An American theatrical phenomenon is staking its first claim on London's west end today in a performance in which all of the many actors involved, from Colin Firth to Juliet Stevenson, Sir Ben Kingsley and Sir Ian McKellen, will be happily upstaged by an unlikely rival – British history.
Firth is leading a host of talented names on stage at the Prince of Wales Theatre in the first British version of The People Speak, a show that aims to breath new life into the past by bringing audiences some of the most significant passages from recorded history.
Stars of the stage and screen will be joined by actresses Kelly Macdonald and Saffron Burrows, poet Benjamin Zephaniah, novelist Arundhati Roy and comedians Omid Djalili and Mark Steel, as Firth tests out the British appetite for a brand that has become as important to popular history in America as the BBC's television series Who Do You Think You Are?
"The People Speak is the perfect response to the abject misery of my history class as a schoolboy," said Firth. "Considering the immense riches that history offers us in terms of the best and worst of human behaviour – corruption, sexual deviation, rebellion and the struggle for power – there is no reason why history should be dry.'
The performance, which will be filmed by the History Channel..MORE
No comments:
Post a Comment