We know that Anthony Hopkins reads through and speaks his film parts a hundred times before he gets to the studio. This element of intense preparatory study is the thing that connects the actor performing before the oil and gas footlights of the 18th and 19th centuries with the film actor today finding his mark …
Emily and Edward at home in their London garden, circa 1985. As you may have seen, Edward is a follower of Ruth Johnston’s excellent blog Cocktails and Feminism. This week Ruth has posted an interview with Edward’s wife, Emily Richard, in which she gives a candid and fascinating insight into her career as an actress, …
O good Horatio, I’ll take the ghost’s word for a thousand pound. I prefer to think of pleasant ghosts at this turning of the year into darkness and cold (though I remember many sparkling winter days last year). What I call ‘The Hamlet Corner’ – from a charcoal drawing I did in 2000 – seems appropriate …
Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, Only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness. So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another. Only a look and a voice; then darkness again and a silence. _____________________ Charles Dickens was …
‘I take it you won’t need a microphone?’ said Christopher Dean, Chairman of the Dorothy L. Sayers Society. Flattering of course, but I said we ought to have the option. For the luncheon party to celebrate the launch of The Attenbury Emeralds we were to be practically on the terrace of the House of Lords …
You may recall an earlier incarnation of this self-portrait, which featured in my very first webcam blog back in March. Today I was inspired to revise the painting and so I offer here a detail of my work in progress. Tomorrow a lunch reception is being given by Lord Cope of Berkeley for the Dorothy L. …
It is meat and drink to me to see a clown. Touchstone, As You Like It, Act V, sc.i There is rather a lot to contend with on my revamped website.* But in case anyone would like some light reading, this week’s blog features an outtake from the manuscript of my book Slim Chances. I …
First a little test: can you match the lines with the titles of the plays in which they are spoken? 1. The boy is plainly innocent. I accept the brief. 2. And it was then that I saw her. Just … just looking at me. 3. Look at this in a new way and a hidden pattern emerges …
A further word from the editor As some of you may already be aware, Peth’s Staging Post, Edward’s official website, has undergone some recent renovation and a veritable Petherbridgean feast awaits the cyber-visitor. In particular, there is an all-new WIMSEYCALITIES section, an eclectic anthology of prose and verse. Highlights include a master class in the art …
Space and Light is the title of a new Edward Gordon Craig exhibition in the V&A’s Theatre Galleries, but both elements were in short supply at the official opening on Friday evening. We were crammed round a large model rhinoceros, the theatrical significance of which eluded me – unless there was an implicit reference to …
I recommend the following films from this extensive list: