Join STC and like-minded fans of the Bard for Shakespeare Hour LIVE!, an ongoing tour through every corner of the Shakespeare universe. Artistic Director Simon Godwin and Resident Dramaturg Drew Lichtenberg gather online with special guests each week to discuss a new topic and allow audiences the opportunity to ask questions live. From the landmark films of Akira Kurosawa (Throne of Blood, Ran), Orson Welles (Othello, Chimes at Midnight), and Sir Laurence Olivier (Hamlet, Henry V) to more recent adaptations by Kenneth Branagh (Much Ado, As You Like It, Henry V), Baz Luhrmann (Romeo + Juliet), Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho), and Julie Taymor (Titus, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Shakespeare’s plays have proven to be a fertile source of cinematic imaginings. Join Julie Taymor and more guests for an in-depth discussion of the process of translating Shakespeare’s language to the most visual of mediums.

Week 17, September 16: Shakespeare & Film
Guests: Dr. Peter Holland (McMeel Family Chair in Shakespeare Studies, University of Notre Dame; former Director of the Shakespeare Institute at Stratford-upon-Avon); Dame Helen Mirren (Oscar, Emmy, Tony, BAFTA, and Olivier Award-winning actor); and Julie Taymor (Tony Award-winning director, The Lion King; Will Award honoree)

Something I completely forgot to cover for the site, probably because public appearances have become so rare these days. On July 05, Helen Mirren was honored at the 47th Flaiano International Awards in Abruzzo, Italy. “It is a great honor for me to receive this award, in the name of a giant of the Italian Cinena, Ennio Flaiano. I can’t say how important this award is to me. It was an Italian film, “The Adventure” with Monica Vitti that made me passionate about cinema. I was 16 and worked as a maid in my aunt’s small bed and breakfast, I saw the film in an old English cinema near the sea, on a rainy day. The beauty of the Italian language and the landscape have been formative for me, the mystery and magic have captured my imagination. I fell in love with cinema and the Italian language. I am attracted to the power of Italian directors such as Fellini, Visconti, Sergio Leone, Tinto Brass and Paolo Virzì with whom I have worked. My greatest muse is Anna Magnani, the Italian spirit has captured my artist’s heart, as years later I was captured by the landscapes of Salento, where I am a farmer and I greet all my neighbors in Tiggiano”. A couple of pictures from the press conference, ceremony and photoshoot have been added to the photo gallery.

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra has announced a virtual benefit hosted by Dame Helen Mirren, starring Lahav Shani and iconic soloists for June 28 at 11am PDT / 2pm EDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CET / 9pm IDT. This landmark moment in the IPO’s history will be available to stream internationally, free of charge, on their website. So far, no further information have been announced. Edit: You can stream the complete gala above and on Youtube: Join Dame Helen Mirren, Maestro Lahav Shani and iconic soloists and conductors for an exceptional Global Gala, featuring Maestro Zubin Mehta, Pinchas Zukerman & Amanda Forsyth, Itzhak Perlman, Khatia Buniatishvili, Yefim Bronfman, Sir András Schiff, Gil Shaham and Adèle Anthony, Maestro Gianandrea Noseda, Chen Reiss, Martin Fröst and Evgeny Kissin The Gala is dedicated in memory of Leon Nacht z”l, and in honour of his loving wife Aneta, friend of the IPO.

The National Theatre today launches its National Theatre at Home Quiz, to be played from home featuring familiar faces from the world of stage and screen as the quizmasters. Each quiz will include rounds of five questions on a wide variety of topics. On the final Monday of each month people will be able join the virtual quiz directly from their homes via the NT’s YouTube channel and Facebook page live at 7pm BST (2pm EST). The first quiz will be 27 April with quizmasters Dame Helen Mirren, Sir Lenny Henry, Lesley Manville, and Sir Ian McKellen asking questions on topics including history, sport, nature, and of course, The National Theatre.

Here comes another Berlin related update, and probably the final one, since all related video interviews from the festival have been added to the video archive (some have been posted last week already, in case you missed ’em). Several German broadcasters have aired reports on Helen receiving the Honorary Golden Bear and talked with her about the award and her career. For a complete overview of all added videos, have a look below. Enjoy watching.

Viola Davis and Dame Helen Mirren teamed up in Beverly Hills on Tuesday to promote launch of L’Oréal Paris’ Age Perfect Cosmetics. The brand ambassadors – who are both a Grammy away from elite EGOT status – did the photo shoot six months after Helen had publicly told Viola she was “really looking forward to us working together.” Make-up artist Jo Strettell applied the Age Perfect mascara on Helen, whose sideswept white bob was coiffed by hairstylist Richard Collins. Mirren doesn’t have a set beauty routine aside from daily moisturizer, but she told CNN on Tuesday that she likes “to experiment’ and ‘spend many hours in the mirror finding the best ways to get into character.” Make-up artist Autumn Moultrie made sure Viola’s complexion glowed and hairstylist Jamika Wilson coiffed her curly side-parted wig for the sun-filled shoot. If that summary wasn’t enough, you can read more about the event over at the Daily Mail 🙂 Pictures have been added to the photo gallery.

On Thursday, Helen Mirren received the Honorary Golden Bear at the 70th Berlin Film Festival for her life achievement in World Cinema. Over 1.000 additional pictures from the festival’s photocall, press conference and ceremony have been added to the photo gallery. During the press conference, Mirren says she has witnessed a huge improvement in the position of female actors over the course of her career. (She says she prefers the term “actress.” “It has a slightly fin de siècle feel about it that I like,” she says. “But thank you for being politically correct; I approve of political correctness as well, so that’s alright.”) “Oh god, there’s more work to be done, further to go, but it is great, it’s absolutely great,” she says, with gusto. “It just pisses me off that I’m not now 23, and that that world is not open to me, because it is a much better world than it was when I was 23. “I have often been asked if I was angry, and I was profoundly angry about it as I ticked off 20 male characters to one or two female characters if you were lucky. Incidentally it hasn’t changed that much. At least now you have female-led movies, and occasionally it is mostly female (casts) – still very rare, but at least they exist. “But I always said when I was asked that question, and I still believe it, don’t worry about women’s profiles in drama, although you should, but worry about women’s profiles in life – in politics, in particular, and in the professions – and fight for that, and to a certain extent I was right because that world changed, and as night follows day drama and culture – us looking at ourselves through drama, through art – has changed, because they are looking at a different world. So change the world and culture will change alongside that.” Pictures and video clips from all events, as well as the 1 1/2 hours long conversation at the Berlinale Talents, have been added additionally. Enjoy all the new updates.

Today, Helen Mirren has attended a photocall and press conference at the Berlin Film Festival before receiving an Honorary Bear this evening. Pictures from both events have been added to the photo gallery with more to follow. Stay tuned and enjoy.

Tomorrow, Helen Mirren will receive an Honorary Bear at the 70th Berlin Film Festival. Today, she already visited a couple of public functions in Germany’s capitol city surrounding the long-running festival. She was greeted by the city’s major at the Town Hall, attended a press junket as well as the Berlinale Talents conversation. Throughout the week, the festival will show “The Queen”, “The Good Liar”, “The Long Good Friday”, “The Last Station” and “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and her Lover” to celebrate Helen Mirren’s legacy. Check back tomorrow for more pictures and videos from the festival.

A star studded line up in the Kiln Cinema will combine a screening and Q&As in support of the Kilburn arts centre. Jim Carter has once again called upon famous friends and colleagues to help him support his local theatre the Kiln. Over the years, the West Hampstead actor has arranged sold out talks and screenings with A list stars – with ticket proceeds going towards the Kilburn arts centre. Next up, Dame Helen Mirren will be in conversation with the Downton Abbey star on February 16 at 5pm. She will discuss her stellar career from stage to screen roles, such as her Academy award winning performance in The Queen. The event takes place in Kiln Cinema at 5pm and tickets at £125 and £95 will support the Kiln’s innovative productions at prices that make theatre available to the local community. Then on February 23, at 4pm Jim Carter hosts a screening of the 2014 film Pride, followed by a Q&A with its writer Stephen Beresford, director Matthew Warchus and eight of its stars. Andrew Scott aka the ‘hot priest’ from Fleabag, Bill Nighy, Dominic West, Paddy Considine, Freddie Fox, Jess Gunning, George MacKay, Liz White and Carter’s partner Imelda Staunton will be on stage to talk about the film which is set in the summer of 1984.