Tag: Shakespeare

Top Damian Lewis Moment 2016: Antony’s Speech for The Guardian

Today’s Top Moment of the year is one that still comes up in Damian’s Twitter timeline, many months after it was first released, a brilliant short video of Damian reading Marc Antony’s “Friends, Romans, countrymen” speech from Julius Caesar for The Guardian’s video series Shakespeare Solos. Several lit profs have tweeted thanks to Damian, remarking that they use his speech when they teach the play. Actually literature professors and acting teachers alike have found something remarkable in Damian’s prescient delivery. It’s a master class, both on the role of the speech within the play and on acting.

antonycollage

Continue reading “Top Damian Lewis Moment 2016: Antony’s Speech for The Guardian”

Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in Romeo & Juliet

capuletsToday’s throwback takes us to, probably, the most famous star-crossed lovers in history… Oh, no, sorry, I am not talking about Carrie and Brody 😀

Damian Lewis is no stranger to Shakespeare. He played Romeo in Birmingham Rep’s Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet in Hamlet in the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park, London in 1993 and 1994, respectively, as a fresh graduate of Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Then he did his Broadway debut as Laertes to Ralph Fiennes’ Hamlet in Almeida Theatre’s production in 1995. Damian also performed as Posthumous in Cymbeline and Don John in Much Ado About Nothing with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He also brought to life a lovely Benedick on BBC’s Shakespeare Retold: Much Ado About Nothing. Damian took on the role of Lord Capulet in a 2013 big screen adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. And, finally, he kicked off Shakespeare’s 450th Birthday Celebrations in 2014 at Guildhall Library reading the great man’s first five sonnets! Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in Romeo & Juliet”

Much Ado About Nothing

Ah, the romantic comedy: A genre when presented as an evening’s viewing option has sent many an otherwise lovey-dovey couple to opposite ends of the couch. I have to say the romantic comedy has never been my first stop when Netflix surfing. Actually, it’s rarely my choice at all, unless When Harry Met Sally is on (the last great romantic comedy, IMO) or the least appreciated but my personal favorite of the Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks vehicles: Joe vs. the Volcano. [The guy falls for different versions of the SAME woman; how much more romantic (and comedic) can you get?]

William Shakespeare knew a thing or two about romantic comedies. In fact, he invented the genre! The formula of boy meets girl, they run up against some obstacles, surmount said obstacles with the help of a jocular coterie of friends, and live happily ever after: That’s Shakespeare! And perhaps the most seminal of his romantic comedies is Much Ado About Nothing. The plot and characters gave rise to many adaptations and permutations. There was the beautifully hilarious big-screen adaptation in 1993 with real-life couple-at-the-time Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson. More recently, in 2012, there was another lovely big-screen adaptation, this time by Joss Whedon, set in modern times but true to Shakespearean language. And between those two, in 2005, our very own Damian Lewis starred as Benedick in a BBC adaptation of the story, set in modern times with modern language, for their series Shakespeare ReTold.

sarah_parish_8_354x440

Continue reading “Much Ado About Nothing”

Damian Lewis and Shakespeare

In the talk with Stacey Wilson Hunt at SAG-AFTRA Foundation last week, it is notable that Damian never had straight up formulaic answers for any of the excellent questions asked by the interviewer. He seemed to put some real thought into all his answers. Something struck out as requiring further exploration from that interview. When asked about the best advice he’d been given as an actor, Damian turned it around into a story of his biggest professional regret. Damian tells us that he was once offered a major role in a major Shakespeare production to be staged at the very major National Theatre by, as you can imagine, an appropriately superlative artistic director. In sharing this story, he provided a perfect instance of the notion that our biggest lessons come from our biggest mistakes.

525464156

Continue reading “Damian Lewis and Shakespeare”

Happy Shakespeare Day with Damian Lewis!

source: dailymail.co.uk
source: dailymail.co.uk

Happy Shakespeare Day! We are celebrating the great man’s life and influence on English language today.

Now… If you wanna have your own personal Shakespeare party, we highly recommend you to download The Love Book App and have Damian Lewis read Sonnet 130: My Mistress’ Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun directly to your ears! Or if you want to party with us here then let’s travel back to a special Shakespeare party kicked off by a certain Damian Lewis!

Better yet, get the app and party with us, too 😀

April 23, 2014 Wednesday. I have  to sit in front of my computer all day at work so I just let myself indulged in everything Shakespeare for occasional procrastination, from finding out about words that we owe to him, e.g. bedazzled, fashionable, pageantry to New York Public Theater’s celebration tweets with favorite Shakespeare quotes and verses, and to a extremely special birthday party at Guildhall Library — Complete Reading of Shakespeare’s Sonnets — kicked off by a certain someone 🙂 Continue reading “Happy Shakespeare Day with Damian Lewis!”