Category: Theater

Throwback Thursday to a 22 year old Damian Lewis in Rope

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Damian Lewis, 22 in Rope & 44 in American Buffalo

We’re going way back today to 1993, to a 22-year old Damian Lewis in the Birmingham REP Production of Rope.

Before getting deep into the production, let’s just live here for a second… Damian Lewis is today an internationally known star at 44. But, one can’t help wondering what his dreams and aspirations were when he was 22 — literally half of his current age!

Damian tells in an interview with Cherwell how he dreamed of a future in theater: “At drama school, all my influences were in the theatre, not in film and TV. I remember standing on the prow of a ship one year heading over to Amsterdam with one of my best friends, and talking about how we were going to be the next generation of theatre actors.” Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to a 22 year old Damian Lewis in Rope”

Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in American Buffalo!

teach15

A recent article in Evening Standard  mentioning a certain someone as one of the most influential people in London Theater in 2015 first inspired me to do a throwback to one of the best stage performance I have ever seen in my life: Damian Lewis in American Buffalo!

And then I found a second inspiration at New Yorker Festival: I was lucky enough to ask the last question in the Q&A following the conversation New Yorker staff writer Lauren Collins had with Damian Lewis at New Yorker Festival. In fact, when it was my turn to ask, Collins said we were out of time. I don’t know what kind of a sad look I gave to her but she said: “OK, one more…” Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in American Buffalo!”

Throwback Thursday Into the Woods

I told you earlier about the American Buffalo programme booklet that has fun questions asked by fans and answered by Damian Lewis!

americanbuffaloprogramme

Here is another question from that booklet! Claire Bartlett asks: “I saw you playing the Wolf in Into the Woods at the Donmar in the late 1990s. Any more musicals on the horizon?”

Oh, yeah! Way earlier than being the big, bad wolf Henry inWolf Hall, Damian Lewis was the Wolf in Into the Woods. 

wolves

Damian was cast as the Wolf/Cinderella’s Prince in the 1998 London revival of Into the Woods, one of Stephen Sondheim’s greatest musicals. The revival opened at the Donmar Warehouse on 16 November 1998, and closed on 13 February 1999.

Here is a lovely pic along with his theater, TV and film credits from the 1998 London Playbill for the musical.

source: ebay.ca
source: ebay.ca

Continue reading “Throwback Thursday Into the Woods”

A Look Back to 10 Weeks of American Buffalo with Damian Lewis, Part II

source: Damianista
source: Damianista

In case you missed Part I, which is mostly about the actor, the play and the fans, you can read it here.

I, of course, have no idea about how stage actors organize their lives. I just know they work during prime time, that is, they WORK as we go out and eat and watch TV and go to the movies and thereby their routine should be different from us. I also remember Damian commenting on this very thing in the 5 Minutes with Damian Lewis interview:

So, I was really curious if life would sort of stop for our guy during his crazy 10 week long theater run with 8 performances a week — would he just shuttle between home and work?

Some actors may just do that, but not Damian Lewis. He is such an energetic guy that he filled those 10 weeks with a number of extra-curricular activities including one that is said to score 9 out of 10 in terms of stress levels.

Curious? Scroll down! Continue reading “A Look Back to 10 Weeks of American Buffalo with Damian Lewis, Part II”

A Look Back to 10 weeks of American Buffalo with Damian Lewis, Part I

source: Daily Mail
source: Daily Mail

Damian Lewis has said good-bye to American Buffalo in a tweet on Saturday just before his last two performances:

source: @lewis_damian twitter
source: @lewis_damian twitter

Sad to say good-bye indeed… 10 weeks were gone with the wind and American Buffalo is no more. It was super exciting to have Damian Lewis back on stage after six years and I sincerely hope — for selfish reasons — that he will not take such a long break from stage ever again! And, please, Damian, come to the Great White Way next time and make your American fans happy, too 🙂 Continue reading “A Look Back to 10 weeks of American Buffalo with Damian Lewis, Part I”