helenistic, Author at Helen McCrory

Editor’s Letter: My heartfelt note from a true star

On February 6, 2022February 6, 2022 By helenistic No Comments

YOU Magazine editor Jo Elvin remembers Helen

By Jo Elvin | February 6, 2022 | You Magazine

–

A few years ago in a former magazine job, my biggest task every year was organising a huge, annual celebrity awards show. I’d probably look 20 years younger right now if I’d never experienced the stress of that, but I must admit, it has also gifted me with some of my funniest and most precious career-related memories.

One standout moment involves the late actress Helen McCrory. She happened to be very close friends with some pals of mine, so it wasn’t unusual for me to see her at Sunday lunch gatherings, or one particularly raucous New Year’s Eve in a pub where our dogs outnumbered the humans and enjoyable chaos ensued. But beyond a bit of small chitchat every so often, I can’t say I knew her. I didn’t even really get to talk to her the night we honoured her with a ‘film actress of the year’ award at my fancy do. (I was always too busy firefighting and keeping the whole thing organised to ever relax and enjoy the evening.)

Continue reading Editor’s Letter: My heartfelt note from a true star

Peaky Blinders Print Media Tributes

Cillian Murphy Reflects on the Tragic Loss of his co-star Helen McCrory

On February 2, 2022 By helenistic No Comments

The ‘Magnificent’ Helen

LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 03: Paul Anderson, Helen McCrory and Cillian Murphy attend the Premiere of BBC Two’s drama “Peaky Blinders” episode one, series three at BFI Southbank on May 3, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Anthony Harvey/Getty Images)

by Miranda Collinge | Esquire UK | February 1, 2022

Helenistic’s note: The following is a part of a longer interview Cillian Murphy gave to Esquire UK.

In March 2020, Murphy was preparing to fly to Manchester to shoot the final season of Peaky Blinders. Pre-production was complete; the sets were built. Yet the first cases of Covid-19 in both England and Ireland had already been identified. There were rumours of lockdowns. Murphy and his co-star, Helen McCrory, who had also been in the series since the show began in 2013, playing Tommy’s spunky Aunt Polly, were concerned.

“I do remember both myself and Helen calling the producers and saying, ‘Guys, surely we can’t do this?’” Murphy recalls. “They were saying, ‘Well, we’re still waiting to see.’ And then, eventually, they called it.”

Continue reading Cillian Murphy Reflects on the Tragic Loss of his co-star Helen McCrory

Damian Lewis Events Poetry Print Media Tributes

A Joyful Tribute to Helen McCrory by Damian Lewis

On January 31, 2022 By helenistic No Comments

A Poet for Every Day of the Year at the National Theatre

Quentin Letts | The Sunday Times | January 30, 2022

Helen McCrory and Damian Lewis in 2015 MIKE MARSLAND/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES

A Poet for Every Day of the Year
Lyttelton, National Theatre, London SE1
★★★★☆

Helen McCrory’s voice had not crackled across the Lyttelton stage since her 2016 performance in The Deep Blue Sea, but it was heard again on Tuesday when a poetry reading in her memory closed with grainy footage of her at a similar event some years back. That McCrory voice, rich as brandied cake, delivered Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese. Amid despair “the world goes on” and clear pebbles of rain continue to drift across prairies while wild geese, high above, “are heading home again”.

Continue reading A Joyful Tribute to Helen McCrory by Damian Lewis

Damian Lewis Events Poetry Print Media Readings Tributes

A Poet for Every Day of the Year at the National Theatre – Helen McCrory remembered in powerful evening

On January 29, 2022January 29, 2022 By helenistic No Comments

A variety of readers took the stage to mark the new anthology

by Sarah Crompton | What’s on Stage | January 26, 2022

*A Poet for Every Day of the Year* © Urszula Soltys

There’s something about poetry. Spending an hour listening to a company of fine actors reading verse aloud is like simultaneously being offered a hug and a cold shower of clarity in one all-embracing package. It feels comforting and stimulating at the same time.

When the event is dedicated to the memory of Helen McCrory, who had performed at similar events over the years, there’s an additional patina of melancholy, but also of pertinence. She thought poetry mattered and supported Allie Esiri’s passionate determination to make it a part of our daily lives. We would do well to listen.

Continue reading A Poet for Every Day of the Year at the National Theatre – Helen McCrory remembered in powerful evening

Damian Lewis Events Poetry Print Media Reviews Tributes

A Poet for Every Day of the Year review: Ode to Helen McCrory cuts to the heart of the matter

On January 26, 2022 By helenistic No Comments

An Ode to Helen McCrory at the National Theatre

by Dominic Maxwell | The Times | January 26, 2022

Damian Lewis paid fitting tribute to his late wife URSZULA SOLTYS

★★★★☆

How would Damian Lewis, making his first stage appearance since the death of his wife Helen McCrory last April, begin an occasion dedicated to her memory? With a no-nonsense nod to the mixture of happiness and sadness of being at an occasional poetry reading event that she had taken part in previously herself? With a poem in her honour, performed to a well-scrubbed crowd (including McCrory’s friend Helena Bonham Carter) who had turned out to see him and Sir Simon Russell Beale, Fay Ripley, Danny Sapani and Lesley Sharp reading from the latest anthology of 366 poems edited by the evening’s organiser and host, Allie Esiri?

Continue reading A Poet for Every Day of the Year review: Ode to Helen McCrory cuts to the heart of the matter