Tag: Damian Lewis on Stage

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”

Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in Sondheim’s Into The Woods

I was fortunate enough to interview Damian in March 2o24 after his gig in Norwich during the second leg of his Mission Creep UK Tour. We spoke mainly about music, but the conversation eventually drifted to theatre. I mentioned meeting his father, Mr. Watcyn Lewis, who had told me how much he hoped to see Damian return to theatre. With Damian now focused on music, the idea of musical theatre naturally came up. When I asked him about it, he admitted he would love to do it, though family responsibilities and the demanding nature of theatre make it a difficult prospect. Still, as we keep our fingers crossed that he might step into musical theatre one day, it feels like the perfect moment to revisit the only musical he has performed on stage so far: Sondheim’s Into the Woods.

“Hello, little girl!”

Many viewers were surprised, as they watched the BBC Broadcast of the fabulous Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends Gala, to see Damian appear as the Wolf to Bernadette Peters’ Red Riding Hood from the musical Into the Woods – one of Sondheim’s greatest musicals. 

But the thing is that Damian is not a stranger to the role at all. In fact, he was the Wolf in Into the Woods  at the London revival of the musical back in 1998! So why don’t we travel back to that time and visit a 27 year old Damian on stage?

Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in Sondheim’s Into The Woods”

Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis at the Royal Shakespeare Company

I was lucky enough to see the Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5 documentary during its opening days at the IFC in New York at a special screening, which was followed by a Q&A with director Raoul Peck. One of the highlights of the evening was getting to ask a question myself — I asked Mr. Peck about how he brought together the film’s striking imagery with Damian Lewis’ narration, and his answer gave a fascinating glimpse into the creative process behind this award-winning documentary. I’m pasting his answer below for those interested in the behind-the-scenes magic.

Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis at the Royal Shakespeare Company”

Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in The Misanthrope

“This Misanthrope is angered by everything he sees around him and yet, at the same time, you might say he’s one of the great romantics in literature.” – Damian Lewis

Damianista’s note: When a good friend shares this picture from Damian’s dressing room with you, you know it is time to travel back to 2009 and re-visit our guy in The Misanthrope. It is Damian’s handwriting on the mirror: I would recognize that capital “G” anywhere. And it says ““Rouse tempers, goad and lacerate, raise a whirlwind.” A little research shows that this was Kenneth Tynan’s lifelong motto, pinned above his desk at the National Theatre when he was its literary manager. ENJOY!

It was 2009 when Damian played the lead role of Alceste in Martin Crimp’s modernized version of Moliere’s 17th century comedy. After his appearance in The Misanthrope he was not seen on stage again until American Buffalo six years later. Dare we say, The Misanthrope marked a turning point for Damian, the last one where he was the nearly A-list actor playing against decidedly A-list’er Keira Knightley. NOW, of course, he is not nearly anything but a full-blown highly sought commodity on stage and screen. In this post, I’ll tell you a bit about the play, then, beg your indulgence as I wax philosophical about the extent to which the themes of the play translate to Damian’s own career trajectory.

Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in The Misanthrope”

Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis at the Royal Shakespeare Company

Damian’s recent performance, with other brilliant actors, of excerpts from Shakespeare’s works  at Allie Esiri’s “Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year – Live” at Open Air Theatre in Regents Park tempts me to take us all back to mid 1990s and visit a young Damian at Royal Shakespeare Company!

Shall we?

Damian shares in a 2009 interview with The Telegraph:

“My heroes were all in the theatre. I wanted to be part of that great tradition that ran back to Garrick and Macready and Kean. That’s what I wished for, when I was asleep and dreaming.”

Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis at the Royal Shakespeare Company”