Donmar Warehouse Latest
Michael Grandage and the Donmar Warehouse continue to dominate sales of theatre tickets in London. However, they are not content with commercial success. They are also receiving critical accolades. The latest evidence of this is no less than four Critics’ Circle Awards. The award for best director went, of course, to Grandage himself for ‘Ivanov’ and ‘The Chalk Garden’. The star of ‘Ivanov’, Kenneth Branagh took the award for best actor and best actress went to Margaret Tyzack for ‘The Chalk Garden’. The fourth award was for best Shakespearean performance which went to Derek Jacobi for his portrayal of Malvolio in ‘Twelfth Night’.
The casting for the final production of the Donmar’s year long season at Wyndhams Theatre has been announced. From the beginning of the season everybody knew that Jude Law would play Hamlet. Originally he was to be directed by Kenneth Branagh, but Hollywood came calling and Branagh is now busy directing the forthcoming film about the superhero Thor. Michael Grandage has taken over the job and has now assembled an exciting cast.
Fresh from his success as a diminutive Sir Toby Belch, Ron Cook joins Penelope Wilton, Gwilym Lee, Peter Eyre, Kevin R McNally, Matt Ryan, Alex Waldmann, John MacMillan and Gugu Mbatha-Raw.