Golden Globe Awards with Moet & Chandon In Pictures

Posted on January 11, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: (L-R) Actors Helen Mirren, Bryan Cranston, Robin Dearden and Leonardo DiCaprio attends the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon) *** Local Caption *** Helen Mirren;Bryan Cranston;Robin Dearden;Leonardo DiCaprio

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Actor Alan Cumming attends the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Actress America Ferrera attends the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Comedian Aziz Ansari attends the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Actress Eva Longoria attends the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Writer Sam Esmail (L) and actress Emmy Rossum attend the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Annie Guest (L) and actress Jamie Lee Curtis attend the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Actress Jane Fonda attends the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Actors Kirsten Dunst (L) and Garrett Hedlund attend the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Actress Julianne Moore attends the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Singer-songwriter Katy Perry attends the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Actress Laverne Cox attends the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal attends the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: TV personality Olivia Palermo attends the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Rachel McAdams attends the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Actress Regina King attends the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Actors Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (L) and Jason Statham attend the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Actress Saoirse Ronan attends the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Actors Sophia Bush (L) and America Ferrera attend the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – JANUARY 10: Actress Viola Davis attends the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California.

On last night’s red carpet, celebrities including Kate Hudson, Live Schrieber, Laverne Cox, Uzo Aduba, Eddie Redmayne, Amy Schumer, Gina Rodriguez, Jennifer Lawrence, Viola Davis, Sam Smith, Eva Longoria, Olivia Wilde, Jason Sudeikis, Jussie Smollett, Bryan Cranston, Olivia Palermo, Wiz Kalifa, Regina King and Instagram star Kristina Bazan joined Moët & Chandon for its beloved philanthropic initiative, “Toast for a Cause.”

A red carpet staple for many Hollywood A-listers, “Toast for a Cause” invited Golden Globes nominees and celebrities on the red carpet to raise a toast with Mini Moët for which Moët & Chandon donated $1,000 to the celebrity’s charity of choice in his/her name. As a result, Moët & Chandon donated to charities such as MDS for ALS, Art of Elysium, I have a Dream Foundation, Trans Tech, Place Called Home, Global Citizen and many more. New to the program this year, Moët & Chandon donated another $1,000 to a fund supporting aspiring young film makers via the inaugural Moët Moment Film Festival.

Moët & Chandon also served the Moët Ruby Red, a modern take on the French 75 and the official cocktail of the Golden Globe Awards.

The after-party saw celebrities sip champagne from Moët Minis delivered through a designed champagne vending machine.

Photo credit: Getty Images

The Theory of Everything Review by David Evan Giles

Posted on February 23, 2015 by David Giles

The Theory of Everything is, quite simply, brilliant. In the same way that director Steven Soderbergh lifted Erin Brockovich from being a legal procedural TV movie to its position as a major motion picture, Oscar-winning documentary director James Marsh has taken what could have been an awkward mix of impenetrable science and a terrible disease and made a deeply human story that is moving, inspiring and so totally engaging that audiences often sit right through the end credits as they take in what they have just seen.

It is the humanity, the frailty, the warmth, the humour, the kindness and – to use a very old fashioned word for an unfashionable quality – the decency of the story, played by a faultless cast with such little apparent effort or strain, that makes The Theory of Everything the most memorable film in a rich field at this year’s Oscars.

Eddie Redmayne’s transformation from a slightly awkward ‘natural scientist’ (the traditional expression at Cambridge University for a ‘geek’) to the towering brain caught in an unco-operative body is little short of miraculous. This is not a star turn, where the dribbling is designed to win prizes for being ‘confronting’. Redmayne plays the man and not the disease. The character of Stephen Hawking stays vigorously alive as more and more of his body fails and what Jane, his wife played so delicately by Oscar-nominated Felicity Jones, fell in love with is still there in his eyes though his voice is gone, replaced by the American accent in a box that most of us have heard. His family and friends are brave, supportive and accepting. As played by Redmayne, Stephen Hawking inspires love because of the man he is, alive and laughing, inside the body he no longer controls.

A recent article in a national newspaper carried a cynical headline, asking that no more films be made about white, male, British geniuses. It was a painful bit of smartypantsness, because the two movies that could fall into that category this year are both brilliant pieces of filmmaking – the other film is The Imitation Game, for which Benedict Cummerbatch is also deservedly Oscar-nominated. Between them, these two films are likely to do more to wash away prejudice against homosexuality and the disabled than a thousand pages of legislation ever could. Their heroes are both great men, great minds and in great pain. They are treated by the writers and directors with enormous respect and played faultlessly by young actors reaching the top of their game. In the English-speaking world, the film culture has lately been dominated by endless sequels, remakes, stories based on comic books, gross-out comedies and cynical violence. The Theory of Everything proves that complex stories about real people can still be told and the audience is rewarded by the feeling that the human journey can still be an ennobling experience, in which we are not limited by our bodies, but only by the barriers we set up in our minds. Don’t miss this film.

Top Schools ‘Too Dominant’ In Acting

Posted on June 21, 2014 by Frostie

Sir Peter Bazalgette, the chairman of Arts Council England, has said that the British film and TV industries are ‘too dominated’ by actors who have gone to private schools and that state school pupils have too few opportunities to have a career in the arts.

He told the Sheffield Doc/Fest: “I personally don’t see why all the male actors getting Baftas should come from Eton, Good for them, and great actors, but why should they all come from Eton?”

Damien Lewis went to Eton.

Actors who went to Eton include Damian Lewis, Dominic West, Tom Hiddleston and Eddie Redmayne. Actors who went to other private schools include Rory Kinnear, who went to St Paul’s, Benedict Cumberbatch, who went to Harrow and Hugh Bonneville, who attended Sherborne.

12 Years A Slave actor Chiwetel Ejiofor went to Dulwich College – where Sir Peter went to school.

“Seven per cent of the population go to private schools, and in those private schools they get an absolutely, crackingly good education in the performing and visual arts. Ninety-three per cent don’t go to those private schools and, in some state schools, people get a wonderful education in visual and performing arts as well. But in quite a lot of them they don’t.

Visual performing arts have been marginalised in some areas in the curriculum as the curriculum becomes more instrumentalist and focused on what’s known as the Stem agenda – science, technology, engineering and maths. If there is one message, we say Steam, not Stem – put the ‘a’ for arts in.”

Dame Helen Mirren also recently warned that acting was becoming the “prerogative only of kids who have money”.

Check out Frost editor, Catherine Balavage’s, new book, How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming An Actorprenur, which tells you how to become an actor, no matter what your background.

What do you think?

58th London Evening Standard Theatre Awards, in association with Burberry

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Catherine Balavage

Cate Blanchett, Anne-Marie Duff, Rupert Everett, Adrian Lester, Eddie Redmayne, Joely Richardson, Michael Sheen, Sheridan Smith and David Suchet are among the stage stars tipped

The London Evening Standard today unveils the longlist for its 2012 Theatre Awards, presented for the first time this year in association with Burberry.

· In a remarkable year for Nicholas Hytner’s National Theatre, it leads the longlist with 22 entries; followed by the Royal Court with 13.

· With four nods, the most longlistedplay this year is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Simon Stephens’ adaptation of Mark Haddon’s novel about a boy with Asperger’s.

· Olympic Closing Ceremony set designer Es Devlin is longlisted in the Design category for The Master and the Margarita, at the Complicite at the Barbican.

· Eddie Redmayne, Simon Paisley Day and Michael Sheen battle it out for Best Actor with their leading Shakespeare roles in Richard II, Taming of the Shrew and Hamlet.

· It is a good year for women, with inaugural productions from new female artistic directors recognised and a host of stellar performances in strong female roles.

· This year a new award has been announced with the Burberry Award for Emerging Director. The award celebrates a young director who is set to be a star of tomorrow’s London stage.

From Hollywood A-listers to Britain’s most celebrated playwrights, the longlist for the 2012 London Evening Standard Theatre Awards, in association with Burberry, puts an array of big names – and rising stars – in the running for a statuette. All are recognised for contributing to a stellar year in the capital’s theatres.

This year’s winners will be revealed at an evening dinner and Awards ceremony, presented by One Man, Two Guvnors star James Corden at the Savoy Hotel on Sunday 25^th November 2012.

The event is co-hosted by London Evening Standard Owner Evgeny Lebedev, Burberry Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey and American Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour.

The longlist reflects a heavy-weight year for women, with the Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress category featuring some of the biggest female roles for the stage. Three Ibsen plays provided meaty roles for: Sheridan Smith, thrilling as the capricious Hedda in Hedda Gabler; Hattie Morahan, moving as the trapped housewife Nora in A Doll’s House; and Joely Richardson, luminous as Ellida in Lady from the Sea. In this role, Richardson follows her mother Vanessa Redgrave’s 1979 portrayal and the 2009 performance of her late sister, Natasha, in whose memory this award is given.

Cate Blanchett’s sellout performance as Lotte in the translation of German play Big and Small is also recognised, along with Imelda Staunton’s Mrs Lovett in the hit West End production of Sweeney Todd.

It is a good year for women behind the scenes too, with two new artistic directors hitting the mark with their inaugural productions. New Donmar chief Josie Rourke is up for Best Director for her exciting staging of The Recruiting Officer. At the Tricycle, Indhu Rubasingham’s opening production, new play Red Velvet, wins a longlist place for its first-time author, Lolita Chakrabarti, in The Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright category. Red Velvet also offers Adrian Lesterthe chance to pick up the award for Best Actor, as real-life 19^th century black actor Ira Aldridge, who was hounded off the London stage.

Also featuring on the longlist is Es Devlin, the Olympic Closing Ceremony set designer whose work for Master and the Margarita puts her in the Best Design category.

Battling it out with Lester and others for Best Actor are Eddie Redmayne, Simon Paisley Day and Michael Sheen – all for their leading roles in Shakespeare productions, with Redmayne playing Richard II at the Donmar Warehouse, Paisley Day playing Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew and Sheen in the Young Vic’s production of Hamlet.

The most longlisted play this year is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Simon Stephens’ adaptation of Mark Haddon’s novel about a boy with Asperger’s. The National Theatre production, in the Cottesloe space, is mentioned in four categories: Best Director, Best Play, Best Actor and Best Design.

Two musical productions that originated at the Chichester Theatre and transferred to the West End are rivals for the Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical: Sweeney Todd and Singin’ in the Rain. The consistently strong fringe venue Southwark Playhouse also fields two shows in this category: Floyd Collins (directed by Derek Bond) and Mack & Mabel (directed by Thom Southerland). Swallows and Amazons, which features the music and lyrics from Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon, is also in the running.

The National Theatre leads the longlist, with 22 entries across its three stages. Next, the Royal Court, home of new writing, has 13.

This year’s awards has eight categories: with Best Play, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Design, Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress, Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical, Milton Shulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer and Charles Wintour Award for Most PromisingPlaywright – an award named in memory of the former Editor of the Evening Standard and Anna Wintour’s father.

In addition to eight longlisted awards, which are decided by a panel of theatre critics and London Evening Standard’s editor, Sarah Sands, five other special awards will be presented on the night. These are the Burberry Award for Emerging Director (new for this year), the Lebedev Special Award, the Editor’s Award, Beyond Theatre and the Moscow Art Theatre’s Golden Seagull.

The shortlist will be announced in the London Evening Standard on 12 November.

The London Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2012 in association with Burberry.

BEST PLAY

Choir Boy by Tarell Alvin McCraney, (Royal Court Upstairs)

Constellations by Nick Payne (Royal Court Upstairs)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Simon Stephens (National’s Cottesloe)

Jumpy by April De Angelis (Royal Court Downstairs)

The Last of the Duchess by Nicholas Wright (Hampstead)

Love and Information by Caryl Churchill (Royal Court Downstairs)

Love Love Love by Mike Bartlett (Royal Court Downstairs)

Reasons to Be Pretty by Neil LaBute (Almeida)

South Downs by David Hare (Chichester Minerva)

This House by James Graham (National’s Cottesloe)

The Witness by Vivienne Franzmann (Royal Court Upstairs)

BEST DIRECTOR

Benedict Andrews for Three Sisters (Young Vic)

Lucy Bailey for Uncle Vanya (The Print Room)

Tom Cairns for Scenes from an Execution (National’s Lyttelton)

Carrie Cracknell for A Doll’s House (Young Vic)

Marianne Elliott for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (National’s Cottesloe)

Polly Findlay for Antigone (National’s Lyttelton)

Sean Foley for The Ladykillers (Gielgud)

Jeremy Herrin for This House (National’s Cottesloe)

Nicholas Hytner for Timon of Athens (National’s Olivier)

Jonathan Kent for Sweeney Todd (Chichester Festival and Adelphi)

James Macdonald for Love and Information (Royal Court Downstairs)

Roger Michell for Farewell to the Theatre (Hampstead)

Lindsay Posner for Noises Off (Old Vic)

Ian Rickson for Hamlet (Young Vic)

Josie Rourke for The Recruiting Officer (DonmarWarehouse)

Lyndsey Turner for Philadelphia, Here I Come! (Donmar Warehouse)

BEST ACTOR

Simon Russell Beale, Collaborators (National’s Cottesloe)

Charles Edwards, The King’s Speech (Wyndham’s) and This House (National’s Cottesloe)

Rupert Everett, The Judas Kiss (Hampstead)

Laurence Fox, Our Boys (Duchess)

David Haig, The Madness of George III (Theatre Royal Bath and Apollo)

Douglas Hodge, Inadmissible Evidence (Donmar Warehouse)

Alex Jennings, Collaborators (National’s Cottesloe)

Rory Kinnear, The Last of the Haussmans (National’s Lyttelton)

Adrian Lester, Red Velvet (Tricycle Theatre)

Simon Paisley Day, The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare’s Globe)

Eddie Redmayne, Richard II (Donmar Warehouse)

Adrian Scarborough, Hedda Gabler (Old Vic)

Michael Sheen, Hamlet (Young Vic)

Scott Shepherd, Gatz (Elevator Repair Service at Noel Coward)

David Suchet, Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Apollo)

Luke Treadaway, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, (National Theatre’s Cottesloe)

NATASHA RICHARDSON AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS

Eileen Atkins, All That Fall (Jermyn Street)

Pippa Bennett Warner, The Witness (Royal Court Upstairs)

Eve Best, The Duchess of Malfi (Old Vic)

Cate Blanchett, Big and Small (Sydney Theatre Company for Barbican)

Anna Chancellor, The Last of the Duchess (Hampstead)

Anne-Marie Duff, Berenice (Donmar Warehouse)

Mariah Gale, Three Sisters (Young Vic)

Tamsin Greig, Jumpy (Royal Court Downstairs andDuke of York’s)

Sally Hawkins, Constellations (Royal Court Upstairs)

Martina Laird, Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (National’sCottesloe)

Helen McCrory, The Last of the Haussmans (National’s Lyttelton)

Laurie Metcalf, Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Apollo)

Hattie Morahan, A Doll’s House (Young Vic)

Joely Richardson, The Lady from the Sea (Kingston’s Rose Theatre)

Sheridan Smith, Hedda Gabler (Old Vic)

Imelda Staunton, Sweeney Todd (Chichester and Adelphi)

NED SHERRIN AWARD FOR BEST MUSICAL

Floyd Collins (Southwark Playhouse)

Directed by Derek Bond

Mack & Mabel (Southwark Playhouse)

Directed by Thom Southerland

Singin’ In the Rain (Chichester Festival and Palace Theatre)

Directed by Jonathan Church

Swallows and Amazons (presented by the National Theatre in association with The Children’s Touring Partnership at the Vaudeville Theatre)

Music and lyrics by Neil Hannon

Script by Helen Edmundson

Directed by Tom Morris

Sweeney Todd (Chichester Festival and Adelphi)

Directed by Jonathan Kent

Top Hat (Aldwych)

Directed by Matthew White

Adaptation for Stage: Howard Jacques and Matthew White

BEST DESIGN

Hildegard Bechtler, Top Hat ( Aldwych)

Miriam Buether, Wild Swans (A Young Vic/American Repertory Theatre/Actors Touring Company co-production)

Bunny Christie, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (National’s Cottesloe)

Kevin Depinet, Detroit (National’s Cottesloe)

Es Devlin, The Master and Margarita (Complicite at Barbican)

Soutra Gilmour, Inadmissible Evidence (Donmar Warehouse ) and Antigone (National’s Olivier)

Richard Kent, Richard II (Donmar Warehouse)

Ian MacNeil, A Doll’s House (Young Vic)

Peter McKintosh, Noises Off (Old Vic)

Vicki Mortimer, The Last of the Haussmans (National’s Lyttelton)

Lucy Osborne, The Recruiting Officer (Donmar Warehouse)

Michael Taylor, The Ladykillers (Gielgud)

Jamie Vartan, Misterman (National’s Lyttelton)

CHARLES WINTOUR AWARD FOR MOST PROMISING PLAYWRIGHT

Stephen Beresford, The Last of the Haussmans (National’s Lyttelton)

Lolita Chakrabarti, Red Velvet (Tricycle)

Ishy Din, Snookered (Bush)

Vickie Donoghue, Mudlarks (Bush)

Nancy Harris, Our New Girl (Bush)

John Hodge, Collaborators (National’s Cottesloe)

Luke Norris, Goodbye to All That (Royal Court Upstairs)

Nicholas Pierpan, You Can Still Make a Killing (Southwark Playhouse)

Tim Price, Salt, Root and Roe (Trafalgar Studios)

Hayley Squires, Vera Vera Vera (Royal Court Upstairs andTheatre Local Peckham)

Tom Wells, The Kitchen Sink (Bush)

THE MILTON SHULMAN AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING NEWCOMER

Jonathan Bailey, South Downs (Chichester Minerva and Harold Pinter)

Denise Gough, Our New Girl (Bush) and Desire Under the Elms (Lyric Hammersmith)

David Fynn, She Stoops to Conquer (National’s Olivier)

Cush Jumbo, She Stoops to Conquer (National’s Olivier)

Abby Rakic-Platt, Vera Vera Vera (Royal Court Upstairs and Theatre Local Peckham)

Matthew Tennyson, Making Noise Quietly (Donmar Warehouse)

Joshua Williams, Shivered (Southwark Playhouse)and Love and Information (Royal Court Upstairs)

Emi Wokoma, Soul Sister (Hackney Empire and Savoy)

The Top Ten Shakespearean stars.

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Catherine Balavage

Tate and Tennant’s Shakespeare pulls in the crowds -The Doctor duo are top celebrity Shakespearean stars.

To mark the launch of the World Shakespeare Festival this week a survey by viagogo has revealed which celebrities give the Bard’s plays the most pulling power.

The winning combination of Catherine Tate and David Tennant, who starred together in Much Ado About Nothing, topped the list keeping ye olde English flame alive and narrowly pipping Hollywood star Kevin Spacey to the top spot following his hugely popular role of Richard III.

When deciding who is best to be or not to be Hamlet, theatre producers should take heed; real-life Romeo Jude Law, who starred in 2009’s Hamlet came in third with audiences preferring him to Michael Sheen, who treads the boards in fifth place for the 2011 version of the same play.

Newcomer Eddie Redmayne comes in at fourth place; his rising star has seen him proving more popular than luvvie veterans Ralph Fiennes and Patrick Stewart.

Judy Dench’s pulling power is still going strong. The national treasure came in seventh place for her appearance in A Midsummer Night’s Dream just ahead of TV funny-man Lenny Henry who starred in A Comedy of Errors.

Ed Parkinson, viagogo spokesperson said: “While Shakespeare plays are consistently popular we always see a huge spike in demand when a household name is announced in a leading role. Both Shakespeare and celebrities have natural pulling power, and the two combined make a winning combination.”

Top 10 Shakespearean celebrities :

1. Kevin Spacey – Richard III – 2011

2. Catherine Tate and David Tennant – Much Ado About Nothing – 2011

3. Jude Law – Hamlet- 2009

4. Eddie Redmayne – Richard II – 2011

5. Michael Sheen – Hamlet – 2011

6. Ralph Fiennes – The Tempest – 2011

7. Judy Dench – A Midsummer Night’s Dream – 2010

8. Lenny Henry- A Comdey of Errors – 2011

9. Sienna Miller – As You Like It – 2005

10. Patrick Stewart – The Merchant of Venice – 2011

Downton Abbey Star: Its Harder For Working Class Actors

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Catherine Balavage

Downton Abbey star Rob James-Collier has said that it is harder for working class actors to make it as they don’t have the “comfort blanket” of wealth. The actor, who plays Thomas the footman in the hit period drama, said the early years of acting are like any other profession with the middle-class and privileged the only ones who can afford to work for free.

He said:

“You have to work for a year with no money. How on earth are you going to finance that?” he asked and said he had found it hard to make it as a “working class lad”.

The acting industry is full of Oxbridge graduates and people who went to Public School. These include Thandie Newton, Alexander Armstrong, David Mitchell, Olivia Williams, Sophie Winkleman, Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hardy, Dominic West, Henry Cavill, Freddie Fox, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sophie Okonedo, Colin Firth, Helen Bonham-Carter, James Purefoy, Tom Hiddleston and Damien Lewis to name a few.

James-Collier, was raised in Stockport and he told the Radio Times that the acting industry favours the wealthy. He worked in manual labour jobs to fund his acting dream.

“Because you’ve done the horrible jobs it gives you an even grittier determination to succeed,” he said.

“If I had a comfort blanket, I wouldn’t have been as passionate and driven. When you get there, you really do appreciate it because you know where you have been.”

He also said that his mother had been supportive and that his father had allowed him to try his luck.

Join the debate, do you think working class actors have it worse? Do you think the acting industry favours the rich? Have your say.

Frost Magazine

Books and Lifestyle

Tag Archives: Eddie Redmayne

Golden Globe Awards with Moet & Chandon In Pictures

The Theory of Everything Review by David Evan Giles

Top Schools ‘Too Dominant’ In Acting

58th London Evening Standard Theatre Awards, in association with Burberry

The Top Ten Shakespearean stars.

Downton Abbey Star: Its Harder For Working Class Actors

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