Simon Callow

Bournemouth

Writer and Contributor at Freelance

Actor, writer, director. Official twitter feed. Follow for Simon's latest news, also on https://t.co/eaN33aBjDd

Articles

Waiting For Waiting For Godot

1 month ago | comedy.co.uk | Kiell Smith-Bynoe |Adrian Edmondson |Simon Callow |Christopher Ryan

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Simon Callow on the joy and agony of directing Maggie Smith

Sep 28, 2024 | thetimes.com | Simon Callow

I was filming in Paris when the news of Maggie Smith’s death came through, and a number of actors, American and French, came up to console me. They knew nothing of any personal relationship I might have with her, they simply knew that the British acting profession had lost one of its absolute greats and that I, as a British actor, would be feeling bereft and diminished. They knew that a huge figure who celebrated and embodied the power and possibility of acting had departed the scene.
Under the Spotlight | Simon Callow

Sep 26, 2024 | nybooks.com | Simon Callow

The words “performer,” “performance,” and, increasingly, “performativity” (as well as their close cousins “actor” and “acting”) have been taking on a lot of extra duties of late.
The Best Audiobooks for Hands-Free Reading This Summer

Jul 16, 2024 | exbulletin.com | Charles DICKENS |Simon Callow

If you’ve ever lugged around a suitcase full of hardcover books, you’ve probably wondered: Surely there’s an easier way to do this? There is. The best audiobooks give you everything you can get in print, but they fit lightweight on your phone. No need to worry about what to pack in your carry-on—just pack it all! There are other benefits, too. You don’t have to stare at a page (or the Kindle screen).
Simon Callow: I wasted an evening watching Oppenheimer

Mar 4, 2024 | thetimes.co.uk | Simon Callow

My favourite filmLa Règle du Jeu, directed by Jean Renoir — an incomparable distillation of a society on the brink of extinction, with sublime performances, not least by the director himself. My favourite playDeburau by Sacha Guitry about the illness, recovery and then demise of the great mime depicted by Jean-Louis Barrault in Les Enfants du Paradis. It is a play I long to direct. I tried to persuade Alec Guinness to do it but he was, he felt, too old. Wrong. He would have been sublime.
Christopher Fettes obituary

Feb 23, 2024 | theguardian.com | Simon Callow

Christopher Fettes, who has died aged 94, was, along with the director John Blatchley and the Swedish dancer and teacher Yat Malmgren, one of the three founders, in 1963, of the Drama Centre in London, perhaps the most radical drama school created in the UK, where I trained in 1970.
Scrooge’s U-turn in A Christmas Carol was not just a load of humbug | Letter

Dec 17, 2023 | theguardian.com | Simon Callow

Touched and flattered though I was to be cited in your leader column concerning A Christmas Carol, I must, on Dickens’ behalf, protest against the notion that Scrooge simply indulges in “a Christmas morning giveaway” (The Guardian view on A Christmas Carol: a tale of redemption for an irredeemable age, 15 December).
Loss of training provision at former Actors Centre must be urgently reversed

Dec 7, 2023 | thestage.co.uk | Simon Callow

Simon Callow is urging people to join Actor at the Centre. Photo: Cameron SlaterTwo years on from its rebranding as Seven Dials Playhouse, no support or training for artists has been introduced at the former Actors Centre, despite promises to do soSupport The Stage by registering or subscribingTo continue reading this article you must be logged in. Register or login to unlock 3 free articles every month.
Mozart the Modernist | Simon Callow

Oct 12, 2023 | nybooks.com | Simon Callow

Biographies of composers are a relatively recent genre; those of Mozart were among the first examples.Though his life was not as sensational as that of Gesualdo, for example, who murdered his wife, Mozart was, from his early years, an international celebrity whose very personality posed questions beyond the eternal riddle of creativity. How could a mere child—he started performing publicly on the clavichord at the age of six—be so astoundingly versatile?
London Film Festival returns amid the strikes

Sep 26, 2023 | bfi.org.uk | Thomas Flew |Lynn Nwokorie |Simon Callow |Chloe Walker

The 67th BFI London Film Festival, running from 4-15 October, brings Andrew Haigh’s Irish love story, Emerald Fennell’s satire of the aristocracy Saltburn and the welcome return of David Fincher. 26 September 2023By Thomas FlewNews, reviews and archive features every Friday, and information about our latest magazine once a month.