Zoë's work in 2015: from playing a princess and a poet to starring in the West End and on Broadway!

30 December 2015 21:13

As we prepare to celebrate New Year, let's look back at some of Zoë's amazing achievements in 2015. This year has been remarkably busy for Zoë – and filled with opportunities for her fans to enjoy a diverse range of performances on stage and screen.

January: Princess Marie's 'a force to be reckoned with' in Mr Selfridge!

Zoë burst onto our TV screens in January, playing wilful, troubled Russian aristocrat Princess Marie Wiasemsky, in the third series of hit costume drama Mr Selfridge. Good Morning Britain and Lorraine took an entertaining look behind-the-scenes. The series was watched by fans on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks to ITV and PBS.

Speaking in fascinating detail about her approach to the character, as part of ITV's production notes, Zoë described Princess Marie as 'a force to be reckoned with'! 'I love her one-liners. She's arrogantly funny. But she's got to be witty and sharp – to go through all she has and keep your sense of humour, you have to be funny.'

Princess Marie had fled the Bolshevik Revolution, been separated from her priceless family jewels and racked-up huge debts. Naturally, she was delighted when her son Serge married the eldest daughter of wealthy entrepreneur Harry Selfridge. Princess Marie loved spending money – especially other people's! Her spendthrift behaviour threatened to cause serious problems for the strained Selfridges.

Another troubled family, the Lomans, is the focus of Arthur Miller's masterpiece, Death of a Salesman, which Zoë rehearsed in January, in anticipation of recording the play for BBC Radio 3. She was cast as Linda Loman, alongside David Suchet as Linda's husband Willy.

February: rehearsals underway for Stevie's Hampstead transfer

February found Zoë rehearsing Stevie, the biographical play in which she'd soon be starring as the quirky poet Stevie Smith. The production had enjoyed great success when it opened Chichester Festival 2014; now it was transferring to London's Hampstead Theatre, where it would delight and enthrall audiences all over again.

March-April: from Hampstead to New York!

From 6 March to 18 April, Stevie was staged at Hampstead Theatre. The production marked the first time that Zoë had performed at the venue since 1994's black comedy, Dead Funny.

In an insightful interview published by the Guardian, Zoë reflected on playing Stevie Smith, commenting that the brilliant poet was 'a true original'. Another high-profile interview followed, with Zoë telling the Telegraph that she wanted to do justice to Stevie Smith's legacy. 'I feel she wants to be remembered. She was such a strong personality, tenacious, full of literature,' she emphasised.

As soon as Stevie's run ended, Zoë flew to New York in order to prepare for her first Broadway production since Awake and Sing! (2006). She rehearsed City Center's revival of Zorba!, the life-affirming, final show in the 2015 Encores! series of American musicals.

Interviewed during rehearsals, Zoë noted that Zorba! would be the first musical in which she'd appeared since Kiss Me Kate in 1975!

She was clearly relishing being in musical theatre again. As Zorba!'s choreographer, Josh Rhodes, commented: 'Zoë Wanamaker – she's just the dearest one in rehearsal [...] you should see her face! She just stops and giggles, and just says, ''Oh, pinch me – I'm in a musical!'''

May: Zorba! becomes Zoë's first musical in 40 years!

From 6-10 May, Zoë delighted Broadway audiences as the mysterious French innkeeper, Hortense, in Zorba!. The production was staged forty years after her previous appearance in a musical.

When interviewed by The Clyde Fitch Report, Zoë described singing and dancing in Zorba! as 'the most terrifying thing I've ever done in my life'. But there was no trace of nerves in her performance; for instance, here she is singing a humorous, touching duet, 'Goodbye, Cannavaro', with co-star John Turturro (who played Zorba).

June: in-depth interview sheds light on Zoë's approach to acting

In June Benjamin Maio Mackay's Talk 2 Me, an entertainment industry podcast, featured one of Zoë's most in-depth interviews to date. It spanned everything from drama school to starring in Zorba!

Particularly fascinating was Zoë's insight into preparing for a role. As she emphasised, 'I have to envelop myself in that [character's] world.'

Zoë's research for a part can be wide-ranging; it typically consists of reading, listening to music and looking at paintings and photos. She aims 'to collect as much information as I can' that's relevant to the character, the period in which the production is set, etc. This research helps her to bring the characters she plays to life.

If you missed the interview in June, it's certainly worth catching up with now. You can listen to it online or download it free from iTunes.

July: Zoë joins the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company

In July the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company announced that Zoë would star in not one but two Terence Rattigan plays: All On Her Own and Harlequinade. This double bill would form part of the company's hotly anticipated Plays at the Garrick season.

'Zoë Wanamaker is a brilliant comedienne and a great tragic actress too,' Branagh remarked enthusiastically in the press release.

August-September: rehearsing the Rattigan double bill

Rehearsals for All On Her Own/Harlequinade began at the end of August. The Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company publicised the Rattigan double bill with striking black-and-white cast photos.

October: celebrating Stevie Smith, Arthur Miller and Terence Rattigan

On 11 October, Zoë appeared at the prestigious Cheltenham Literature Festival, where she recreated Stevie Smith's poetry reading from the 1965 Festival and discussed the poet.

Zoë's performances of Smith's funny, sad, poignant poems demonstrated that they still have the power to entertain and engage audiences, decades after they were written. In fact Zoë will bring the poems to life again at an event about the poet in the New Year.

On the same day as Zoë entertained Cheltenham's festival-goers, BBC Radio 3 broadcast the production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman that she'd recorded earlier in the year. It was part of a series of programmes celebrating Miller's centenary.

As the Radio Times noted (in its 10-16 October issue), Death of a Salesman reunited Zoë with David Suchet and director Howard Davies; together they were 'the ''dream team'', whose West End staging of Arthur Miller's All My Sons in 2010 was showered in awards and hailed as a landmark in British theatre.'

All On Her Own/Harlequinade began its run on 24 October, at the Garrick Theatre in London. Zoë stars as guilt-ridden widow Rosemary in the former, a monologue never seen before in the West End. In the latter, a comedy, she takes to the stage as the formidable Dame Maud, who's part of a chaotic theatre company touring Britain.

November: Zoë's 'soul-baring virtuosity' at the Garrick Theatre

The official, tie-in edition of All On Her Own/Harlequinade was published by Nick Hern Books in November. It features a fascinating interview with Zoë, in which she offers insight into the playwright's work: 'For me, Terence Rattigan is about suppressed emotion.'

Following the Rattigan double bill's press night on 7 November, Zoë was photographed with her husband Gawn Grainger, as well as Judi Dench and other members of the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company, as they enjoyed the after-party in the National Gallery.

Numerous excellent reviews of All On Her Own/Harlequinade were published. Notably, the Guardian praised Zoë for playing All On Her Own’s Rosemary 'with a soul-baring virtuosity'. The newspaper also published a series of fantastic production photos.

Theatregoers responded hugely positively to the double bill, with many taking to Twitter in order to share their enjoyment of the show.

December: All On Her Own/Harlequinade takes Zoë into 2016

During December, Zoë has continued performing All On Her Own/Harlequinade; the double bill is being staged at the Garrick until 13 January, and so it will take her into the New Year.

Tickets are available for the show. Tickets are also available for the aforementioned Stevie Smith event, scheduled for 15 February.

2016 is shaping up to be as exciting for Zoë and her fans as 2015!

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