Since many people are going to have their first viewings of Frankenstein in June, I guess there might be some useful info to share before people watch the play/screenings.

The National Theatre has a platform on iTunes U, on which you can find the production Frankenstein on the right-hand sidebar, and subscribe it; it’s free.  I would highly recommend the Q&A with Danny Boyle and Nick Dear, which is a 40-min insightful (guarantee it’s not boring at all) discussion re the play, and the pamphlet (PDF), which includes the synopsis of the play, Mary Shelley’s  writing, rehearsal diary, Danny Boyle’s interview, Nick Dear’s interview and Costume Design Suttirat Anne Larlarb’s interview.  The Q&A was held before the audience saw the play, so no spoilers. Besides, as the story was written almost about two hundred years ago, and there are reviews, reports, trailers, clips and gifs all over the internet since last February, I personally don’t consider anything is too spoilery, but if you don’t want to be exposed by any details of the play before actually seeing it, here is the BIG SPOILER ALERT! 

Two interviews re casting worth reading:

Benedict and Danny Boyle’s interview with Metro published a few days before their first press night last Feb. (Benedict had a cold then):

“Cumberbatch, an actor of rare emotional intelligence on stage, and cerebral and charming in the flesh, is quick to bat away any audience preconceptions about how he and Miller might approach both roles. ‘I hate this distinction of me being some f***ing academic who has just managed to escape the allure of some postgraduate course, and Miller as this mad f***ing wild child with dyed hair from Trainspotting,’ he spits.

Boyle, for his part, draws no distinction at all.  ‘I just wanted two stonking actors with the arrogance to feel no fear,’ he laughs.”

Danny Boyle’s interview with The Times:

“Casting Victor and the Creature was always going to be a gamble. But Benedict [Cumberbatch] and Jonny [Lee Miller] just feel right, in the same way that Hugh Grant just wouldn’t feel right. You literally can’t cast it with four combinations in mind, so you have to go for quality. You have to back their ability as lead actors. They have to have the ambition and talent to command the stage, particularly as it’s the Olivier Theatre. It’s a challenging stage, a huge, huge space and it can swallow up actors very easily.”

Nick Dear’s script can be purchased here: Amazon UK/ Amazon US

Underworld’s Frankenstein OST can be purchased here: underworldlive.com or iTunes UK /iTunes US

Transcript (by Cumberbatchweb) of the special late night Q&A with Benedict, Jonny and Danny Boyle for Dramatic Need: this is where I’ll give a HUGE SPOILER ALERT and definitely suggest reading it after seeing the play.

And, finally, here is the Frankenstein Rehearsal Diary from the pamphlet downloaded on iTunes U; I believe a lot of people who saw the play last year didn’t notice this diary, and for me, this is the most interesting info as we can have some insight on how the cast and crew developed the play: 

(AGAIN SPOILER ALERT)

Day One

Danny and I met at the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee School. Nick has been writing his version of Frankenstein for nearly fifteen years – I have heard a rumour he is on draft number 147! Actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller will alternate the roles of The Creature and Victor Frankenstein.

Over the years, he and Danny began to see aspects of the Creature’s character and situation as relating to autism.

Danny is keen for Benedict and Jonny to be able to meet children with autism and aspergers as part of their rehearsal process, so we went to the school to see whether this would be possible. The school was a wonderful place, and we met some of the students and teachers. Then back to the rehearsal room to meet up with Underworld, who will be composing the music for the production.

Rehearsal room one is big with a high ceiling, and its own revolve to imitate the space of the Olivier Theatre.

Danny suggests to Underworld the idea of a train representing Ingolstadt and the Industrial Revolution, to run down the central tracks from the Upstage doors and shoot out into the audience. Danny’s idea is that rather than taking the Creature outside onto the street, we bring the town to him. The train can have both live and recorded sound and be a powerful presence physically. We meet with Toby Sedgwick, the Director of Movement.

He is keen to begin work with Jonny and Benedict by exploring neutral mask. The Creature is an innocent. He is like an adult baby, with no sense of who he is or the world around him, and he must discover everything. Being able to start from a position of neutrality is a useful tool for this.

I join Alastair Coomer (Deputy Head of Casting) to meet some actors for parts which are yet to be cast, and for understudy roles.

Danny is keen to start immersing the actors in other elements of production as early as possible and we do a make-up test for the Creature. There is discussion about the pattern and size of the scarring but it is apparent that the concept for the Creature make-up is a work of art.

Read More

londonphile:

Cumberbatch Reprises ‘Sherlock’ for Season 2

Great New Interview: Benedict talked with ABC’s Peter Travers (ps: he sang as well. :))

Washington Post writer turns Benedict Cumberbatch into ‘Bandersnatch Cummerbund’ Full Story:

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/regret-the-error/173171/washington-post-typo-turns-benedict-cumberbatch-into-bandersnatch-cummerbund/

When asked about “Elementary,” Cumberbatch says, “[Jonny] is my friend and I wish him the best of luck.” But he won’t pretend that the rival show doesn’t stir protective feelings. “What I’d like is for it to be acknowledged that we did originate the idea of modernizing Sherlock Holmes in the 21st century,” he says.

What he fears the most isn’t being bested in the dialogue department — “I would be amazed if they have as consistent a quality of writing as we have on our series,” he says — but a network’s ability to launch a wall-to-wall marketing campaign.

“I’d be sad if ours was crowded out by huge posters on Sunset Boulevard. As much as I’d love it, you don’t see billboards [for our ‘Sherlock’] on the side of the HBO building. I’d love to go to Soho House one night and go, ‘Oh look, there I am with Martin.’ That would be great.”

SHERLOCK: A SCANDAL IN BELGRAVIA

Today, 9 p.m., PBS

Benedict’s NY Post Interview

#yeah i know all hardcore fans have seen Sherlock S2 10k+ times (including staring at all marvelous gifs I believe we reach that number. XD!) #but rating does matter #so…watch if convenient — if inconvenient watch all the same, please~

Just found this TTSS interview clip among a bunch of stuff my brother sent me a couple of months ago; I don’t think I have seen Benedict’s part before, and I always love his view to the movie: it’s far more intimate and it’s about smelling the breath the person you’re killing; it’s not actually by remote control….. 

Today’s cuppa: French roast coffee (sorry, Brits)

Recently, Time Magazine released its list of “The 100 Most Influential People in the World,” with the final spot claimed by the winner in an online poll of 150 nominees.

While British actor Benedict Cumberbatch didn’t snag the 100th slot — which went to the hacking group Anonymous — he did come in 7th in the voting, beating out such other luminaries as U.S. President Barack Obama, singer Lady Gaga, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and singer Adele.

He even came out ahead of his own sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II, who finished 75th (Her Majesty also lagged behind “Downton Abbey” star Maggie Smith, who just nipped her out at 73rd).

“Apparently I beat the leader of the free world,” says Cumberbatch, talking about edging past Obama. “How do you like that? It’s ridiculous. I’m slightly flattered. It might be an alphabetical thing. It’s crazy. It’s really crazy. (A friend joked), ‘Are you running for president?’

“Some of the people on that list of nominees have done fantastic things with their lives. Some of the people that aren’t on that list, but should be, like teachers in the U.K, like doctors, like soldiers in f—-ing wars, in combat situations which we can’t possibly imagine, thousands of miles away; yeah, even some of the politicians — some of them do very good things, all of them do very good things some of the time — brain surgeons, midwives, parents. I’m not even a parent. Parents go through more than I do.

“There are lots of people I’d put ahead of myself, and that’s not me being humble. Come on, you know what it’s about. It’s flavor-of-the-month stuff, and that scares me as much as it thrills me. I’m 35, and I’ve been doing this for 10 years. The point is, I thought, maybe I should start to do something with this moment.

“It’s kind of inspiring in a way, because you look at it and think, ‘I’m not really worthy of my entry in this.’ It’s bizarre and humbling and silly, rather than something to frame and look at and take very seriously.”

In the poll at Time.com, the entry for Cumberbatch opened with, “Britons might be forgiven for thinking human cloning had already proved successful. How else to explain the ubiquity of an actor whose name is only slightly less angular than his face?”

When read that passage, Cumberbatch — who’s currently shooting director J.J. Abrams’ second installment in his revival of the big-screen “Star Trek” franchise, and who returns on May 6 in the title role of the 21st-century reimagining of “Sherlock” on PBS’ “Masterpiece Mystery!” — responds with, “Crikey. I think it’s much less angular than my face. It’s all vowels. If my face was letters, it’d be consonants, I think, apart from my nose, which is a bit blobby. It might be an O or something.

“Enough of me talking about being letters. It’s very funny; it’s lovely; it’s utterly silly; it’s extraordinary. But at the same time, it made me think, f—k, I mean, this is a great thing. I need to take responsibility for this, in a way. This is a moment in my life, there’s no getting away from it. It’s an extraordinary one, and there’s things I can do with it.”

Well, he could appear in other other massive and legendary franchises.

“I have become involved in another one,” he says. “‘The Hobbit,’ playing the Dragon and the Necromancer, so that should keep me in fine wine, as well as ‘Sherlock,’ so I suppose I’m part of three franchises. I plan on not getting involved in another one.”

But what about “Dracula”?

“‘Dracula’?” he says. “Funny you should say that, there’s a script in the pipeline. I’ve been fighting it rather than being in it. There’s a lot of Gothic in ‘Sherlock.’ I don’t like to repeat myself too much. I think there are too many vampire franchises.”

Poe?

“It’s too much of an obvious choice.”

Jane Austen?

“We’re back to the stereotyped casting. Come on. I want to do something with an American accent, so you won’t recognize me.”

How about John Steinbeck or Tennessee Williams, like “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”?

“Maybe.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Great Gatsby?”

“Been done. It’s already been done.”

So what? “Sherlock” has already been done.

“Yeah. Well, like a lot of things in my life … it’d be nice if the culture had a bit of time to breathe and not see another revival of the same thing again and again and again.”

Shoot, you’re in “Star Trek,” after all.

“Well, I know, I know. That’s fair enough.”

http://blog.zap2it.com/kate_ohare/2012/04/sherlock-benedict-cumberbatch-beats-obama-in-time-100-online-poll.html

Role to Role, From Sherlock to ‘Star Trek’

Frankenstein co-stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller share the 2012 Olivier Award for Best Actor.

This is the second time this awards season that the National Theatre colleagues, who shared the lead roles in the Danny Boyle-directed production, alternating between Dr Frankenstein and his creation, have shared a Best Actor award. The pair collected the corresponding prize at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards last autumn.

This Olivier Award is, though, slightly different. Here the stars were always nominated alongside each other rather than in competition, as they were at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. At the Oliviers it was always going to be all or nothing for the leading men.

For Cumberbatch, the win caps a remarkable year that has seen him rise to global fame through screen appearances in Sherlock and War Horse, with more to follow as he is set to appear in both The Hobbit and the latest Star Trek sequel.

For Lee Miller, Frankenstein marked a return to the London stage after an extended absence during which he became better known for starring in US TV series Eli Stone and Dexter.

Writing about their different, exceptional performances in Frankenstein, Official London Theatre commented: “Miller finds a child-like wonder in the young creature discovering his ability to move, clutching at his feet and laughing with unrestrained joy as he runs, while Cumberbatch imbues him instead with more animalistic, almost prehistoric tendencies.”

Cumberbatch and Miller were nominated alongside illustrious opposition, beating David Haig (The Madness Of George III), Douglas Hodge (Inadmissible Evidence), James Corden (One Man, Two Guvnors) and Jude Law (Anna Christie) to win the award.

Some of the UK’s most inspirational and creative people including Dame Judi Dench, Sir Terence Conran, Carol Ann Duffy, David Shrigley, Heston Blumenthal, Stephen Merchant, Benedict Cumberbatch, Maxine Peake and Frank Cottrell Boyce have been telling us who or what inspired them as a child to help raise awareness of the impact creativity can have on a child’s life, in support of the children’s charity Curious Minds.

46 unique and personal tales have been collected together in an illustrated book, with a foreword by Wayne Hemingway and drawings from 15 illustrators including Steven Appleby (Loomus, The Guardian), Oliver Jeffers (Lost and Found), Nick Sharratt (The Story of Tracy Beaker), Al Murphy and Emily Forgot.

All proceeds raised from the purchase of this book will go towards the Chris May Memorial Fund set up by Curious Minds to support creative projects for young people.

Curious Minds is a registered charity no. 1130988 that works across the North West to make sure all children have access to quality arts and cultural learning activities, providing kids with opportunities to be creative, have fun and stretch their minds and imaginations, giving them the best start in life.

The concept for the book was devised by creative collective Dorothy and its development was assisted by Arts Council England.

Take a look at the book here:  http://www.curiousstories.org.uk/

Purchase commencing today: http://www.curiousstories.org.uk/buy-the-book/