Samuel West
Encyclopedia
Samuel Alexander Joseph West (born 19 June 1966) is an English
actor
and theatre director. He is perhaps best known for his role in Howards End
and his work on stage. He also starred in the award-winning play ENRON
. His parents are well-known television and theatre actors Timothy West
and Prunella Scales
.
and Timothy West
, and the grandson of the late actor Lockwood West
. He was educated at Alleyn's School
, a co-educational independent school
in Dulwich
, London
, and at Lady Margaret Hall at the University of Oxford
, where he studied English Literature.
, film
, television
and radio
. As well as being an actor West has also forged a career as a theatre director.
, playing Michael in Cocteau's Les Parents terribles
, of which critic John Thaxter wrote: "He invests the role with a warmth and validity that silences sniggers that could so easily greet a lesser performance of this difficult role, and he lets us share the tumbling emotions of a juvenile torn between romantic first love and filial duty." (Richmond & Twickenham Times, 10 February 1989). Since then, West has appeared frequently on stage and has worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company
, taking the title roles in Richard II
and Hamlet
both directed by Steven Pimlott
.
In 2002, West made his stage directorial debut with The Lady's Not for Burning
at the Minerva Theatre
. He was appointed artistic director of Sheffield Theatres
- succeeding Michael Grandage
- in 2005. During his time as artistic director West revived the controversial The Romans in Britain
and also directed As You Like It
as part of the RSC's
Complete Works Festival. Following his resignation in December 2006 from his role as artistic director, West marked his West End
directorial debut with the first major revival of Dealer's Choice following its transferral to the Trafalgar Studios
. He has also continued his acting career: in 2007 he appeared alongside Toby Stephens
and Dervla Kirwan
in Betrayal
at the Donmar Warehouse
, while in November 2008 he starred in the Donmar revival of T. S. Eliot
's The Family Reunion
.
's novel Howards End
(released 1992) opposite Emma Thompson
, Helena Bonham Carter
and Anthony Hopkins
. For this role, he was nominated for best supporting actor at the 1993 BAFTA Film Awards. His film career has continued with roles in a number of well known films, such as: Jane Eyre
, Notting Hill
, Iris and Van Helsing
. In 2004, he appeared in the year's highest rated mini-series on German television, "Die Nibelungen", which was released in the USA in 2006 as Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King
(also known as Ring of the Nibelungs, Curse of the Ring, and Sword of Xanten).
, Waking the Dead
and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
as well as one off dramas. He played Anthony Blunt
in Cambridge Spies
a BBC
production about four British spies, starring alongside Toby Stephens
(Philby
), Tom Hollander
(Burgess
) and Rupert Penry-Jones
(Maclean
). November 2006 saw him take the lead role in BBC Television
production of Random Quest
adapted from the short story by John Wyndham.
West is much sought-after as a narrator of television documentaries, including the acclaimed series The Nazis: A Warning from History
and The Planets. He often appears as narrator with orchestras (see below) and performed at the Last Night of the Proms in 2002. On radio, West has voiced a range of programmes from one-off dramas and serials to recitations of poetry. In 2006, he narrated the BBC Radio 4
production A Passage to India
.
West has appeared alongside his actor parents on several occasions; with his mother Prunella Scales
in Howards End
and Stiff Upper Lips
, and with his father Timothy West
on stage in A Number
, Henry IV Part I and Part II. In two films - Iris (2001) and the 1996 television film Over Here
, Sam and his father have played the same character at different ages. In 2006, all three gave a rehearsed reading of the Harold Pinter
play Family Voices
as part of the Sheffield Theatres
Pinter season.
, directing The Magic Flute
. West became the patron of Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
in February 2008, having been the narrator for a concert of theirs in February 2002. He is also a patron of London children's charity Scene & Heard
, Eastside Educational Trust and Mousetrap Theatre projects.
While at university, West was a member of the Socialist Workers Party
and later briefly the Socialist Alliance
; West has been politically active for many years and was a strong critic of Tony Blair
's New Labour government.
Between 2007 and 2010, he lived with playwright Laura Wade
.
He has also narrated five BBC documentary series for the producer Laurence Rees
:
, Coriolanus
, Henry V
, The Merchant of Venice
, Much Ado about Nothing
and Richard II
, the Wind on Fire
trilogy by William Nicholson
(The Wind Singer
, Slaves of the Mastery and Firesong
), the Arthur trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland
(The Seeing Stone
, At the Crossing Places and King of the Middle March), four books by Sebastian Faulks
(Charlotte Gray, Birdsong
, The Girl at the Lion d'Or
and Human Traces
), four by Michael Ridpath
(Trading Reality, Final Venture, Free to Trade, and The Marketmaker), two by George Orwell
(Nineteen Eighty-Four
and Homage to Catalonia
), two by Mary Wesley
(An Imaginative Experience and Part of the Furniture), two by Robert Goddard
(Closed Circle and In Pale Battalions) and several compilations of poetry (Realms of Gold: Letters and Poems of John Keats
, Bright Star, The Collected Works of Shelley
, Seven Ages and Great Narrative Poems of the Romantic Age). Also Bomber
, Doctor Who
: The Vengeance of Morbius, Empire of the Sun
, Brighton Rock, Fair Stood the Wind for France
, Fluke, Great Speeches in History, How Proust Can Change Your Life, Lady Windermere's Fan
, Peter Pan
, The Alchemist
, The Day of the Triffids
, The Hairy Hands, The Lives of Christopher Chant, The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous
, The Queen's Man, The Solitaire Mystery
, The Swimming Pool Library
, The Two Destinies, The Velveteen Rabbit
, The Way I Found Her, The Way to Dusty Death, The Woodlanders
, Under the Net
and Wuthering Heights
. He has narrated many history programmes for the BBC, including most of the documentaries produced, written, and directed by World War II historian Laurence Rees: The Nazis: A Warning from History
(1997), War of the Century: When Hitler Fought Stalin (1999), Horror in the East (2000), Battle for the Atlantic (2002), Auschwitz: The Nazis and the “Final Solution” (2005), and World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis, and the West (2008).
As a reciter West has worked with all the major British orchestras, as well as the Strasbourg Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony Orchestra
and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC. Works include Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex and The Soldier's Tale, Prokofiev’s Eugene Onegin, Beethoven's Egmont
, Schoenburg's Ode To Napoleon, Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, Bernstein's Kaddish
, Walton's Façade and Henry V, Night Mail
and The Way to the Sea
by Britten and Auden and the world premieres of Concrete by Judith Weir at the Barbican and Howard Goodall’s Jason and the Argonauts at the Royal Albert Hall
. In 2007 West made his New York recital debut in the first performance of Little Red Violin by Anne Dudley
and Steven Isserlis
. He performed the suite version of Henry V at the 2002 Last Night of the Proms.
He has also appeared with The Nash Ensemble, The Raphael Ensemble, Ensemble 360° and The Lindsay, Dante and Endellion Quartet
s at the Wigmore Hall
, London. Recordings include Eugene Onegin with Sinfonia 21 and Edward Downes, Salad Days and Walton's Henry V with the BBC Symphony Orchestra
and Leonard Slatkin
.
In November 2010, West narrated in a performance of Grieg's
complete incidental music to Ibsen’s
play Peer Gynt
, using a new English translation. The concert was in Southampton Guildhall with Southampton Philharmonic Choir
.
As reader
As director
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and theatre director. He is perhaps best known for his role in Howards End
Howards End
Howards End is a novel by E. M. Forster, first published in 1910, which tells a story of class struggle in turn-of-the-century England. The main theme is the difficulties, troubles, and also the benefits of relationships between members of different social classes...
and his work on stage. He also starred in the award-winning play ENRON
ENRON (play)
ENRON is a 2009 play by the British playwright Lucy Prebble, based on the Enron scandal.-Productions:ENRON premiered at the Chichester Festival Theatre , before London transfers to the Jerwood Downstairs at the Royal Court Theatre from 17 September to 7 November 2009 and then the Noel Coward...
. His parents are well-known television and theatre actors Timothy West
Timothy West
Timothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English film, stage and television actor.-Career:West's craggy looks ensured a career as a character actor rather than a leading man. He began his career as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1956, and followed this with several seasons of...
and Prunella Scales
Prunella Scales
Prunella Scales CBE is an English actress, known for her role as Basil Fawlty's long-suffering wife in the British comedy Fawlty Towers and her award-nominated role as Queen Elizabeth II in the British film A Question of Attribution.-Career:Throughout her long career, Scales has usually been cast...
.
Early life and education
West is the son of actors Prunella ScalesPrunella Scales
Prunella Scales CBE is an English actress, known for her role as Basil Fawlty's long-suffering wife in the British comedy Fawlty Towers and her award-nominated role as Queen Elizabeth II in the British film A Question of Attribution.-Career:Throughout her long career, Scales has usually been cast...
and Timothy West
Timothy West
Timothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English film, stage and television actor.-Career:West's craggy looks ensured a career as a character actor rather than a leading man. He began his career as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1956, and followed this with several seasons of...
, and the grandson of the late actor Lockwood West
Lockwood West
Lockwood West was a British actor. He is the father of actor Timothy West and the grandfather of actor Samuel West....
. He was educated at Alleyn's School
Alleyn's School
Alleyn's School is an independent, fee-paying co-educational day school situated in Dulwich, south London, England. It is a registered charity and was originally part of the historic Alleyn's College of God's Gift charitable foundation, which also included James Allen's Girls' School , Dulwich...
, a co-educational independent school
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
in Dulwich
Dulwich
Dulwich is an area of South London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and at Lady Margaret Hall at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, where he studied English Literature.
Career
West has worked as an actor in a variety of dramatic media including: theatreTheatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
. As well as being an actor West has also forged a career as a theatre director.
Stage
West made his London stage debut in February 1989 at the Orange Tree TheatreOrange Tree Theatre
The Orange Tree Theatre is a 172-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south west London, built specifically as a theatre in the round....
, playing Michael in Cocteau's Les Parents terribles
Les parents terribles
Les Parents terribles is a 1938 French play written by Jean Cocteau. Despite initial problems with censorship, it was revived on the French stage several times after its original production, and in 1948 a film adaptation directed by Cocteau himself was released...
, of which critic John Thaxter wrote: "He invests the role with a warmth and validity that silences sniggers that could so easily greet a lesser performance of this difficult role, and he lets us share the tumbling emotions of a juvenile torn between romantic first love and filial duty." (Richmond & Twickenham Times, 10 February 1989). Since then, West has appeared frequently on stage and has worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
, taking the title roles in Richard II
Richard II (play)
King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
and Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
both directed by Steven Pimlott
Steven Pimlott
Steven Charles Pimlott OBE was an English opera and theatre director and actor. An obituary in The Times hailed him as "one of the most versatile and inventive theatre directors of his generation"...
.
In 2002, West made his stage directorial debut with The Lady's Not for Burning
The Lady's Not for Burning
The Lady's Not for Burning is a 1948 play by Christopher Fry.A romantic comedy in three acts, set in verse, it is set in the Middle Ages, it reflects the world's "exhaustion and despair" following World War II, with a war-weary soldier who wants to die, and an accused witch who wants to live...
at the Minerva Theatre
Minerva Theatre, Chichester
The Minerva Theatre is a studio theatre seating at full capacity 283. It is run as part of the adjacent Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, and was opened in 1989...
. He was appointed artistic director of Sheffield Theatres
Sheffield Theatres
Sheffield Theatres is a theatre complex in Sheffield, South Yorkshire comprising three theatres: the Crucible, the Lyceum and the Crucible Studio...
- succeeding Michael Grandage
Michael Grandage
Michael Grandage CBE is a British theatre director and producer, and current Artistic Director at the Donmar Warehouse, London. Grandage won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for Red.-Early years:...
- in 2005. During his time as artistic director West revived the controversial The Romans in Britain
The Romans in Britain
The Romans in Britain is a stage play by Howard Brenton that comments upon imperialism and the abuse of power.A cast of thirty actors play sixty roles.- Stage history :...
and also directed As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
as part of the RSC's
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
Complete Works Festival. Following his resignation in December 2006 from his role as artistic director, West marked his West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
directorial debut with the first major revival of Dealer's Choice following its transferral to the Trafalgar Studios
Trafalgar Studios
Trafalgar Studios, formerly The Whitehall Theatre until 2004, is a West End theatre in Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, in the City of Westminster, London....
. He has also continued his acting career: in 2007 he appeared alongside Toby Stephens
Toby Stephens
Toby Stephens is an English stage, television and film actor who has appeared in films in both Hollywood and Bollywood. He is best known for playing megavillain Gustav Graves in the James Bond film Die Another Day , Edward Fairfax Rochester in the BBC television adaptation of Jane Eyre and Philip...
and Dervla Kirwan
Dervla Kirwan
Dervla Kirwan is an Irish actress famous for roles in British television shows such as Ballykissangel and Goodnight Sweetheart...
in Betrayal
Betrayal (play)
Betrayal is a play written by Harold Pinter in 1978. Critically regarded as one of the English playwright's major dramatic works, it features his characteristically economical dialogue, characters' hidden emotions and veiled motivations, and their self-absorbed competitive one-upmanship,...
at the Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
, while in November 2008 he starred in the Donmar revival of T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
's The Family Reunion
The Family Reunion
The Family Reunion is a play by T. S. Eliot. Written mostly in blank verse, it incorporates elements from Greek drama and mid-twentieth-century detective plays to portray the hero's journey from guilt to redemption. The play was unsuccessful when first presented in 1939, and was later regarded as...
.
Film
West's acting career is not restricted to one medium; he combines stage work with film, television and radio. In 1991, he played the lower-middle-class clerk Leonard Bast in the Merchant Ivory film adaptation of E. M. ForsterE. M. Forster
Edward Morgan Forster OM, CH was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society...
's novel Howards End
Howards End (film)
Howards End is a 1992 film based upon the novel of the same title by E. M. Forster , a story of class relations in turn-of-the-20th-century England...
(released 1992) opposite Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End...
, Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...
and Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
. For this role, he was nominated for best supporting actor at the 1993 BAFTA Film Awards. His film career has continued with roles in a number of well known films, such as: Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre (1996 film)
Jane Eyre is a 1996 film adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel of the same name. This Hollywood version, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, is similar to the original novel, although it compresses and eliminates most of the plot in the last quarter of the book to make it fit into a 2-hour...
, Notting Hill
Notting Hill (film)
Notting Hill is a 1999 British romantic comedy film set in Notting Hill, London, released on 21 May 1999. The screenplay was by Richard Curtis, who had written Four Weddings and a Funeral. It was produced by Duncan Kenworthy and directed by Roger Michell...
, Iris and Van Helsing
Van Helsing (film)
Van Helsing is a 2004 American action horror film directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as vigilante monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale...
. In 2004, he appeared in the year's highest rated mini-series on German television, "Die Nibelungen", which was released in the USA in 2006 as Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King
Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King
Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King is a fantasy film and mini-series based on the Norse mythology story Völsungasaga and the German epic poem Nibelungenlied, which tells the mythological story of Siegfried the Dragon-Slayer...
(also known as Ring of the Nibelungs, Curse of the Ring, and Sword of Xanten).
Television
He is a familiar face on television appearing in many long running series: Midsomer MurdersMidsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders is a British television detective drama that has aired on ITV since 1997. The show is based on the books by Caroline Graham, as originally adapted by Anthony Horowitz. The lead character is DCI Tom Barnaby who works for Causton CID. When Nettles left the show in 2011 he was...
, Waking the Dead
Waking the Dead (TV series)
Waking the Dead is a British television police procedural crime drama series produced by the BBC featuring a fictional Cold Case Unit comprising CID police officers, a psychological profiler and a forensic scientist. A pilot episode aired in September 2000 and there have been a total of nine series...
and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries is a series of BBC television programmes about Detective Inspector Thomas "Tommy" Lynley, 8th Earl of Asherton of Scotland Yard and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers...
as well as one off dramas. He played Anthony Blunt
Anthony Blunt
Anthony Frederick Blunt , was a British art historian who was exposed as a Soviet spy late in his life.Blunt was Professor of the History of Art at the University of London, director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, Surveyor of the King's Pictures and London...
in Cambridge Spies
Cambridge Spies
Cambridge Spies is a 2003 four-part BBC television drama concerning the lives of the best-known quartet of the Cambridge Five Soviet spies from 1934 to the 1951 defection of Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean to the Soviet Union...
a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
production about four British spies, starring alongside Toby Stephens
Toby Stephens
Toby Stephens is an English stage, television and film actor who has appeared in films in both Hollywood and Bollywood. He is best known for playing megavillain Gustav Graves in the James Bond film Die Another Day , Edward Fairfax Rochester in the BBC television adaptation of Jane Eyre and Philip...
(Philby
Kim Philby
Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby was a high-ranking member of British intelligence who worked as a spy for and later defected to the Soviet Union...
), Tom Hollander
Tom Hollander
Thomas Anthony "Tom" Hollander is a British actor who has appeared in productions such as Enigma, Gosford Park, Cambridge Spies, Pride and Prejudice, Pirates of the Caribbean, In the Loop, Valkyrie and Hanna.-Early life:Tom Hollander was born in Bristol and raised in Oxford, Oxfordshire, the son...
(Burgess
Guy Burgess
Guy Francis De Moncy Burgess was a British-born intelligence officer and double agent, who worked for the Soviet Union. He was part of the Cambridge Five spy ring that betrayed Western secrets to the Soviets before and during the Cold War...
) and Rupert Penry-Jones
Rupert Penry-Jones
Rupert William Penry-Jones is an English actor, best known for his role as Adam Carter in the British television series Spooks, also broadcast under the title MI-5.-Family life:Penry-Jones was born in London on September 22, 1970...
(Maclean
Donald Duart Maclean
Donald Duart Maclean was a British diplomat and member of the Cambridge Five who were members of MI5, MI6 or the diplomatic service who acted as spies for the Soviet Union in the Second World War and beyond. He was recruited as a "straight penetration agent" while an undergraduate at Cambridge by...
). November 2006 saw him take the lead role in BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
production of Random Quest
Random Quest
Random Quest is a science fiction short story, which is also a love story, by John Wyndham. It was included in his 1961 collection Consider Her Ways and Others...
adapted from the short story by John Wyndham.
West is much sought-after as a narrator of television documentaries, including the acclaimed series The Nazis: A Warning from History
The Nazis: A Warning from History
The Nazis: A Warning from History is a 1997 BBC documentary film series that examines Adolf Hitler and the Nazis' rise to power, their zenith, their decline and fall, and the consequences of their reign. It featured archive footage and interviews with eye witnesses and was shown in six...
and The Planets. He often appears as narrator with orchestras (see below) and performed at the Last Night of the Proms in 2002. On radio, West has voiced a range of programmes from one-off dramas and serials to recitations of poetry. In 2006, he narrated the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
production A Passage to India
A Passage to India
A Passage to India is a novel by E. M. Forster set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s. It was selected as one of the 100 great works of English literature by the Modern Library and won the 1924 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. Time...
.
West has appeared alongside his actor parents on several occasions; with his mother Prunella Scales
Prunella Scales
Prunella Scales CBE is an English actress, known for her role as Basil Fawlty's long-suffering wife in the British comedy Fawlty Towers and her award-nominated role as Queen Elizabeth II in the British film A Question of Attribution.-Career:Throughout her long career, Scales has usually been cast...
in Howards End
Howards End (film)
Howards End is a 1992 film based upon the novel of the same title by E. M. Forster , a story of class relations in turn-of-the-20th-century England...
and Stiff Upper Lips
Stiff Upper Lips
Stiff Upper Lips is a broad parody of British period films, especially the lavish Merchant-Ivory productions of the 'eighties and early 'nineties...
, and with his father Timothy West
Timothy West
Timothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English film, stage and television actor.-Career:West's craggy looks ensured a career as a character actor rather than a leading man. He began his career as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1956, and followed this with several seasons of...
on stage in A Number
A Number
A Number is a 2002 play by English playwright Caryl Churchill which addresses the subject of human cloning and identity, especially nature versus nurture...
, Henry IV Part I and Part II. In two films - Iris (2001) and the 1996 television film Over Here
Over Here
Over Here is a 2-part television miniseries made in 1996 by the BBC chronicling the lives of US Army Air Corps B-17 Flying Fortress bomber crews on a Royal Air Force Spitfire base during World War II...
, Sam and his father have played the same character at different ages. In 2006, all three gave a rehearsed reading of the Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
play Family Voices
Family Voices
Family Voices is a radio play by Harold Pinter written in 1980 and first broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 22 January 1981.-Summary:Family Voices exposes the story of a mother, son, and dead husband and father through a series of letters that the mother and son have written to one another and that each...
as part of the Sheffield Theatres
Sheffield Theatres
Sheffield Theatres is a theatre complex in Sheffield, South Yorkshire comprising three theatres: the Crucible, the Lyceum and the Crucible Studio...
Pinter season.
Personal life
As a choral singer, West participated in the May 2006 Choir of London tour to Jerusalem and the West Bank, where he also gave poetry readings as part of the concert programme. In April 2007, he again joined the Choir of London in their tour of PalestinePalestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, directing The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
. West became the patron of Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus is a large choir based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The chorus consists of about 190 members from Sheffield and the surrounding area and performs between 5 and 10 concerts each season...
in February 2008, having been the narrator for a concert of theirs in February 2002. He is also a patron of London children's charity Scene & Heard
Scene & Heard
Scene & Heard, is a British registered charity which operates as a mentoring project for inner-city children in Somers Town, London.Much of the charity's work involves teaming children with a volunteer theatre professional to write short plays, which are performed by professional actors in front of...
, Eastside Educational Trust and Mousetrap Theatre projects.
While at university, West was a member of the Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Workers Party (Britain)
The Socialist Workers Party is a far left party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff. The SWP's student section has groups at a number of universities...
and later briefly the Socialist Alliance
Socialist Alliance (England)
The Socialist Alliance was a left-wing electoral alliance in England between 1992 and 2005.In late 2005, a small group reformed with the name "Socialist Alliance", with a mutual affiliation with the larger Alliance for Green Socialism.-Origins:...
; West has been politically active for many years and was a strong critic of Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
's New Labour government.
Between 2007 and 2010, he lived with playwright Laura Wade
Laura Wade
Laura Wade is a British playwright. Wade grew up in Sheffield, where her father worked for a computer company....
.
Filmography
- ReunionReunion (1989 film)Reunion is a 1989 dramatic film based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Fred Uhlman, directed by Jerry Schatzberg from a screenplay by Harold Pinter. It was released in France under the title L' Ami Retrouvé and in Germany as Der Wiedergefundene Freund. The story is centred on the "enchanted...
(1989) - Count Konradin von Lohenburg - Howards EndHowards End (film)Howards End is a 1992 film based upon the novel of the same title by E. M. Forster , a story of class relations in turn-of-the-20th-century England...
(1991, released 1992) - Leonard Bast - Archipel (in French) (1993) - Alan Stewart
- A Feast at MidnightA Feast at MidnightA Feast at Midnight is a 1995 British comedy family film directed by Justin Hardy and starring Freddie Findlay, Samuel West, Robert Hardy, Christopher Lee and Edward Fox...
(1994) - Chef - Open FireOpen Fire (film)Open Fire is a 1994 British television film made for ITV which debuted on that channel on 11 December 1994. The film was written and directed by Paul Greengrass and concerns the 1982/83 police manhunt for David Martin, who escaped from custody following his arrest for shooting a police officer...
(1994) - Steven Waldorf - CarringtonCarrington (film)Carrington is a biographical film written and directed by Christopher Hampton about the life of the English painter Dora Carrington , who was known simply as "Carrington"...
(1995) - Gerald BrenanGerald BrenanEdward FitzGerald "Gerald" Brenan, CBE was a British writer and Hispanist who spent much of his life in Spain.He is best known for The Spanish Labyrinth, a historical work on the background to the Spanish Civil War, and for South from Granada: Seven Years in an Andalusian Village... - PersuasionPersuasion (1995 film)Producer Fiona Finlay had for several years been interested in making a film based on the novel Persuasion, and approached screenwriter Nick Dear about adapting it for television...
(1995) - Mr. Elliot - Jane EyreJane Eyre (1996 film)Jane Eyre is a 1996 film adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel of the same name. This Hollywood version, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, is similar to the original novel, although it compresses and eliminates most of the plot in the last quarter of the book to make it fit into a 2-hour...
(1996) - St. John Rivers - Stiff Upper LipsStiff Upper LipsStiff Upper Lips is a broad parody of British period films, especially the lavish Merchant-Ivory productions of the 'eighties and early 'nineties...
(1998) - Edward - Rupert's LandRupert's Land (film)Rupert's Land is a 1998 road movie produced and filmed in Canada. It was released at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival and was nominated at the 1999 Genie Awards and Leo Awards.- Primary Cast :* Samuel West - Rupert McKay* Ian Tracey - Dale McKay...
(1998) - Rupert McKay - The Dance of Shiva (1998 short) - Lt. Davis
- Notting HillNotting Hill (film)Notting Hill is a 1999 British romantic comedy film set in Notting Hill, London, released on 21 May 1999. The screenplay was by Richard Curtis, who had written Four Weddings and a Funeral. It was produced by Duncan Kenworthy and directed by Roger Michell...
(1999) - Anna's Co-Star (as Sam West) - Runt (1999 short) - Pork
- Bread and RosesBread and Roses (film)Bread and Roses is a 2000 drama film directed by Ken Loach, starring Adrien Brody. The plot deals with the struggle of poorly paid janitorial workers in Los Angeles and their fight for better working conditions and the right to unionize...
(2000) - Samuel West - Party Guest (cameo) - ComplicityComplicityComplicity is a novel by Scottish author Iain Banks. It was published in 1993.-Plot introduction:Its two main characters are Cameron Colley, a journalist on a Scottish newspaper called The Caledonian, which resembles The Scotsman, and a serial murderer whose identity is a mystery...
(2000) - Neil - Bring Me Your Love (2000 short) - Doctor Jensen
- PandaemoniumPandaemonium (film)Pandaemonium is a 2000 film, directed by Julien Temple, screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce. It is based on the early lives of English poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, in particular their collaboration on the "Lyrical Ballads", and Coleridge's writing of Kubla Khan.The film was...
(2000) - Robert SoutheyRobert SoutheyRobert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843... - Iris (2001) - Young Maurice (as Sam West)
- Shrink (2002 short) - George
- 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure is a 2003 American direct-to-video animated film released by Walt Disney Home Entertainment on January 21, 2003. The film is the sequel to the 1961 Disney animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians...
(2003) - Pongo (voice) - Van HelsingVan Helsing (film)Van Helsing is a 2004 American action horror film directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as vigilante monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale...
(2004) - Dr. Victor Frankenstein - SchweitzerAlbert SchweitzerAlbert Schweitzer OM was a German theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary. He was born in Kaysersberg in the province of Alsace-Lorraine, at that time part of the German Empire...
(2009) - Phil Figgis
Television
- Edward the SeventhEdward the Seventh (television)Edward the Seventh is a 1975 television drama series, made by ATV in 13 one-hour episodes.Based on the biography of Edward VII by Philip Magnus, it starred Timothy West as the elder Edward VII and Simon Gipps-Kent and Charles Sturridge as Edward in his youth, Annette Crosbie as Queen Victoria,...
(1974) - Albert Victor 'Eddy' - Aged 8 - NannyNanny (TV series)Nanny is a BBC television series that ran between 1981 and 1983. In this historical drama, Wendy Craig stars as nanny Barbara Gray, caring for children in 1930s England. When Barbara Gray leaves the divorce court she has no money, no job just an iron will and a love for children. The third series...
- "Goats and Tigers" (1981) - James Lamerton
- Frankie and Johnnie (1985) - Johnnie Mallett
- Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn TreaderThe Chronicles of Narnia (TV miniseries)The Chronicles of Narnia is a BBC-produced television serial that was aired from 13 November 1988 to 23 December 1990 and is based on four books of C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series...
(1989) - King Caspian - Stanley and the Women (1991) - Stephen Duke
- Voices in the Garden (1993) - Mark
- Inspector Alleyn MysteriesRoderick AlleynRoderick Alleyn is a fictional character who first appeared in 1934. He is the policeman hero of the 32 detective novels of Ngaio Marsh. Marsh and her gentleman detective belong firmly in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, although the last Alleyn novel, Light Thickens, was published as late as...
- "Death in a White Tie" (1993) - Donald Potter
- The Maitlands (1993) - Jack Maitland
- Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time (1993) - Cyrian (as Sam West)
- As Time Goes ByAs Time Goes By (TV series)As Time Goes By is a British sitcom that aired on BBC One from 1992 to 2005. Starring Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer, it follows the relationship between two former lovers who meet unexpectedly after not having been in contact for 38 years....
- "We'll Always Have Paris" (1994) - Terry (as Sam West)
- A Breed of HeroesA Breed of HeroesA Breed of Heroes is a 1981 novel by Alan Judd. It narrates in third person the experiences of a young British Army officer as he is deployed on his first tour of duty, a four month operation in Armagh and Belfast at the height of The Troubles....
(1994) - Lt. Charles Thoroughgood - The Vacillations of Poppy Carew (1995) - Victor
- Zoya (1995) - Nicolai (as Sam West)
- Heavy WeatherHeavy Weather (TV)Heavy Weather was a dramatisation for television by Douglas Livingstone of the novel Heavy Weather by P. G. Wodehouse , set at Blandings Castle...
(1995) - 'Monty' Bodkin - StrangersStrangers (TV series)Strangers was a UK police drama that appeared on ITV between 1978 and 1982.After the success of the TV series The XYY Man, adapted from books by Kenneth Royce, Granada TV devised a new series to feature the regular characters of Detective Sergeant George Bulman and his assistant Detective...
- "Costumes" (1996) - Simon
- Over HereOver HereOver Here is a 2-part television miniseries made in 1996 by the BBC chronicling the lives of US Army Air Corps B-17 Flying Fortress bomber crews on a Royal Air Force Spitfire base during World War II...
(1996) - Archie Bunting - The Ripper (1997) - Prince Albert Victor Edward
- Battle of the Sexes: in the Animal World (1999) - Narrator
- HornblowerHornblower (TV series)Hornblower is the umbrella title of a series of television drama programmes based on C. S. Forester's novels about the fictional character Horatio Hornblower, a Royal Naval officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars....
- "The Frogs and the Lobsters" (1999) - Major Edrington
- The PlanetsThe Planets (TV miniseries)The Planets is an educational miniseries produced by the BBC and A&E and released in 1999. It documents the Solar System and its nature, formation, and discovery by humans during the space age. The series of eight episodes includes a substantial amount of archival footage from both the United...
(1999) - Narrator - LongitudeLongitudeLongitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....
(2000) - Nevil Maskelyne - Waking the DeadWaking the Dead (TV series)Waking the Dead is a British television police procedural crime drama series produced by the BBC featuring a fictional Cold Case Unit comprising CID police officers, a psychological profiler and a forensic scientist. A pilot episode aired in September 2000 and there have been a total of nine series...
- "Life Sentence" (2002) - Thomas Rice
- Akhenaten and Nefertiti (2002) - Narrator
- Cambridge SpiesCambridge SpiesCambridge Spies is a 2003 four-part BBC television drama concerning the lives of the best-known quartet of the Cambridge Five Soviet spies from 1934 to the 1951 defection of Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean to the Soviet Union...
(2003) - Anthony Blunt - Entertaining Mr. Soane (2003) - Wightwick
- Foyle's WarFoyle's WarFoyle's War is a British detective drama television series set during World War II, created by screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz, and was commissioned by ITV after the long-running series Inspector Morse came to an end in 2000. It has aired on ITV since 2002...
- "The French Drop" (2004) - Lt Col James Wintringham
- Curse of the Ring (2004) - King Gunther
- E=mc² (2005) - Humphry DavyHumphry DavySir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet FRS MRIA was a British chemist and inventor. He is probably best remembered today for his discoveries of several alkali and alkaline earth metals, as well as contributions to the discoveries of the elemental nature of chlorine and iodine...
(as Sam West) - The Inspector Lynley MysteriesThe Inspector Lynley MysteriesThe Inspector Lynley Mysteries is a series of BBC television programmes about Detective Inspector Thomas "Tommy" Lynley, 8th Earl of Asherton of Scotland Yard and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers...
- "Chinese Walls" (2006) - Tony Wainwright
- Random QuestRandom QuestRandom Quest is a science fiction short story, which is also a love story, by John Wyndham. It was included in his 1961 collection Consider Her Ways and Others...
(2006) - Colin Trafford - Midsomer MurdersMidsomer MurdersMidsomer Murders is a British television detective drama that has aired on ITV since 1997. The show is based on the books by Caroline Graham, as originally adapted by Anthony Horowitz. The lead character is DCI Tom Barnaby who works for Causton CID. When Nettles left the show in 2011 he was...
- "The Animal Within" (2007) - Jeremy Thacker
- The Long Walk To FinchleyThe Long Walk to FinchleyMargaret Thatcher - The Long Walk to Finchley, subtitled in the initial credits How Maggie Might Have Done It, is a 2008 BBC Four television drama based on the early political career of the young Margaret Thatcher , from her attempts to gain a seat in Dartford in 1949 via invasion to her first...
(2008) - Ted Heath - New Tricks
- "Fresh Starts" (2009) - David Fleeting
- Desperate RomanticsDesperate RomanticsDesperate Romantics is a six-part television drama serial about the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, first broadcast on BBC Two between 21 July and 25 August 2009.-Overview:...
(2009) - Lord Rosterley - Garrow's LawGarrow's LawGarrow's Law is a British period legal drama about the 18th-century lawyer William Garrow. The series debuted on 1 November 2009 on BBC One and BBC HD. A second series was announced on 7 July 2010 and aired from 14 November 2010...
(2010) - Thomas Erskine - Any Human HeartAny Human Heart (TV series)Any Human Heart is a 2010 BAFTA award–winning TV adaptation of the novel Any Human Heart by William Boyd. It was announced in April 2010 and broadcast in four parts from 21 November to 12 December 2010 on Channel 4 in the UK and in three parts during February 2011 on the PBS series Masterpiece in...
(2010) - Peter Scabius - Agatha Christie's Poirot - Murder on the Orient Express (2010) - Doctor Constantine
- Law & Order: UK (2011) - Lucas Boyd
He has also narrated five BBC documentary series for the producer Laurence Rees
Laurence Rees
Laurence Rees is a British historian. He is the former Creative Director of History Programs for the BBC, a documentary filmmaker, and the author of five books on war.-Biography:...
:
- The Nazis: A Warning from HistoryThe Nazis: A Warning from HistoryThe Nazis: A Warning from History is a 1997 BBC documentary film series that examines Adolf Hitler and the Nazis' rise to power, their zenith, their decline and fall, and the consequences of their reign. It featured archive footage and interviews with eye witnesses and was shown in six...
1997 - War of the Century: When Hitler Fought StalinWar of the CenturyThe War of the Century: When Hitler Fought Stalin, is a BBC documentary film series that examines Adolf Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 and the "no holds barred" war on both sides...
1999 - Horror in the EastHorror in the EastHorror in the East: Japan and the Atrocities of World War II , is a BBC documentary film series that examines certain actions, including atrocities, and attitudes, of the Imperial Japanese Army in the lead up to and during World War II. The film also examines attitudes held by the British and...
2001 - Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution 2005
- World War II: Behind Closed Doors 2008
Acting
- The Browning Version - directed by Clive Perry, (Birmingham Repertory TheatreBirmingham Repertory TheatreBirmingham Repertory Theatre is a theatre and theatre company based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England...
) - Les Parents terriblesLes parents terriblesLes Parents terribles is a 1938 French play written by Jean Cocteau. Despite initial problems with censorship, it was revived on the French stage several times after its original production, and in 1948 a film adaptation directed by Cocteau himself was released...
: Michael (February 1989) - directed by Derek GoldbyDerek GoldbyDerek Goldby is an Australian-born theatre director who has worked internationally, particularly in Canada, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the United States and France.- Early life :...
, (Orange Tree TheatreOrange Tree TheatreThe Orange Tree Theatre is a 172-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south west London, built specifically as a theatre in the round....
) - The Bread-WinnerThe Bread-Winner (play)The Bread-Winner is William Somerset Maugham's third-last play. It is a comedy in one continuous act, lasting about 2 hours, but with the curtain lowered twice to rest the audience. Girls cannot be the Breadwinner....
(1989) - directed by Kevin BillingtonKevin BillingtonKevin Billington is an English film director, most of whose work was done in television throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including the cult classic "The rise and rise of Michael Rimmer" starring Peter Cook.-External links:...
, (Theatre Royal, WindsorTheatre Royal, WindsorThe Theatre Royal, Windsor is located in the town of Windsor, Berkshire, England, directly across the road from Windsor Castle.The present building was opened on 17 December 1910 after the previous theatre had burned down on 18 February 1908, under the ownership of Sir William Shipley.With the...
and touring) - A Life in the TheatreA Life in the TheatreA Life in the Theatre is a 1977 play by David Mamet.It focuses on the relationship between two actors, the play's only characters. One, Robert, is a stage veteran while John is a young, promising actor...
(October 1989-February 1990) - directed by Bill BrydenBill BrydenWilliam Campbell Rough Bryden CBE is a British stage- and film director and screenwriter.-Biography:...
, (Theatre Royal Haymarket, transferred to Strand TheatreNovello TheatreThe Novello Theatre is a West End theatre on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster.-History:The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre on either side of the Waldorf Hotel, both being designed by W. G. R. Sprague. The theatre opened as the Waldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was...
) - Hidden Laughter: Nigel (June 1990) - directed by Simon GraySimon GraySimon James Holliday Gray, CBE , was an English playwright and memoirist who also had a career as a university lecturer in English literature at Queen Mary, University of London, for 20 years...
, (Vaudeville TheatreVaudeville TheatreThe Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on The Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each new building retained elements of the previous...
) - The SeaThe Sea (play)The Sea is a play written by the English dramatist Edward Bond in 1973. It is a comedy set in a small village in rural East Anglia in the Edwardian period. The play draws on some of the themes of Shakespeare's The Tempest....
: Willy Carson (1991) - directed by Sam MendesSam MendesSamuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes, CBE is an English stage and film director. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning work on his debut film American Beauty and his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret , Oliver! , Company and Gypsy . He's currently working on the 23rd James Bond...
, (Royal National TheatreRoyal National TheatreThe Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
) - Cain (1992) - directed by Edward HallEdward Hall (director)Edward Hall is an English theatre director and an associate director at The National Theatre. Hall is known for directing Rose Rage, a stage adaptation of Shakespeare's three Henry VI plays. He also runs an all-male Shakespeare company, Propeller...
(Minerva TheatreMinerva Theatre, ChichesterThe Minerva Theatre is a studio theatre seating at full capacity 283. It is run as part of the adjacent Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, and was opened in 1989...
) - Mr. CindersMr. CindersMr. Cinders is a musical. The music is by Vivian Ellis & Richard Myers, and the libretto by Clifford Grey & Greatorex Newman. The story is an inversion of the Cinderella fairy tale with the gender roles reversed. The Prince Charming character has become a modern young and forceful woman, and Mr....
A Musical Comedy: Jim Lancaster (December 1992-February 1993) - directed by Martin Connor (The King's Head TheatreThe King's Head TheatreThe King's Head Theatre, founded in 1970 by Dan Crawford, is an Off-West End venue in London. It was the first pub theatre in the UK. Adam Spreadbury-Maher became Artistic Director in March 2010 .-Background:...
) - ArcadiaArcadia (play)Arcadia is a 1993 play by Tom Stoppard concerning the relationship between past and present and between order and disorder and the certainty of knowledge...
: Valentine (April–November 1993) - directed by Trevor NunnTrevor NunnSir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...
, (Royal National TheatreRoyal National TheatreThe Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
) - The Importance of Being EarnestThe Importance of Being EarnestThe Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
: Algernon - directed by James MaxwellJames Maxwell (actor)James Maxwell was an American actor, theatre director and writer, particularly associated with the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.-Early life:...
, (Royal Exchange Theatre) - Henry IV Part I and Part II: Hal (1996–1997) - directed by Stephen UnwinStephen Unwin (director)Stephen Unwin is an English theatre director. He completed his studies at the University of Cambridge in 1981, and has since directed over 50 professional productions and 12 operas. He was initially Assistant Director at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh until 1988...
(English Touring TheatreEnglish Touring TheatreThe English Touring Theatre is a touring theatre company in England. It is England's only touring company to receive a government subsidy for producing work for larger theatres, which is its main work...
) - Journey's EndJourney's EndJourney's End is a 1928 drama, the seventh of English playwright R. C. Sherriff. It was first performed at the Apollo Theatre in London by the Incorporated Stage Society on 9 December 1928, starring a young Laurence Olivier, and soon moved to other West End theatres for a two-year run...
: Captain Stanhope (January–February 1998) - directed by David Evans-Rees (The King's Head TheatreThe King's Head TheatreThe King's Head Theatre, founded in 1970 by Dan Crawford, is an Off-West End venue in London. It was the first pub theatre in the UK. Adam Spreadbury-Maher became Artistic Director in March 2010 .-Background:...
) - Antony and CleopatraAntony and CleopatraAntony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony...
: Octavius Caesar (1998) - directed by Sean MathiasSean MathiasSean Gerard Mathias is a British theatre director, film director, writer and actor.Mathias was born in Swansea, south Wales. He is known for directing the film, Bent, and for directing highly acclaimed theatre productions in London, New York, Cape Town, Los Angeles and Sydney...
, (Royal National TheatreRoyal National TheatreThe Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
) - Richard IIRichard II (play)King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
: Richard II (2000) - directed by Steven PimlottSteven PimlottSteven Charles Pimlott OBE was an English opera and theatre director and actor. An obituary in The Times hailed him as "one of the most versatile and inventive theatre directors of his generation"...
, (RSCRoyal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
) - HamletHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
: Hamlet (2001) - directed by Steven PimlottSteven PimlottSteven Charles Pimlott OBE was an English opera and theatre director and actor. An obituary in The Times hailed him as "one of the most versatile and inventive theatre directors of his generation"...
, (RSCRoyal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
) - The Master and MargaritaThe Master and MargaritaThe Master and Margarita is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, woven around the premise of a visit by the Devil to the fervently atheistic Soviet Union. Many critics consider the book to be one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, and one of the foremost Soviet satires, directed against a...
: The Master (2004) - directed by Steven PimlottSteven PimlottSteven Charles Pimlott OBE was an English opera and theatre director and actor. An obituary in The Times hailed him as "one of the most versatile and inventive theatre directors of his generation"...
, (Chichester Festival TheatreChichester Festival TheatreChichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....
) - Doctor FaustusThe Tragical History of Doctor FaustusThe Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is a play by Christopher Marlowe, based on the Faust story, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge...
: Faustus (2004) - directed by Steven PimlottSteven PimlottSteven Charles Pimlott OBE was an English opera and theatre director and actor. An obituary in The Times hailed him as "one of the most versatile and inventive theatre directors of his generation"...
, Martin Duncan and Edward KempEdward KempEdward Kemp was an English landscape architect and an author. Together with Joseph Paxton and Edward Milner, Kemp became one of the leaders in the design of parks and gardens during the mid-Victorian era in England....
, (Minerva TheatreMinerva Theatre, ChichesterThe Minerva Theatre is a studio theatre seating at full capacity 283. It is run as part of the adjacent Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, and was opened in 1989...
) - Much Ado About NothingMuch Ado About NothingMuch Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
: Benedick (2005) - directed by Josie RourkeJosie RourkeJosie Rourke is a British theatre director.She attended St Patricks RC High School in Eccles, Salford and her first notable work was as assistant director to Peter Gill in his premiere of The York Realist in 2002...
, (Crucible TheatreCrucible TheatreThe Crucible Theatre is a theatre built in 1971 and located in the city centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. As well as theatrical performances, it is home to the most important event in professional snooker, the World Snooker Championship....
) - The ExoneratedThe ExoneratedThe Exonerated is a made-for-cable television film which dramatizes the true stories of six people who had been wrongfully convicted of murder and other offenses, placed on death row, and later exonerated and freed after serving varying years in prison...
: Kerry Max Cook (2006) - directed by Bob BalabanBob BalabanRobert Elmer "Bob" Balaban is an American actor, author and director.-Personal life:Balaban was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Eleanor and Elmer Balaban, who owned several movie theatres and later was a pioneer in cable television...
, (Riverside StudiosRiverside StudiosRiverside Studios is a production studio, theatre and independent cinema on the banks of the River Thames in Hammersmith, London, England. It plays host to contemporary and international dramatic and dance performance, film, visual art exhibitions and television production.-History:In 1933, the...
) - A NumberA NumberA Number is a 2002 play by English playwright Caryl Churchill which addresses the subject of human cloning and identity, especially nature versus nurture...
: B1/B2/Michael Black (2006) - directed by Jonathan Munby, (Studio Theatre (Sheffield)Studio Theatre (Sheffield)The Studio Theatre is a studio theatre that forms part of the Sheffield Theatres complex in Sheffield, England. The theatre, which was opened in 1971, is situated in the same building as the Crucible Theatre and holds a maximum capacity of 400 people. The present artistic director is Samuel West....
and Minerva TheatreMinerva Theatre, ChichesterThe Minerva Theatre is a studio theatre seating at full capacity 283. It is run as part of the adjacent Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, and was opened in 1989...
) - BetrayalBetrayal (play)Betrayal is a play written by Harold Pinter in 1978. Critically regarded as one of the English playwright's major dramatic works, it features his characteristically economical dialogue, characters' hidden emotions and veiled motivations, and their self-absorbed competitive one-upmanship,...
: Robert (2007) - directed by Roger MichellRoger MichellRoger Michell is an English theatre, television and film director.-Personal life:He was born in Pretoria, South Africa but spent significant parts of his childhood in Beirut, Damascus and Prague as his father was a diplomat. He was educated at Clifton College where he became a member of Brown's...
, (Donmar WarehouseDonmar WarehouseDonmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
) - Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? is a 2006 political play with seven scenes by Caryl Churchill. It addresses the application of power by the United States mostly since the Vietnam war.-Plot summary:...
: Guy (2008) - directed by James McDonald, (Public Theater, New York) - The Family ReunionThe Family ReunionThe Family Reunion is a play by T. S. Eliot. Written mostly in blank verse, it incorporates elements from Greek drama and mid-twentieth-century detective plays to portray the hero's journey from guilt to redemption. The play was unsuccessful when first presented in 1939, and was later regarded as...
: Harry (2008) - directed by Jeremy Herrin, (Donmar WarehouseDonmar WarehouseDonmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
) - ENRONENRON (play)ENRON is a 2009 play by the British playwright Lucy Prebble, based on the Enron scandal.-Productions:ENRON premiered at the Chichester Festival Theatre , before London transfers to the Jerwood Downstairs at the Royal Court Theatre from 17 September to 7 November 2009 and then the Noel Coward...
: Jeffrey Skilling (2009) - directed by Rupert GooldRupert GooldRupert Goold is an English theatre director. He is the artistic director of Headlong Theatre and from 2010 he will be an associate director at the Royal Shakespeare Company.- Early years :...
, (Minerva TheatreMinerva Theatre, ChichesterThe Minerva Theatre is a studio theatre seating at full capacity 283. It is run as part of the adjacent Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, and was opened in 1989...
, Royal Court TheatreRoyal Court TheatreThe Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
, Noel Coward TheatreNoël Coward TheatreThe Noël Coward Theatre, formerly known as the Albery Theatre, is a West End theatre on St. Martin's Lane in the City of Westminster. It opened on 12 March 1903 as the New Theatre and was built by Sir Charles Wyndham behind Wyndham's Theatre which was completed in 1899. The building was designed by...
) - A NumberA NumberA Number is a 2002 play by English playwright Caryl Churchill which addresses the subject of human cloning and identity, especially nature versus nurture...
(revival): B1/B2/Michael Black (2010) - directed by Jonathan Munby, (Menier Chocolate FactoryMenier Chocolate FactoryThe Menier Chocolate Factory is an award-winning 180 seat fringe studio theatre, restaurant and gallery. It is located in a former 1870s Menier Chocolate Company factory in Southwark Street, a major street in the London Borough of Southwark, central south London, England. The theatre stages plays...
) - Kreutzer vs. Kreutzer: Man (2010) - directed by Sarah Giles (Australian Chamber OrchestraAustralian Chamber OrchestraThe Australian Chamber Orchestra was founded by cellist John Painter in 1975. Richard Tognetti was appointed Lead Violin in 1989 and subsequently appointed Artistic Director....
- on tour and at the Sydney Opera HouseSydney Opera HouseThe Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
)
Directing
- The Lady's Not for BurningThe Lady's Not for BurningThe Lady's Not for Burning is a 1948 play by Christopher Fry.A romantic comedy in three acts, set in verse, it is set in the Middle Ages, it reflects the world's "exhaustion and despair" following World War II, with a war-weary soldier who wants to die, and an accused witch who wants to live...
(2002), Minerva TheatreMinerva Theatre, ChichesterThe Minerva Theatre is a studio theatre seating at full capacity 283. It is run as part of the adjacent Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, and was opened in 1989... - Les Liaisons DangereusesLes Liaisons dangereusesLes Liaisons dangereuses is a French epistolary novel by Choderlos de Laclos, first published in four volumes by Durand Neveu from March 23, 1782....
(2003), Bristol Old VicBristol Old VicThe Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities... - Cosi Fan TutteCosì fan tutteCosì fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
(2003), English National OperaEnglish National OperaEnglish National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
at Barbican Theatre - Three Women and a Piano Tuner (2004), Minerva TheatreMinerva Theatre, ChichesterThe Minerva Theatre is a studio theatre seating at full capacity 283. It is run as part of the adjacent Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, and was opened in 1989...
and Hampstead TheatreHampstead TheatreHampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...
(2005) - InsignificanceInsignificanceInsignificance may refer to:*Insignificance , a 1985 film directed by Nicolas Roeg*Insignificance , an album by Jim O'Rourke named after the film*Insignificance , a song by Pearl Jam*Insignificance...
(2005), Lyceum Theatre (Sheffield)Lyceum Theatre (Sheffield)-History:Built in 1897 following a traditional proscenium arch design, the Lyceum is the only surviving theatre outside of London designed by the famous theatre architect W.G.R. Sprague and the last example of an Edwardian auditorium in Sheffield... - The Romans in BritainThe Romans in BritainThe Romans in Britain is a stage play by Howard Brenton that comments upon imperialism and the abuse of power.A cast of thirty actors play sixty roles.- Stage history :...
(2006), Crucible TheatreCrucible TheatreThe Crucible Theatre is a theatre built in 1971 and located in the city centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. As well as theatrical performances, it is home to the most important event in professional snooker, the World Snooker Championship.... - The Clean HouseThe Clean HouseThe Clean House is a play by Sarah Ruhl, which premiered in 2004 at Yale Repertory Theatre and has since been produced in many American cities. The play is a whimsical romantic comedy centered on Matilde, a Brazilian cleaning woman who would rather be a comedian.-Plot summary:The play opens with...
(2006), Studio Theatre (Sheffield)Studio Theatre (Sheffield)The Studio Theatre is a studio theatre that forms part of the Sheffield Theatres complex in Sheffield, England. The theatre, which was opened in 1971, is situated in the same building as the Crucible Theatre and holds a maximum capacity of 400 people. The present artistic director is Samuel West.... - As You Like ItAs You Like ItAs You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
(2007), Crucible TheatreCrucible TheatreThe Crucible Theatre is a theatre built in 1971 and located in the city centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. As well as theatrical performances, it is home to the most important event in professional snooker, the World Snooker Championship....
and Swan Theatre (Stratford)Swan Theatre (Stratford)The Swan Theatre is a theatre belonging to the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. It is built on to the side of the larger Royal Shakespeare Theatre, occupying the Victorian Gothic structure that formerly housed the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre that preceded the RST but was... - Dealer's Choice (2007), Menier Chocolate FactoryMenier Chocolate FactoryThe Menier Chocolate Factory is an award-winning 180 seat fringe studio theatre, restaurant and gallery. It is located in a former 1870s Menier Chocolate Company factory in Southwark Street, a major street in the London Borough of Southwark, central south London, England. The theatre stages plays...
and Trafalgar StudiosTrafalgar StudiosTrafalgar Studios, formerly The Whitehall Theatre until 2004, is a West End theatre in Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, in the City of Westminster, London.... - WasteWaste (play)Waste is a play by the English author Harley Granville Barker. It exists in two wholly different versions, from 1906 and 1927. The first version was refused a license by the Lord Chamberlain and had to be performed privately by the Stage Society in 1907; the second was finally staged in public at...
(2008), Almeida TheatreAlmeida TheatreThe Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325 seat studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama and holds an annual summer festival of...
Audiobooks and narration
West has recorded over fifty audiobooks, among which are the Shakespeare plays All's Well that Ends WellAll's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1604 and 1605, and was originally published in the First Folio in 1623....
, Coriolanus
Coriolanus
Gaius Marcius Coriolanus was a Roman general who is said to have lived in the 5th century BC. He received his toponymic cognomen "Coriolanus" because of his exceptional valor in a Roman siege of the Volscian city of Corioli. He was then promoted to a general...
, Henry V
Henry V (play)
Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to be written in approximately 1599. Its full titles are The Cronicle History of Henry the Fifth and The Life of Henry the Fifth...
, The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
, Much Ado about Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
and Richard II
Richard II (play)
King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
, the Wind on Fire
Wind On Fire
Wind On Fire is a fantasy trilogy written by William Nicholson. It is set in a realm similar to ours, but distinctly unrelated to it.-Plot overview:...
trilogy by William Nicholson
William Nicholson (writer)
William Nicholson FRSL is a British screenwriter, playwright, and novelist.-Family:A native of Lewes, Sussex, William Nicholson was raised in a Catholic family in Gloucestershire. By the time he reached his tenth birthday, he had decided to become a writer. He was educated at Downside School,...
(The Wind Singer
The Wind Singer
The Wind Singer is a novel written by William Nicholson and the first book of his Wind On Fire Trilogy. It was first published in 2000. The Wind Singer won the 2000 Nestlé Smarties Book Prize and the for "The Book I Couldn't Put Down".- Plot :...
, Slaves of the Mastery and Firesong
Firesong
Firesong is a book written by William Nicholson, and is the third part of the Wind On Fire trilogy.-Plot summary:Firesong begins with the Manth people deliberating over what action to take, now that the Mastery is in ruins...
), the Arthur trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland
Kevin Crossley-Holland
Kevin John William Crossley-Holland is an English translator, children's author and poet.-Life and career:Born in Mursley, north Buckinghamshire, Holland grew up in Whiteleaf, a small village in the Chilterns...
(The Seeing Stone
The Seeing Stone
The Seeing Stone is a novel written by Kevin Crossley and published in hardcover in August 2000, along with an audio tape version. This was followed by a paperback version in June 2001 and an audio CD in July 2003...
, At the Crossing Places and King of the Middle March), four books by Sebastian Faulks
Sebastian Faulks
-Early life:Faulks was born on 20 April 1953 in Donnington, Berkshire to Peter Faulks and Pamela . Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks, is his older brother. He was educated at Elstree School, Reading and went on to Wellington College, Berkshire...
(Charlotte Gray, Birdsong
Birdsong (novel)
Birdsong is a 1993 war novel by the English author Sebastian Faulks. Faulks' fourth novel, it tells of a man called Stephen Wraysford at different stages of his life both before and during World War I...
, The Girl at the Lion d'Or
The Girl at the Lion D'or
The Girl at the Lion d'Or by Sebastian Faulks, was the author's second novel. Set in the tiny French village of Janvilliers in 1936. Together with Birdsong and Charlotte Gray, it makes up Faulks' France Trilogy...
and Human Traces
Human Traces
Human Traces is a 2005 novel by Sebastian Faulks, best known as the British author of Birdsong and Charlotte Gray. The novel took Faulks five years to write...
), four by Michael Ridpath
Michael Ridpath
Michael Ridpath is the British author of various thrillers based around the world of high finance. He was born in Devon in 1961 and grew up in Yorkshire. He was educated at Millfield School and Merton College, Oxford where he obtained first class honours in Modern History, and represented the...
(Trading Reality, Final Venture, Free to Trade, and The Marketmaker), two by George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
(Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
and Homage to Catalonia
Homage to Catalonia
Homage to Catalonia is political journalist and novelist George Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations in the Spanish Civil War. The first edition was published in 1938. The book was not published in the United States until February 1952. The American edition had a preface...
), two by Mary Wesley
Mary Wesley
Mary Wesley, CBE was an English novelist. During her career, she was one of Britain's most successful novelists, selling three million copies of her books, including 10 best-sellers in the last 20 years of her life.-Background:...
(An Imaginative Experience and Part of the Furniture), two by Robert Goddard
Robert Goddard (novelist)
Robert Francis Goddard is a British novelist.-Life and career:Goddard was educated at Wallisdean County Junior School and Price's Grammar School in Fareham before going on to study history at the University of Cambridge...
(Closed Circle and In Pale Battalions) and several compilations of poetry (Realms of Gold: Letters and Poems of John Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
, Bright Star, The Collected Works of Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
, Seven Ages and Great Narrative Poems of the Romantic Age). Also Bomber
Bomber (novel)
Bomber is a novel written by Len Deighton and published in the UK in 1970. It is the fictionalised account of the events of 31 June [sic], 1943 in which an RAF bombing raid on the Ruhr area of western Germany goes wrong...
, Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
: The Vengeance of Morbius, Empire of the Sun
Empire of the Sun
Empire of the Sun is a 1984 novel by J. G. Ballard which was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Like Ballard's earlier short story, "The Dead Time" , it is essentially fiction but draws extensively on Ballard's experiences in World War II...
, Brighton Rock, Fair Stood the Wind for France
Fair Stood the Wind for France
Fair Stood the Wind for France is a novel written by English author H. E. Bates, it was first published in 1944 and was his first financial success...
, Fluke, Great Speeches in History, How Proust Can Change Your Life, Lady Windermere's Fan
Lady Windermere's Fan
Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman is a four act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first produced 22 February 1892 at the St James's Theatre in London. The play was first published in 1893...
, Peter Pan
Peter and Wendy
Peter and Wendy, published in 1911, is the novelisation by J. M. Barrie of his most famous play Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up...
, The Alchemist
The Alchemist (novel)
The Alchemist is an allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho first published in 1988. The Alchemist was originally written in Portuguese. It has sold more than 65 million copies in more than 150 countries, becoming one of the best-selling books in history....
, The Day of the Triffids
The Day of the Triffids
The Day of the Triffids is a post-apocalyptic novel published in 1951 by the English science fiction author John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris, under the pen-name John Wyndham. Although Wyndham had already published other novels using other pen-name combinations drawn from his lengthy real...
, The Hairy Hands, The Lives of Christopher Chant, The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous
The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous
The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous is a novel written by Jilly Cooper as part of the Rutshire Chronicles, about a womanizer who gets embroiled in a scheme to punish wayward husbands....
, The Queen's Man, The Solitaire Mystery
The Solitaire Mystery
The Solitaire Mystery is a 1990 fantasy novel by Jostein Gaarder, Norwegian author of the best-selling Sophie's World. Its main target audience is young adults, but the themes of the book transcend any age group....
, The Swimming Pool Library
The Swimming Pool Library
The Swimming-Pool Library is a 1988 novel by Alan Hollinghurst.-Plot introduction:In 1983 London, the privileged, gay, and apparently sexually irresistible 25 year old protagonist Will saves the life of an elderly aristocrat having a heart-attack in a public lavatory...
, The Two Destinies, The Velveteen Rabbit
The Velveteen Rabbit
The Velveteen Rabbit or How Toys Become Real is a children's novel written by Margery Williams and illustrated by William Nicholson. It chronicles the story of a stuffed rabbit and his quest to become real through the love of his owner. The book was first published in 1922 and has been republished...
, The Way I Found Her, The Way to Dusty Death, The Woodlanders
The Woodlanders
The Woodlanders is a novel by Thomas Hardy. It was published in 1887.-Plot summary:The story takes place in a small woodland village called Little Hintock, and concerns the efforts of an honest woodsman, Giles Winterborne, to marry his childhood sweetheart, Grace Melbury...
, Under the Net
Under the Net
Under the Net was the first novel of Iris Murdoch, published in 1954. Set in London, it is the story of a struggling young writer, Jake Donaghue. Its mixture of the philosophical and the picaresque has made it one of Murdoch's most popular....
and Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë published in 1847. It was her only novel and written between December 1845 and July 1846. It remained unpublished until July 1847 and was not printed until December after the success of her sister Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre...
. He has narrated many history programmes for the BBC, including most of the documentaries produced, written, and directed by World War II historian Laurence Rees: The Nazis: A Warning from History
The Nazis: A Warning from History
The Nazis: A Warning from History is a 1997 BBC documentary film series that examines Adolf Hitler and the Nazis' rise to power, their zenith, their decline and fall, and the consequences of their reign. It featured archive footage and interviews with eye witnesses and was shown in six...
(1997), War of the Century: When Hitler Fought Stalin (1999), Horror in the East (2000), Battle for the Atlantic (2002), Auschwitz: The Nazis and the “Final Solution” (2005), and World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis, and the West (2008).
As a reciter West has worked with all the major British orchestras, as well as the Strasbourg Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra. It performs its concerts in the Meyerson Symphony Center in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States....
and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC. Works include Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex and The Soldier's Tale, Prokofiev’s Eugene Onegin, Beethoven's Egmont
Egmont (Beethoven)
Egmont, Op. 84, by Ludwig van Beethoven, is a set of incidental music pieces for the 1787 play of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It consists of an overture followed by a sequence of nine additional pieces for soprano, male narrator and full symphony orchestra...
, Schoenburg's Ode To Napoleon, Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, Bernstein's Kaddish
Symphony No. 3 (Bernstein)
Kaddish is Leonard Bernstein's third symphony. The 1963 symphony is a dramatic work written for a large orchestra, a full choir, a boys' choir, a soprano soloist and a narrator. The name of the piece, Kaddish, refers to the Jewish prayer that is chanted at every synagogue service for the dead but...
, Walton's Façade and Henry V, Night Mail
Night Mail
Night Mail is a 1936 documentary film about a London, Midland and Scottish Railway mail train from London to Scotland, produced by the GPO Film Unit. A poem by English poet W. H. Auden was written for it, used in the closing few minutes, as was music by Benjamin Britten...
and The Way to the Sea
The Way to the Sea
The Way to the Sea is a 1936 documentary film about the London to Portsmouth railway line and its recent electrification. This is prefaced with an historical representation of Portsmouth and the London to Portsmouth road...
by Britten and Auden and the world premieres of Concrete by Judith Weir at the Barbican and Howard Goodall’s Jason and the Argonauts at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
. In 2007 West made his New York recital debut in the first performance of Little Red Violin by Anne Dudley
Anne Dudley
Anne Dudley is an English composer and pop musician, and was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in both the classical and pop genres. She is perhaps best known, however, as one of the core members of the synthpop band Art of Noise and also as a film...
and Steven Isserlis
Steven Isserlis
Steven Isserlis CBE is a British cellist. He is distinguished for his diverse repertoire, distinctive sound and total command of phrasing. He studied at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and was much influenced by the great iconoclast of Russian cello playing, Daniil Shafran...
. He performed the suite version of Henry V at the 2002 Last Night of the Proms.
He has also appeared with The Nash Ensemble, The Raphael Ensemble, Ensemble 360° and The Lindsay, Dante and Endellion Quartet
Endellion Quartet
The Endellion String Quartet is a British string quartet named after St Endellion in Cornwall.The quartet was formed in 1979 and has been 'Quartet in Residence' at Cambridge University since 1992. It has an extensive discography and appears in concert halls around the world. In 1997 the quartet...
s at the Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
, London. Recordings include Eugene Onegin with Sinfonia 21 and Edward Downes, Salad Days and Walton's Henry V with the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
and Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...
.
In November 2010, West narrated in a performance of Grieg's
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
complete incidental music to Ibsen’s
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
play Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...
, using a new English translation. The concert was in Southampton Guildhall with Southampton Philharmonic Choir
Southampton Philharmonic Choir
The Southampton Philharmonic Choir is a large choral society based in Southampton, England.The choir's musical director is David Gibson. It sings with the students of Southampton University Phil and performs with a professional orchestra, the New London Sinfonia...
.
Awards and nominations
As actor- 1993 - Nominated BAFTA Award for Best Supporting ActorBAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting RoleBest Actor in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding supporting performance in a film...
for Howards EndHowards End (film)Howards End is a 1992 film based upon the novel of the same title by E. M. Forster , a story of class relations in turn-of-the-20th-century England... - 1999 - Nominated Genie Award for Best ActorGenie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading RoleThe Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian actor.-1st Genie Awards:* Christopher Plummer, Murder by Decree...
for Rupert's LandRupert's Land (film)Rupert's Land is a 1998 road movie produced and filmed in Canada. It was released at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival and was nominated at the 1999 Genie Awards and Leo Awards.- Primary Cast :* Samuel West - Rupert McKay* Ian Tracey - Dale McKay... - 2001 - Won London Critics' Circle Theatre AwardLondon Critics' Circle Theatre AwardsThe Critics' Circle Theatre Awards, originally called Drama Theatre Awards prior to 1989, are British theatrical awards presented annually for the closing year's theatrical achievements...
for Best Shakespearean Performance for HamletHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601... - 2001 - Won Whatsonstage Theatregoers' Choice Award Best Actor for HamletHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
- 2008 - Nominated Whatsonstage Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Ensemble Performance for BetrayalBetrayal (play)Betrayal is a play written by Harold Pinter in 1978. Critically regarded as one of the English playwright's major dramatic works, it features his characteristically economical dialogue, characters' hidden emotions and veiled motivations, and their self-absorbed competitive one-upmanship,...
- 2009 - Nominated TMA AwardTMA AwardsThe TMA Awards, established in 1991, are presented annually by the Theatrical Management Association in recognition of creative excellence and outstanding work in United Kingdom theatres...
for Best Performance in a Play for ENRONENRON (play)ENRON is a 2009 play by the British playwright Lucy Prebble, based on the Enron scandal.-Productions:ENRON premiered at the Chichester Festival Theatre , before London transfers to the Jerwood Downstairs at the Royal Court Theatre from 17 September to 7 November 2009 and then the Noel Coward... - 2009 - Nominated Evening Standard AwardEvening Standard AwardsThe Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December...
Best Actor for ENRONENRON (play)ENRON is a 2009 play by the British playwright Lucy Prebble, based on the Enron scandal.-Productions:ENRON premiered at the Chichester Festival Theatre , before London transfers to the Jerwood Downstairs at the Royal Court Theatre from 17 September to 7 November 2009 and then the Noel Coward... - 2010 - Nominated Whatsonstage Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Actor for ENRONENRON (play)ENRON is a 2009 play by the British playwright Lucy Prebble, based on the Enron scandal.-Productions:ENRON premiered at the Chichester Festival Theatre , before London transfers to the Jerwood Downstairs at the Royal Court Theatre from 17 September to 7 November 2009 and then the Noel Coward...
- 2010 - Nominated Olivier Award Best Actor for ENRONENRON (play)ENRON is a 2009 play by the British playwright Lucy Prebble, based on the Enron scandal.-Productions:ENRON premiered at the Chichester Festival Theatre , before London transfers to the Jerwood Downstairs at the Royal Court Theatre from 17 September to 7 November 2009 and then the Noel Coward...
As reader
- 1999 - Won Talkie award for Charlotte GrayCharlotte Gray (novel)Charlotte Gray is a 1999 book by Sebastian Faulks and completes his loose trilogy of books about France with an account of the adventures of a young Scotswoman who becomes involved with the French resistance during the Second World War. It is set in Vichy France during World War II...
by Sebastian FaulksSebastian Faulks-Early life:Faulks was born on 20 April 1953 in Donnington, Berkshire to Peter Faulks and Pamela . Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks, is his older brother. He was educated at Elstree School, Reading and went on to Wellington College, Berkshire... - 2000 - Won Audie award for Realms of Gold: Letters and Poems of John Keats
- 2001 - Won Spoken Word award (Silver) for The Seeing StoneThe Seeing StoneThe Seeing Stone is a novel written by Kevin Crossley and published in hardcover in August 2000, along with an audio tape version. This was followed by a paperback version in June 2001 and an audio CD in July 2003...
by Kevin Crossley-HollandKevin Crossley-HollandKevin John William Crossley-Holland is an English translator, children's author and poet.-Life and career:Born in Mursley, north Buckinghamshire, Holland grew up in Whiteleaf, a small village in the Chilterns... - 2001 - Won Spoken Word award (Gold) for BirdsongBirdsong (novel)Birdsong is a 1993 war novel by the English author Sebastian Faulks. Faulks' fourth novel, it tells of a man called Stephen Wraysford at different stages of his life both before and during World War I...
by Sebastian FaulksSebastian Faulks-Early life:Faulks was born on 20 April 1953 in Donnington, Berkshire to Peter Faulks and Pamela . Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks, is his older brother. He was educated at Elstree School, Reading and went on to Wellington College, Berkshire...
As director
- 2004 - Nominated Olivier Award for Best Opera Revival for Cosi Fan TutteCosì fan tutteCosì fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
- 2008 - Nominated Olivier Award for Best Revival for Dealer's Choice
- 2009 - Nominated Theatregoers' Choice AwardTheatregoers' Choice AwardThe Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Awards are organised by the theatre website Whatsonstage.com and recognise the performers and productions of British theatre with emphasis on London's West End. Nominations and eventual winners are selected by the theatre-going public....
for Best Director for WasteWaste (play)Waste is a play by the English author Harley Granville Barker. It exists in two wholly different versions, from 1906 and 1927. The first version was refused a license by the Lord Chamberlain and had to be performed privately by the Stage Society in 1907; the second was finally staged in public at...
and Dealer's Choice