Have a nice week!

With this beautiful picture wishing a Happy Monday and a great week ahead!

Marcel Proust - In Search of Lost Time

Here is a link to the BBC Iplayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0076qkb

This play will be available to listen for the next 7 days.

I'll definitely enjoy Jon's smooth, like velvet, voice :)

My likes

Still haven't watched all showreels, because I've been busy this weekend, but I like Luke Sheperd / Chloe Todd and Eleonora Cucciarelli / Alan Grant showreels. Emma-Jayne John and Emma Spearing were really nice in their videos.

But I'm not a professional, don't judge me too hard. 

Showreels

Have been watching East 15 MA graduates showreels today. Fascinating! These showreels were directed by Jonathan. I wonder, who writes the script for the showreel, who’s idea is this? Jonathan’s? Haven’t watched all of them, later I will decide which one I like more. http://vimeo.com/east15/videos

JF on BBC Radio 4 Extra

This is the link I promised

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0076qkb

Marcel Proust - In Search of Lost Time

The Guermantes Way

First broadcast: Wednesday 13 November 2013

Duration: 1 hour

I'm curious

What are you going to do next, Jonathan? Going to work or going on vacation? I think you deserve to take time off from work and to go on vacation, where it doesn't rain :)

Jonathan is on BBC Radio 4 Extra

Jon is on BBC Radio with a Michael Butt's dramatisation of Marcel Proust's classic series of novels ("In search of Lost Time"

Series 1 - 3. The Guermantes Way). November 13 at 10.00-11.00 am (UK time). Repeat on November 13 at

3pm and on November 14 at 3am.

Marcel's boyhood crush on the Duchess of Guermantes develops into a massive passion.

 Originally broadcast in 2005.

Marcel as a Young Man (Jonathan Firth).

I'll put link later when it's available on BBC Radio.

To Jonathan

Acting on stage is difficult. It takes more than just skill, but lots of preparation and hard work, as well (especially,  when you have to say the same lines over and over again and to remember to include intonation and expressions at the same time). You’re talented Jonathan, and I wish you every success in your theatre career . Enjoy your performance! It’s a final week of The Winter’s Tale J It was a pleasure watching you performing on stage! Thank you!

The Winter's Tale Q&A session (October 24)

After the play on October 24^th, there was a Q&A session with the director and actors for anyone who wanted to stay and ask questions. Very interesting, what have they been talking about. This picture is not very clear, but you can spot Jonathan on the right side.

The Winter's Tale final week

The Winter’s Tale moves into its final week, the Crucible tracked the progress of this production http://storify.com/crucibletheatre/the-winter-s-tale

Lovely picture

I took this picture from the FB Fans page (maybe I don't have a right to take it. If so, tell me, and I will delete it. But I just can't resist Jon's smile).  I really like it. This picture was taken before the matinee on October the 26th.

 I think I'm the only one who went to Sheffield and didn't manage to meet with him. Why am I so unlucky? Going to cry into my pillow right now :(

P.S. But I'm glad I saw him performing on stage. Excellent acting and beautiful man. :)

Great performances from all the main players

Another review from the Counterfeit Magazine

http://www.counterfeitmag.co.uk/arts/winters-tale/

P.S. Speaking of the Winter's Tale - winter's time - don't forget - the clocks go back an hour tonight :)

More reviews...

The Winter's Tale runs until Saturday, November 2. So, It's only one week left.

Here're some

People’s  thoughts after they’ve seen The Winter’s Tale:

Wondeful Winters Tale at Crucible theatre brought tears to my eyes at the end

Really lovely production of The Winters Tale - cracking performances, great design & properly moving ending. Good stuff!

Just have been to see The Winter's Tale. Brilliant production! Really enjoyed :)

Winter's Tale was absolutely fantastic. I may have had something in my eye when Hermione came back to life at the end :-)

The Winter's Tale at the Crucible theatre. Amazing production and some blazing actors. Well worth a Saturday afternoon.

Very impressive production - a super strong cast and impressive staging!

Just saw a fantastic production of The Winter's Tale. One of the best Shakespeares I think I've ever seen. Ace.

The Winter's Tale is so engaging and gripping I want to see it again! So beautifully staged. Will book to see it again.

 

Sorry, I'm not a theatre critic...

The train to Sheffield from London’s St. Pancras took 2 hours 7 minutes. It was warm in Sheffield, the weather changed from cloudy and overcast to sunny. I had no problem finding the Crucible Theatre. I guess, I've got a GPS in my head, so I find places easily :)

 The Winter’s Tale performance began at precisely 2 pm. I enjoyed this performance, enjoyed the acting from all the cast. I liked the way it ended (scene with a Hermione’s statue). And the scene with a baby was really heart touching. The set, the lighting on the stage and the sound were done nicely. I liked that the audience is so close to the stage. I had a nice seat, not in the front row, but in the center (F 46).

 All actors were great: Daniel Lapaine, Claire Price, Barbara Marten, Christian Dixon – with a good costume and a special lighting effects, his bear looked real, Keir Charles and young Patrick Walshe Mcbride were so funny.

 And Jonathan was perfect, he was great and convincing in his performance. Jon was serious, angry, touching and funny. I liked the sheep shearing fest scene very much, especially when he started to dance :) The truth is Jonathan has won my heart long time ago. And I really enjoyed his performance and the way he looked. So bad, that I didn’t get a chance to meet him. I bumped into Daniel Lapaine, when he was walking out the stage door, I saw Patrick Walshe talking with some women, Gareth Williams (I think it was him) smoking near the stage door. So I saw other men, not the one I wanted to see.

 I bought The Winter’s Tale programme at the Crucible. This programme consists of cast and production team list, cast and creative team biographies, an interview with Rafaella Marcus (Assistant Director), an article “Seeing and Believing” by Raphael Lyne (reader in English Renaissance literature at the University of Cambridge), an interview “In conversation with actors Jonathan Firth, Daniel Lapaine and Claire Price” by Mark Fisher and some rehearsal pictures.

 In this interview Jonathan answered 3 questions: 1) What makes a good director?
 Jonathan: I worked with Paul a very long time ago. He gave me my first theatre job, a play called Bad Company, which was very enjoyable. There’s something about Paul that gets everybody to believe in the material and to believe in themselves very strongly. There’s also something about this play – the feeling that it is a tale, a piece of storytelling – that means, despite a lot of it exploring dark territory,it is a 100 per cent positive atmosphere.

2) Jonathan, how does it feel to be the innocent Polixenes, wrongly accused by Leontes of adultery? Jonathan: It’s a huge shock for him. There’s no suggestion anywhere in the script that Leontes and Polixenes have any siblings, and there’s a lot of suggestion that they grew up together. They’re not just best friends; they are the nearest thing they have to family. So the story has that family-schism factor as well as a friendship-schism. Friends move on, but with family, those wounds remain. There’s always a hole there that needs filling.

3) The other big theme in the play is reconciliation.
 Jonathan: What’s interesting about this play, unlike Shakespearean tragedy, is that there is healing at the end of it. Truth and reconciliation commissions do require an immense act of faith from all concerned and an immense lack of cynicism and Paul’s interpretation celebrates that.

This review was published two days ago (October the 19th):
The Winter's Tale got 4 stars from the Stage review

http://www.stagereviews.co.uk/other.html

and it mentioned Jon's performance: " .....Jonathan Firth, as the undeserving target of his wrath, is equally impressive, delivering the lines with clarity and sense".

I'm on train from Sheffield. The play and the cast were amazing. But i couldn' t take my eyes off Jon. Especially, when he started to sing with others and dance. You're brilliant Jonathan! I was waiting after the play , but I saw only Daniel Lapaine and Patrick Walsh Mcbride. That' s really sad. It was a pleasure watching you on stage!

London is beautiful, as always. Haven' t been here for some time. Going to Sheffield tomorrow.

The Telegraph gave 3 stars to the Winter's Tale

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/regional-shows/10385241/The-Winters-Tale-Crucible-Theatre-Sheffield-review.html

And I found this review on someone's blog:

http://tortoisesoup.wordpress.com/2013/10/16/the-winters-tale-at-the-crucible-sheffield/

Review: "The Winter's Tale" leaves a warm glow

http://www.thestar.co.uk/what-s-on/theatre/video-winter-s-tale-at-sheffield-crucible-1-6131403

Paul Miller about "The Winter's Tale" and a second chance in life

http://www.thestar.co.uk/what-s-on/theatre/director-states-the-importance-of-getting-second-chance-in-life-1-6131370

4 stars from Whatsonstage.com

http://www.whatsonstage.com/sheffield-theatre/reviews/10-2013/the-winters-tale-sheffield_32232.html?cid=rssfeed-reviews

Next weekend

I read some tweets (on Twitter) from ordinary theatregoers, they really enjoyed this play.
I'm going to watch it next weekend and I'm so excited! Would love to see Jonathan on stage!

Touching finale to Shakespeare play

 http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/what-s-on/theatre/touching-finale-to-shakespeare-play-1-6134479

Review from a lecturer in Shakespeare Drama

This review is written by Peter Kirwan, a lecturer in Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama in the School of English

http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/bardathon/2013/10/08/the-winters-tale-sheffield-theatres-the-crucible/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-winters-tale-sheffield-theatres-the-crucible

More reviews

Public reviews gave almost 5 stars to The Winter's Tale

http://www.thepublicreviews.com/the-winters-tale-the-crucible-theatre-sheffield/

and 3 stars from the Exeunt Magazine  

http://exeuntmagazine.com/reviews/the-winters-tale-4/

The Guardian review II

The Guardian gave 4 stars to The Winter's Tale :)
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/oct/09/the-winters-tale-review

More reviews for The Winter's Tale

1. Review from The British Theatre Guide

http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/the-winter-s-ta-crucible-9485

2. Broadway World Review

http://www.broadwayworld.com/uk-regional/article/BWW-Reviews-THE-WINTERS-TALE-Crucible-Sheffield-October-8-2013-20131008

3. The Stage review

http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/38998/the-winters-tale?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheStageReviews+%28The+Stage+%2F+Reviews%29

The Winter's Tale opening night

Many people enjoyed The Winter's Tale opening night yesterday. Here are a couple of comments:

"...a thing of beauty in beautifully balanced, wonderfully cast The Winter's Tale. Thaws the soul".

"Sheffield Crucible Theatre has another hit with a BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL production of Winter's Tale led by Paul Miller and a superb ensemble".

The Winter's Tale trailer

It's a very nice video. This play looks really interesting. Would love to see it. Jonathan is really handsome in it.

The "Guardian" review

This review is quite small, hope there will be more later

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/oct/05/this-weeks-new-theatre

I want to see this play myself. Those who visited are saying some nice words about it. I'm hoping to come to Sheffield in two weeks. But still not sure :(

It's a press night for The Winter's Tale on Monday at 7 p.m.

First review

First review is from the artisctic director at Sheffield Crucible Daniel Evans: "....public dress rehearsal went brilliantly. The Winter's Tale was touching, frightening, funny, harrowing, devastating, uplifting, moving and brilliantly spoken".

Public dress rehearsal

Tomorrow evening is "The Winter's Tale" public dress rehearsal. I hope everything goes smoothly and well!

P.S. It's a full house for "The Winter's Tale" public rehearsal! All tickets are sold out. I hope you'll have a wonderful evening, Jonathan!

The Winter's Tale Interview Trailer

This interview was published today (on September 25). Daniel Lapaine, Claire Price and director Paul Miller share their thoughts on the play.
I was hoping to see Jon in it :(

The Winter's Tale rehearsal photos

The Winter's Tale rehearsal photos are now available on this webpage

http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/event/the-winters-tale-13/

Jon as Polixenes. It's a really nice picture!!!

Fundraising Gala Dinner at Sheffield Theatre

The Sheffield Theatres staged its third annual Fundraising Gala Dinner yesterday (Friday 6th) at 7 p.m. It's brought together some of the country's finest acting talent, including the cast of The Winter's Tale.
I wonder if Jonathan F. was there too...

...as a matter of fact, he was.

http://www.yorkshirelife.co.uk/home/sheffield_theatres_annual_fundraising_gala_the_crucible_1_2774692

 Having a nice chat with Daniel Lapaine

"The Winter's Tale" rehearsals update

Rehearsals will start on Tuesday 27th August and the production week starts on Saturday 28th September (the production runs from the public dress rehearsal on Weds 2nd October until Saturday 2nd November).

Is that true that theatre people are superstitious? And it is considered bad luck to wish someone "good luck" in a theatre? And it's better to tell "break a leg"?

So if it is true, then "BREAK A LEG, JONATHAN!!!"

Casting Update for Sheffield Crucible

Sheffield Crucible confirmed that Jonathan is playing Polixenes in The Winter's Tale.

Great news!

http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/about/news/press-releases/casting-update-for-sheffield-theatres-new-season/

The Winter's Tale cast:

Masterclass with Jonathan Firth

(Thanks to you Flo that you found this information). Today (7 August) Jonathan Firth gave a masterclass on actor-director relationships at NYFA (National Youth Film Academy). It's an organisation created to locate, educate and showcase the talents of gifted young actors and film makers aged 16-25 years old from around the UK.


http://www.nyfa.org.uk/


As I undestand tomorrow will be another day of hard work - filming ( I assume with you, Jonathan). I read comments, students liked your master class and they think you're knowledgeable, interesting and funny. It's great to see that you enjoy working with youngsters, teaching them. And they're lucky to have you as their teacher.

"The Winter's Tale" rehearsals

Rehearsals for The Winter's Tale start in three weeks.

Jonathan will perform at the Sheffield Crucible

JF is on stage again. I found out about it by chance (thanks to Flo and some Jonathan Firth official ? FB page, where Jon's message was published: "I will be at the Sheffield Crucible this autumn playing Polixenes in Shakespeare's Winters Tale. It runs from the 2nd October to 2nd November").

The full cast is not announced, except Daniel Lapaine, who will lead the cast as Leontes and newly-graduated Eva Feiler, who has landed her first professional role as Emilia in the "Winter's Tale". This play director Paul Miller said, that "the cast for The Winter's Tale is looking terrific: seasoned colleagues and fresh delights".

Jonathan will perform at the Sheffield Crucible playing Polixenes in Shakespeare's Winter's Tale from Wednesday 2 October -Saturday 2 November. Directed by Associate director Paul Miller. All the information you need (such as, dates, times and tickets) is available here:  http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/event/the-winters-tale-13/ or here:

http://www.arenaticketshop.co.uk/whats-on/the-winters-tale/

Years ago Jonathan was a voice of Florizel (Polixenes's only son and heir) in the animated version of this Shakespeare play, now he's playing Polixenes, The King of Bohemia, on stage. That's great!

I'm sure many of you have read this play. But if you want to reread it, here is a nice page:  

http://absoluteshakespeare.com/plays/winters_tale/winters_tale.htm

And here you can find all lines for Polixenes in "Winter's Tale":

http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/characters/charlines.php?CharID=Polixenes&WorkID=winterstale&cues=0&longspeeches=1

In short: Polixenes - The King of Bohemia, and Leontes's boyhood friend. King Leontes of Sicilia is seized by sudden and terrible jealousy of his wife Hermione, whom he accuses of adultery. He believes the child Hermione is bearing to have been fathered by his friend Polixenes, and when the baby girl is born he orders her to be taken to some wild place and left to die. Leontes' cruelty has terrible consequences, but Hermione's child escapes death, and is brought up as a shepherdess.

Jon's character Polixenes appears to be the good guy who's wronged by his friend. Polixenes, after all, is pretty loyal to Leontes, he's nice to Hermione and he really values his friendship with Camillo. But if early in the play Polixenes becomes the victim of tyranny, later he becomes tyrannical himself (would love to see Jon playing this character!). When Polixenes finds out that his only son, Prince Florizel, is engaged to Perdita (who is actually a princess) he goes crazy, threatening to 1) have Perdita's face disfigured with branches and 2) have her old man executed. That makes Polixenes's character a literary foil to Leontes.

So... if more information will be published later, I'll pass it to you :) 

Radio reading

Jonathan is on BBC Radio 4 Extra with a reading "The Cold Embrace" by Mary Braddon (27 July).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nj7cx

Duration 30 minutes. First broadcasted in October 2009.