helenistic, Author at Helen McCrory

Medea Review: ”Helen McCrory is on exceptional form’

On July 22, 2014April 16, 2021 By helenistic No Comments

Helen McCrory triumphs as a murderous Medea with a modern touch

By Henry Hitchings | July 22, 2014 | Evening Standard

Deadly passion: Helen McCrory as killer Medea ©Alastair Muir

Helen McCrory is on exceptional form as Medea, the most disturbing of Greek tragic heroines. The character tends to be portrayed as a she-devil, a murderous manipulator who’s wild with love and rage.

McCrory powerfully conveys Medea’s bitter destructiveness, while also suggesting the vulnerability of a woman shunned by a society where she’s seen as a cunning foreigner.

Euripides’ play, almost 2,500 years old, is clear-cut and intense — a piercing, painful vision of passion and betrayal. It is giving nothing away to say that Medea kills her own children after being spurned by their father Jason, who has married another woman. Even if you don’t know the plot, its trajectory is obvious from early on, and Carrie Cracknell’s production is pacy and direct.

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Helen McCrory Interview: ‘Medea is one of the greatest parts you’ll ever play as an actress’

On July 15, 2014April 12, 2021 By helenistic No Comments

The ‘Medea’ actress talks marriage, playing the female Hamlet and her craving for comedy

by Daisy Bowie | Time Out London | July 15, 2014

Over a lengthy career, Helen McCrory has played villains (Narcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter films), romantics (Rosalind in ‘As You Like It’) and goons (Cherie Blair in ‘The Queen’). Now she stars as the ultimate anti-heroine, Euripides’s Medea, in a new NT production. She explains why it is the role for women.

Is Medea a bit like a female Hamlet?
‘It is, it’s one of the greatest parts you’ll ever play as an actress. Except it’s the reverse of Hamlet because he spends three hours worrying and does nothing, whereas Medea takes an hour and 15, massacres the whole fucking stage and walks off. But it’s great because she uses every shred of femininity that she has to do it, and she also has the complexity of guilt.’

Medea does some pretty nasty stuff: filicide, regicide. Is she a villain?
‘Ben Power’s adaptation focuses on disenfranchisement, on what happens when this highly educated, powerful, manipulative, eloquent woman, is not allowed to be part of society. But it also looks at acts of extreme violence, which often come from long-term brutalisation – which is Medea. She’s a product of a warring society, which is very relevant to today.’

Continue reading Helen McCrory Interview: ‘Medea is one of the greatest parts you’ll ever play as an actress’

Damian Lewis Interviews Personal and Family Life Print Media

Helen McCrory: Women who obsess about their looks have too much time on their hands

On April 14, 2014May 14, 2021 By helenistic No Comments

“Women who obsess about their age and weight have too much time on their hands”

By Hannah Furness | April ,14, 2014 | Daily Telegraph

Women who obsess over their age and appearance have too much time on their hands, the actress Helen McCrory has said.

McCrory, the wife of Homeland star Damian Lewis, said so many women are now preoccupied with their weight and changing looks.

Saying her own upbringing had taught her “thing like that just don’t f—– matter”, she insisted her own self-worth would never be determined by her looks.

McCrory, who has appeared in The Queen, Skyfall and the Harry Potter franchise, has now paid tribute to her parents for instilling in her a refreshing approach to ageing.

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Personal and Family Life Print Media

Relative Values: ‘I could do worse than have Damian Lewis as a son in law’

On April 13, 2014April 13, 2021 By helenistic No Comments

The actress Helen McCrory, and her father, Iain, a retired diplomat

by Danny Scott | April 13, 2014 | The Sunday Times

Because of Dad’s job in the diplomatic service, home was wherever he happened to be posted — Norway, Tanzania, London, Paris. I’m sure some kids would have found that unsettling, but I thought it was wonderfully exciting. And it taught me a valuable lesson… different cultures do things in different ways, and there is no such thing as normal.

My earliest memories are of Africa and the countless hours spent hanging out with my parents. Dad only worked until 1pm, so he’d then come home to do Dad stuff, like fix my bicycle or tell me stories. If there was anything that needed doing, people would come to see him. Nothing terrified him and nothing bad could happen to me when I was with him.

I’d hate to think I’ve ended up marrying a version of my father — that would just be a bit too Greek! — but there are definite similarities between Damian [her husband, the actor Damian Lewis] and Dad. Damian is an alpha male; he looks after me. And like Dad, he’s got a great sense of humour. Dad still takes the piss out of me.

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Interviews Print Media Tommy Cooper

Actress Helen McCrory: ‘I’m at my most powerful now’

On April 5, 2014April 13, 2021 By helenistic No Comments

Taking More Risks at 45

By Daphne Lockyer | April 5, 2014 | Daily Mail

Abandoning her no-nudity clause, starring in romantic dramas opposite men 20 years her junior… Actress Helen McCrory tells Daphne Lockyer why, at 45, she is taking more risks with her career than ever before

Helen McCrory has asked for our interview to take place at an unpretentious gastropub just around the corner from her home in Tufnell Park, North London. She arrives without fuss or fanfare, on foot, dressed simply in a parka for warmth over a black skirt, opaque tights and a well-cut black blouse that she picked up in a little shop in Paris. ‘Fashion mecca for 5ft 2in midgets like myself,’ she laughs.

She is, indeed, tiny, yet the straight-backed posture, deep gravelly voice and ultra-posh vowels of the diplomat’s daughter that she is make her seem, somehow, statuesque. Jewellery-wise, too, she wears nothing more than a plain titanium engagement ring and a wedding band that she agreed to have made from more expensive platinum, after some badgering from her husband Damian Lewis, the actor and star of the hit TV series Homeland.

‘Not that you can really tell the difference,’ she says, rotating the rings for my inspection. ‘When my dad saw them he said, “What is Damian, a bl**** plumber?”’ she hoots. Continue reading Actress Helen McCrory: ‘I’m at my most powerful now’