Category: Theater

Damian Lewis’ Song of the Week: Pentonville Prison

“I was riding home one night on my motorbike. I was in North London. I was on Caledonian Road. I was outside Pentonville Prison. Next thing I knew was I was flying through the air and going straight to the windscreen of a car. This is called Pentonville Prison.” – Damian Lewis

As we count down to Damian Lewis’ new album Sweet Chaos, one song many fans have been waiting to officially hear is Pentonville Prison — a track Damian Lewis has been playing live for quite a while now, going all the way back to the Union Chapel show in 2023. With the song now set to appear on the new album, this feels like the perfect time to take a closer look at one of the most intriguing tracks in Damian’s growing music catalogue.

And before we get into it, if you missed any of the previous Song of the Week posts, you can find them all here.

Now, Pentonville is an actual prison on Caledonian Road in Barnsbury, North London. But don’t worry—the track isn’t about Damian doing time there. Instead, it’s inspired by a motorbike accident he had right outside the prison many years ago. Continue reading “Damian Lewis’ Song of the Week: Pentonville Prison”

Two Years Before Album Two: My Backstage Interview with Damian Lewis

We’re twinning with our vests

Two years ago, during the second leg of the Mission Creep UK tour, I had the chance to sit down with Damian Lewis for a conversation about his music.

We spoke backstage at Epic Studios in Norwich after the gig, with a glass of the band’s signature “D Lew” drink in hand. It was the first time I had been able to arrange a proper interview in advance — a real sit-down conversation instead of the quick chats we had managed in the past between rehearsals, interviews, and sound checks. Continue reading “Two Years Before Album Two: My Backstage Interview with Damian Lewis”

Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in American Buffalo

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Damian took  a long break from stage – 6 years – after he did The Misanthrope with Keira Knightley and Tara Fitzgerald at Comedy Theatre in 2009. And three seasons of Homeland, a season of Wolf Hall, three movies, an Emmy and a Golden Globe later, in 2015, he made a wonderful comeback to West End as Walter “Teach Cole” in David Mamet’s American Buffalo which went into history as the first (and second) time I saw my favorite actor on stage. Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in American Buffalo”

Damian Lewis’ Song of the Week: Pentonville Prison

“I was riding home one night on my motorbike. I was in North London. I was on Caledonian Road. I was outside Pentonville Prison. Next thing I knew was I was flying through the air and going straight to the windscreen of a car. This is called Pentonville Prison.” – Damian Lewis

We can’t wait for Damian Lewis’ second album sometime this spring, and one of the songs we’re really rooting to see on the album is Pentonville Prison. We’ll be diving into that track this week in Damian Lewis’ Song of the Week series.

And before we get into it, if you missed any of the previous Song of the Week posts, you can find them all here.

Now, Pentonville is an actual prison on Caledonian Road in Barnsbury, North London. But don’t worry—the track isn’t about Damian doing time. Instead, it’s inspired by a motorbike accident he had right outside the prison many years ago. Continue reading “Damian Lewis’ Song of the Week: Pentonville Prison”

Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in Pillars of the Community

This post was originally written in 2016. With Damian set to star in Jack of Spades alongside Lesley Manville, it feels like the perfect moment to share it again. Enjoy!

It all began when a dear colleague—someone who shares my deep love for theatre—asked me to name my favorite male and female stage performances of 2015. Easy.

Lesley Manville in Ibsen’s Ghosts.
Damian Lewis in Mamet’s American Buffalo (with Mark Strong in Miller’s A View from the Bridge a very close second).

So what was it about these performances that made me fall in love with them?

One word: precision.

Then I thought about the heart-breaking performance Lesley Manville gives in Ghosts which, in fact, brought her an Olivier Award in 2014 (I saw the play later when it visited Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2015). I know Manville mostly from her work on big screen such as Secrets and Lies (1996), Vera Drake (2004), Another Year (2010) and Mr Turner (2014) all of which were some of my favorites in the year they were released. But I really did not know about her stage work. So I googled her.

And here is the first image I hit! Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in Pillars of the Community”