Meet Zoë at London Film and Comic Con 2022!

22 April 2022 14:05

Major events organiser Showmasters has revealed that Zoë is among the special guests set to attend the 2022 London Film & Comic Con. She’s due to appear at the famous convention, which will take place at Olympia London, on Saturday 9 July from 10 am to 6 pm. (Please note the convention runs from 8-10 July, but Zoë has just signed up for the 9th.)

Photoshoots and autograph sessions

This is a wonderful – and rare – opportunity to meet Zoë briefly in order to have your photo taken with her by a professional photographer and/or obtain a personally signed photo featuring her amazing signature!

Cosplay is popular at LFCC, so if you wanted you could dress up as one of Zoe’s most memorable characters – Madam Hooch from Harry Potter, Cassandra from Doctor Who or Baghra from Shadow and Bone, perhaps.

Zoë’s first convention since 2017

Schedule permitting, LFCC 2022 will be Zoë’s second appearance at a convention. Her first was at LFCC 2017, when hundreds of fans enjoyed meeting her (she’s pictured below signing autographs on the day).

LFCC 2022 tickets available now

Tickets for LFCC 2022 are on sale now; fans who’d like to meet Zoë will need an entry ticket valid for 9 July plus a photoshoot ticket and/or an autograph ticket. It seems the autograph tickets haven’t been released just yet, unlike the others, so do keep a lookout for them.

Huge thanks to Deike and Karoline for the 2017 convention photo.

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Constellations wins Olivier Award for Best Revival

16 April 2022 02:20

Congratulations to Zoë and everyone else involved in Constellations! Having wowed theatregoers last summer, Nick Payne’s ‘multiverse’ play has won Best Revival at the Olivier Awards 2022.

The prestigious ceremony, which celebrates London's theatre industry, was held at the city’s Royal Albert Hall on 10 April. Highlights were broadcast to UK viewers on ITV1, while viewers outside the UK could watch the proceedings on the Official London Theatre YouTube channel.

On stage and streamed worldwide

A dazzling yet intimate show, Constellations explored different versions of a couple’s relationship. It starred Zoë alongside Peter Capaldi and three other casts (Sheila Atim & Ivanno Jeremiah, Omari Douglas & Russell Tovey, and Anna Maxwell Martin & Chris O’Dowd). Produced by the Donmar Warehouse, staged at the Vaudeville Theatre and subsequently streamed around the world, Constellations helped to bring theatre back to eager audiences after months of pandemic-related closures.

‘Theatre is an experience and a shared event, and I think people are really starved of that,’ Zoë told London’s Evening Standard at the time.

Critical acclaim for this ‘stellar revival’

Check out the Constellations rehearsal photos and production photos if you’d like to refresh your memory of the show. BroadwayWorld UK’s five-star review described Zoe’s portrayal of quirky quantum physicist Marianne as ‘brilliant’. In the Guardian’s words, the production was ‘a stellar revival’ – and the Olivier Awards judges clearly agreed with the newspaper.

Zoe wasn’t able to attend the Oliviers ceremony, but Constellations’ director, Michael Longhurst, was there to collect the award on behalf of the actors and production team. During his acceptance speech, he pointed out that the play had originally been performed (with a different cast) ten years ago, and its 2021 revival was ‘dreamt up in the middle of lockdown’. A beautiful piece of theatre emerged from terrible times.

Director praises Zoë and the other actors

The director praised the playwright and actors. ‘I am so grateful to Nick Payne for his beautiful words that allowed us to bring four different casts [to the stage], who trusted that their own unique brilliance would make us celebrate our shared humanity’.

Longhurst’s words will, I’m sure, strike a chord with many people who watched Constellations live and/or online. It’s one of the most witty, playful, moving plays I’ve ever had the privilege to see and is all the more remarkable for being staged during an incredibly challenging time for the theatre industry when so many restrictions were in place. Constellations’ Olivier award success is richly deserved.

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Zoë contributes to Exeunt: The Stage Door Project

31 March 2022 19:55

Zoë is among the actors and other theatre professionals who've contributed to Exeunt: The Stage Door Project, a book launched earlier this month to celebrate the magic of London's stage doors.

Magic is very much the theme of Zoë's contribution; she describes a stage door as ‘a portal into a different and secret world', where transformative experiences occur. The public isn't normally allowed to enter the stage door (though theatregoers often wait outside in the hope of meeting their favourite actors), which lends this area of a theatre an air of mystery.

Appropriately enough, Zoë's words appear alongside a photo of the stage door at the Bridge Theatre, where Two Ladies, the last play Zoë performed before the pandemic, was staged.

Exeunt is the brainchild of two up-and-coming actors, Lloyd McDonagh and Salvatore Scarpa. All of the stage door photos in the book were taken by them during the lockdowns of 2020; an unprecedented time for the theatre industry, when all UK theatres were forced to close (or go dark, as temporary closure is known in the industry) and theatre professionals were left without work. As a result, the photos have a compelling, haunting quality. Stage door areas are normally bustling places, but the book is a record of a period when they were empty and silent.

Published by Renard Press, Exeunt has a distinctive dark design, reflecting the fact that it was created when all of the theatres it features were dark. Other contributors include Judi Dench, Simon Callow, Sharon D. Clarke, Anita Dobson and many more.

You can buy the book from Renard and other retailers and support the theatre industry at the same time. That's because proceeds from the book's sales will benefit three theatre-related charities: the Actors’ Benevolent Fund, ArtsMinds and The Theatre Artists Fund.

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Three plays starring Zoë you can stream today

17 January 2022 19:41

We’re incredibly fortunate that some of Zoë’s performances on stage over the years have been filmed.

Here’s a trio of plays to enjoy right now...

1. All My Sons from Digital Theatre

It’s summer 2010 and a revival of Arthur Miller classic All My Sons is wowing West End audiences at the Apollo Theatre. ‘David Suchet and Zoë Wanamaker are astonishing’, declares Time Out magazine amid a sea of glowing reviews for this powerful play, directed by Howard Davies.

All My Sons takes place in a well-to-do American neighbourhood just after World War II. Zoë and her co-star play grief-stricken Kate and Joe Keller, whose son, Larry, is believed to have been killed in the conflict. Kate desperately clings to the hope that her boy will return. How will she and Joe react when they discover Larry’s ex-fiancée is now in love with their other son?

The ensuing confrontations expose painful secrets.

Zoë and David Suchet both won WhatsOnStage Awards for their stunning performances in this nail-bitingly tense drama. If you think you can handle the tension (!), stream All My Sons from Digital Theatre. There’s the option to rent the play for 48 hours or watch it as part of a subscription package.

Check out the clips on YouTube for a taste of what to expect.

2. The Cherry Orchard from National Theatre at Home

Another revival of a theatrical big-hitter, this time a drama by Chekhov, graced the National Theatre’s Olivier stage the following year. The Cherry Orchard was also directed by Howard Davies and starred Zoë as a spirited Russian aristocrat, Madame Ranyevskaya.

Ranyevskaya returns to her family home and beloved cherry orchard, having frittered away much of her fortune abroad. The noblewoman seems unable to comprehend the danger of her perilous financial position as Russia edges towards its 1917 revolution.

Zoe’s insightful, moving portrayal of beleaguered Ranyevskaya was highly acclaimed. As the Guardian newspaper’s review noted, ‘Zoe Wanamaker plays Ranyevskaya excellently as a woman who combines utter financial recklessness with a fierce emotional intelligence’.

The performance of The Cherry Orchard that took place on 30 June 2011 was broadcast live in cinemas around the world as part of National Theatre Live (I remember it well!).

You can stream that performance from National Theatre at Home, either by renting the play for 72 hours or subscribing to the service.

3. Constellations from Donmar On Demand

Last summer, Zoë starred in a dazzling modern classic from the Donmar Warehouse: Constellations by Nick Payne, directed by Michael Longhurst. For this West End revival at the Vaudeville Theatre, she and Peter Capaldi portrayed quirky quantum physicist Marianne and awestruck beekeeper Roland. Audiences experienced multiple versions of their relationship as the plot played with the concept of multiple realities.

Appropriately enough, Constellations had multiple casts. Zoë and her co-star were one of four pairs of actors taking on this intense, funny, poignant play.

In its five-star review of Constellations, BroadwayWorld UK emphasised that in the role of Marianne ‘Wanamaker is brilliant; needy, intelligent, neurotic and desperate for control. As she confronts her own mortality, Wanamaker shows a huge range of emotion, from desperation to quiet acceptance.’

If you fancy journeying through the multiverse with Zoë and Peter Capaldi, you can stream Constellations from Donmar On Demand until 31 January. Choose between renting the play for 24 hours or renting it alongside the other casts’ performances for 14 days.

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Constellations – now streaming until the end of January!

8 January 2022 03:37

Last summer, Zoë and Peter Capaldi brought Nick Payne’s Constellations to dazzling life in London’s West End. The Donmar Warehouse's acclaimed production, which also starred three other casts, has since been named one of the top ten shows of 2021 by Theatre Weekly.

‘Exceptional performances from Sheila Atim and Ivanno Jeremiah, Peter Capaldi and Zoë Wanamaker, Omari Douglas and Russell Tovey, and Anna Maxwell Martin and Chris O’Dowd made this one of the must-see theatre events of the year,’ says the magazine.

The Stage and WOS Awards nominations

The actors, director Michael Longhurst and the rest of the talented team behind this revival of Constellations are celebrating other accolades too.

- The show has been nominated for Innovation of the Year in The Stage Awards 2022, thanks to its multi-cast format. (We’ll find out if it’s been chosen as the winner of the award on 31 January.)

- Constellations has also earned a nomination for Best Play Revival in the 22nd Annual WhatsOnStage Awards. You have until 21 January to vote for your favourites in the latter.

Another chance to watch 5* Constellations

What better way to celebrate Constellations’ success than by watching Zoë as quirky quantum physicist Marianne fall in (or out of or back in) love with Peter Capaldi’s awestruck beekeeper, Roland?

The production was filmed during its run at the Vaudeville Theatre (where it broke box-office records) and originally made available to stream late last year via the Donmar On Demand website. Now, I’m thrilled to say the Donmar has made Constellations available to stream again worldwide until 31 January – with 50% off the price! You can rent one version for 24 hours or all four for 14 days (i.e. the same play performed by the four different pairs of actors – a chance to compare, contrast and marvel).

The Reviews Hub gives Zoë and Peter Capaldi's filmed version of Constellations a five-star rating and highlights the endearing ‘mature playfulness’ she and her co-star bring to their portrayal of Marianne and Roland. ‘Capaldi is sometimes quick to explode, but so too is he funny and tender. Wanamaker can be self-protective and spiky but also sweetly mischievous. It’s a delightful pairing that makes much of the bittersweet tone of the piece,' the review concludes.

This utterly original play presents multiple versions of the characters’ relationship. It’s a story full of possibilities – and rewards multiple viewings. So whether you watched Constellations live, streamed it last year or will stream it this January, you’re sure to enjoy your journey through the multiverse...

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