Kenneth Branagh to Make New York Stage Debut in ‘Macbeth’

WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Pia Catton
August 20, 2013

Kenneth Branagh will make his New York stage debut in June 2014, but don’t look for him on Broadway: His “Macbeth” is heading to the Upper East Side’s Park Avenue Armory.

The production originated in England at the Manchester International Festival, which co-commissioned the play with the Park Avenue Armory. Branagh starred as Macbeth and directed the play with Rob Ashford (“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”). Starring opposite Branagh in New York will be former Royal Shakespeare Company member Alex Kingston (“ER”) as Lady Macbeth.

In Manchester, the production took place in a deconsecrated church, with several parts of the space used. In New York, it will be adapted to the 55,000-square-foot drill hall, but is likely to replicate the runway stage and the intensity of the original. “The action happens so fast. The battles are right on top of you,” said Rebecca Robertson, president and executive producer of the Park Avenue Armory. “The production elements are simple, but it’s so stark and you just feel a part of it.”

READ MORE HERE: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/08/20/kenneth-branagh-makes-new-york-stage-debut-with-macbeth/

All eyes on Sir Kenneth Branagh as Manchester International Festival bows out

5,000 people turned up for a picnic in a city centre car park to catch a big screen relay of Macbeth, while tens of thousands across the UK got to see the production at 250 cinema live link-ups too

MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS

By Dianne Bourne

Thousands of eyes were on Manchester as MIF staged a live link-up to the hottest ticket of this year’s arts extravaganza – Sir Kenneth Branagh’s Macbeth. 5,000 people turned up for a picnic in a city centre car park to catch a big screen relay of Macbeth, while tens of thousands across the UK got to see the production at 250 cinema live link-ups too. 

 It was a fitting finale to the international festival’s 18 days of world premieres and exclusive arts performances, many of which will now take Manchester’s reputation to arts venues around the world.

Tickets to see Branagh perform in a deconsecrated Ancoats church had sold out in a record nine minutes after first going on sale for this year’s MIF. Extra performances were added, and then organisers announced an ambitious live relay so that 5,000 more people could see the production on a big screen as part of the festival programme. 

 Those revellers descended on the Bridgewater NCP car park on Albion Street on Saturday night with blankets, cushions and picnics in hand to enjoy the performance as the sun set over the city.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/theatre/eyes-sir-kenneth-branagh-manchester-5171346

Kenneth Branagh live Q&A – ask your questions now! (THE GUARDIAN) Andrew Dickson guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 17 July 2013 06.21 EDT

The star of stage and screen will be joining us live online on 18 July to talk Macbeth in Manchester. So what do you want to know?

Scottish power ... Kenneth Branagh in Macbeth at the Manchester international festival Photograph: Johan Persson

Since he burst on to the scene as an impetuous Henry V at the Royal Shakespeare Company in the mid-1980s, there isn't much Kenneth Branagh hasn't done: directed, written and starred in big-budget Hollywood movies, set up his own touring theatre troupe, rivalled Olivier in popular, cinematic Shakespeare – not to mention brought a touch of glowering Scandinavian noir to these shores in the British version of Wallander.

Branagh currently bestrides the stage as Macbeth at the Manchester international festival, his first time doing live Shakespeare in a decade: it's a visceral production for which a deconsecrated Victorian church has been stripped bare and filled with churning mud (the fight scenes are so full-blooded that one of the cast ended up in A&E last week). The Telegraph called it a "thrilling, cinematically fluid account"; the Guardian's Michael Billington compared Branagh's own performance to Olivier. Tickets for the live performance have long since sold out, but the production will be streamed live to cinemas in the UK and Ireland this Sunday, 20 July, and to cinemas around the world in October.

READ ABOUT THE LIVE Q & A HERE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2013/jul/17/kenneth-branagh-live-q-and-a

Macbeth actor 'injured by Kenneth Branagh' in battle scene (TELEGRAPH) By Hayley Dixon2:53PM BST 12 Jul 2013

The actor was fighting Sir Kenneth in the cursed play when he was hit with one of the real swords which are used for the battle scenes, audience members said.

He was checked over by on-site medics and continued with the performance, but after the curtain dropped he was taken to hospital to be checked over.

A spokeswoman for the Manchester International Festival said that they are unable to confirm the rumour that the unnamed actor was injured with Sir Kenneth’s sword due to the number of cast involved in the scenes.

The injured man was not one of the "big stars" in the acclaimed adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, she added.

Sir Kenneth, who co-directs and stars in the production in a deconsecrated church, has admitted that it is not the dramatic battle scenes in the play are risky.

“There is enormous concentration,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “It is impossible to say that it is without danger. Metal clashes, sparks literally fly.”

READ ,MORE HERE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/10176247/Macbeth-actor-injured-by-Kenneth-Branagh-in-battle-scene.html

Sir Kenneth Branagh's Macbeth impresses in Manchester (BBC NEWS)

Sir Kenneth Branagh's first appearance as Macbeth has confirmed him to be an "intemperately exciting Shakespearean actor" in what is a "great" production of the play, critics have decided.

Macbeth is Sir Kenneth's first Shakespeare role on stage for 11 years.

It is being staged in a 281-capacity deconsecrated church in Manchester.

The Guardian critic Michael Billington said: "The highest compliment I can pay him is that at times he evoked golden memories of Olivier in the role."

The play begins with a full-blooded battle scene in driving rain, in which sparks fly as the warriors clash swords.

The stage - essentially a mud-filled trough - runs the length of the church, with the audience close to the action on banks of benches on either side.

Spectators were warned not to wear their "best, light coloured, dry-clean only" clothes in case they got splattered by the mud from the earthy and violent production, which is part of the Manchester International Festival.

Mr Billington wrote that "we seem to be in the thick of the rain-soaked, mud-spattered opening battles".

"This is an exciting production that shows why Branagh is such a fine Shakespearean actor," he told newspaper readers. "He can do the soaring vocal cries but he is also sensitive to the minutiae of language."

Alex Kingston and Kenneth Branagh

Dominic Cavendish
The Telegraph
The actor also "conveys the desolation and despair of a man who has sold his soul only to be confronted by the hollowness of tyrannical power", he wrote.

In The Telegraph, critic Dominic Cavendish declared it a "thrilling, cinematically fluid account" of Macbeth that "doesn't hold back in plunging us into the harrowing grime of battle".

"As the earthy playing-area turns into a bog, as drums beat and swords clash, something stirs in the memory. Oh yes, Shakespeare can be really exciting, can't he?" he wrote.

Sir Kenneth "shows us the vestigial civilisation beneath the martial exterior", according to his five-star review.

"This is a Macbeth, though, that won't just go down as a highlight of the Manchester International Festival but as one of the Scottish Play's great revivals.

"It's a phoenix-like feather in the cap of Sir Ken, too, comeback Shakespearean king.


READ MORE HERE:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23210168

Kenneth Branagh: lost Shakespearean? Kenneth Branagh seemed to give up on Shakespeare. But now he's come back to the playwright who made his name, says Dominic Cavendish. (TELEGRAPH)

By Dominic Cavendish, Theatre Critic 7:10AM BST  04 Jul 2013



The other day I found myself spending a fruitless hour pacing the backstreets of Manchester in the hope of stumbling across the as-yet-undisclosed deconsecrated church where Kenneth Branagh (Sir Kenneth since last November) will present his Macbeth as part of the city’s biennial International Festival, which is almost upon us.

The reason wasn't so much journalistic as nostalgic. I hadn't managed to bag a ticket in advance – all availability went in nine minutes – and the fancy possessed me that perhaps if I laid eyes on the building I’d get closer to the spirit of the project.

Closer, if I’m honest, to Ken. Almost unwittingly I found myself succumbing to something I hadn’t experienced for 25 years: what was once known as Branagh-mania. The reflex action whirled me back to my teenage self, queuing outside the Phoenix Theatre, fresh out of school – an age when to be young was pretty groovy but to see the talk of the town giving his Hamlet was very heaven.

In 1988, when you thought of Branagh, you thought of the Bard – and marveled at how sexy, exciting and fresh-minted he had made the “sweet swan of Avon” seem. The Belfast-born boy-wonder, who blazed a self-radicalized trail out of Reading, where his family moved after the start of the Troubles, made those of us half in love with theatre fully smitten, and rather doting on him, too.

Aged 23 and barely out of the swaddling clothes of drama school, he had seized the crowning role of Henry V at the RSC, bestriding its stages like the proverbial colossus – even daring to consult Prince Charles about the role – only to decide afterwards that it would be better if he could run his own company, and lead from the front.

Such certainty, such vigour, such chutzpah! He was the model of the new can-do age while harking back to the mythical world of Olivier (with whom he was ceaselessly compared) and all the great knights fighting the good fight for immortal nights out with every syllable of perfectly enunciated, rapier-sharp Shakespearean utterance.

He hung out with the right crowd – Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, Richard Briers, Geraldine McEwen. In fact he did more than just hang out with them, he incorporated them into his gang, the Renaissance Theatre Company. The company started its 1988 campaign in Birmingham before sweeping into the West End. Critics and audiences alike adored the company’s Much Ado – in which he twinkled mischievously as Benedick opposite Samantha Bond’s foxy Beatrice.

They delighted at As You Like It, in which he dazzled as the fool Touchstone – the Guardian’s Michael Billington declaring “Mr Branagh actually makes you wait impatiently for every appearance of Shakespeare’s unfunniest clown”. And they kissed the hem of his Hamlet, in which his dazzling Great Dane, as the Financial Times’ reviewer wryly noted, “went to his death with a sardonic dash worthy of Douglas Fairbanks, blond hair kept at bay by the sword-free hand”.




READ MORE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/william-shakespeare/10120995/Kenneth-Branagh-lost-Shakespearean.html

The man who would be king: Kenneth Branagh makes a long-awaited return to Shakespeare (INDEPENDENT) BY PAUL TAYLOR

It's 10 years – if you exclude his rendering of the "isle is full of noises" speech from The Tempest at the Olympics opening ceremony – since Kenneth Branagh trod the boards in Shakespeare. That was in Michael Grandage's acclaimed production of Richard III at the Sheffield Crucible. And before that he hadn't appeared on stage at all for more than a decade. So his appearance as Macbeth – in the hotly anticipated production that he is co-directing with Rob Ashford in a deconsecrated church as part of this year's Manchester International Festival – must be deemed a major event.

Once again, one of the foremost Shakespearean actors of his generation has chosen to stage a rare live brush with the Bard at a venue outside London and, on this occasion, he has set his face against doing any promotional interviews. But his American collaborator, Ashford – an award-winning director/choreographer on both sides of the Atlantic (he picked up the Olivier gong for his Donmar revival of Anna Christie) – is eloquent on the subject of how the intimate site-specific location has helped to shape the production (which is set in primitive times).

"At first, the Weird Sisters seem out of place in a church. The journey – a conversation and struggle between good and evil – is to make the place feel more like a home to them. And we earn the right to do so by being very specific about when good turns to evil and why."

READ MORE: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/the-man-who-would-be-king-kenneth-branagh-makes-a-longawaited-return-to-shakespeare-8675491.html

War Horse and Macbeth, Starring Kenneth Branagh, Will Be Featured in National Theatre Live's 2013-14 Season (PLAYBILL)By Carey Purcell 17 Jun 2013

The 2013-14 season of National Theatre Live will feature the first screening of War Horse and several Shakespeare plays.

The season will feature the National's new production of Shakespeare's Othello, directed by Nicholas Hytner, which will air Sept. 26; the Manchester International Festival's production of Macbeth, starring Kenneth Branagh, will be broadcast live in the UK on July 20 and internationally on Oct. 17 and a 50th Anniversary celebration of the National Theatre will be broadcast live from the National on Nov. 2.

The Donmar Warehouse's production of Shakespeare's Coriolanus, directed by Josie Rourke, will broadcast live on Jan. 30, 2014; and the National's internationally acclaimed production of War Horse, based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, adapted by Nick Stafford, and directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris in association with Handspring Puppet Company, will be broadcast live from the West End for the first time ever in 2014, with specific dates to be announced at a later time.


READ MORE; http://www.playbill.com/news/article/179220-War-Horse-and-Macbeth-Starring-Kenneth-Branagh-Will-Be-Featured-in-National-Theatre-Lives-2013-14-Season

Kenneth Branagh's Macbeth at MIF gets two extra performances (MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS) By Deanna Delamotta

The special preview shows will be available exclusively to Greater Manchester residents and will go on sale at 1pm tomorrow

It was the hottest ticket in town – selling out in minutes to the disappointment of thousands of theatre fans.

But now Greater Manchester people who missed out on the chance to see Macbeth starring Sir Kenneth Branagh have been given a second chance to see the landmark show.

The hotly-anticipated highlight of this year’s Manchester International Festival signals a return to Shakespeare after more than a decade for thespian and film director Sir Kenneth – and it will be the first time he has played the Scottish king.

Add to this the fact that the performances will take place in an as yet unnamed deconsecrated central Manchester church and the buzz surrounding this production on the global arts stage is reaching fever pitch.

Festival organisers have now decided to throw open the church doors to Greater Manchester residents with two extra performances of the play, which also stars former ER actress Alex Kingston as Lady Macbeth.


READ MORE: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/theatre/kenneth-branaghs-macbeth-manchester-international-2991985

Doctor Who’s Alex Kingston Joins Kenneth Branagh in Manchester Macbeth LONDON BUZZ By Marc Snetiker (BROADWAY.COM)

Doctor Who star Alex Kingston is set to join Kenneth Branagh as Lady Macbeth in the Manchester International Festival production of Macbeth this summer, reports The Daily Mail.

The show will be performed in a run-down church in the city center, beginning July 5 and running for two weeks. There will also be a live broadcast of the play on July 20.

Directed by Rob Ashford, the Bard’s tragic tale follows a Scottish general who becomes consumed by ambition after receiving a prophecy from three witches that he will one day become King of Scotland. What follows is a murderous spree of arrogance, madness and bloodbath in what is one of William Shakespeare’s most memorable works.

READ NOW: http://www.broadway.com/buzz/168710/doctor-whos-alex-kingston-joins-kenneth-branagh-in-manchester-macbeth/

Kenneth Branagh: Why I can’t wait to play MancBeth (But don't mention the name of THAT play...) (MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS)

The Hollywood director speaks of his delight to be coming back to Manchester for the International Festival, and how he's spent his whole career avoiding Shakespeare's evil king

Hollywood director Sir Kenneth Branagh has spoken of his delight to be coming back to the city where he ‘came of age’ as an actor to star in Macbeth at the Manchester International Festival.

Branagh cut his teeth at the Palace Theatre 25 years ago, and despite playing many great characters since, he revealed that he had spent his whole career avoiding playing Shakespeare’s evil king.

“It’s the one play by Shakespeare that follows me everywhere,” he said at the programme announcement for the fourth biennial festival, which takes place across Manchester from July 4 - 24.

“The Scottish play, and I’m still too superstitious to say the name, is the one I’ve thought and thought about, always circling around it, but didn’t know what to do with it.”

The play will be performed at a still-to-revealed deconsecrated church in ‘central Manchester’, and the cast have begun rehearsals.

Branagh announced that because the show’s £65 tickets sold out in minutes,  the final performance will be shown live on a screen in a city car park to make it open and affordable for everyone to see. Tickets will be priced £8.

READ MORE: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/theatre/kenneth-branagh-manchester-international-festival-1704037

KENNETH BRANAGH: Manchester Interational Festival to Feature Kenneth Branagh, Rob Ashford, Robert Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Mikhail Baryshnikov By Mark Shenton 28 Feb 2013 (PLAYBILL)

Kenneth Branagh

Photo by Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging

This year's Manchester International Festival will feature newly commissioned productions from actors and directors that include Kenneth Branagh and Rob Ashford (co-directing Macbeth starring Branagh), Robert Wilson (directing Willem Dafoe and Mikhail Baryshnikov in The Old Woman) and Maxine Peake and Sarah Frankcom, who will collaborate on Shelley's epic poem The Masque of Anarchy.

Macbeth will run July 5-21 in a deconsecrated Manchester church, for which details of the meeting place will be revealed to ticket holders beforehand. Kenneth Branagh, who last appeared in Shakespeare in the title role of Richard III at Sheffield Crucible in 2002, will play the title role, and co-direct with Rob Ashford. During the run, there will also be a one-off live relay on a big outdoor screen at the NCP Bridgewater Hall Car Park July 20.

READ MORE: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/175428-Manchester-Interational-Festival-to-Feature-Kenneth-Branagh-Rob-Ashford-Robert-Wilson-Willem-Dafoe-Mikhail-Baryshnikov

Kenneth Branagh to play Macbeth among church-goers Manchester festival has honour of actor's first Shakespeare role in 10 years in 'immersive' staging within deconsecrated church (THE GUARDIAN)

Sir Kenneth Branagh performs the lead in Richard III at the Crucible in Sheffield in 2002. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Unless you count his performance of "the isle is full of noises" speech from The Tempest at the Olympics opening ceremony, it has been a decade since Kenneth Branagh played a Shakespeare role on the stage: that was Richard III at the Crucible in Sheffield.

Next year, however, the actor is to take on one of the most testing parts in the repertoire: Macbeth. And he will do it in the intimate circumstances of a deconsecrated church in Manchester, to an audience of not more than 300 at a time. According to Alex Poots, the director of the Manchester international festival: "It will certainly not be the audience observing the action from a distance, behind the proscenium arch. They'll feel very involved. It will be an immersive experience."

The festival, said Poots, had tempted Branagh through its experience of making work in unconventional spaces and unexpected ways, citing two projects conceived for the 2009 festival: the architect Zaha Hadid designed a pavilion specially for performances of Bach, and It Felt Like A Kiss, a dystopian vision of America, was performed in a derelict office block by theatre company Punchdrunk and documentary maker Adam Curtis.

Rob Ashford, behind acclaimed productions of Anna Christie and A Streetcar Named Desire at London's Donmar Warehouse, is to co-direct Macbeth, along with Branagh, who was knighted this month. In fact intimacy might be regarded as a keynote of the first shows announced for the 2013 festival, which runs from 4 to 21 July.

READ MORE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/nov/14/kenneth-branagh-macbeth-church-manchester