Earlier: DECEMBER, NOVEMBER, OCTOBER, SEPTEMBER, AUGUST, JULY,JUNE, MAY, APRIL, MARCH, FEBRUARY, JANUARY
THE ODD COUPLE: MARK GATISS AND MACKENZIE CROOK ARE BACK TOGETHER AGAIN
Excerpts, full article at The Independent:
"[A]s I stroll to a rehearsal room in London's Southwark to meet Mark Gatiss and Mackenzie Crook, I'm hoping that they do at least know each other already...
'We made a film together called Sex Lives of the Potato Men,' says Crook, a tad sheepishly. 'It was very badly received at the time.' If anything, that's an understatement...
Both men's fortunes have improved somewhat since then. This, their second joint venture, comes directly after some of the best work that either has done. Gatiss doesn't just act in Sherlock, as the titular detective's political-fixer brother, Mycroft; he also writes some of its episodes. Crook, meanwhile, has spent the past two-and-a-half years appearing onstage in London and New York, as Ginger in Jerusalem, the most rapturously-received play of the decade. How do you follow that?
Answer: with The Recruiting Officer, which has its own auspicious history. Its writer, George Farquhar, quit acting after he injured a fellow performer in a stage fight. (He'd forgotten to exchange his real sword for a dummy one during a scene change.) He had better luck as a playwright; his Restoration comedy blockbusters included The Constant Couple (1700); The Twin Rivals (1702) and The Beaux' Stratagem (1707). The Recruiting Officer, a romping satire of love and war, replete with bed-hopping, fiancée-swapping and cross-dressing, was originally performed in London in 1706...
The Recruiting Officer will also be a departure for Crook, whose previous stage work includes Jerusalem, The Seagull, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest – all of which, he explains, "demanded a degree of realism. I like to think of myself as a method actor, but it's hard to apply the method to something that was written 200 years before Stanislavski even came up with the idea. This is more like cabaret, big and broad, so it's more helpful to think back to my days as a stand-up."
THE RECRUITING OFFICER BAND REHEARSAL
DECEMBER
NORTH BY NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Katherine Jakeways' BBC Radio 4 programme returns for its second series Fridays at 11:30 from 2 December. Mackenzie will once again play the role of Rod, the town's supermarket manager who overshares on the store's tannoy system. Each episode will be available here via the BBC iPlayer.
NOVEMBER
MACKENZIE JOINS DONMAR WAREHOUSE'S 'RECRUITING OFFICER'
From The Daily Mail:
Mackenzie Crook will be all spit and polish and at his parade-ground best when he plays an Army sergeant on stage.
The actor will go direct from the award-winning play Jerusalem into The Recruiting Officer, portraying Sgt Kite in Josie Rourke’s first production as artistic chief of the Donmar Warehouse...
The play charts the shenanigans Sgt Kite and his superior officer Captain Plume (to be played by Tobias Menzies) get up to as they try to sign up men in Shrewsbury to fight foreign wars.
At the same time, the men and their friends want a few flings with the local women — though both sexes, at one point or another, get up to no good.
Mark Gatiss, Rachael Stirling and Gawn Grainger are also part of the company.
Rourke said there would be lustiness and battles in and out of the bedroom.
OLD VIC 24 HOUR PLAYS GALA
Mackenzie took part in the Old Vic's 24 Hour Plays-- a fundraiser bringing together actors, writers and directors to produce six new plays in just 24 hours. Below he and co-stars such as Katherine Parkinson and Sanjeev Bhaskar share acting tips from the gala.
DAILY MAIL: 'Fame? It's a pain in the neck'
Read full article at The Daily Mail:
"With his cap pulled down firmly over his eyes and his shoulders stooped so low he could be auditioning for The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Mackenzie Crook is doing his best not to be recognised.
The actor is deeply uncomfortable with his celebrity. So uncomfortable that it literally hurts.
During his recent Tony-nominated Broadway stint in the much talked about play Jerusalem, he developed crippling backache..."
RICHARD BACON SHOW
Click here to listen to Mackenzie speaking to Phil Williams (sitting in for Richard Bacon) about The Windvale Sprites. Available on the BBC iPlayer through 15 November.
FAMILY BOOK CLUB: MACKENZIE CROOK'S THE WINDVALE SPRITES
The Telegraph offers a summary and discussion questions for Mackenzie's debut novel. Click the photo below to read more.
STAGE ONE CHARITY AUCTIONS
Bidding is now open on two Jerusalem lots to support Stage One, a charity "dedicated to supporting new producers and productions in order to sustain the future of quality commercial theatre" in the UK. The first lot is two illustrations done by Mackenzie related to the play. Bidding ends 24 February 2012.
Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge:
The second is a walk-on role in the rave scene at the top of the show. A description of this experience can be read on the auction page. Bidding closes 16 December 2011.
OCTOBER
LOOSE ENDS
From BBC Radio 4: "The very spritely Mackenzie Crook will be fluttering through the office and into the Loose Ends studio to talk about writing and illustrating his debut children's novel 'The Windvale Sprites'. Mackenzie also talks about his role as Mark Rylance's right-hand man 'Ginger' in Jez Butterworth's 'Jerusalem'."
To listen launch the full programme on the BBC iPlayer, click here (available through 5 November).
MACKENZIE CROOK: 'I COULD PLAY A LEAD... IT WOULD HAVE TO BE A SKINNY LEAD'
Genevieve Roberts interviews Mackenzie about 'The Windvale Sprites', excerpt from the full article from The Independent:
"I wrote it as a book that I would have wanted to read when I was a kid, and my son is like a little clone of me; he adored it," Crook says. "In fact, I finished reading it to him last night. "He was so into it. I would've been able to tell if he was just trying to please me."
The story itself, about a fairy that appears after a storm, has been in Crook's head for a long time. "It occurred to me about 25 years ago," he says. "It's all based after the great storm of 1987 – it's been percolating for all that time – and it's only in the past two years that I managed to get it down. It's probably becoming a father that gave me the kick I needed to actually get it done."
So he was more than a little sensitive to his children's reaction when he gave a reading at a book festival earlier this month. "My son was encouraging me because he saw I was nervous, and that was wonderful," he says. Then laughs as he remembers that his daughter, Scout, almost four, was bemused to see her father reading, asking her mother: "Is that really Daddy?" followed by a giant yawn.
He hopes this will be the first of many children's books: that he will use spare time in his acting day productively. "I'm not disciplined when working on something by myself; I don't necessarily get down to it, but hopefully this has turned over a new leaf," he says. "That's my plan, to write more."
In the book Asa, the main character, finds an 18th-century journal, something which Crook would like to write. He also hopes to recount his childhood holidays on his uncle's farm in Zimbabwe: a Gerald Durrell-style book. But Crook doesn't have the confidence to write adult novels: "Maybe I've got more of a child's mind".
He sees writing as an extension of acting, just another way of telling a tale. "While doing this book I came to realise that's what I love doing – it's telling stories, whether writing, drawing, or from acting," he says. "I suppose that's what's in my blood – I'm a storyteller – one way or another."
MACKENZIE CROOK: BROADWAY IS A WALK IN THE PARK COMPARED TO WRITING
Excerpt from The Telegraph:
"Mackenzie Crook looks more like a Bohemian artist than a Hollywood glamour boy but the Pirates of the Caribbean and Office star actor was pretty open about what it meant to him to talk about his first work of fiction, The Windvale Sprites, in front of a crowded theatre of children at the The Telegraph WordUp! Festival.
Crook, who is currently appearing in the hit play Jerusalem,said: "I love being on stage. And I have had a spell as a stand-up comedian. But when I was doing comedy, I was always doing characters so that was a bit of a disguise I could hide behind. But I have done nothing more nerve-racking than writing this book. It's there in black and white for everyone to judge. Broadway was a walk in the park compared to this."
The 40-year-old talked about the inspiration for his book - the idea first came to him after the great October storm of 1987. Crook has provided the illustrations and words for the book and, with the aid of a live camera and big screen, drew some illustrations as he talked. He praised the illustrators he admired, including Jill Bennett and Diane Stanley, the woman responsible for the brilliant Burrowers artwork. Crook said he loved "eerie, dark and sinister" illustrations in general."
WORD UP! FESTIVAL
October 23rd - Mackenzie will be appearing from 4-5pm at Alleyn's School in London to talk about his debut novel, The Windvale Sprites, as part of the Word Up! Family Festival. You can view the complete festival programme here.
WOULD I LIE TO YOU?
Mackenzie was part of David Mitchell's team this past week on BBC1's Would I Lie to You? gaining the title of 'Liar of the Week'. The programme is no longer available on BBC iPlayer, a clip can be viewed below:
THE BIG INTERVIEW: MACKENZIE CROOK
Excerpt from It is a decade since The Office propelled him to fame, and what a decade it’s been. Caroline Bishop talks to Mackenzie Crook as he returns to the West End with Jerusalem...
Jez Butterworth’s extraordinary exploration of small-town rural England sold out both its premiere run at the Royal Court and its first West End season, receiving an Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play and universal critical plaudits. But it’s been two and a half years since that first performance. Though Crook’s role as Ginger, a freeloading no-hoper glued to the bandwagon of local wildman Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron, is a plum part, isn’t he sick of playing it after so long? “No it’s great. The reason we’re all still doing it and the reason that the majority of the original cast stays is because we love it so much.”
There’s a whiff of unfinished business about the return, too. “We left London last time with a lot of people still wanting to see it. It felt right to come back to home soil.”
Read full article here.
MACKENZIE CROOK: MY TORTOISES ARE THE REAL STARS
Excerpt from The London Evening Standard:
As the play returned to the West End after conquering Broadway, Crook said his three four-legged co-stars - Eli, George and Muddle - are the key to its success...
Crook said the trio are the show's hidden talent, adding: "They take it in turns but Eli is the audience favourite because the other two pull themselves into their shells and just stay static whereas Eli wiggles his legs so it's obvious immediately he's a real tortoise." He alternates the tortoises - just like child actors sharing a role - to make sure they do not suffer any distress during their 20-minute stint on stage.
"They don't seem to have any adverse effects," he added. The tortoise has a crucial role in the play - written by Jez Butterworth and starring Mark Rylance - after a character uses his sister's pet to settle a drugs debt.
Eli was originally purchased by the Royal Court theatre for the play's premiere in 2009. However, he was quickly adopted by Crook. George and Muddle are descended from the pair the actor inherited as a teenager from a great-great aunt he had never met...
JERUSALEM OPENS IN THE WEST END
Reelkandi TV has posted a video from Jerusalem's press night at the Apollo theatre on 17th October including interviews with Mackenzie, Mark Rylance, and writer Jez Butterworth. View it HERE.
Additionally The Telegraph has given the play another 5-star review saying "It is a defiant celebration of freedom...at once funny and sad, tender and terrifyingly violent." Read the full review here.
MACKENZIE CROOK'S DIARY
Mackenzie wrote the following piece for The London Evening Standard
Recently I've had to visit my chiropractor. The downside of being widely recognised in London is the five herniated discs you get in your neck from constantly looking at your feet and trying to avoid eye contact. They don't mention that on Britain's Got Talent. He told me how to do some intensely boring exercises and I promised I would, but I won't. He also told me to drink two litres of water a day. Coffee is mainly water so I'm drinking two litres of that instead and weeing more.
On the way back from the chiropractor some bloke shouted 'GARRIFF!' at me eight times from the other side of the road before I turned and told him, 'THAT ISN'T MY NAME!' Then a man leaned out of the window of his van, pointed aggressively and barked 'OFFICE!' I tried to point out that the series to which he was referring was actually called The Office, but he drove away laughing. When will people realise that programme was ten years ago and that I have since played many and varied roles?
In the evening I went to the launch of my new perfume range: Gareth out of The Office, pour homme. Nice turnout. Mick and Keith were there (Bolton and Harris) but Gervais didn't show, he never does. I also went on QVC to hawk my new range of jewellery: Mackenzique. The presenter seemed wholly unenthusiastic, however, and only managed to shift half a dozen units in three hours. I've got crates of this tat in my garage. It's going to ruin me. Perhaps I need to do something more worthy and raise some money for charity, something Walliamsesque but not as strenuous. I'm thinking maybe an egg-and-spoon race.
I've been trying to come up with a title for the first volume of my autobiography. I'm leaning towards By Hook or… by Crook, but the writer and publisher are favouring Out of the Office. I have to have some input, so far it's just been a case of deleting exclamation marks.
Last week was the first day of rehearsals for Jerusalem at the Apollo Theatre. I feel well rested after our Broadway run and it's good to be back on home soil. We have two new cast members, Johnny Flynn and Sophie McShera. It must be a bit daunting for them, coming into a company that has been working together for so long, but hopefully we are making them feel welcome. Sophie is riding on the crest of a Downton Abbey wave - she plays Daisy the scullery maid - and Johnny has taken time out from his folk band, The Sussex Wit. It's great to be working with two very attractive young actors with such burgeoning careers. I just hope it doesn't all crash and burn for them. You never know in this industry...
We have animals with us on stage in Jerusalem. Chickens, goldfish and a tortoise. I provide the tortoise as I've kept them for years and taught them everything I know. George and Eli will share the role and their very different styles of acting are already dividing opinion. Eli is the audience favourite as he waggles his legs when he is picked up, but to my mind is a trifle 'hammy'. George tends to pull himself into his shell, which some might say is the more truthful performance. One cast member had the audacity to say he thought George 'a bit sluggish'. For crying out loud, aren't tortoises famous for being slow? They may be cold-blooded but they still have feelings.
My 40th birthday was last month and I decided to be mysterious and enigmatic at rehearsals and not tell anyone. But that only works if somebody finds out - nobody did. They all went off to dinner in a restaurant that 'gets no phone reception' so I couldn't find them. I ended up getting McDonald's and eating it in the dressing room. I didn't enjoy it, though. I was nervous that Mark Rylance would come in and catch me. He eats rare grains that I've never heard of and drinks juices that help poor people. When I got home, Mark was being interviewed on Newsnight about Jerusalem and how it relates to the state of modern Britain. Everything that man says is so intelligent and insightful. I just hope I can be as eloquent on The Alan Titchmarsh Show next week.
When I turned on my phone the next morning for the first time since my birthday it was amazing the amount of text messages I received gleefully reminding me I've reached 'the big four-o'. It doesn't bother me in the least but it seems to be endlessly amusing to others that I'm still alive at the age of 40. What, do they expect me to suddenly get a pipe and slippers and start settling into old age? I'll show them. I'll do what none of them expect. I'll get a much younger girlfriend and a motorbike. Yeah, then who'll be laughing? Idiots.
Jerusalem is at the Apollo Theatre until 14 January 2012
FIVE CLIPS FROM THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
Via DH.be
Behind the Scenes footage:
JERUSALEM BEGINS PERFORMANCES AT LONDON'S APOLLO THEATRE
Jez Butterworth's play has begun performances once again at The Apollo Theatre in London where it previously had a sold out run in 2010. It will play a strictly limited engagement of 14 weeks (through 14 January 2012) and see Mackenzie reprising his role of Ginger alongside Mark Rylance's Johnny 'Rooster' Byron and much of the original cast. For more information and to book tickets, visit JerusalemThePlay.com.
NEW UK TINTIN TRAILER
Msn has an all new trailer for The Adventures of Tintin. You can view the trailer HERE. Mackenzie is featured in the film opposite Jamie Bell, Daniel Craig and Andy Serkis.
Additionally, the film has got an all new website ahead of its release on 26 October in the UK.
WORD UP! FESTIVAL MAKES ITS DEBUT
The Telegraph has a preview of this upcoming literature festival that Mackenzie will be appearing at on 23 October:
London will have its own vibrant, new children's book event when Word Up! Festival takes place from 22-24 October 2011. The Telegraph is the sponsor of this debut festival, which is run by the team that produce The Ways With Words Festival.
Word Up! Festival Patron, Michael Rosen - a former Children’s Laureate - said: “Word Up! reaches right into the hearts and minds of thousands of children. This festival will allow children who might not otherwise come across live literature get a chance to explore the thoughts, feelings and ideas that come with books.”
SEPTEMBER ::
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MACKENZIE CROOK: IT'S NO JOKE BECOMING A CHILDREN'S AUTHOR
Excerpt from The London Evening Standard
"Facing an audience of children is more terrifying than entertaining a drunken crowd of adults, Mackenzie Crook has admitted as he prepares to unveil his first novel...
He said: 'The opportunity to speak about my book at Word Up! is exciting and terrifying. Though I am used to performing on stage in character, I have never spoken for any length of time as myself. I know I can hold the attention of a late-night, drunken, Edinburgh Festival audience but a room full of stone-cold sober children is a different challenge.'
'The 'live drawing' especially could be amusing - I'm no Rolf Harris, so expect some rubbing out. But I promise I won't swear.'
The idea for the children's story, about fairies being wild animals driven to the brink of extinction, came to him after the Great Storm of 1987. 'I have been trying to write it ever since,' he said.
WORD UP! FAMILY FESTIVAL
Mackenzie will appear at this year's Word Up! Family Festival in London on Sunday 23 October. He will be discussing his new children's novel, The Windvale Sprites, which he wrote and illustrated. Read more about the fest at its official website.
BEACHED AZ: THE REUNION
Mackenzie appears in Part 3 of the Beached AZ reunion, which you can check out below.
AUGUST ::
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BROADWAY RUN OF ACCLAIMED JERUSALEM ENDS AUG. 21; IT'S LONDON-BOUND
From Playbill.com
Jerusalem, Jez Butterworth's three-act tragicomic play about the indelible inhabitants of a slice of rural England, for which Mark Rylance won his second Tony Award, ends its extended Broadway engagement on Aug. 21.
The production returns to England for a 14-week run in the West End.
Director Ian Rickson's Royal Court Theatre production of Butterworth's three-hour work at the Music Box earned a fascinated cult (and solid reviews) for its yeasty mix of English themes, tall-tale-telling characters and drugs and violence.
JULY ::
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FABER KIDS BOOKS PREVIEWS THE WINDVALE SPRITES
The Faber Kids Books twitter account previewed the final artwork from Mackenzie Crook's book, The Windvale Sprites. Click on the thumbnail to view the illustration:
JERUSALEM RETURNS TO THE WEST END
Following its sold-out run in the West End in 2010 and its Tony Award winning run on Broadway this summer, Jez Butterworth's play will be back in London's Apollo Theatre from 8 October 2011 to 14 January 2012. The play will again star Mackenzie as Ginger alongside Mark Rylance's Johnny "Rooster" Byron. The West End run's official site is currently booking tickets for this limited engagement.
NEW TRAILER FOR THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
A new trailer for the Steven Spielberg film can be viewed HERE.
THE OFFICE 10TH ANNIVERSARY
July 9th saw the 10th anniversary of the debut of "The Office" on BBC2, here are a few of the links that posted retrospectives on the series:
BBC's Official Website has re-posted many clips
The AV Club reviews each episode
The Guardian wishes "The Office" happy birthday
JUNE ::
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BATH FESTIVAL OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
Mackenzie will be appearing at the Bath Festival of Children's Literature on October 2nd to introduce his debut children's novel, The Windvale Sprites. "Full of charm and humour and containing his own beautiful illustrations, follow Asa as he embarks on a mission to find out if fairies really exist."
You can read more details about the event at the festival's official website: here.
TONY AWARDS RED CARPET
The official site of the 2011 Tony Awards posted NY1's interviews from the event. Click on the thumbnail below to view NY1 talking to Mackenzie and co-star Mark Rylance.
You can also view of photo of Mackenzie on the red carpet here from the New York Times.
MAY ::
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MACKENZIE CROOK, "JERUSALEM" AND STAGE-STRUCK TURTLES
Excerpted from DailyActor.com:
...This season finds Crook on Broadway again in "Jerusalem," a play which was already an enormous success in the West End. Unlike "The Office," which changed everything (including its cast) on the journey to the New World, "Jerusalem" was adapted very little between the West End and Broadway. "We purposefully didn't want to change an awful lot of it...It would be patronizing to change too much of it, and so we kept it intact and American audiences seem to be getting it...Gags that never landed in London are landing in America...Americans pick up on different ones than the English do, and the reception at the end has been just as rapturous, if not more so."
It may well be that English and American audiences are cheering for different reasons. For the English, "Jerusalem" provides a specific message about changes in the heart of their country; for Americans, it is a contemporary declaration of Englishness, one which Broadway is only too happy to celebrate. What we forget stateside is that the English are just as interested in us as we are in them. "I think it goes both ways," Crook muses, "...I get the feeling that for Americans there is a romance about England, like it's the homeland or something. It's this magical quaintness about English culture."
KEEPING "JERUSALEM" IN CHECK
How Mackenzie Crook Mastered His Tony-Nominated Role.
Excerpted from Eric Grode's article on TDF.org
...Johnny "Rooster" Byron is the galvanizing center of Jersualem, Jez Butterworth's myth-glutted new play. In Mark Rylance's Tony-nominated performance, he is equal parts Pied Piper, Falstaff, Evel Knievel, and two-bit hood, and he fascinates a group of young layabouts in rural England.
However, those layabouts make impressions, too, and one of them has earned Mackenzie Crook a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play.
Crook plays Ginger, an underemployed plasterer who fancies himself a DJ and tries to keep the yarn-spinning Rooster in check. That is no small feat when Rooster insists he met the giant---the actual giant---who built Stonehenge.
"Ginger is a cynic," says Crook, 39. "Everyone else is willing to accept these outlandish stories, and Ginger is there to keep Rooster on the ground." This penchant for fact-checking makes Ginger a less than ideal drinking buddy; Crook spends much of the first act in humorously high dudgeon as he learns about the previous night's epic blowout. But as the consequences of Rooster's actions become impossible to ignore, the affection behind Ginger's prickly nature becomes touching and even, in its minor-key way, tragic...
TINTIN TEASER TRAILER & ONE-SHEETS RELEASED
Empire Online has premiered the teaser trailer for Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin. View it HERE.
Additionally, the following posters have been released exclusively to Empire Online and Ain't It Cool News, click on either thumbnail to visit the full-sized versions.
 International One-Sheet: EmpireOnline.com |
 US Domestic One-Sheet: Ain't It Cool News.com |
TONY NOMINEES MEET THE PRESS AND GIVE THEIR REACTIONS
The 2011 Tony Nominees met the press on May 4th at New York's Millenium Broadway Hotel. Both Mackenzie Crook and Mark Rylance were in attendance.
Click on any of the thumbnails below to visit photo coverage of the event:
 Playbill.com |
 Broadway.com |
 @TheTonyAwards Mackenzie Signs the Audemars Piguet Clock for BCEFA |
Mackenzie talked to Entertainment Weekly about his reaction to the nomination:
I was waking up in my apartment with my wife and my kids. I hadn't checked the time and I wasn't waiting online. Everyone was over the moon, of course, but it feels a bit strange that two of the actors out of a cast of 15 have been pulled out. It's such a big ensemble cast. Obviously, Mark [Rylance, who is also nominated] leads the whole thing and we are supporting him, so for me to be plucked out of that ensemble feels a little odd. So there wasn't a leaping about screaming and shouting. It was very low key. We got a cake that said "Huge F-ing Congratulations" on it.
AOL talked to Tony Nominees about their dream roles and dream co-stars:
Additionally, BroadwayWorld.com spoke to Mackenzie about his "Love Affair with Theatre":
BroadwayWorld talked to this year's nominees to hear their exciting stories of their reactions to the news. JERUSALEM star Mackenzie Crook went on the record about his nomination and his long journey with the show!
Congrats on your first Tony nomination! How does it feel?
It has been crazy, and lots of fun! There have been lots of people texting and emailing to congratulate me- people who I haven't spoken to in years, so that's really nice. It's been lovely- just a lot of people giving their congratulations- it's been great!
And you've been involved with the show for quite some time now, correct? What kind of evolution has the show gone through since the West End production?
An incredible evolution to be honest! When we first got into rehearsals on that first day almost two years ago, we had a script, but it was a skeleton of a script. And Jez [Butterworth] was there with us during the rehearsal period and he was constantly bringing in new pages every day; new characters sometimes! So they'd have to go and audition people for new characters. So the script that I was first sent doesn't bear much resemblance to what we are now doing, but it became obvious, as we were doing it, what the story was that we were telling. It's been a very long and enjoyable process.
Audiences seem to be responding in a fabulously positive way to the show. Why do you think it is that they connect with the piece?
It's a joyful show and it's so difficult to summarize it into a couple of sentences- I've spent the past couple of years trying to do that. People ask 'What's it about?' and there's really no way of saying what it's about unless you've got 15 minutes to spare, while I explain all of the different levels of it.
I think they get a very rich experience. They come and can think about it for days afterwards. So many people come back a second time, because they need to see it again and enjoy it some more. There's so much in it. It's very funny but it's also very dark and tragic on some levels. So people leave with a whole host of emotions.
With the recognition that the show got yesterday morning, did you find that last night's performance was extra energized?
I think it was an electric performance actually! I don't know how clued in the audiences are and if they know about nominations and stuff, but it seemed like a very electric atmosphere- it was very exciting.
You've done plenty of work on stage, having starred in shows both on Broadway and in the West End, but a lot of people now you from your TV and film credits. Do you prefer one to the other?
At the moment I'm very much enjoying the theatre. I came to it later- I started in stand-up, then went to TV, then went to film, so I feel like I'm sort of a beginner. I'm just learning, but I'm loving it. I'm absolutely having a love affair with the theatre at the moment!
Nicole Rosky
The Tony Awards' Official Website had Mackenzie's first reaction to his nomination:
"We were watching the nominations this morning on the Internet and my first phone call was to my agent. It's great with the 6 nominations, because we've just been open for 2 weeks and we were nervous that wouldn't get recognized and it's wonderful."
SIX TONY NOMINATIONS FOR JERUSALEM
The Tony Award nominations were announced this morning for the 2010-2011 Broadway season and Jerusalem has received six nominations in all:
Best Play: Author, Jez Butterworth
Best Leading Actor in A Play: Mark Rylance
Best Actor in a Featured Role: Mackenzie Crook
Best Scenic Design of a Play: Ultz
Best Lighting Design of a Play: Mimi Jordan Sherin
Best Sound Design of a Play: Ian Dickinson for Autograph
The winners will be announced live from New York's Beacon Theatre on June 12th.
APRIL ::
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WHAT'S UP, MACKENZIE CROOK?
Interview by Michael Mellini from Broadway.com
Two seasons after his Broadway debut in The Seagull, British actor Mackenzie Crook has returned to the New York stage opposite Mark Rylance in Jerusalem. Crook originated the role of Ginger (the timid right-hand man to boisterous madman Johnny "Rooster" Byron) at London's Royal Court Theatre and later in the West End transfer of Jez Butterworth's acclaimed play. Broadway.com caught up with the actor to chat about playing opposite the rambunctious Rylance, his days on the original UK version of The Office (where he starred as Dwight Schrute equivalent Gareth Keenan) and working with Johnny Depp as the one-eyed Ragetti on the incredibly successful Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
Welcome back to Broadway. Has Jerusalem been a very different experience from The Seagull? It's so good to be back! With a classic like Chekhov or Shakespeare, the text is sort of set in stone and you can't mess with that, but with [Jerusalem] we've had the privilege of Jez Butterworth being here and involved from the beginning. The show is so very English, I feared we'd have to change a load of the references just to make it understandable, but we've found out American audiences respond to it very nicely. I think there is an American equivalent to these people who live on the fringes.
The show takes place on St. George's Day. Do you have any of your own traditions for the British holiday? We actually did the play the other night on St. George's Day [April 23]. Mark made this brilliant speech at curtain call about how the English don't really celebrate St. George's Day. Somehow [the holiday] and St. George's flag have been hijacked by nationalist groups that use it for their purposes. It's been quite difficult in recent years to celebrate the day without appearing overly patriotic and nationalistic. Mark talked about how it was so good to reclaim it and celebrate it for its proper reason: to be proud of being English.
What do you love about your character Ginger? He's more complex than would perhaps first appear. He's Johnny's [Mark Rylance] best mate and sort of the butt of all his jokes, but he's there to keep his feet on the ground, stop him from flying away during his flights of fancy and the stories he comes up with. Ginger tries to disprove [the stories] out of a sort of affection and care for Johnny. He doesn't want to see him make a great fool of himself.
Mark goes to some incredible extremes in this role. What's it like to share the stage with him? It's very inspiring. He wants to keep things alive all the time. If there's something that seems to be working, he knows there's a danger in it becoming stale, so he'll change it up deliberately and throw something new in to keep us all on our toes.
Ginger brags about his DJ skills. Have you ever pursued deejaying as a hobby? No [laughs]. I've never been anywhere near that and I'm not sure really how much Ginger has either. I'd imagine he has a bunch of vinyl but only slaps on five or six records. I doubt he's a good DJ.
Ginger's friends make fun of him constantly. Were you able to pull from any bullying in your own life for inspiration? Not so much. I do tend to play these downtrodden characters. I was sort of small when I was a kid and stood out from the crowd, but I was never bullied or anything. But I was never the cool kid, so I guess I can draw on not being the cool kid [laughs].
You starred in the original British versions of TV's Skins and The Office. Do you ever watch the American adaptations? Skins I've not seen. The Office I haven't followed religiously, but they've done an incredible job. I had a problem with it originally. I guess it was jealousy of "Why are they remaking this program that we got so much acclaim for?" Now I've made my peace. They made it completely into its own show.
Do you have any stand-out memories from filming the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise? It went on for so long and was such an epic to do, especially the sequels, which we did back to back in the Bahamas right before Hurricane Wilma. We all had to be evacuated. All our boats and sets were smashed up. It wasn't the Bahamas holiday a lot of people were thinking it'd be.
Sounds like actual pirate life. Yeah! For the first one, we turned up at this hotel where all the pirates were supposed to stay, and it was abandoned. The people had taken the money Disney gave them and just left the country, so we had to run the hotel ourselves. It was like the pirates taking over!
What was it like working with Johnny Depp? He's a very kind and generous man. In the first days on set we knew this was a brilliant characterization that he came up with for [Captain Jack Sparrow], but I can also see how the executives would've gotten a bit nervous about it. I'm not in the new one that's coming out, but I'd love to see it.
RAVE REVIEWS FOR JERUSALEM ON BROADWAY
Jerusalem officially opened on April 21st at New York's Music Box Theatre and the play by Jez Butterworth, starring Mark Rylance as Johnny Rooster Byron and Mackenzie Crook as Ginger, is receiving rave reviews all around:
New York Times: A PITCH PERFECT MR. CROOK
In that sense "Jerusalem" could have been written in almost any year from the 1920s onward. Yet this work takes you places - distant, out-of-time places - that well-made plays seldom do. And it thinks big - transcendently big - in ways contemporary drama seldom dares.
Bloomberg: BEST PLAY OF THE SEASON
When Rooster Byron exhales whatever he's toking, the smoke comes out in two long streams that might make you think of a fighter jet taking off.
That's not the only high-octane image that comes to mind in describing "Jerusalem", Jez Butterworth's white-hot play. but he is magnetically appealing. Ask him a question and he'll deliver a tall tale about his encounter with a 90-foot giant who claims to have built Stonehenge.
That might lead to an interrogation by Ginger (the brilliant Mackenzie Crook), one of Rooster's more age- appropriate cronies, as to how this giant went unnoticed by the BBC. And from there to a critique of that organization's sad demise...
New York Magazine:
As a play, Jerusalem may be merely impressive; as a rite, as "a rural display," it's a bona fide bustle in your hedgerow and not to be missed.
New York Daily News:
The production at the Music Box is bold and high-spirited and boasts terrific acting. The evocative leafy set comes complete with live chickens, a turtle and a sad little goldfish.
The array of critters echo the odd human menagerie. Mackenzie Crook, so good in Rickson's Broadway revival of "The Seagull," is funny and sweet as Ginger, a wanna-be deejay who's always skeptical about Johnny's tales. Like many in the ensemble, he originated his role.
Entertainment Weekly GRADE A
The Broadway theatergoer leaves the show - a bubbling, never-dragging three hours that climaxes with drumbeats to summon the dead - blinking with wonderment...
Just as he wowed New York audiences in La Bete and Boeing Boeing, [Mark Rylance] uses his dense body as much as his words, this time contorting with the specific, hopping, pained hobble and the puffed-out chest of a proud, foolish, self-destructive fantasist who can't believe that his body (or at least his bum foot) has betrayed him... His Johnny is a roaring wreck... Yet he's got deep-down English pride in his battered bones. Rylance wears Johnny's contradictions like vivid warrior paint...
Rylance's edge stays sharp because of the cast around him. As Ginger, Johnny's spineless current friend of longest duration, the great, gooselike Mackenzie Crook (Pirates of the Caribbean, BBC's The Office) pinpoints the resentment so entangled with Ginger's neediness and the dullness of his own drab life...
Hollywood Reporter
To borrow a phrase from Rooster, it might be described as an "alcoholic, bucolic frolic," except that it's so much more...
The masterful shifts in tone make the three-act play a rollercoaster ride from rollicking, irreverent comedy through melancholy sobriety to stunning violence, laced with haunting whispers of mythology...
In a very tight ensemble, there's standout work from Crook, [Max] Baker and [Alan] David. But every actor nails an unmistakably English type, many of which Butterworth cleverly tweaks to allow even the dimmest bulbs to show inadvertent sparks of wisdom.
The Washington Post
[Jez] Butterworth's rousing play at the Music Box Theatre is an extremely funny and, ultimately, surprisingly profound contemplation of a fading time in Western civilization when iconoclastic giants walked among us...
"Jerusalem" is a large canvas, and under the resourceful guidance of director Ian Rickson, the cast of 16 - a veritable horde for a straight play on Broadway - adds to the evening's vivid spectrum. In particular, John Gallagher Jr. and Mackenzie Crook, as two of the latter-day Lost Boys who glom onto Johnny for fellowship and a reliable high in the woods, imbue their characters with authentic feels for the insecurities of young men unsure of their identities.
JERUSALEM OPENING NIGHT
BroadwayWorld.com's Hi-Res Opening Night Galleries
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Curtain Call: |
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Playbill.com's Opening Night Gallery
PHOTO CALL: JERUSALEM ON BROADWAY
Playbill.com has new images from Jerusalem's Broadway run. Click the image below to visit their gallery.
JERUSALEM NOW IN PREVIEWS
Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem, directed by Ian Rickson, is now playing in previews in New York's Music Box Theatre with an opening night set for April 21st. A new video trailer for the play can be viewed below featuring Mackenzie Crook, Mark Rylance and Aimee-Ffion Edwards. In addition to the previously posted full casting announcement, the play's official website has now released their rush ticketing policy which can be read here.
MARCH ::
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RADIO PLAY: FAMILY TREE
From BBC RADIO 4:
Mackenzie Crook and Amanda Root star in this magical play which was co-written by comedy writer-performer Amelia Bullmore and playwright Duncan Macmillan.
Nancy knows her teenage son doesn't like washing, but she has no idea of the strange and bewildering consequences that this lack of soap and scrubbing will lead to - and nor does Dan. As his body adjusts to a more 'natural' state, Nancy and Dan's delicate status quo is disrupted and life-changing decisions have to be made.
A funny, moving fairy tale about mums and their sons, and letting children grow and blossom into the people they want to be.
Family Tree will be broadcast on Radio 4 Tue 1 March 14:15.
FEBRUARY ::
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FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR NEW YORK PRODUCTION OF JERUSALEM
From Playbill.com
Tony Award winner John Gallagher, Jr. of Spring Awakening and American Idiot, will be among cast members populating Jerusalem on Broadway... Gallagher will play Lee. [Mark] Rylance, the Olivier and Tony Award winner of Boeing-Boeing and La Bete, will also be joined by Mackenzie Crook as Ginger, Max Baker (Cyrano de Bergerac) as Wesley, Geraldine Hughes (Translations) as Dawn and Molly Ranson (August: Osage County) as Pea, alongside seven members of the original Royal Court and West End company: Alan David as The Professor, Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Phaedra, Danny Kirrane as Davey, Charlotte Mills as Tanya, Sarah Moyle as Ms. Fawcett, Harvey Robinson as Mr. Parsons and Barry Sloane as Troy Whitworth. Aiden Eyrick and Mark Page alternate in the role of Marky.
NEW TRAILER AND TWITTER FOR JERUSALEM ON BROADWAY
You can also follow Jerusalem on Broadway on twitter: @JerusalemBWY
ACTOR IN A BID TO SAVE POOL IN DARTFORD
Click the image below to visit the BBC News video
'MACKENZIE CROOK JOINS FIGHT AGAINST SWIMMING POOL CLOSURE'
From NewsShopper.co.uk
A swimming instructor battling to keep her school pool from closure is delighted a film star has lent his support to the campaign.
Jenny Christmas is thrilled Pirates of the Caribbean star Mackenzie Crook, 39, who used to attend Sutton-at-Hone Primary School in Church Road, Dartford, has offered to help in the battle against the pool's closure.
The pool, which opened in 1975, can only be used for another two years before it fails to meet modern day standards.
Mrs Christmas says Mr Crook's support will help give the campaign a boost in its bid to raise £80,000 for refurbishments...
The Office actor said: "I had a really good time at the school. "Sutton-at-Hone was an idyllic time for me and the swimming pool was part of that experience- it was a great part of school life."
If you want to support the campaign, call the school on 01322 862147 or email office@sutton-at-hone.kent.sch.uk
IRONCLAD OFFICIAL TRAILER & U.S. DISTRIBUTION
The official trailer for Ironclad has been posted on BeyondHollywood.com. Opening March 4th in the UK, Mackenzie stars alongside James Purefoy, Kate Mara, Brian Box, Jason Flemying and Paul Giamatti in this action film about the siege of Rochester Castle in 1215.
JANUARY ::
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PIXAR: 25 MAGIC MOMENTS
Mackenzie will be narrating a new BBC3 programme on the acclaimed animation studio:
Through 25 key moments, this programme takes a look at the highs and lows of the multi award-winning animation studio Pixar as it celebrates its 25th birthday, and discovers the secrets of how to make a Pixar movie. With unique access to Pixar HQ and the creative team, it features memorable moments from hits such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc, as well as exclusive interviews with Billy Crystal, Tim Allen, Holly Hunter, Kelsey Grammer, Michael Keaton, George Lucas and others.
The show will air Mon, 3 Jan 2011, 21:00 on BBC Three
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