Ben Whishaw and Judi Dench in “Peter and Alice”

So that rumored John Logan’s play starring Whishaw and Dench has been confirmed. The premise is not as bonkers as I initially thought, it’s not Peter Pan meeting with Alice from Alice in Wonderland, but the real people who are the inspiration for the two characters meeting each other. The synopsis:

When Alice Liddell Hargreaves met Peter Llewelyn Davies at the opening of a Lewis Carroll exhibition in 1932, the original Alice in Wonderland came face to face with the original Peter Pan. In John Logan’s remarkable new play, enchantment and reality collide as this brief encounter lays bare the lives of these two extraordinary characters.

Source: http://www.michaelgrandagecompany.com/whats-on/#peter-and-alice_page0

In other Ben Whishaw related news, the release date for Cloud Atlas has been moved forward from December to October 26th, in part because Warner Bros is encouraged by positive audience response during early screenings. December is notorious for a lot of films being released to qualify for the Oscars, so maybe the studio doesn’t want to risk Cloud Atlas getting lost in the crowd.

Source: http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/the-wachowskis-tom-tykwers-cloud-atlas-now-arrives-on-october-26th-susan-sarandon-plays-an-indian-man-20120619#

BBC Trailer for The Hollow Crown

The BBC dramatization of four Shakespeare’s plays – Richard II, Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, and Henry V. Ben Whishaw is Richard II, Jeremy Irons is Henry IV, Tom Hiddleston is Henry V (and Prince Hal in Henry IV). The voiceover narration is by Ben Whishaw, right? Sounds like him, but I’m not sure. Sheesh, I’m such a bad fan, hehe.

Ben Whishaw in BBC’s Richard II (Short Video)

Richard II having it out with his uncle John of Gaunt. Well, I suppose any king would be pissed to be called “landlord of England’ instead of the King, but if the crown fits, you know …

Andrew Scott and Ben Whishaw Behind the Scene in Cock

Behind-the-scene is probably not a very accurate way of describing it. It’s a project by photographer Simon Annand called “The Half”, basically taking photographs of the actors in a play thirty minutes before the actors go on stage. I had no idea Jim Moriarty was in a play with Keats, heh.

Judi Dench – Ben Whishaw Combo Confirmed

By a different source than the New York Post. The Telegraph reports that the John Logan play, still untitled, is expected to open in West End this fall, before transferring to Broadway. The play is described as “about Lewis Carroll’s character looking back on her life” and “boldly original”. The Telegraph article does not mention what character Whishaw will be playing.

Ben Whishaw and Judi Dench, together in a play?

I’m not sure how accurate this item is, (it’s the New York Post after all!), but supposedly Judi Dench has signed on to do a play with the writer of Skyfall, John Logan, about an aging Alice (yes, that Alice, from “Alice in Wonderland”).  And Whishaw is supposedly playing Peter Pan. Errr, what? Peter Pan in “Alice in Wonderland’? Hmmm, seems dodgy. But maybe the play is about Alice feeling jealous that Peter Pan never grows old, while she ages, heh. I really, really want this to be true (Dench and Whishaw, on stage together), but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Judi Dench as Ophelia in an Old Vic production of Hamlet (1957)

Judi Dench as Gertrude in a National Theatre production of Hamlet (1989), with Daniel Day Lewis as Hamlet.

Ben Whishaw as Hamlet in an Old Vic production of Hamlet (2004).

Link: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/alice_in_geezerland_HlXZdEQMlbGNmjSc89cuCJ?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Theater

 

Ben Whishaw’s Hamlet to be Screened at a London Museum (For Free!)

Good news from The Guardian for people living in London. The Victoria & Albert Museum (which Wikipedia informs me is the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design) will be screening Whishaw’s 2004 Hamlet and a few other plays for free on Sundays from 22 January to 25 March. (They have this recorded already, DVD please???) The article mentioned David Tennant, Michael Sheen and Rory Kinnear as recent high-profile Hamlets. Except for Kinnear (who was Laertes in the 2004 Hamlet with Whishaw), these are relatively older actors. I wonder why most of the high-profile Hamlets are older (Ralph Fiennes and Daniel Day Lewis were some of the other ones) even though Hamlet is supposed to be a young man. I suspect a big part of it is the media paying more attention when big-star actors are playing the part rather than young unknowns straight from RADA.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/jan/05/victoria-and-albert-theatre-screening?newsfeed=true