Venus & Adonis

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In my latest collaboration with the brilliant classical pianist Gamal Khamis, we are previewing the brand-new programme we have been commissioned to perform at the Shakespeare in Music festival in Stratford next year, featuring a complete performance of one of Shakespeare's most ravishing early solo works interspersed with selections from Mendelssohn's hauntingly beautiful Songs Without Words.

Shakespeare’s sparkling narrative poem Venus and Adonis is a witty, transformative and ultimately moving retelling of Ovid’s classic tale, in which the goddess of love’s desire to woo the most beautiful of the mortals and waylay him from hunting eventually ends in tragedy.

Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words were composed between 1829 and 1845 and achieved almost instant popularity during and after his short lifetime. Their lilting and poignant lyricism make them ideal companion pieces for Shakespeare’s vivid tale.

Sunday 3rd November, 3pm

St Mary’s Perivale, Perivale Lane, London, UB6 8SS

and live online at www.st-marys-perivale.org.uk

(Free with retiring collection)

An Exquisite Harmony at 2024 Swaledale Festival

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We were delighted to perform An Exquisite Harmony at a packed Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond, North Yorkshire as part of the 2024 Swaledale Festival on June 4th. The show tells the story of the love triangle between Robert & Clara Schumann and the young Johannes Brahms with extracts from their letters, diaries and music, performed by me, Sarah Sherborne and Gamal Khamis (piano). Next performance is at London’s Jermyn Street Theatre on Sunday August 4th at 5pm. Tickets now available from the box office

ITV Travel Up promos

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I was quite amused to be asked to voice these ITV bumpers “in the style of” Brian Blessed recently. Impressions aren’t really my thing but I have spent quite a few sessions in the studio with the great man over the years and could certainly remember the unflagging energy he brings to everything (even in his eighties). Most actors shy away from their catch phrases but Brian is given to yelling “Gordon’s Alive!” at every opportunity and then there are the stories… I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much in a studio. What a character! Anyway, these spots are by way of my homage to a great actor and gentleman.

Enoch Arden

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I'm delighted to be returning to OSO Arts Centre, Barnes, London, SW13 on Wed 22 May at 7.30pm with amazing pianist Gamal Khamis to perform Tennyson's thrilling and deeply moving epic poem Enoch Arden, as set for speaker and piano by #richardstrauss in 1897. With words and music of haunting beauty, it tells the heart-rending story of a sailor lost at sea who eventually returns home to find his life has changed irrevocably. Enoch Arden is a hidden gem of the romantic repertoire and a masterwork of the now almost lost genre of musical melodrama.

We originally performed it as a livestream during the 2020 lockdown (when I first rashly agreed to commit all 7,000 words to memory). We have since given performances round the country (including Swaledale Festival, Three Choirs Festival & Jermyn Street Theatre) and recorded it as a critically acclaimed CD/streaming release for SOMM Recordings in 2022.

Please do join us. Tickets are now on sale at https://osoarts.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173654663

“A wholly exceptional and thoroughly engrossing achievement”

Robert Matthew-Walker, Musical Opinion

“A gift to hear the poem in its original language…a significant coup”

David Nice, BBC Music Magazine

"The performance by Gamal Khamis and Christopher Kent had me totally transfixed"

Alexis Paterson, CEO Three Choirs Festival

“Thought-provoking and riveting… you’ll be entranced”

Clare Seymour, Opera Today

“A performance that’s as gripping and ultimately moving as the story itself”

Ron Schepper, Textura Magazine

One Voice Conference 2024

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Thanks to the estimable @Peter Dickson for the invitation to speak at the One Voice Conference

UK 2024 (I’m not sure how my photo ended up quite so terrifying but believe it is due to this year's punk theme). I’m looking forward to giving a presentation on Saturday 18th May at 2.30pm in person and online titled “The Lyric Voice – Taking your reads to the next level”.

I’ll be talking about my work in trailers, promo, commercials and narration and how it is informed by my experience as an actor on stage, screen and radio; in particular how to combine textual analysis skills with emotional truth to make v/o work and auditions more compelling and human in the age of AI and ever-increasing competition. If you're planning to be there please do join me.

Booking link (and full agenda): www.onevoiceconference.com/one-voice-conference-uk-2024/

Dear Father...

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I’m greatly looking forward to setting off on tour 12-14 April with my great friends the Bridge Quartet presenting our new Mozart programme "Dear Father...". Do join us if we're coming near you... venue details below. Further dates being planned for 2024/25.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was famous as an infant prodigy, performing in public for the first time when he was only six and publishing his first symphonies by the age of eight. But it was his father Leopold, himself a minor composer and violin tutor, who shaped and guided young Wolfgang’s career, exhibiting his son’s extraordinary talents around the cities of Europe throughout the years of his childhood, until their relationship inevitably cooled as the younger Mozart grew into maturity. In 'Dear Father…' the Bridge Quartet presents three of Mozart’s most striking and original string quartets (K157, K421, K590), which chart the course of this complex and fascinating relationship at pivotal moments in his life, interspersed with narrative and readings by Christopher Kent from the revealing correspondence between father and son which continued throughout their lives.

Friday 12th April, 7pm - St Mary’s Church, Boyton, Wilts, BA12 0SS. Tickets £15/£10 boyton7lw@gmail.com

Saturday 13th April, 7pm - Kennett, Lincombe Drive, Torquay,TQ1 2LP. Tickets (free with retiring collection) deborah@kearneybrewer.com

Sunday 14th April, 5pm, Barkham Exmoor, South Molton, Devon EX36 3LU Tickets £12/£5 (students/U18 free) www.barkham-exmoor.co.uk/event-details/dear-father-mozart-string-quartets-with-the-bridge-quartet-christopher-kent

An interview with Chris Mars

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Thanks very much to ace musician Chris Mars Music for inviting me to be a guest on his popular YouTube channel, where we chatted about movie trailers, studios, working with Dame Judi Dench, the challenges of AI and a host of other things. Chris is a leading singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who was in the hit 80's band A Flock of Seagulls and has worked with almost everybody in the music industry since. Please do dip in for a listen and give his channel a like/share if you enjoy it.

Yes you Can Can

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How do you sell paint? It’s an interesting question because most paint of whatever type does the same sort of job and most manufacturers make a rage of similar colours, don’t they? That’s why I think this campaign from Swedish paint company Colorama for their CanCan range of paint is so clever. It focuses on lifestyle-led design and and is superbly imagined by leading Skandi agency Swartling. Their brief to me as the v/o? “Be stylish”. I think we did a pretty good job between us!

Never Such Innocence

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The pianist Gamal Khamis and I are delighted to be returning to St Mary's Perivale on Sunday 5th November at 3pm for a live and live-streamed performance of NEVER SUCH INNOCENCE, our acclaimed narrative recital of words and music from the First World War. First performed in 2016 as part of the Somme 100 commemorations it has since been seen in concert venues, theatres and festivals across the UK, including sell-out performances in London's West End and it was described as “an incredibly moving performance” when it was featured on BBC Radio 3's In Tune.

NEVER SUCH INNOCENCE tells the story of my own great uncle, nineteen-year-old conscript Private Percy O'Key, through his real-life letters and diaries, interspersed with piano music of the period by composers including Elgar, Ravel, Debussy and Ivor Gurney and the words of writers such as Wilfred Owen, Edward Thomas, Siegfried Sassoon and Vera Brittain.

"A moving and compelling journey from innocence to loss, told with unflinching clarity and compassion."

3pm Sunday 5th November

St Mary's Perivale, Perivale Lane, London, UB6 8SS

(Admission free with retiring collection)

And live online at: www.st-marys-perivale.org.uk

Audience comments from previous performances:

“Very special, deeply moving and immensely absorbing.”

“Spell-binding… so compelling to watch and listen to”

"The most amazing evening... one of the most moving and thought-provoking events I have ever attended."

“Beautifully nuanced show – tender, moving, angry

BFI London Film Festival

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It was good to spend some time at BFI London Film Festival last week and meet some of the makers. I enjoyed Killers of the Flower Moon, Saltburn and Maestro but couldn't find much to like about Foe (the otherwise admirable Paul Mescal looking rather overstretched, I felt). The Holdover Boys was a film that really grew on me (once you get over the initial similarities to Dead Poets Society, though it ends up being something quite different) and Paul Giamatti gives a standout leading performance. It was a particular pleasure to meet with director Alexander Payne afterwards and chat about some of his previous work.