Samuel Alexander Joseph West (born 19 June 1966) is an English actor, theatre director and narrator. He has directed on stage and radio, and worked as an actor in theatre, film, television, and radio.[2]
West made his London stage debut in February 1989 at the Orange Tree Theatre, playing Michael in Cocteau's Les Parents Terribles,[12] 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."[13] Since then, West has appeared frequently on stage; he played Valentine in the first production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia at the National Theatre in 1993,[14] and later spent two seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company playing the title roles in Richard II and Hamlet, both directed by Steven Pimlott.[15][16]
West became the patron of Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus in February 2008, having been the narrator for a concert of theirs in February 2002.[38] He is also a patron of London children's charity Scene & Heard,[39] Eastside Educational Trust and Mousetrap Theatre Projects.
In 2007, West began living with playwright Laura Wade,[1] but in 2011 the couple temporarily split up.[6][56] In 2013, West was cast in a minor role in The Riot Club, the film version of Wade's successful play, Posh, and in 2014 the couple had a daughter.[57][7] In August 2017, the couple had a second daughter.[58]
West narrated the Yorkshire Television documentary The SS in Britain for director Julian Hendy in 1999,[61] and considering his role in the ITV drama series Mr Selfridge, he was the voiceover for Secrets of Selfridges (PBS) in 2014.
As a choral singer, West has participated in three Choir of London tours to Palestine: in May 2006, when he also gave poetry readings as part of the concert programme; in April 2007 when he directed The Magic Flute.[71] and in September 2013 (see below).
In 2013, the centenary year of Benjamin Britten, West narrated the Britten/Auden film score Night Mail with the Nash Ensemble at the Wigmore Hall and later added Coal Face, God's Chillun, The Peace of Britain, The Way to the Sea and The King's Stamp with the Aurora Orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth and Fairfield Halls.[72] In June he played God in Britten's Noye's Fludde in Harrogate.[73] In July he appeared in a Proms Plus broadcast discussing Britten's setting of poetry. In September he toured Palestine with the Choir of London as staff director of a new opera based on Britten's Hymn to St Cecilia and sang in Britten's St Nicolas.[74] In October, he narrated the concert world premiere of Britten in America for the Hallé orchestra, which was released on CD[75] together with West's recordings of speeches to Britten's incidental music for Auden and Isherwood's play The Ascent of F6 (the disc, Britten to America, was later nominated for a 2014 Grammy Award for Best Classical Compendium).[76] He also toured a program of Britten cabaret songs and Auden poems across the UK with Ruthie Culver and the UtterJazz Quartet.[77]
On 14 July 2017, one month after the Grenfell Tower fire, BBC's Newshour programme invited West to read out an excerpt from a letter written by an anonymous firefighter giving a personal account of the fire scene and his inner thoughts on duty that night.
Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes is a British film and stage director, producer, and screenwriter. In 2000, Mendes was appointed a CBE for his services to drama, and he was knighted in the 2020 New Years Honours List. In 2000, Mendes was awarded the Shakespeare Prize by the Alfred Toepfer Foundation in Hamburg, Germany. In 2005, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of Great Britain. In 2008, The Daily Telegraph ranked him number 15 in their list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture".
Roger William Allam is a British actor who has performed on stage, in film, on television and radio.
Peter Polycarpou is an English-Cypriot actor, known for playing the roles of Chris Theodopolopodous in the television comedy series Birds of a Feather and Louis Charalambos in the biographical drama The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies.
Henry Goodman is a RADA trained British actor. He has appeared on television and radio, in film and in the theatre.
Niamh Cusack is an Irish actress. Born to a family with deep roots in the performing arts, she has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre, and many others. Her most notable television role was as Dr. Kate Rowan in the UK series Heartbeat (1992–1995). Other TV and film credits include Always and Everyone (1999–2002), The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends (1992–1995), The Closer You Get (2000), Agatha Christie's Marple, Midsomer Murders (2008), A Touch of Frost (2010), In Love with Alma Cogan (2011), Testament of Youth (2014), Departure (2015), ChickLit, The Ghoul, The Virtues (2019), Death in Paradise (2021), and The Tower (2023). She has been nominated at IFTA for her performance in Too Good to be True (2003).
Sir Simon Russell Beale is an English actor. He has been described by The Independent as "the greatest stage actor of his generation". He has received various accolades, including two BAFTA Awards, three Olivier Awards, and a Tony Award. For his services to drama, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.
Dame Harriet Mary Walter is a British actress. She has performed on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and received an Olivier Award, and nominations for a Tony Award, five Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2011, Walter was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to drama.
Michael Grandage CBE is a British theatre director and producer. He is currently artistic director of the Michael Grandage Company. From 2002 to 2012 he was artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse in London and from 2000 to 2005 he was artistic director of Sheffield Theatres.
Douglas William Hodge is an English actor, director and musician. He has had an extensive career in theatre, as well as film and television where he has appeared in Robin Hood (2010), Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return and Diana, Penny Dreadful (2016), Catastrophe (2018), Joker and Lost in Space, and The Great (2020–2023).
Malcolm Sinclair is a British stage and television actor and former President of Trade Union, Equity 2010–18 when he stood down after 4 terms and was replaced by Maureen Beattie. He played Assistant Chief Constable Freddy Fisher in the television series Pie in the Sky from 1994 to 1997.
Steven Charles Pimlott was an English opera and theatre director, whose obituary in The Times hailed him as "one of the most versatile and inventive theatre directors of his generation". His output ran the gamut of the theatrical and operatic repertoire, from musicals, such as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, and popular plays, such as Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, through classics such as Shakespeare and Molière, to Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George and Alexander Borodin's Prince Igor.
Nancy Carroll is a British actress. She has worked extensively in theatre productions, particularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has won Best Actress at the Olivier Awards and the Evening Standard Awards. She also has numerous film and television credits, including a long-running featured role as Lady Felicia in the BBC series Father Brown.
Rupert Goold is an English director who works primarily in theatre. He is the artistic director of the Almeida Theatre, and was the artistic director of Headlong Theatre Company (2005–2013). Since 2010, Goold has been an associate director at the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 for services to drama.
Josie Rourke is an English theatre and film director. She is a Vice-President of the London Library and was the artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse theatre from 2012 to 2019. In 2018, she made her feature film debut with the Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated historical drama Mary Queen of Scots, starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie.
Daniel Gwyn Evans is a Welsh actor and director.
Samantha Spiro is an English actress and singer. She is best known for portraying Barbara Windsor in the stage play Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick and the television films Cor, Blimey! and Babs, DI Vivien Friend in M.I.T.: Murder Investigation Team, Melessa Tarly in the HBO series Game of Thrones, and Maureen Groff in Sex Education. She has won two Laurence Olivier Awards.
Michael Jibson is an English actor, director, writer and voice over artist. He was the winner of the 2018 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical, for his role of King George III in Hamilton. He was nominated for the 2003 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical, for Our House.
Anthony Ward is a British theatre designer specializing in set and costume design. He studied theatre design at Wimbledon School of Art.
Kevin Elyot was a British playwright, screenwriter and actor. His most notable works include the play My Night with Reg (1994) and the film Clapham Junction (2007). His stage work has been performed by leading theatre companies including the Royal Court, National Theatre, Bush Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Donmar Warehouse and in the West End. He finished his final play, Twilight Song, not long before he died in 2014, which received a posthumous premiere at London's Park Theatre in 2017.
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