No Time to Die

Here's one I made earlier... was just busy voicing the trailer campaign for new Bond movie “No Time to Die” when its April launch was postponed till November, due to the worldwide Coronavirus epidemic. For Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007 director Cary Joji Fukunaga has produced a pulsatingly contemporary action movie, with standout guest performances from Léa Seydoux, Rami Malek and Lashana Lynch, and a sharply witty script, no doubt partly due to the involvement of the amazing Phoebe Waller-Bridge. To whet the appetite, here is one of the prototype audio trailers we had produced so far…

Odyssey - Words and Music of Finding Home

Following sell-out performances last November, the pianist Gamal Khamis and I are delighted to be bringing our acclaimed narrative recital Odyssey - Words and Music of Finding Home back to Jermyn Street Theatre in London’s West End on Sunday March 1st, and All Saints Church, Isleworth the previous evening 29th February. ODYSSEY tells the story of the aftermath of war, with the legend of Odysseus’s epic journey home from Troy to Ithaca interwoven with themes of journey, diaspora and migration explored through words and music, including specially commissioned works by six award-winning contemporary poets and composers. Their work is set alongside Homer’s original words in Emily Wilson’s acclaimed new translation, as well as works by Shakespeare, Bach, Debussy, and Clara Schumann to create another absorbing, moving and richly rewarding evening.

Praise for Odyssey:

“Such an inspiring and relevant show.”

“An incredibly moving performance.”

“What an amazing experience. So powerful, so hard hitting and so relevant.”

“What an inspiring and moving evening. So right for these times."

"Definitely food for the mind and the soul”

Said with a smile...

Here’s a very stylish corporate film that came through the studio recently via the clever folks at Shy Collective for German cosmetic dentistry giants Straumann . Who knew teeth could be so sexy…?

Seven Last Words

I'm delighted to be appearing In London with the Bridge Quartet in a mini-tour of Haydn's Seven Last Words 13-15 April, with all proceeds going to The Samaritans. We're aiming to recreate the original 1786 performance by interlacing Haydn's timeless, soul-searching music with readings by me of classic and contemporary secular poetry, including works by Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Mary Oliver, Philip Larkin and others. These will be moving and memorable events - please do join us.

Tickets £10 advance/£15 door. All proceeds to the Samaritans

Sat April 13 6pm St Michael & All Angels, Bedford Park, Chiswick W4 ITT www.ticketsource.co.uk/bridge-string-quartet

Sun April 14 7.30pm Jazz Room, The Bulls Head, Barnes SW13 9PY https://tickets.thebullsheadbarnes.com/

Mon April 15th 6pm Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, WC2H 8EP www.ticketsource.co.uk/bridge-string-quartet

Husqvarna TVC

Who knew you could mow a lawn like this? Nice TV spot from BBDO and nice of them to use my dulcets. I might want one of these.

The Aftermath

Director James Kent seems to be on a roll at the moment. MotherFatherSon with Richard Gere is one of the most compelling things on TV and here's one of the trailers I voiced recently for his romantic post-war movie The Aftermath with Keira Knightley, which is also well worth catching. Nice work by the team at Create UK for Fox Searchlight.

The beards have it...

Great to work with actor Roger Allam last week who was at the studio to record an Introduction to Buddhism, no less. We actually had a lot of fun so I'm not quite sure why we both look so miserable (though I’m probably wondering how I ended up with the greyer beard of the two). He is between series of ITV’s Endeavour and about to appear at the National Theatre in Rutherford and Sons.

The Composer is Dead

Great fun at the weekend narrating an orchestral concert with the fab West London Sinfonia and conductor Philip Hesketh as part of the 2019 Ealing Music & Film Festival. The Composer is Dead is a kind of musical whodunnit with a brilliant musical setting by US composer Nathaniel Stooky of Lemony Snicket’s book of the same name. The composer is dead so the Inspector is called in to the find the murderer (or murderers) among the instruments of the orchestra…with much ensuing hilarity. We had a blast!

The Girl in the Spider's Web

Claire Foy as you've never seen her before... This was a helluva movie and hyper cool trailer campaign from the team at AV Squad. Pleased to have voiced these.

A Call from Santa

And while we’re on the subject of Christmas, here’s a reprise of a fun Santa item we put together a couple of years ago (with apologies for the old boy’s fruity language!).

Von Shef Christmas spots

Now here are some good Christmas gift ideas. Any of these will do thanks, Santa. Very nice web spot from the clever people at Domu Brands and a nice campaign to work on.

Uvex Sports Performance

I enjoyed working on this really cool image film from the creative team at Stilbezirk in Nürnberg. Some pretty cool gear too…

Sicario 2 Soldado

With all that's happening on the US-Mexico border at present this brilliant sequel to the original Benicio del Toro vehicle suddenly seems even more topical. It's hard-hitting stuff. Pleased to voice these.

New Volvo brand film

Loving the look and feel of this new film for Volvo we've just completed. Very happy to be on this one, especially with such a beautiful sound track from old friends Ljudbyran in Gothenburg. Both visuals and music have a touch of sci-fi classic Interstellar about them (than which there is no higher praise in this house).

Never Such Innocence on BBC Radio 3

Delighted to appear on BBC Radio 3 with pianist Gamal Khamis this evening for interview with Katie Derham and extracts from our acclaimed narrative recital Never Such Innocence about the First World War, ahead of our performance at The English Music Festival at Radley College Oxfordshire on Sunday May 27th. Katie was kind enough to describe the show as "incredibly moving". Tour dates continue through the year. Full details at www.neversuchinnocence.co.uk

Ghost Stories

Fun to voice the TV campaign for the clever and genuinely terrifying Ghost Stories, but did feel a bit stupid when I asked if they'd noticed some of the spellings were wrong in the TV spots and it was gently pointed out that this was all part of Lionsgate's #whatdoyousee viral campaign. Whoops... note to self: pay more attention in future

Never Such Innocence

Looking forward to performances of Never Such Innocence this week at Kingswood School, Bath on Thursday November 9th at 4.30pm & 7pm (tickets via schoolsecretary@kingswood.bath.sch.uk) and Clapham Chamber Concerts on Friday November 10th at 7.30pm.

Audience comments from previous performances:

“A very special, moving and immensely absorbing production”

“Beautifully nuanced show – tender, moving, angry” 

“A spell-binding evening. So compelling to watch and listen to …I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house.“

Myth, Hope and Tragedy

Looking forward to performing Myth, Hope and Tragedy at All Saints' Church, Church Street, Isleworth, TW7 6BE, a programme of words and music to commemorate the centenary of the Russian Revolution. I'll be reading historical and literary accounts, plus poetry by Yevtushenko, alongside the music of Shostakovich, Prokoviev and Scriabin played by Simon Trentham (cello), Yoriko Gibbs (piano) and Yoriko Wakabayashi (piano). Admission free (with retiring collection). They're all fantastic musicians so do come along if you're around. Should be a fun evening.

Goodbye Christopher Robin

Enjoyed voicing trailer campaign for surprise breakout hit Goodbye Christopher Robin with the good people at Create UK, quite a thoughtful and touching film with more subtlety than you'd guess from some of its press.

New Fedex campaign

This one is apparently showing pre-match in Premier League stadiums, but since I've never managed to get a ticket I'm hard pressed to know. Nice campaign though from the guys & gals at Blackbook London.