Posts Tagged ‘Port Talbot’

It has been rumoured for sometime, but it has now been officially announced by the Port Talbot Magnet, that the film version of Michael Sheen’s The Passion will have its world premiere in Port Talbot this Easter, and that Michael is set to make an appearance along with other cast and crew members.

A spokesperson for the National Theatre of Wales confirmed the ‘The Gospel Of Us’ will be aired in several as yet undisclosed locations throughout the town, and that a “memory” event will also take place the same weekend.

Further announcements from National Theatre of Wales are expected. I will let you know once they come out.

Another year almost over dear friends, so I thought I would take this opportunity to look back at some of the highlights of 2011 before it is over.

January
	At the start of the year, Michael was seen on TV, first in Shooting The Hollywood Stars with British photographer, Rankin, where he portrayed the iconic film star, Charlie Chaplin; then later we saw Michael being honoured with a Best Actor award at the LA BAFTA Britannia Awards that had taken place back in November.
	The dates for Hamlet were announced, and false rumours were abound that Michael had been cast as Blofeld in the next 007 film.
	News broke that the forthcoming ‘Passion’ play would be made into a feature length film, as Michael arrived in his home town of Port Talbot to begin preparations with the community for the Passion.

February
Tickets went on sale this month for both Hamlet at the Young Vic, and also for National Theatre Wales’ Passion
.Michael Sheen received the James Joyce award from the  Literary and Historical Society of University College, Dublin, followed by a Q&A. He also made an appearance at Treat Trust’s gala dinner to raise much needed cash to fund a world-class health and rehabilitation centre in Wales.
National Theatre Wales launched a web community for NTW13 (the Passion Play) as a means to keep the public informed of the progress of the play and to encourage the community to get involved in the project.

March
	Beautiful Boy premiered at Dallas Film Festival to great critical acclaim. Michael continues to visit sections of the Port Talbot community, including the RNLI.
	The viral campaign for the Passion commenced with the launch of Port-Talbot.com, and news that a local Port Talbot man had gone missing. He was later seen in a video for Comic Relief along with other Welsh celebrities miming to a parady song called ‘Newport State of Mind’.
	The rumour that this site broke, of Michael Sheen gaining a voice over guest spot on the forthcoming series of Doctor Who was confirmed by the episode’s writer, Neil Gaiman.

April
Tron Legacy, the sequel to the classic Disney sci-fi film of a cyber world ran by a master program, was released on DVD and BluRay.Jesus Henry Christ premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and the official website launched.
The press surrounding the Passion reached fever pitch. Michael spent a few very busy days appearing on multiple TV and radio shows, including Fern, BBC Breakfast, This Morning, Radio 2 with Simon Mayo and a Q&A at The Laugharne Weekend.
Finally, during an uncommonly warm and sunny Easter weekend, the whole of Port Talbot became the backdrop for the Passion.Michael stayed in the character of ‘the teacher’ for the whole 72 hours of the performance, which featured 1000′s of local people, as well as Welsh rockers, the Manic Street Preachers.

May
	Midnight In Paris opened this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Michael and his co-stars do a lot of publicity through out the month as the film gets a limited release in the US.
	A portrait of Michael appeared at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ annual exhibition.Michael appears as the voice of the House in a Neil Gaiman penned episode of Doctor Who.
	Midnight In Paris continues to do well at the Box Office, to go on to be Woody Allen’s highest grossing movie.
	Michael Sheen delights Twilight fans when he reads out some fan fiction during an interview on VH1 Buzz.

June
Beautiful Boy gets limited US release and generated potential Oscar buzz throughout the media.
A BBC making of documentary called Passion of Port Talbot airs on BBC One. It followed Michael as he worked with the locals of his home town in the production of the Passion play.
A teaser trailer of Breaking Dawn was released, showing Michael as the character of Aro and a release date for Resistance was announced.

July
	Doctor Who series 6, which features the episode Michael appeared in as House, is released on BluRay and DVD.
	Michael Sheen takes a turn at DJing on BBC 6 Music, and got to spend an hour talking about, and playing, his favourite songs.
	Michael is snapped at the premiere of Deathly Hollows along with his daughter, and her mother, Kate Beckinsale.
	Behind the scenes images from a photoshoot by photographer Steve Carty. The photos were to be used as promotional images for Michael’s upcoming Hamlet production.

August
Beautiful Boy is released on DVD in Sweden before anywhere else.
Rose Theatre in Kingston On Thames announced that as part of their Time To Talk series, there would be holding a Q&A with Michael in the following January.
During a press interview promoting Midnight In Paris, Michael Sheen revealed that he would also be appearing in the untitled Terrence Malick project.
In a series of 4 episodes, Michael reads letters from renowned Kenneth Tynan, as part of a BBC Radio 4 program.

September
	The cast list for Hamlet at The Young Vic is released.
	Michael appeared on BBC Radio 2′s Breakfast show with DJ Chris Evans to start off his publicity for Hamlet.
	Due to an early high demand, more tickets for Hamlet went on sale.

October
Beautiful Boy is released on DVD in US. Midnight In Paris gets a UK and European release, as well as being able to pre-order on DVD in US.
A new poster is released for Resistance. An in depth interview with Michael appears in The Times and in The Guardian as part of his Hamlet promotion.
He also appeared on Jonathan Ross’s ITV show.
Michael Sheen and Bill Mitchell win Theatre Awards UK’s Best Director for the Passion.Previews of Hamlet open at The Young Vic

November
	After official press opening night, and Hamlet’s direction receives mixed reviews, but the feeling that Michael Sheen’s performance was nothing short of tortured brilliance was unanimous. The performances continue to rave reviews and sell out audiences.
	It is announced that Prince Charles will attend the premiere of Resistance, which receives a sadly limited release within the UK.
	Michael unveils a blue plaque from English Heritage on the late Richard Burton’s London Home.
	A new promo image of Michael Sheen as Aro for Breaking Dawn is released.

December
WhatsOnStage awards have Michael shortlisted twice for their 2012 awards. Once for Hamlet, and again for the Passion.
Michael makes an appearance on BBC Radio 4′s Great Livesseries to talk about author Philip K Dick.Hamlet continues to wow Hamlet audiences at The Young Vic, and continues to sell out.
Michael appeared alongside Joanna Lumley and Samuel West at an Index On Censorship held an event at the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park to highlight the plight of political prisoners in Belarus.

There are a few people who require a special thanks. One such group call themselves the Sheenian Sisters – @mariamuser @teamaro1 @nouarraa @Evangelinered @fulvia_malacart @gginsp @LucianaLycanus @Margarita_Q @NadyJdB @Redfoxi – thank you ladies for all your support in the twitterverse.

More twitter love to @Merlange @Lilyfreeman @magooglersriot, and @YVTeaBitch.

A really big thank you to my husband who supports me and who graciously, and without envy, accepts that he is not the only man in my life.

Finally, a massive thank you to my sista-from-another-mista @Caryn69. The most bodacious of babes, and a true and loyal friend.

8 More images have been found, and added to the Gallery, of Michael Sheen at the Theatre Awards UK that  took place at the on Sunday 30th October, at the Banqueting Hall, in Whitehall.

Michael, along with Bill Mitchell, successfully picked up the Best Director award for The Passion

You can view them by following the Gallery link, or clicking on the thumbnails below.

Appearances >> 2011 >> Theatre Awards UK

As reported a few weeks ago, Michael Sheen and Bill Mitchell were nominated in the category of Best Director in TMA’s (Theatrical Management Association) Theatre Awards UK, for their work on The Passion.

The winners were announced in a lunchtime ceremony today at London’s Banqueting House in Whitehall, hosted by Ventriloquist Paul Zerdin.

Michael and Bill successfully took the award against their competitiors – Erica Whyman for WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? and Muriel Romanes for AGE OF AROUSAL.

Congratulations to Michael, Bill and National Theatre Wales.

Original Article: ThisIsSouthWales 12 October 2011

MICHAEL Sheen will be returning to his home town to bring his labour of love, The Passion, back to life.

The Hollywood actor, who dedicated months of his busy schedule to put together the spectacular theatre production in April, will be hosting a reunion of the cast and crew at an exhibition to mark the first anniversary next Easter.

The event will include artefacts from The Passion, including photographs, videos and artworks that were made for the production.

Poet Owen Sheers, who wrote the script and song lyrics for The Passion, is also likely to attend.

The announcement was made by National Theatre Wales’ artistic director John McGrath when he gave the first Richard Burton memorial lecture at the Princess Royal Theatre.

A National Theatre Wales spokeswoman has also confirmed the event.

“The exhibition will be located somewhere in the centre of Port Talbot, hopefully in the shopping centre,” she said. “Michael Sheen will be there to greet as many people as possible.”

Members of the community are also being asked to get involved.

“We are hoping to get as many members of cast and crew as we can to attend the exhibition, and we would ask local people to keep any artwork, photographs or videos of The Passion safe,” she said.

“We will begin to gather the material early in 2012.”

The three-day live theatre spectacle took place across various locations in the town and involved 1,000 cast members.

A two-part documentary of the event has already been aired on BBC1 Wales, but a feature film of the production is also to be released.

Speaking at the Hay Festival in the summer, Mr Sheers said: “We are looking to have a premiere on a massive screen outdoors in Port Talbot next Easter — that’s the aspiration.”

National Theatre Wales have not been able to confirm speculation that the film would be screened at the same time of the exhibition.

“We’re hoping so,” said the spokeswoman.

“But we can’t confirm it at the moment.”

Five new photos have been added to the Passion Preparation album. These are from Oliver Edwards Photography. You can click on the thumbnails for a preview or click on the album link.

Theatre>>Passion>>Preparation