Helen Mirren nominated for an Olivier Award TELEGRAPH

By Daisy Bowie-Sell

1:45AM GMT 26 Mar 2013

She has won an Oscar, a Bafta and a Golden Globe for her portrayal of The Queen, and now Helen Mirren will have the chance to add an Olivier to her list of awards won for playing Elizabeth II.

Mirren has been nominated in the Best Actress category this year, for her role in the new play The Audience, directed by Stephen Daldry.

The Audience opened to a string of favourable reviews earlier this month, with Charles Spencer, The Daily Telegraph's theatre critic, calling Mirren's performance 'Magnificent'.

The actress will be competing for the award against Hattie Morahan, who won this year's Evening Standard Theatre Award for her role as Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House, Billie Piper for The Effect and Kristin Scott Thomas for Old Times.

In the Best Actor category Mark Rylance has been nominated for his acclaimed, cross-dressing performance in Twelfth Night. He is up against Rupert Everett in The Judas Kiss, James McAvoy in Macbeth, Rafe Spall in Constellations and Luke Treadaway in The Curious Incident.

READ MORE:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/9953945/Olivier-Award-nominations-Helen-Mirren-nominated-for-best-actress.html

Ewan Mcgregor - Ewan Mcgregor Defends James Mcavoy Over Theatre Criticism 25 March 2013 (CONTACT MUSIC)

Ewan Mcgregor has stepped up to defend fellow Scottish actor James Mcavoy over criticisms theatre bosses are "dumbing down" by hiring him to star in a new London production of Macbeth.

The comments have riled MCGregor, who has now spoken out in defence of MCAvoy and called the criticisms "ridiculous".

In a post on Twitter.com, he writes, "Hardtalk moaning about celebs in theatre. Using James McAvoy as an (example). Ridiculous. Don't they know he's a brilliant actor. Come on Bbc!"

READ MORE: http://www.contactmusic.com/news/ewan-mcgregor-defends-james-mcavoy-over-theatre-criticism_3575120

James McAvoy helps a collapsed audience member during a Macbeth play By Gavriella Tjandra, 3/23/2013

James McAvoy helped a collapsed audience member during his performance of Macbeth in Trafalgar Studio 1, London.

The X-Men: First Class actor stopped in the middle of his performance, went down the stage, and assisted the audience member, who, according to eyewitnesses, had fallen ill, E! News reported.

A theatergoer tweeted, "Saw James McAvoy stop mid culmination scene in #Macbeth to help a collapsed audience member..."

"...crack a joke or 2, then continue with the same intensity. Top guy," the fan continued.

After helping the audience member, McAvoy reportedly called the emergency personnel, and finished the scene he had previously abandoned.

Despite an interrupted performance, the 33-year-old actor pulled it together, and gave an over-the-top act.


READ MORE FROM THE CELEBRITY CAFE

James McAvoy, Anne Marie Duff - SHAMELESS - lovely couple, on and off screen (If My Heart Was A Home)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcu-wFg1yfY

Ria Harris

JAMES MCAVOY: Macbeth is making me feel 103

SOME pity, please, for James McAvoy.

By: Adam Helliker
Published: Sun, March 17, 2013

"I'm 33 but I feel like I'm 103 because the stage show is so exhausting. Eight performances a week and no let-up. It's the most physical thing I've ever done, and it puts all the action movies in the shade. I've got cuts and bruises in places I didn't even know I had.

"Until now the worst damage I'd ever done myself was getting a bruised coccyx... and that was the result of an attempt to slide down the handrail at Tottenham Court Road Station when I was 22."

READ MORE: http://www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/adam-helliker/384923/Macbeth-is-making-me-feel-103-says-James-McAvoy

James McAvoy says having sister co-star in Filth was most uncomfortable moment of his career (DAILY RECORD)

THE Scots star's younger sister Joy, known for her appearances in The Angels' Share and The Wee Man, falls victim to McAvoy's crazed character in the Irvine Welsh adaptation.

JAMES McAVOY says the most uncomfortable moment of his career was threatening his little sister Joy on camera.

The pair feature together for the first time in the movie version of Filth, the best-selling novel by Irvine Welsh.

McAvoy, 33, plays crazed policeman Bruce Robertson and Joy is a florist who he confronts when she becomes a murder suspect.

He said: “It was weird.

“I had to threaten her violently and ever so slightly sexually as well. That was well weird.”

McAvoy said he is proud of his sister, who is carving out an impressive reputation thanks to roles in The Angels’ Share and The Wee Man.

READ MORE: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/james-mcavoy-sister-co-star-irvine-1755511

James McAvoy Admits He's Had A 'Mental and Physical Breakdown' (E.)

BY HANNAH LANE ON MARCH 7, 2013

The Atonement star is pushing himself to the limit with three new films and a sold out theatre show.

James McAvoy seems unstoppable at the moment! After becoming a Hollywood star with films like The Last King of Scotland and X-Men: First Class, the 33-year-old actor has just finished a flurry of new films and performs every night to packed audiences in London.

The Scottish actor's fame looks set to sore further after the release of some of the most highly anticipated films this year.

McAvoy is starring in British crime thriller Welcome to the Punch alongside W.E actress Andrea Riseborough, Danny Boyle's Trance and a film adaptation of Irvine Welsh's controversial novel Filth.

He has also just completed a two-part film with Oscar nominated redhead Jessica Chastain called The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby.


READ MORE: http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/107525/James-McAvoy-Admits-Hes-Had-A-Mental-and-Physical-Breakdown

Kenneth Branagh: Why I can’t wait to play MancBeth (But don't mention the name of THAT play...) (MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS)

The Hollywood director speaks of his delight to be coming back to Manchester for the International Festival, and how he's spent his whole career avoiding Shakespeare's evil king

Hollywood director Sir Kenneth Branagh has spoken of his delight to be coming back to the city where he ‘came of age’ as an actor to star in Macbeth at the Manchester International Festival.

Branagh cut his teeth at the Palace Theatre 25 years ago, and despite playing many great characters since, he revealed that he had spent his whole career avoiding playing Shakespeare’s evil king.

“It’s the one play by Shakespeare that follows me everywhere,” he said at the programme announcement for the fourth biennial festival, which takes place across Manchester from July 4 - 24.

“The Scottish play, and I’m still too superstitious to say the name, is the one I’ve thought and thought about, always circling around it, but didn’t know what to do with it.”

The play will be performed at a still-to-revealed deconsecrated church in ‘central Manchester’, and the cast have begun rehearsals.

Branagh announced that because the show’s £65 tickets sold out in minutes,  the final performance will be shown live on a screen in a city car park to make it open and affordable for everyone to see. Tickets will be priced £8.

READ MORE: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/theatre/kenneth-branagh-manchester-international-festival-1704037

New photos of Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy and the cast of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere (RADIOTIMES)

An exclusive first look at shots of the star-studded cast of the Radio 4/4 Extra fantasy drama, also featuring Natalie Dormer, David Harewood, Sophie Okonedo, Christopher Lee and Bernard Cribbins

Paul Jones
10:08 AM, 04 March 2013
London Below is slowly coming to life. With less than two weeks to go until Radio 4/4 Extra opens a portal to the magical realm in fantasy drama Neverwhere, we have a gallery of exclusive shots of the star-studded cast, including Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy and Natalie Dormer.

McAvoy is Richard Mayhew, a young businessman drawn into the subterranean world of London Below after he comes to the aid of a girl named Door, played by Dormer. In a place where famous landmarks take on a life of their own, Benedict Cumberbatch is the Angel Islington, an actual angel who watches over the city beneath the city.

VISIT THE BBC NEVERWHERE SITE HERE

READ MORE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-03-04/new-photos-of-benedict-cumberbatch-james-mcavoy-and-the-cast-of-neil-gaimans-neverwhere

KENNETH BRANAGH: Manchester Interational Festival to Feature Kenneth Branagh, Rob Ashford, Robert Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Mikhail Baryshnikov By Mark Shenton 28 Feb 2013 (PLAYBILL)

Kenneth Branagh

Photo by Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging

This year's Manchester International Festival will feature newly commissioned productions from actors and directors that include Kenneth Branagh and Rob Ashford (co-directing Macbeth starring Branagh), Robert Wilson (directing Willem Dafoe and Mikhail Baryshnikov in The Old Woman) and Maxine Peake and Sarah Frankcom, who will collaborate on Shelley's epic poem The Masque of Anarchy.

Macbeth will run July 5-21 in a deconsecrated Manchester church, for which details of the meeting place will be revealed to ticket holders beforehand. Kenneth Branagh, who last appeared in Shakespeare in the title role of Richard III at Sheffield Crucible in 2002, will play the title role, and co-direct with Rob Ashford. During the run, there will also be a one-off live relay on a big outdoor screen at the NCP Bridgewater Hall Car Park July 20.

READ MORE: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/175428-Manchester-Interational-Festival-to-Feature-Kenneth-Branagh-Rob-Ashford-Robert-Wilson-Willem-Dafoe-Mikhail-Baryshnikov