Print Media Archives - Page 14 of 48

Helen McCrory

Actress, Mum and Philanthropist

Truly, we have lost a luminous talent in Helen McCrory

On April 16, 2021May 1, 2021 By helenistic No Comments

Helen was nothing if not a giver of care but, of course, she excelled as an actress

By Baz Bamigboye | April 16, 2021 | Daily Mail

In my mind’s eye, I see her making a slow entrance on to the Donmar Warehouse stage as Yelena in Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.

No wonder Simon Russell Beale’s Vanya has his tongue hanging out; Helen McCrory utterly commanded the stage in that moment. Wide-brimmed hat, long brocaded gown, she echoed a sense of Greta Garbo with the glamour of Marlene Dietrich.

This was one of artistic director Sam Mendes’s farewells at the Donmar in London, before he went on to direct two Bond movies. I chatted about it later with Helen and she explained: ‘Darling, that was Sam’s doing. I chose the hat and he choreographed the walk.’

Peaky Blinders Print Media Tributes

So long, Aunt Polly

On April 16, 2021April 27, 2021 By helenistic No Comments

Remembering ‘Peaky Blinders’ star Helen McCrory

Helen McCrory as Polly Shelby in ‘Peaky Blinders’. CREDIT: BBC

It’s a gross failing of Britain’s entertainment industry that there’s a time of life when women fall off our screens. There’s no absence of roles for twenty, thirty and forty-somethings. Turn 60 and, if you’re lucky, you can navigate the journey to retirement via the sort of roles Helen Mirren or Dame Judy Dench have made their own. But in your fifties? Not so much. If you’re a woman in your fifties who likes sex? Drinking? Y’know, an authentic representation of a woman in middle age? No chance.

It would be wrong to say that Helen McCrory – who has died aged 52 from cancer – changed this. But her role as Peaky Blinders’ chain-smoking matriarch Polly Gray has made such an impact that it will surely lead to future change. Her casting as Aunt Pol in the interwar crime drama went under the radar in 2013; the show’s lead, Cillian Murphy was a far bigger name. But it was far from undeserved. Anyone who has three Harry Potter movies on their resumé, an acclaimed West End career, has worked with the great Martin Scorsese (in 2011’s Hugo) and played her part in making 2012’s Skyfall the best Bond movie of the modern era is worthy of a punt.

Continue reading So long, Aunt Polly

Awards Charity Print Media Theatre

Evening Standard and TikTok join forces for £120k fund to support theatre talent of the future

On November 26, 2020May 19, 2021 By helenistic No Comments

Helen McCrory is among the panelists for the Future Theatre Fund

by Robert Dex | November 26, 2020 | The Evening Standard

The Evening Standard has joined forces with TikTok to launch a £120,000 fund to support the next generation of theatre stars, who are struggling under the impact of Covid-19.

High-profile figures including award-winning actress Helen McCrory, theatre supremo Andrew Lloyd Webber and Young Vic boss Kwame Kwei-Armah have joined the panel to help decide who receives the 12 grants, each of £10,000.

McCrory said: “It’s fantastic that these funds have been set aside to help the next generation of actors, directors and artists waiting to get on the ladder. These are the young people without support just leaving college or just starting out, who are treading water until theatres, studios and galleries reopen. These prizes of £10,000 each will be an absolute lifeline. Good luck to all the entries.”

Continue reading Evening Standard and TikTok join forces for £120k fund to support theatre talent of the future

Print Media Reviews Roadkill

Hugh Laurie classes up political scandal in David Hare’s new drama, but maybe we’re too scarred to be thrilled

On November 1, 2020May 20, 2021 By helenistic No Comments

Corrupt politics, greedy public officials failing upward – it’s all so tiresome and depressing, isn’t it?

by Melanie McFarland | November 1, 2020 | Salon.com

Corrupt politics, greedy public officials failing upward – it’s all so tiresome and depressing, isn’t it?But damn if it doesn’t go down more smoothly in a British accent. Usually, I should say.

“Roadkill,” the latest “Masterpiece” limited series from Oscar-nominated screenwriter and playwright David Hare, tests that theory with prismatic tag-along through the a rocky chapter in British government minister Peter Laurence’s career. Played with a rakish confidence by Hugh Laurie, we’re introduced to Peter as he’s walking out of court, victorious in libel case alleging that he lied about an attempt to use his office for financial gain.

Continue reading Hugh Laurie classes up political scandal in David Hare’s new drama, but maybe we’re too scarred to be thrilled

Print Media Reviews Roadkill

Roadkill: Hugh Laurie Plays a Politician Trying to Avoid Cancellation

On October 30, 2020May 20, 2021 By helenistic No Comments

A brash British populist dealing with a law suit, a love child, a mistress, and a suspicious PM

by Mike Hale | October 30, 2020 | New York Times

Credit…PBS, via Associated Press

Need to lend some charm, suavity and wry humanity to an otherwise objectionable middle-aged British male? Hugh Laurie is your man, filling that neo-George Sanders role in characters both mildly vainglorious (the spaceship captain of “Avenue 5”) and utterly despicable (the arms dealer of “The Night Manager”).

His latest, in the BBC mini-series “Roadkill” (beginning Sunday on PBS’s “Masterpiece”), falls somewhere in between, and trying to guess exactly where is our primary sport across the show’s four episodes. Peter Laurence may be a well-meaning, if destructively narcissistic, politician with a libertarian bent; he may be a soulless monster who doesn’t care about the bodies he leaves behind, perhaps literally, as he claws his way up the government. Laurie’s guarded, superbly understated performance keeps alive to the last moment the possibility that either, or both, might be true.

Continue reading Roadkill: Hugh Laurie Plays a Politician Trying to Avoid Cancellation