Latest news with #NationalTheatre
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Helen Mirren turns 80: Celebrating the remarkable career of the 'Queen of British acting royalty'
Dame Helen Mirren knows a thing or two about wearing a crown. Over her six-decade career, she graced our stages and screens with her regal portrayals of powerful, complex women, from Cleopatra to Elizabeth II and Catherine the Great of Russia. She is also the only actor to have portrayed both Queens Elizabeth on screen. Helen Mirren turns 80 this Saturday. For her milestone birthday, Euronews Culture looks back at the memorable roles of a British acting royalty. Helen Mirren was born lyena Lydia Mironov in London in 1945, to a Russian-born father and Scottish mother. The family chose to anglicise their surname to Mirren in the early 1950s. She began her career on stage, joining Britain's National Youth Theatre at 18. There, she distinguished herself playing the Queen of Egypt in 'Antony and Cleopatra', a role she reprised in 1998 opposite Alan Rickman at the National Theatre. A year later, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where she remained for 15 years. From the stage to the screen Mirren got her first major film role in Michael Powell's 1969 romantic comedy-drama The Age of Consent. She later gained further recognition for her parts as an emperor's wife in the 1979 erotic drama Caligula, a gangster's girlfriend in The Long Good Friday and Morgana le Fay in Excalibur. She earned her first Academy Award nomination for her role as Queen Charlotte in the 1994 film The Madness of King George. The actor married American director Taylor Hackford in 1997, 22 years after they met on the set of his musical drama White Nights. It was not until the early 2000s that Helen Mirren truly reached global stardom. She captured the public's hearts and minds with her leading role in British police TV series Prime Suspect. During her 15 years as Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison, Mirren created 'the template for complex and compelling on-screen female characters in every genre', the Guardian wrote in 2020. With success came always more honours and accolades. She won three BAFTA TV awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards for her part in Prime Suspect. Queen Elizabeth II made her a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2003. Three years later, Mirren stepped into the shoes of the United Kingdom's longest-reigning monarch in Stephen Frears' drama The Queen. Her nuanced portrayal of the sovereign in the weeks following Princess Diana's death won her an Academy Award for Best Actress. Defying stereotypes Helen Mirren has earned a reputation for her elegance and wildness. Often described as a sex symbol in her youth, she said she never applied the label to herself. In recent years, she has defied stereotypes against older women, becoming the face of L'Oréal at 69 years old in 2014. Mirren has also publicly embraced feminism. 'When I was growing up, it was thought to be unbelievably sluttish to even have a bra strap showing. Everything was about women conforming', she told the Telegraph in 2016. 'I love shameless women. Shameless and proud!' Unafraid of challenges, she kept on pursuing diverse, sometimes unexpected roles. She was Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in the 2023 film Golda, a ruthless crime boss in TV series Mobland, and even Kendrick Lamar's therapist in his 2022 'Count Me Out' music video. Happy Birthday Helen Mirren!
Euronews
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Happy 80th Birthday Helen Mirren! Celebrating an incredible career
Dame Helen Mirren knows a thing or two about wearing a crown. Over her six-decade career, she graced our stages and screens with her regal portrayals of powerful, complex women, from Cleopatra to Elizabeth II and Catherine the Great of Russia. She is also the only actor to have portrayed both Queens Elizabeth on screen. Helen Mirren turns 80 this Saturday. For her milestone birthday, Euronews Culture looks back at the memorable roles of a British acting royalty. Helen Mirren was born lyena Lydia Mironov in London in 1945, to a Russian-born father and Scottish mother. The family chose to anglicise their surname to Mirren in the early 1950s. She began her career on stage, joining Britain's National Youth Theatre at 18. There, she distinguished herself playing the Queen of Egypt in 'Antony and Cleopatra', a role she reprised in 1998 opposite Alan Rickman at the National Theatre. A year later, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where she remained for 15 years. From the stage to the screen Mirren got her first major film role in Michael Powell's 1969 romantic comedy-drama The Age of Consent. She later gained further recognition for her parts as an emperor's wife in the 1979 erotic drama Caligula, a gangster's girlfriend in The Long Good Friday and Morgana le Fay in Excalibur. She earned her first Academy Award nomination for her role as Queen Charlotte in the 1994 film The Madness of King George. The actor married American director Taylor Hackford in 1997, 22 years after they met on the set of his musical drama White Nights. It was not until the early 2000s that Helen Mirren truly reached global stardom. She captured the public's hearts and minds with her leading role in British police TV series Prime Suspect. During her 15 years as Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison, Mirren created 'the template for complex and compelling on-screen female characters in every genre', the Guardian wrote in 2020. With success came always more honours and accolades. She won three BAFTA TV awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards for her part in Prime Suspect. Queen Elizabeth II made her a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2003. Three years later, Mirren stepped into the shoes of the United Kingdom's longest-reigning monarch in Stephen Frears' drama The Queen. Her nuanced portrayal of the sovereign in the weeks following Princess Diana's death won her an Academy Award for Best Actress. Defying stereotypes Helen Mirren has earned a reputation for her elegance and wildness. Often described as a sex symbol in her youth, she said she never applied the label to herself. In recent years, she has defied stereotypes against older women, becoming the face of L'Oréal at 69 years old in 2014. Mirren has also publicly embraced feminism. 'When I was growing up, it was thought to be unbelievably sluttish to even have a bra strap showing. Everything was about women conforming', she told the Telegraph in 2016. 'I love shameless women. Shameless and proud!' Unafraid of challenges, she kept on pursuing diverse, sometimes unexpected roles. She was Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in the 2023 film Golda, a ruthless crime boss in TV series Mobland, and even Kendrick Lamar's therapist in his 2022 'Count Me Out' music video. Happy Birthday Helen Mirren!
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
'She's an absolute nightmare!': Why those who know Martine McCutcheon aren't surprised she's gone bankrupt, as they whisper truth about her marriage and deliver damning verdict to GRANT TUCKER
There was a time when Martine McCutcheon had the world at her feet. She became the nation's sweetheart playing loveable barmaid Tiff in EastEnders in the Nineties before bagging a number one record with her single Perfect Moment, and went on to achieve worldwide fame opposite in . There was even a Laurence Olivier Award, for her role as Eliza Doolittle in the 2002 National Theatre's stage production of My Fair Lady.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
PATRICK MARMION reviews Inter Alia at the Lyttelton, National Theatre, London: All rise for Rosamund: Pike's a force of nature in electrifying sequel to hit courtroom drama
Inter Alia, Lyttelton, National Theatre, London Has lightning struck twice? Rosamund Pike was sensational on Wednesday night as a High Court judge in a new play at the National Theatre by Australian writer Suzie Miller – the woman who wrote that other hit play about the law, Prima Facie, starring a similarly sensational Jodie Comer in 2022. Intriguingly, Inter Alia is a mirror image of Prima Facie. Where Comer was Tessa Ensler, a have-it-all barrister defending rape suspects, Pike is Jessica Wheatley, a High Court judge trying and sentencing the same. Both plays have Latin titles and run for 100 minutes without an interval. Both are directed by Justin Martin and designed by Miriam Buether. And both turn the tables on their heroines to create devastating moral dilemmas. The difference is that, unlike Prima Facie, Inter Alia isn't entirely a monologue. We first encounter Pike as a clever, light-touch judge, feminising an alpha-male profession with her 'soft skills'. Then we discover her at home as a crusading super-mum: marinating veg, sorting laundry and doing the ironing – all before heading back to court and 'the manosphere'. Pike's Jessica is a force of nature, going out on karaoke nights with girlfriend barristers. But like every good middle-class mother she's also riven with guilt about not being good enough. And although her supportive husband Michael (Jamie Glover) is a sensitive yet adventurous lover, the god of her idolatry is her son Harry (Jasper Talbot). And it's because of Harry that her seemingly perfect life falls apart, despite best-practice parenting, including warning him about social media and online porn. It's reminiscent of Netflix's smash hit Adolescence, so no prizes for guessing why the wheels come off Jessica's dream. The fact that we can see it coming a mile off simply adds to the sense of dread in Martin's helter-skelter production. The only thing that rankled with me is the play's presumption that we are enchanted by Jessica's middle-class values and 'parenting style'. Even so, Inter Alia – whose title means 'among other things' – plays out like a Greek tragedy. Both the male characters are reduced to benign stereotypes. Michael is a basically good, if corner-cutting husband. And Harry is a basically good, if desperate-to-fit-in son. But Pike... she blazes alone: multitasking in the kitchen and in her judge's chambers, walking a mental tightrope and talking us through her 360-degree collapse. Increasingly uncomfortable to watch, just like Prima Facie it will keep the chattering classes chattering long into the night.
South Wales Guardian
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- South Wales Guardian
Samantha Womack felt 'emotional' reading Dear England script ahead of tour
The former EastEnders star, 52, who described taking time off work after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022, will soon portray the team psychologist, Pippa Grange, in a nationwide tour across England of James Graham's award-winning play. The play follows former England manager Sir Gareth Southgate as he navigates the pressures of the team – and the nation. Speaking to the PA news Agency about the role, Womack described Ms Grange as 'wonderful', despite not meeting her in person yet. She added: 'I hadn't really appreciated Pippa's position in that whole transformation of culture, not just football. 'This introduction of this woman, this kind of culture coach and watching some of her YouTube videos, and her warmth, her ability to speak to people in a way that is completely leftfield, but also to be tackling that predominantly male environment, quite incredible. 'And the kind of marrying of her and Gareth (Southgate) with his experience, I just thought was a fantastic way to tell a story. 'I found myself really emotional reading it, which I just didn't expect, I didn't expect at all and then all the humour and the pulling focus on the various different worlds, commenting on the football but also commenting again on failure. 'I just thought, what an incredible piece of work. I just immediately said, please, I'd love to do this. '(It will be) my first National Theatre collaboration, so I'm excited about that. I'm excited to be doing a play and it will just be great for me to get back to work.' The play had a sell-out run at the National Theatre before it transferred to the West End in 2023, securing best new play at the Olivier Awards in 2024. Womack will be joined by English actor David Sturzaker, who will take on the role of Sir Gareth for its 16-venue tour. The production will start in Plymouth on September 15 before stopping in major cities including Newcastle, Liverpool and Birmingham, until the tour comes to a close on March 14 2026. Speaking about the play, Womack added: 'I think we all can empathise with that feeling of pressure, that feeling of failure, that feeling of kind of being alienated and set loose from the pack. We as humans function like that. 'We want very much to be accepted and to be loved and I think that's quite a difficult thing to feel in this world. It's complicated, isn't it? 'The football world becoming a metaphor for what it feels like to walk into an arena of expectation. 'We often see footballers, particularly these kind of young kids, these kind of shiny, faultless rich people who are winners in life, and to actually see that mask dropped and how these human beings feel in that world, and the pressures of that, whether you're a black player or a white player, for different reasons, that pressure and the conflict of what that might feel like, I think it's so important. 'With the Lionesses now we've got this wonderful world of female football capturing the nation's imagination. But I think looking into that predominantly male world, it's a really good thing to show what's going on backstage.' Dear England received nine Olivier Award nominations last year, winning best new play and best actor in a supporting role for Will Close for his turn as Harry Kane. It was later announced the play would be adapted into a four-part BBC TV drama, with Joseph Fiennes reprising his starring role as Sir Gareth and Doctor Who star, Jodie Whittaker, taking on the role of Pippa Grange. Sir Gareth ended an eight-year stint as the national team boss in the wake of the Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain and the play has been updated to reflect his final chapter as England manager.
