (Alan Cox) is letting a homeless tramp, Davies (Jonathan Pryce), into his apartment after an apparent tiff at a local bar.Since Davies has no place to go, Aston is quick (unusually so) to offer him a spare bed in the apartment for as long as he needs, until he’s back on his feet. What Aston fails to tell Davies is that the bed actually belongs to his brother Mick (Alex Hassell), a rough sort who also happens ... Continue reading →
Tickets for Scope's Big Comedy Night live at HMV Apollo Hammersmith in London. Hosted by Ben Elton Joined by Al Murray and… Doc Brown, Hal Cruttenden, Richard Herring, Milton Jones, Francesca Martinez and Paul TonkinsonHow much comedy can you squeeze into a Sunday night? Scope reveals bumper line-up for its Big Comedy Night Disability charity Scope is squeezing a bumper bill of some of the biggest names in comedy into one incredible Sunday night event. It today releases the line-up for its Big Comedy Night. The event features the likes of Ben Elton, Al Murray and Richard Herring and takes place on Sunday 20 May at the hmv Hammersmith Apollo. Also on the bill are Doc Brown, Hal Cruttenden, Milton Jones, Francesca Martinez and Paul ... Continue reading →
