Conclave Surprise at the BAFTAs

Ralph Fiennes in Conclave.

In a surprise win, Conclave was named Best Picture and Best British Picture at the BAFTA awards presented on Sun., Feb. 16 in London, further complicating the Oscar race. Conclave and The Brutalist tied for most wins with four each. Brutalist took Best Actor for Adrien Brody and Bet Director for Brady Corbet. In another surprise, Mikey Madison took Best Actress for Anora which has moved to the head of the pre-Oscar pack, after scoring big wins at the Critics Choice, DGA, PGA and WGA awards. Kieran Culkin was not present to accept his Best Supporting Actor Award for A Real Pain. His co-star and director Jesse Eisenberg who also won for Best Original Screenplay, explained he was staying with a sick family member. Zoe Saldana added another Best Supporting Actress prize for Emila Perez to her collection. Former Doctor Who David Tennant hosted and made a few Donald Trump jokes about his hair in his opening monologue. A few of these quips were edited out of the BBC Broadcast (the three-hour show was pre-taped and an edited, two-hour version was shown.) The complete version is available on YouTube.

Theater Memories Part 13: Shakespeare The Histories

David Tenant as Richard II
Credit: Keith Pattison

To complete my Shakespeare recollections, here are all the history plays I can remember seeing (again this is only stage versions, there are too many film and TV productions to list):

Richard II: David Tenant (one of my all-time favorite Doctor Whos) RSC at BAM in rep with both parts of Henry IV and Henry V; Steven Skybell (Theater for a New Audience); Peter MacNichol (Delacorte).

Henry IV, Parts I and II: Alex Hassell (RSC at BAM, the same series as the David Tenant Richard II, Anthony Sher was a brilliant Falstaff); a really weird production directed by JoAnne Akalitis at the Public; a one-evening adaptation at the Vivian Beaumont at Lincoln Center with Kevin Kline as Falstaff, Michael Hayden as Prince Hal, Richard Easton as King Henry IV, Ethan Hawke as Hotspur, with Dana Ivey, Audra MacDonald and Dakin Matthews (who did the adaptation); Shakespeare and Company, Lenox, Mass.

Henry V: Twice at the Delacorte with Kevin Kline and then Andre Braugher; Alex Hassell in the RSC/BAM four-part production; Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, set during World War I. Act One had the soldiers in a trench rehearsing for a performance of Henry V, then Act Two, they are all in the hospital, wounded, and the nurses take part.