Category: Events

Denis Lill – Twelve Angry Men stage tour – first night reviews

Press reviews of the first night performance of the touring stage version of the classic juror drama Twelve Angry Men have included praise for Denis Lill’s striking portrayal of Juror Number 10.

Twelve Angry Men - theatrical tour - 2015

Denis Lill – more familiar as the pipe-smoking, kindly surgeon in TV’s The Royal – is quite magnificent as the bigoted, outspoken and argumentative Juror 10

Barry Dix, Get West London, 29 January 2015

Denis Lill attacks the role of the bigoted fool from hell with everything he has got – although absolutely no chance for light and shade has been provided here by the author.

Francis Batt, Slough and South Bucks Observer, 28 January 2015

Twelve Angry Men - theatrical tour - 2015

Twelve Angry Men, arguably the finest example of its genre, brings together a punchy, fast-moving script, acting of the highest quality and a remarkably realistic set and visual effects to create a quite stunning production.

Tom Conti brings with him to the Theatre Royal, Windsor, many of the cast and crew from the record-breaking production of the play which won so many plaudits during its West End run. He is becoming a familiar face at the venue, returning to Windsor for the third time in little more than a year.

Twelve Angry Men, inspired by the real-life jury experiences of writer Reginald Rose in Manhattan in the early 1950s, was originally a TV play, adapted into an Oscar-nominated film starring Henry Fonda. The stage version was first seen in London in 1964.

After completing its run The Theatre Royal, Windsor (27 January-7 February 2015), Twelve Angry Men begins a national tour, starting in Coventry on 9 February 2015 and concluding in Glasgow on 27 June 2015 (although further dates may follow). Tickets are on sales for venues across the country.

UPDATE, 24 Feb 2015: A review of the play’s run at The King’s Theatre, Edinburgh in the Edinburgh Evening News (24 February) includes further praise for the show and for Lill’s performance.

Tom Conti delivers a smooth performance in the lead role of the lone challenger who cajoles the others into returning a unanimous not guilty verdict, building in intensity from perhaps over-played brooding isolation at the start to powerfully-projected frustrated fury at the climax.

Pick of the other jurors, and of some dodgy American accents, was Denis Lill as the prejudiced garage-owner, who is uncomfortably believable as the closest thing 1950s New York would have had to a UKIP voter.

So too is Andrew Lancel a stand-out as the troubled last-angry-man-standing, whose portrayal of a father estranged from his son is the emotional high-point of the show.

UPDATE, 25 Feb 2015: Another review of the Edinburgh run, is published today in The Herald:

Conti’s world-weary understatement as the play opens is a deceptive foil to his fellow jurors as he quietly but determinedly changes everybody’s mind. While unexpected gales of gallows humour ripple throughout, it is the ferocious bluster of Denis Lill’s Juror 10 and especially Andrew Lancel’s fierce turn as Juror 3, lashing out at his own estranged son by proxy, that defines the production.

Lucy Fleming and Simon Williams at ‘Taken at Midnight’ after-party

 

LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 26: Lucy Fleming (L) and Simon Williams attend an after party following the press night performance of ‘Taken At Midnight‘ at The Institute of Directors on January 26, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Getty Images)

Denis Lill to appear in the 2015 stage tour of Twelve Angry Men

Denis Lill (Charles Vaughan) is to appear in the 2015 stage tour of the classic behind-the-scenes jury drama Twelve Angry Men, joining an all-star cast headed by Tom Conti, and featuring many of producer Bill Kenwright’s regular ensemble of actors.

Twelve Angry Men - 2015 touring production

Full casting has been announced for the 2015 UK Tour of Twelve Angry Men. Seven actors who recently appeared in the West End revival will reprise their performances for the tour.

Joining the previously announced Tom Conti is: Andrew Lancel (Coronation Street), Robert Duncan (Drop The Dead Donkey), Andrew Frame (EastEnders), David Calvitto (These Shining Lives, The Odd Couple), Mark Carter (Hollyoaks, Utopia) and Sean Power (Secret Diary of a Call Girl). Jon Carver (Doctors) returns to play The Guard.

The cast is completed by: Denis Lill (The Royal, Only Fools And Horses), Paul Beech (King Lear, A Tale of Two Cities), Alexander Forsyth (Porcelain, It Never Ends), Edward Halsted (Holby City, Jonathan Creek) and Gareth David-Lloyd (Torchwood).

Twelve Angry Men opens on 27 January 2015 at the Theatre Royal Windsor with the current cast initially confirmed to play until 2 May 2015.

Twelve Angry Men is produced by Bill Kenwright and directed by Christopher Haydon, with design by Michael Pavelka. Originally written, by Reginald Rose, as a television play in 1954, Twelve Angry Men was adapted for the stage in 1955 and as an Oscar-nominated Hollywood film, produced by and starring Henry Fonda in 1957. The production was first seen in the West End last November, when it opened at the Garrick Theatre, London starring Robert Vaughn and Jeff Fahey.

UPDATE, 20 April 2015: The tour has now been extended until 27 June, with additional runs at theatres in Southend, Wolverhampton, Barnstable, Croydon, Newcastle and Glasgow. Tom Conti will not appear at the Southend or Wolverhampton runs; with the part of Juror No. 8 being taken on by Jason Merrells.

Big Finish talk Survivors at the London Film and Comic Con

Members of the Big Finish production team discussed the reception of the first series of Survivors audio dramas at the recent London Film and Comic Con.

Producer David Richardson reveals: “Survivors has been selling very well […] it’s had really great reviews; people have really started buying into it and it’s been a great success for us.”

Script editor Matt Fitton adds: “People are picking it up without having seen the TV series, and also fans of the TV series are picking it up and saying that it really is in keeping with it; that it’s part of that world. So it works both ways… Quite a few have come in, listened to it, and then gone and bought the DVDs of the 1975 series.”

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Survivors audio-drama panel at Big Finish Day 5

Big Finish have posted a set of photos on Facebook from the Big Finish Day 5 convention (13 September) – including shots from the Survivors panel, which several attendees have been retweeted:

Survivors cast and crew - Big Finish Day 5


 
Carolyn Seymour - Big Finish Day 5


 
Terry Molloy and Chase Masterson - Big Finish Day 5
https://twitter.com/ChrisDalek/status/511200831027572736/

Lucy Fleming – special screenings of Brief Encounter

Lifelong surprise at a Brief Encounter

The star of Brief Encounter was always surprised that the tiny wartime movie had become a classic, her daughter says.

Actress Lucy Fleming, whose mother Celia Johnson starred as the housewife Laura in the film regularly voted one of the most romantic of all time, said: “I remember her saying about 10 years before she died [aged 73 in 1982] that it was odd that this little film she made during the war had become a classic. But she was terribly proud of it.”

Ms Fleming, 67, will introduce the film, which co-starred Trevor Howard, at three special screenings tomorrow and on August 22 and 29 with accompaniment by the London Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the Southbank Centre’s Festival of Love.

The film, which follows the stiff-upper-lip near-romance between two married people who resist having an affair, was directed by David Lean in wartime Britain.

Ms Fleming said: “Obviously it’s very old-fashioned but it appeals to people still. I think it’s just a little gem — but I’m a bit biased.”

Brief Encounter

Louise Jury. 2014. ‘Lifelong surprise at a Brief Encounter’. Evening Standard. 14 August

Big Finish Survivors cast and crew at London Film and Comic Con

Chase Masterson (Maddie Price) will be appearing alongside Big Finish Survivors audio drama producer David Richardson, script editor and scriptwriter Matt Fitton, director Ken Bentley and executive producer Nicholas Briggs at the London Film and Comic Con on 12-13 July in Earls Court, London.

Masterson will be be available to sign copies of the series one Survivors CD boxset, but, like Briggs, will be “unable to sign any photography from TV series that they have appeared in.”

More details of the event are available from the Big Finish and London Film and Comic Con sites.

Big Finish - Survivors - quotation

Denis Lill to tour with The Mummy

Denis Lill - The Mummy
Denis Lill is appearing is a new touring theatrical production: the comedy scarefest The Mummy.

Also joining the cast of The Mummy are Jason Durr (Heartbeat ) and Susie Amy (Footballers’ Wives ).

Adapted (“very loosely”, say the producers) from Bram Stoker’s Jewel of the Seven Stars  by Jack Milner, The Mummy  is described as “a cross between The Woman in Black,  The 39 Steps  and The Morecambe and Wise Show “. The production is directed by Joe Harmston (Associate Creative Director of The Belgrade Theatre, and Agatha Christie Theatre Company regular).

From deepest, darkest, dangerous Egypt, a legendary curse is stirring back into life and we’re all going along for the outrageous and terrifying ride! This titillating tale of terror and intrigue spans thousands of years and will have you laughing, screaming, screaming with laughter and laughing with screaming in equal measure!

A respectable legal practitioner, a beautiful dark-eyed Cornish heiress, a 5,000 year-old man seeking an ancient love and the Tomb of the mystical Queen Tera all clash spectacularly in hilarious circumstances.

Lill plays two separate roles: ‘The Egyptologist’ in search of the key to eternal life, but one half of a horse with fellow actor Andrew Bone. “It’s really stretching my accomplishments,” jokes Lill. “It’s a unique experience.”

The Mummy premiered at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry on Friday 21 March, completing its initial run on Saturday 29 March, ahead of a nationwide tour, which takes in theatres around the country throughout April, May and June.

Denis Lill and the cast of The Mummy, in rehearsal
Denis Lill and the cast of The Mummy, in rehearsal

Carolyn Seymour (Abby) to appear at Big Finish Day 5 convention

Carolyn Seymour (Abby Grant) is scheduled to appear at the Big Finish Day 5 convention, being held on 13 September 2014 (from 10:00 to 18:00) at Copthorne Hotel Slough-Windsor.

The Big Finish Day 5 will feature guest appearances from Tom Baker and Philip Hinchcliffe launching the new Big Finish Doctor Who: Philip Hinchcliffe Presents release; a new audio drama in which Carolyn will also feature, lending her vocal talents to the role of Mordrega.

From the team behind the new Big Finish Survivors audio adventures, there will also be appearances from producers Nick Briggs, David Richardson, director Ken Bentley and actor (and Big Finish regular) John Banks.

Advance tickets can be purchased online.

Big Finish Day 5
Big Finish Day 5