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On Thursday 8th November, Sisters Grimm celebrated their 10th birthday by presenting excerpts from several of their upcoming shows to an intimate audience at the Ministry of Sound in Elephant and Castle.
The Ministry was transformed from its usual sweaty, dark and chaotic throng into something altogether more reserved, with walls and balcony decorated with lights and ivy. The middle of the floor was taken up by a single plastic tree sprouting little white flowers, as if to immerse attendees in a fairytale forest.
The “sisters” are composer Ella Spira and ex-Royal Ballet dancer Pietra Mello-Pittman. In their own words, Sisters Grimm was founded “with a vision to create shows that maintain the highest artistic standards, are culturally themed, socially relevant and accessible”. At the Ministry of Sound, they presented previews of five of their new performances: Voices of the Amazon, Sakura, The Great Winter, The Enchantress and Grammy award-nominated Inala. Each segment offered just a taste of what’s in store for viewers of the full productions in the future, from spirited Zulu ballet to a lively re-imagining of Japanese fan dancing.
Acclaimed actors Jeremy Irons, who presented the performances, and Joely Richardson each lend their voices to Voices of the Amazon and The Great Winter respectively, and the London Contemporary Voices choir joined Alfie Boe in a song for the latter. A behind-the-scenes video preceded each excerpt, where performers and those involved behind the scenes were able to have their say on the artistic validity of and method behind each of the different works.
Inala – meaning “abundance of goodwill” in Zulu – will have its West End premiere at London’s Peacock Theatre from 29th April until 19th May 2019, and following a run at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore will tour the UK.
Jeremy Irons invites you to join Danny Boyle and thousands of people on 11 November to mark one hundred years since Armistice and the end of the First World War. Gather on beaches across the UK & Ireland to say a personal thank you & goodbye as part of Pages of the Sea. Who will you say goodbye to? www.pagesofthesea.org.uk
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11 November 2018 marks 100 years since Armistice and the end of the First World War. To mark the occasion we’re working in partnership with 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary on ‘Pages of the Sea’.
Today filmmaker Danny Boyle invited communities around the UK to gather on beaches, on the 100th anniversary of Armistice to say thank you and goodbye.
Millions contributed to the First World War, many of them departing from these shores. At low tide, on selected beaches around the UK, over the course of several hours, a portrait of an individual from the First World War will emerge from the sand and be washed away as the tide comes in. The sand art designs will be created by Sand in Your Eye.
Anyone who wants to join in can help create silhouettes of people in the sand, remembering the millions of lives lost or changed forever by the conflict. Individuals, families and communities will also be invited to read a new poem by poet Carol Ann Duffy.
Jeremy Irons reads Leonard Bernstein’s poem “Finalizing the Deal, I Believe You Call It”, a negotiation with a gender-changing God, penned six months before his death.
In May 1990, near the end of his storied life, Leonard Bernstein drafted “Finalizing the Deal, I Believe You Call It,” a poem bargaining with God, reminiscent of his Symphony No. 3, “Kaddish.”
Click on the player below to listen to Jeremy reading the poem:
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Leonard Bernstein, composer and conductor, rehearses at Carnegie Hall in 1959 in New York City. (Photo by David Attie/Getty Images)
Finalizing the Deal, I Believe You Call It
1. Trimeters
I made a deal with God.
God, she was tough to deal with.
Dealt me a tempting clause —
Then a sharp zap to the kidney.
It wasn’t a real deal,
Really, just a sort of
Gentleperson’ s Agreement.
We almost shook on it;
The snag was Time, time
Not just to live it out
To the maximum, only to write
That one Important Piece.
“How do you know it will be
That important?” she asked.
“I’ll know, all right, but there’ll be
No way to prove it. Not in a court
Of law, especially our kind
Of court. No witnesses.”
“Bull****,” she murmured. “It’s the same
Old thing again: Afraid
To Die, afraid to try
The consequences of Not-to-Be.”
“Wrong,” I said. “Afraid
Died in my vocabulary
Long ago — except of hurting
Someone I love, and then
Of not writing my Piece
Before my Not-to-Be.”
Long discussion; not to bore you
With it: We swapped equations,
We weighed the torts and liens.
2. Tetrameters
Then she became suddenly tender,
At the same time changing gender.
“I offer the Answer to the Unanswered Question
In trade for cancer, or lethal indigestion.”
I thought to myself: unfair bargaining.
Much more painful to know the Answer
Than any form of mortal cancer.
3. Mixed Doubles
“But the Cosmos,” she wheedled,
“The ultimate macro-atom.”
”No deal, thank you, madam.”
Changing gender, she played her ace
In the hole. The biggest. “Beginninglessness.”
That did it. I signed on.
We shook on it.
I’m still shaking.
~LB
Revised Prague
May 29, 1990
Understanding Bernstein’s “Finalizing the Deal…”
How do we measure a musician’s merit? How do we make peace with not knowing our legacy?
In Finalizing the Deal, Bernstein craves a God-like understanding (“conception of the inconceivable”) he calls “beginninglessness” — a concept he coined two years earlier in “Beauty and Truth Revisited” (“For want of a clearer / Conception of the inconceivable, / Beginninglessness, the lineage of a star, / The key, the Ultimate Creative Mind, / He calls it God…”).
As he and God argue over the importance of his “one Important Piece” and how it will be judged (*warning: Bernstein’s God swears), Bernstein says he no longer fears death (“Afraid / died in my vocabulary / Long ago”) — only personal and professional regret (“hurting Someone I love” and “not writing my Piece / Before my Not-to-Be”).
Bernstein — who suffered from cancer and the side of effects of treatments, and often advocated against nuclear war — rejects two offers from God (the “answer to the Unanswered Question” and understanding “the ultimate macro-atom”).
This time, “beginninglessness,” is offered; Bernstein accepts, sealing his fate, if not calming his soul.
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Audio of Jeremy Irons recorded for The Bernstein Experience on Classical.org/WGBH Educational Foundation by Mark Travis, Associate Director of Media, Production, for the New York Philharmonic. Special thanks to Jeremy Irons, Mark Travis, Jamie Bernstein, author of Famous Father Girl; and Barbara Haws, archivist of the New York Philharmonic Archives.
Leonard Bernstein’s poem used by permission of The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc. All rights reserved.
On Wednesday 10 October 2018, Jeremy Irons was among the many stars who participated in the Harold Pinter Birthday Gala at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London. An after party was held at Brasserie Zedel.
Marking what would have been Pinter’s 88th birthday, the event – titled Happy Birthday, Harold – raised funds for Pinter’s two favourite charities, Amnesty International and Chance to Shine, and featured a variety of Pinter’s work including extracts from his full-length plays, poems, speeches and sketches.
The line-up for the performance, directed by Jamie Lloyd, featured a host of stage and screen performers including Tom Hiddleston, Kit Harington, Simon Russell Beale, Jon Snow, Jade Anouka, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Steed, Felicity Kendal, Indira Varma, Zawe Ashton, Gawn Grainger, Forbes Masson, Samuel West, Sheila Hancock, Lee Evans, David Suchet, Tamsin Greig, Paapa Essiedu, John Simm, Patrick Marber, Russell Tovey, Gary Kemp, Tom Edden, Jonjo O’Neill, Jeremy Irons, Hayley Squires and Lia Williams.
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LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 10: (L to R) Jeremy Irons, Lady Antonia Fraser and Tom Hiddleston attend an after party for “Happy Birthday, Harold”, a charity gala celebrating the life and work of Harold Pinter and the press night performance of “Pinter At The Pinter”, at Brasserie Zedel on October 10, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 10: (L to R) Jeremy Irons, Lady Antonia Fraser and Tom Hiddleston attend an after party for “Happy Birthday, Harold”, a charity gala celebrating the life and work of Harold Pinter and the press night performance of “Pinter At The Pinter”, at Brasserie Zedel on October 10, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 10: (L to R) Sinead Cusack, Jeremy Irons, Lady Antonia Fraser and Tom Hiddleston attend an after party for “Happy Birthday, Harold”, a charity gala celebrating the life and work of Harold Pinter and the press night performance of “Pinter At The Pinter”, at Brasserie Zedel on October 10, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 10: (L to R) Jeremy Irons, Sinead Cusack and Tom Hiddleston attend an after party for “Happy Birthday, Harold”, a charity gala celebrating the life and work of Harold Pinter and the press night performance of “Pinter At The Pinter”, at Brasserie Zedel on October 10, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 10: Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack attend an after party for “Happy Birthday, Harold”, a charity gala celebrating the life and work of Harold Pinter and the press night performance of “Pinter At The Pinter”, at Brasserie Zedel on October 10, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 10: (L to R) Dame Kristin Scott Thomas, Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack attend an after party for “Happy Birthday, Harold”, a charity gala celebrating the life and work of Harold Pinter and the press night performance of “Pinter At The Pinter”, at Brasserie Zedel on October 10, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 10: (L to R) Sinead Cusack, Jeremy Irons, Lady Antonia Fraser and Tom Hiddleston attend an after party for “Happy Birthday, Harold”, a charity gala celebrating the life and work of Harold Pinter and the press night performance of “Pinter At The Pinter”, at Brasserie Zedel on October 10, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Justice League and Die Hard star Jeremy Irons heads to Isle of Wight for school reunion
By Imogen Tew
STAR of Die Hard with a Vengeance, Justice League and Batman vs Superman, actor and Island born Jeremy Irons met with old school friends at the first ever reunion for former pupils from Little Appley Prep School.
One of the Island’s three Oscar winners and originally from Cowes, Mr Irons attended the event with his dog, Smudge, at the old school site, now Appley Manor Hotel, where 54 ex-students spent the afternoon reminiscing over old photographs and memorabilia.
Among the gathering was also Anthony Mitcheson, whose father was joint headmaster at the school, Robert Eldridge, son of Jim Eldridge at Eldridge Solicitors, and Colin Boswell who owns The Garlic Farm.
The oldest among the group, Noel Dobbs, attended the school in the 1940s.
Attendees said it was fitting the reunion it was held at the old school site and agreed to another gathering in a couple of years time.
Jeremy Irons with the staff at Appley Manor Hotel. Photo by Jessica Dobbs photography.
Jeremy Irons – photo by Jessica Dobbs Photography
The 1960 school photo from Little Appley School. Jeremy Irons is circled.
Jeremy Irons with Colin Boswell, owner of The Garlic Farm. Photo by Jessica Dobbs photography.
The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) hosted a special event at the BAM Harvey Theater Thursday evening to honor the institution’s longtime Executive Producer, Joseph V. Melillo, who will be stepping down from his post at the end of the year.
Several of the artists whose careers Melillo fostered over the years paid tribute to him on Thursday night. Robert Wilson created For Joe A Man Who, a collection of vignettes performed by Lucinda Childs, Isabelle Huppert, Jeremy Irons, Chukwudi Iwuji, Nonhlanhla Kheswa, Isabella Rossellini, Carl Hancock Rux, John Turturro, and Wilson himself.
Jeremy Irons reads the Prologue by David Herd to Refugee Tales: Volume I.
The UK is the only country in Europe that detains people indefinitely. To call for a change in the law, Refugee Tales shares the stories of those who have experienced detention. Each day for 28 days, leading up to the start of a parliament, a tale will be released online. The project calls for an immediate time limit to immigration detention (28 Days).
Jeremy Irons is a participant in Refugee Tales’ 28 Tales for 28 Days. The campaign is a call to action to UK politicians to put an end to indefinite detention, by instituting a time limit of 28 days.
As a call for change, Refugee Tales and Comma Press are launching a series of videos, beginning on 11th September 2018 with a video featuring Jeremy Irons. The video will go live at 6:30am UK time.
Click on the player below to hear actor Jeremy Irons read “Life is Juicy,” by Leonard Bernstein:
Audio of Jeremy Irons recorded by Mark Travis, engineer, New York Philharmonic. Special thanks to Jamie Bernstein, author of Famous Father Girl, and Barbara Haws, the New York Philharmonic archivist.
Photo via Mark Travis
Life is Juicy
(Written in a cottage
on the mucky shore of
Lake Mah-kee-nak
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
2 July 1947)
Life begins in the waters—
Not the deep, but the borders of land:
The stagnants that nourish the sterile earth
Like a juicy gland.
Life is the seed of the marriage
Of liquid and solid events.
In the coves, in the swamps, in mysterious pools,
Our heartaches commence.
Life is the pulp and the slime,
The marshmallow bellies of frogs,
Their thyroided eyes, their eggjellies caught
On the rotting logs.
Life is the algae, the roe;
The army of maggoty breeds
Devouring the corpse of a very old perch
Adrift in the weeds.
Life is the plasm, the cells,
The fat symbiotics in pairs;
The ankledeep fungoids which darkly provide
The crawfish with lairs.
Life is the scaly and scummy,
The poisonous green without breath;
The marinal maze whose only solution
Is ultimate death.
For Death is the crisp and the clean,
The fine oxidation, the rust,
The spermless, the painless, the classic, the lean,
The dry, dry dust.
Leonard Bernstein photo by Paul de Hueck courtesy of the Leonard Bernstein Office
Classical.org will release several approximately 20 poems by the legendary musician including some never before seen Bernstein poems. A Bernstein poem read by actressLaila Robbinswill be released next week.
WGBH launchedThe Bernstein Experienceon Classical.org this year as part of a year-long celebration of the music, life and legacy of the conductor, composer, educator, and humanitarian who would celebrate his 100thbirthday on August 25, 2018.
Bernstein’s poem celebrates bucolic summers at Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Hear actor Jeremy Irons read “Life is Juicy,” by Leonard Bernstein on The Bernstein Experience on Classical.org: http://bit.ly/life-is-juicy_b100
Jeremy Irons attended a screening of his film Trashed, followed by a Q&A, at a fundraiser in aid of Village Well in Lesotho, South Africa, on Thursday 23rd August 2018.
SKIBBEREEN Town Hall was full to capacity recently for ‘An Evening with Jeremy Irons’ – which included the screening of the award-winning documentary Trashed which features the Oscar winner – as well as an extended Q&A afterwards with Mr Irons and microbiologist Dr Niall O’Leary from UCC.
As well as discussing the issue of waste, the event, with the aid of David and Patsy Puttnam, was also a fundraiser for a well-building project in Lesotho, South Africa and over €2,000 was raised through ticket sales.
Organiser Kay Quinn said: ‘It was a very successful evening and Jeremy Irons took time to show the community the documentary about how our waste is thrown out and forgotten, and how we must re-evaluate this attitude to valuable asset.
‘It was suggested on the night that every school in Ireland should be shown this documentary and the screening was a wake-up call for all of us to re-think plastic in particular,’ she said.
She also thanked David and Patsy Puttnam who brought Dr Niall O’Leary to answer any of the scientific questions which were asked by the audience in the Q&A session.
‘A special thanks to Jeremy Irons who gave up his time to show us his concern for our environment, while also helping to raise funds for the water wells in Lesotho at the same time,’ said Mrs Quinn.
‘We would also like to thank Anne Minihane and Stephen Bean for taking the photographs and Darragh Murphy for the sound.’
Following the screening of the documentary, which has won several international film awards, both Jeremy Irons and Dr O’Leary took part in the Q&A under the guidance of Declan McCarthy as MC.
This turned into a lengthy discussion which touched on the proposed plastics factory which has been planned for Skibbereen.
Speaking afterwards Dr O’Leary said the Q&A with the local audience ‘was very engaged, running twice as long as planned and revealed a well-informed local community who are very concerned with the issue of plastics use, waste and disposal.’
He added that since Trashed was filmed in 2012, global plastic production and waste generation and disposal figures have only increased in the intervening period.
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