Latest news with #MichaelSheen
Western Telegraph
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Western Telegraph
Actor Michael Sheen visits Theatr Gwaun, Fishguard
The award-winning actor, director, philanthropist and activist Michael Sheen, popped into Fishguard's Theatr Gwaun last week, which he described as a 'beautiful' venue'. He came to the theatre in his new role as and now artistic director of Welsh National Theatre, to find out what the theatre offered and what its audiences were interested in as well as to discuss possible future collaborations. Seated in the venue's Martha's Bar he said that the community owned theatre was 'such a beautiful theatre, it's wonderful'. 'With this new company, Welsh National Theatre one of the most important things you can do to begin with is see what's out there,' he explained. 'Go and look at what's going on in the country and visit all the theatres that are out there. Find out what you're doing, what you're excited about, what's interesting to you. How we can work together.' He added that Welsh National Theatre wanted to make 'shows that are there that are meaningful to Welsh audiences and telling our stories' that could be played on the biggest stages in the world, including the Millennium Centre, in Cardiff but also wanted to work in 'beautiful little theatres' like Theatr Gwaun. 'So you need to get out there and see what's out thee to be able to start doing that,' he said. 'To see what the audiences are into as well, what your experience is in this community and to find out what people are watching, what people would like to watch, what would be meaningful to people and see how we can serve that. 'It's such a beautiful theatre this, it's wonderful.' Michael Sheen announced earlier this year that he was setting up Welsh National Theatre to fill the gap left by National Theatre Wales, which closed after Arts Council Wales made £1.6m in cuts to its core funding. He has self-financed the company initially, saying that he wanted it to 'be something that represents the rich culture that we are and always have been in this country'.
Daily Mirror
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Michael Sheen and the Daily Mirror give working class authors 'A Writing Chance'
Writers from Michael Sheen's 'A Writing Chance' project mentored by Mirror journalists see their work in print As an ordinary kid growing up in South Wales, I dreamed of being an actor. That might have seemed unusual, but back then I had Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins to look up to – people who'd grown up like me and gone on to be successful. There were more books, films, play and TV shows created by working class people too, from 'A Taste of Honey' to 'Boys from the Black Stuff'. All that gave me confidence to have a go myself. But in the last few decades, things changed. It's become much tougher for people from ordinary backgrounds to get their stories heard. Today, half of published authors have middle-class backgrounds – but just 10 per cent are working-class. We know that kids from all walks of life enjoy reading at school, and working-class people are some of the best story tellers out there, so somewhere, somehow, something's going wrong. That's why I worked with the Daily Mirror to launch 'A Writing Chance', a project to find and support new working-class writers from across the UK. We've already found fantastic storytellers – one, Tom Newlands, wrote one of the big hits of 2024, 'Only Here, Only Now'. Here you can read some of the work produced by our latest writers, who have been mentored by brilliant Mirror journalists. It's renewed my belief that as Billy Elliot director Stephen Daldry said, "the really successful work" happening at the moment "tends to be working-class writers telling working-class stories." In the future we're going to be publishing more stories like this in The Bee, a new magazine which will be a home for working class writers. I hope you'll read it – and, if you have a tale to tell, maybe write for us as well? Justice and fairness demand that people from the less well-off sections of society have the chance to tell their stories, and to get them heard. But it's also about common sense. When we surveyed working-class people who like to read, 63 per cent said that representation was important, and that they'd like to see more people like themselves on the pages. There's an untapped market out there. Perhaps, most important of all, the most urgent, revelatory and entertaining stories – the ones we most want to hear – so often come from those who are excluded, or who struggle to be heard. I've always believed that telling stories is an important way to make change in the world – and levelling the playing field for writers has to be a change for the better. I believe that as we encourage working people to write, they will inspire others to be creative, just as working-class actors and writers inspired me. Sue Townsend was working-class, disabled, and unapologetically loyal to my community in Leicester. She tackled serious issues with wit and heart – and she gave hope to people like me. She showed me our lives — council estates, illness, hardship — were worth writing about. We often hear what's "wrong" with council estates. But what about what's right? Activism, humour, and community resilience were led by women like Sue and my nana Winnie, who didn't want credit. They just wanted change. Sue wasn't just a writer — she was a movement. Her voice gave working-class people visibility without patronising or exaggerating. She found the extraordinary in ordinary life and shared it with honesty. Sue moved to Eyres Monsell, a Leicester council estate, in the late 60s. By the early 70s, Sue was a struggling single mum of three young children. When her son asked, "Why can't we go to the zoo like other kids?" the seed of Adrian Mole was planted. During the 70s, Sue met my nana, Winnie Aldwinckle. Winnie lived on the next estate, known as The Saff, where Sue worked – and was a powerhouse, co-founding the Parents' Association in 1973. Her grassroots activism mirrored Sue's — both women used media to create change. Winnie regularly contributed to the Leicester Mercury, often collaborating with journalist Adam Wakelin. She even had her column, Winnie's World — a podcast before podcasts. She talked, Wakelin wrote. All voluntary, all for the community. When the Goldhill Adventure Playground faced closure, Sue and Winnie camped out to protest — and they won. Upon Winnie's passing in 2013, Sue co-wrote her obituary with Wakelin for the Leicester Mercury — Sue's last known publication before her own death in 2014. She wrote, "If anything went wrong on the estate, we called on Winnie. You had a good chance of winning if she was on your side." Sue won, too — not by selling out or moving away, but by staying loyal to Leicester and writing truthfully about the people who lived there. By Sunita Thind 'You smell of curry', 'Sunita, you got a tache, gorilla', 'Oi, Coconut f*ck off home,' were some of the taunts I grew up with. For people like me who have an invisible disability and are from a minority background, this is just a way of life. But raising a problem in Asian society makes you the problem. 'Chup kar' – keep quiet, keep it to yourself – our elders would say in Punjabi. In my community, we were not educated on such dirty matters as sex, periods, and other taboo subjects because we were a conservative community. And nor was I taught at school to be proud of my multiple cultures and heritage, or about the hidden histories of the British Empire, Partition, or India's contribution to fighting two world wars. But after facing infertility, surgical menopause, hair loss, loss of my ovaries and fertility my family were there to lift me up, including my husband and silver-tipped Samoyed dog, Ghost. At my beautiful Sikh wedding with my handsome white husband, I finally felt proud of the cultures and customs I used to reject but are part of my DNA. The men in my family came over from Malaysian and Singapore. My Grandad eventually had a corner shop, my dad worked very hard, long hours at the Brickyard. I loved singing the Christian hymns at school, but when the doors closed it was my family, community and Gurdwara that gave me a spiritual sense of myself as well delicious Indian food. We supported each other with the food we made, spices fragrant as our souls, bonding over special festivals like Diwali, Vasaki (Sikh Harvest festival), and Guru Nanak's birthday, Rakhi. If you are Caucasian, you are an expat, if you are a person of colour, you are an immigrant, migrant, refugee. We are still on the outside of the looking glass with our hands and faces pressed against it, desiring belonging. By Zainab Amer I write because of my community, not in spite of it. I'm working-class, with English and Egyptian roots. My childhood summers were spent in Egypt, surrounded by family, food, and laughs. It was also the first time I saw real poverty. It shook me and still does. I knew even then: these stories mattered. Being a working-class writer isn't easy. The biggest challenge is access - or the lack of it: to resources, networks, and a seat at the table. I have scrubbed bathrooms, stacked shelves, and balanced armfuls of plates while my feet throbbed. Politicians insist hard graft pays off. But here's the truth: we can barely make rent. Instead, we're rewarded with housing worries, not writing submissions. Still, what I gain from my community outweighs the setbacks. I've listened to a carer who devoted 10 years to her father with dementia. I've bantered alongside retail comrades - a vital ingredient in surviving a nine-hour shift. These aren't just stories of 'struggle.' They are full of compassion, grit, and humour. As a writer, I try to carry these through every story. Every article. Every pitch. And as for my Egyptian side? In a time when negative depictions of Arabs are ubiquitous, it feels more urgent than ever to write about what I know: which is warmth, charm, and endless storytelling.
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews David Frost Vs...: Journalist's humbling of Richard Nixon is a masterclass in the interviewer's art
David Frost Vs... (Sky Documentaries) President Richard Nixon didn't smile. He just bared his teeth in a Humphrey Bogart sneer. But Bogie looked untouchably cool. Nixon looked like a dog about to bite. We were given an unparalleled opportunity to study Nixon's face, a picture of political cunning under a mask of suspicion, thanks to British chat show host David Frost's marathon 28-and-three-quarter hour inquisition of the disgraced former U.S. leader, recorded in 1977. David Frost vs... Richard Nixon picked out highlights, from the opening jab that gave Nixon a chance to showboat, until the final flurry of sucker punches that left him floundering in self-recrimination, apologising to the American people for betraying their trust. Throughout, Nixon was dabbing sweat with a handkerchief from his grey upper lip. Sometimes, the beads of moisture were so unattractive under the lights that Frost had to prompt him to do it again. The camera was as unforgiving as the interrogator. Actor Michael Caine once said that being interviewed by Frost was like confessing to a priest. Once you started to talk, everything came pouring out. But Nixon was in no mood for absolution. Frost reeled him in slowly, sometimes with flattery and sometimes with dramatic gestures. On the last day of recording, the Englishman threw away his clipboard and notes, tossing them onto the floor as if to say that everything they discussed was now off the record. It wasn't, of course. Michael Sheen, who played Frost in both the Broadway play and the movie Frost/Nixon, based on this epic interview, gave an enthusiastic assessment of what made the man such a formidable TV performer — quickness of mind, charm and his unabashed readiness to deploy flattery. The interview gave an unparalleled opportunity to study Nixon's face, a picture of political cunning under a mask of suspicion, thanks to British chat show host David Frost's lenghty inquisition of the disgraced former U.S. leader Veteran Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, one of the men who helped to bring down Nixon by exposing the Watergate bugging scandal in 1972, was less complimentary . . . unable to hide his abiding conviction that he could have done a better job himself. But even persuading Nixon to sit down and talk took all Frost's guile . . . in addition to a $600,000 fee (£2.4 million today) and a 20 per cent share of the revenue. This condensed version is part of a series drawing on the videotape archives left by Frost, who died in 2013. The trove, so vast that it took son Wilfred eight years to transfer them all to digital format, includes in-depth encounters with Elizabeth Taylor, Muhammad Ali and The Beatles. Next week's episode focuses on Elton John, who made his first candid confessions about drugs, drink and sexuality to Frost. Many other interviews are available in a podcast, The Frost Tapes. Wilfred, now a Sky News presenter, told me a couple of years ago: 'One day, I would like the entire archive to be available as a teaching resource, because it is living history.' For anyone fascinated by the interviewer's art, there is no better professor.
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Michael Sheen reveals his father has passed away aged 85 as actor shares heartbreaking news
Michael Sheen has announced his father has sadly passed away. The Welsh actor, 56, took to Twitter on Sunday as he shared the sad news alongside a picture of his father Meyrick Sheen. He penned: 'On behalf of my family it is with heartbreaking sadness that I mark the passing of my beautiful father Meyrick Sheen today. 'We were with him throughout. There will never be anyone like him. RIP Meyrick Sheen (1940 - 2025)'. Michael also paid tribute to the staff at his father's care home and hospital who looked after him ahead of his passing. He added: 'Thank you to the amazing staff at Swn Y Mor care home and Morriston & NPT hospitals. Your kindness made all the difference. 'That beautiful portrait is by Roo Lewis. He loved it and so do we. X' As messages of support flooded in from family and friends, Michael wrote: 'Thank you to everyone for your kind messages from me and my family.' Michael was born in Newport, Monmouthshire in Wales to parents Meyrick, who was a British Steel Corporation personnel manager, and Irene, a secretary. The family briefly moved to Wallasey before settling back in Wales in Port Talbot. And it seems Michael took his theatrical side from his parents who were both involved in local amateur operatics and musicals. His dad even travelled the world working as a Jack Nicholson lookalike as he topped up his pension by providing one-off appearances dressed as the Hollywood actor. Michael previous revealed why he left Hollywood behind to live back in his hometown in Wales. He previously lived in Los Angeles, where the acting industry is biggest, but a few years ago he decided to return to his home country. Michael also paid tribute to the staff at his father's care home and hospital who looked after him ahead of his passing As messages of support flooded in from family and friends, Michael wrote: 'Thank you to everyone for your kind messages from me and my family' Michael lives with his girlfriend Anna Lundberg, 31, and their two daughters, Lyra, five, and Mabli, two, just outside Port Talbot. Speaking to The Sunday Times in 2024 on why he abandoned his Hollywood lifestyle, he said: 'It's home. I feel a deep connection to it.' Michael explained that while working on a play in Port Talbot in 2011, he saw local people in his hometown struggling to cope with the cost of living crisis and job cuts. His time there made him aware of initiatives and charities that were in need of high-profile help and support, and he realised the impact he could have. He said: 'Once you become aware of difficulties in the area you come from you don't have to do anything. You can live somewhere else, visit family at Christmas and turn a blind eye to injustice. 'It doesn't make you a bad person, but I'd seen something I couldn't unsee. I had to apply myself, and I might not have the impact I'd like, but the one thing that I can say is that I'm doing stuff. I know I am — I'm paying for it!' He added: 'It'd take a lot for me to work in America again — my life is elsewhere.'
South Wales Argus
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- South Wales Argus
Welsh Government ministers meet care experienced children
The Exploring Radical Reform Summit took place on May 11 and aims to help young people shape reforms to care services across Wales. Children aged nine to 14 in care joined 40 young leaders with care experience. Actor Michael Sheen, patron of Voices from Care Cymru, delivered special video messages to the attendees. Dawn Bowden, Welsh Government minister for children and social care, was in attendance to speak to attendees alongside the ministers for education, social justice, finance and Welsh language, and mental health and wellbeing, said: "Listening directly to young people with experience of care is essential to creating meaningful reform. "Including younger children for the first time this year brought fresh perspectives that will help us build a care system that truly meets their needs. "Their voices are not just being heard – they are actively shaping policy." She highlighted the relevance of the summit's timing, taking place in the same month as National Children's Day saying: "We want a Wales for all children, where every child feels valued, respected and heard." Young ambassador and co-chair of the event, Georgia Toman, said: "It really means a lot to care experienced young people that Welsh ministers spend time listening to us and taking us seriously."
