Categories Charity Christmas Philanthropy

VIDEO: Carols by Candlelight Reading – Dec 17, 2020

Bethlehem by Carol Ann Duffy – Read by Damian Lewis

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | December 17, 2020

Damian’s part begins at about 6:24 in.

View photos of Damian’s reading in our Gallery here

Carols by Candlelight 2020, on behalf of the Alice Martineau Appeal for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, streamed their event this year for all of us to see! The pre-recorded virtual carol service was filmed at St. Luke’s Church in Chelsea and included the Winchester College Chapel Choir recording their carols from the legendary Abbey Road Studios.  Host Dame Judi Dench started off the event, followed by carols, anthems, and readings from Damian Lewis, Patrick Allerton, Luke Martineau, Emily Wilson, Jane Asher, David Haig, Jenny Agutter, Katie Melua, the Reverend Brian Leathard, and a message from David Ramsden, Chief Executive of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Please donate to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust here or text CAROLS5 to 70500 to donate £5 or CAROLS10 to donate £10.

For more information, please visit Cystic Fibrosis UK

Categories Charity Christmas Philanthropy

Carols by Candlelight For A Crucial Cause – Nov 21, 2020

Cystic Fibrosis Trust

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | November 21, 2020

View photos of Damian’s reading in our Gallery here

Dame Judi Dench and Damian Lewis star alongside the Winchester College Chapel Choir in the 18th edition of Carols by Candlelight. The annual concert – which has gone virtual this year – raises money for The Alice Martineau Appeal for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, organized by Alice’s brother Luke. This wonderful, pre-recorded virtual carol service was filmed at St. Luke’s Church in Chelsea and at Abbey Road Studios and is being streamed online via YouTube on Thursday, December 17 at 7:00 p.m. BST, 2:00 p.m. EST, 1:00 p.m. CST, and 11:00 a.m. PST.  The event will feature celebrity messages and readings alongside songs from the choir. Buy tickets here for £10. Additional appearances by Jenny Agutter, Pat Allerton AKA the ‘Portable Priest’, Jane Asher and David Haig.

For more information, please visit Cystic Fibrosis UK
Primary Source: Country and Townhouse
Secondary Source: Classic FM

Categories Helen Interviews Personal and Family Life Print Media Summertime

Damian and Helen Together On Stage Again? Hints Were Dropped! – Aug 9, 2019

Damian the Husband: Organizing Road Trips, Planning Surprise Birthday Parties

by Gavanndra Hodge | The Telegraph | August 9, 2019

She’s straight-talking, hates housework, dresses to kill, and lives life her way – convention be damned. Turns out Helen McCrory has plenty in common with her badass Peaky Blinders character Polly.

Helen McCrory, the multiple-award winning actor, is holding what looks like a moist slice of turkey. ‘What is that?’ I ask. ‘It’s a face mask, darling. £1.99 from Superdrug,’ she says, rubbing it against her neck. ‘It’s going to make me look like a teenager.’

We are standing outside a café on the Regent’s Canal, cyclists and prams whizzing by. McCrory is wearing a floral tea dress, silver Zadig & Voltaire boots, sunglasses and a VIP wristband from a Bob Dylan concert she went to, five days ago. ‘I am never taking it off,’ she says.

There is a sort of rock-star swagger to Helen McCrory, 50, a charismatic, don’t-give-a-damn cool with her chipped red nails and posh-voiced sweariness. She likes to party, to wear top hats and vintage frocks, and there is the inevitable doubling of glamour that comes from her marriage to the actor Damian Lewis (Brody from Homeland, more recently Bobby Axelrod in Billions), with whom she lives in a tall, narrow house in Tufnell Park with their children Manon, 12, and Gulliver, 11.

But what is most thrilling about McCrory is not the husky wit, the famous friends (‘Have you seen Andrew [Scott] doing Present Laughter? Now that is how you do Coward’) or the fact that she ran an acid jazz club in Islington one summer in the early 1990s – it is her talent.

She brings a furious precision and intensity to the roles she takes: Medea and ‘Lady M’ on stage; on screen, Anna Karenina, Narcissa Malfoy, Cherie Blair and the gangster matriarch Aunt Polly in Peaky Blinders, the fifth season of which is soon to start on BBC One. Critics compete for the glowing adjectives when describing her performances – ‘superb’, ‘majestic’, ‘simply wonderful’. In 2017 she was awarded an OBE for services to drama.

Continue reading Damian and Helen Together On Stage Again? Hints Were Dropped! – Aug 9, 2019

Categories Gallery Summertime Theatre Video Whodunnit

Inspector Damian Lewis – July 16, 2019

Whodunnit [Unrehearsed]

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | July 16, 2019

We reported earlier here that Damian was slated to appear as one of the guest Inspectors in the mystery play Whodunnit [Unrehearsed] at Park Theatre London sometime between July 15 – July 27, 2019.  Reports are coming in via social media that tonight’s Inspector was indeed Damian! Our first clue was an Instagram video showing Damian sporting his Inspector’s trench, but sadly the original link is now broken (Fear not, we have a video. Keep reading!)

Then Tweets started pouring in:
Continue reading Inspector Damian Lewis – July 16, 2019

Categories Events Helen News Philanthropy Summertime Theatre

Damian and Helen Attend Old Vic’s Bicentenary Ball – May 13, 2018

The Old Vic Theatre Weekend Celebration

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | May 13, 2018

In February we reported about Damian and Helen’s involvement and preparation with Old Vic’s 200th bicentennial anniversary and this weekend the celebration abounds!  The Old Vic Theatre, Britain’s first National Theatre, celebrated it’s 200th birthday the entire weekend in style.

Read about all the festivities here by clicking on ‘Continue Reading’

Continue reading Damian and Helen Attend Old Vic’s Bicentenary Ball – May 13, 2018

Categories Events Helen News Philanthropy Theatre

Preparation for Old Vic’s 200th Anniversary in May – Feb 12, 2018

Damian and Helen: Old Vic Theatre Ambassadors

by Matthew Hemley | The Stage | February 12, 2018

Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Cate Blanchett and Eileen Atkins are among more than 100 actors, writers and TV personalities announced as ambassadors of the Old Vic as it prepares to mark its 200th anniversary.

They join Imelda Staunton, Ian McKellen, Maxine Peake, Damian Lewis, Derek Jacobi, Janie Dee and Simon Russell Beale as Bicentenary Ambassadors, who will be involved in a variety of initiatives to mark the theatre’s anniversary. These include curating monologues, attending events around the anniversary in May and raising awareness of its education work.

Peake will curate a series of monologues called One Hand Tied Behind Us, to mark International Women’s Day, while Helen McCrory will hold a workshop for aspiring actors. Bertie Carvel will run this year’s London Marathon to raise money for the theatre.

The Old Vic, originally named the Royal Coburg, first opened its doors in 1818 and over the last two centuries has played host to opera, dance, cinema, music hall, classical dramas, variety, clowns, big spectacles and novelty acts. It was the original home of the English National Opera, the Sadler’s Wells dance company and the National Theatre. It has also been a tavern, a college, a coffee house, a lecture hall and a meeting place. The theatre is unique. It stands alone, an independent charity producing groundbreaking work, with no public subsidy, and a social mission running through all it does on and off stage. The adventurous spirit that has permeated every chapter of its history remains as strong today, 200 years on, as it was in 1818.

Continue reading Preparation for Old Vic’s 200th Anniversary in May – Feb 12, 2018

Categories Appearances Books Merchandise

Damian Lewis Writes Foreword for ‘The Outstanding Actor’ Book – Feb 16, 2015

The Outstanding Actor: Seven Keys to Success by Ken Rea, Senior Acting Teacher at Guildhall School of Music and Drama

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | February 16, 2015

Who better to write the foreword for his Alma Mater than our favorite actor Damian Lewis!

This is a wonderful book with a unique take on how actors can get better and improve their chances of success. If we can all perform with half the warmth and generosity with which Ken has been teaching for the last 30 years, then we will have fulfilled our responsibility as story tellers and audiences all over the world are in for a real treat.

Damian Lewis – actor

Drawing on Ken Rea’s 30 years’ teaching experience and research, as well as interviews with top actors and directors, The Outstanding Actor identifies seven key qualities that the most successful actors manifest, along with practical exercises that help nurture those qualities.
Categories Helen Media Personal and Family Life Print Media

Great Expectations: An Interview with Helen McCrory – August 25, 2006

Drama Queen

by Lydia Slater | Evening Standard Magazine | August 25, 2006

Perched on a velvet sofa in the elegant sitting room of the Cheyne Walk Brasserie, Helen McCrory strokes her Stella McCartney-clad stomach and smiles under heavy eyelids, rather like the cat who’s got the cream. As well she might. Life has never seemed to be particularly tough for McCrory, 37, who has been winning plaudits for her acting ever since she took her first role in the National Theatre’s production of Trelawney of the Wells, and who is constantly tipped as the next Judi Dench.

But even by her own high standards, the future is looking pretty rosy. She is eight months pregnant with her first child, and has an unnervingly perfect celebrity bump – no fat ankles or swollen face, just a watermelon at the waistline and a correspondingly magnificent bronzed cleavage. “I’ve never worn so many low-cut dresses in my life. If I could just wear spangles, I would. I feel so amazingly attractive,” she gurgles throatily, with total justice if our young waiter’s saucer eyes are anything to go by.

McCrory doesn’t appear to notice him but then if you’re engaged to Damian Lewis, star of The Forsyte Saga and Band of Brothers (and arguably the sexiest redhead on the planet), waiters probably come rather low in the pecking order. “I’ve never been broody before, but when I met Damian I became very different about relationships,” she says.

Continue reading Great Expectations: An Interview with Helen McCrory – August 25, 2006