Latest news with #MeasureforMeasure
Perth Now
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Iconic Star Wars actor dead after contracting COVID
One of the Star Wars franchise's most iconic actors has died after developing pneumonia due to complications from a bout of COVID. Kenneth Colley, 87, played the part of Captain, then Admiral Piett on board Darth Vader's star cruiser and roving command centre in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. In some of the most gripping scenes captured in the two movies, Vader terrorised his own crew with Colley's character shuddering as he gained a promotion while standing next to his choking cohort who Vader proclaimed had 'failed him for the last time'. Ken Colley, who played Admiral Piett in Star Wars, has died. Credit: Piett After taking a turn for the worse in hospital, Colley's long term agent Julian Owen released a statement saying the actor had died peacefully on Monday in Ashford, Kent in the UK. 'He had been admitted after a fall with an injured arm, however he quickly contracted Covid which developed into pneumonia, the statement published in The Sun said 'He passed away peacefully with friends at his bedside.' Colley had performed in various stage shows, movies and television productions in a career that spanned over 60 years, and could also lay claim to another iconic film character as Jesus in Monty Python's Life of Brian alongside comedy legends John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Michael Palin. 'Ken continually worked on stage, film and television playing a vast array of characters, from Jesus in Monty Python's Life of Brian to evil and eccentric characters in Ken Russell films, and the Duke of Vienna in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure for the BBC,' Mr Owen added in the statement. As the Star Wars universe enjoyed a resurgence in the early 2000's, Colley was able to return as Admiral Priett, voicing the character in the 2012 animated Lego production, Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out. A crowd favourite at comic con expo's and Star Wars signing days the English actor was revered by fans and his peers for a range of roles in various arenas 'Ken's favourite part was playing Estragon in the stage production of Beckett's classic Waiting for Godot at the Cockpit Theatre in London in 2014,' Mr Owen added. 'Ken's participation in Star Wars led him to being invited to conventions and official fan events all over the World where he remains one of the best loved actors from the original trilogy. 'Ken loved his garden, art collecting and had a passion for fast cars.'
Perth Now
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Star Wars legend Kenneth Colley dead at 87
Star Wars icon Kenneth Colley has died aged 87. The late actor - who is best known for playing Admiral Piett in George Lucas' sci-fi franchise - 'peacefully' passed away on Monday (30.06.25) in Ashford, Kent, after contracting Covid and pneumonia, his agent Julian Owen has said. In a statement, Owen said: 'He had been admitted after a fall with an injured arm, however he quickly contracted Covid which developed into pneumonia. He passed away peacefully with friends at his bedside. 'Ken Colley was one of our finest character actors with a career spanning 60 years. 'Ken continually worked on stage, film and television playing a vast array of characters, from Jesus in Monty Python's Life of Brian to evil and eccentric characters in Ken Russell films, and the Duke of Vienna in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure for the BBC.' Colley appeared in 1980's Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back as Admiral Piett, the commander of Darth Vader's flagship, The Executor, and reprised the role for the 1983 sequel Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. The actor also voiced Piett in the LEGO animation LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out in 2012. The statement continued: 'Ken's favourite part was playing Estragon in the stage production of Beckett's classic Waiting for Godot at the Cockpit Theatre in London in 2014. 'Ken's participation in Star Wars led him to being invited to conventions and official fan events all over the World where he remains one of the best-loved actors from the original trilogy. 'Ken loved his garden, art collecting and had a passion for fast cars.' Colley was born on 7 December 1937 in Manchester, and started his acting career in 1961 at the Leicester repertory theatre as a stagehand and ensemble player. Colley soon joined esteemed companies like the Old Vic in London, the Royal Court, and the Royal Shakespeare Company. The actor's early TV work included a minor role in The Avengers in 1963, and appearances in series such as The Sweeney, and The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. Colley's first movie role came in 1964, where he portrayed a Covent Garden Porter in the drama Seventy Deadly Pills. Colley would later appear in Monty Python's Life of Brian with John Cleese and Michael Palin, in which he portrayed Jesus Christ. He also worked with Clint Eastwood on the 1982 film Firefox, in which he portrayed Colonel Kontarsky. In later years, Colley featured in shows like Holby City and a two-part Doctor Who special. His final on-screen role came in 2016, where he played Vincente Changretta in Series 3 of the BBC TV drama Peaky Blinders.
Time Out
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
The Tempest and Measure for Measure
Photograph: Courtesy Dave Biesinger. | The Tempest Renaissance Now Theatre & Film offers a pair of Shakespeare plays in "now speak" adaptations that mix the original text with additions in modern language: a classical-style version of the fantastcal shipwreck tale The Tempest , adapted and directed by troupe leader director Kathy Curtiss; and a contemporary reimagining of the proto-#MeToo problem play Measure for Measure , directed by Sonja Hugo and adapted by Steven Rimke. The productions rotate in rep in matinee and evening performances throughout the three-day run. By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions. 🙌 Awesome, you're subscribed! Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon! Discover Time Out original video
Chicago Tribune
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Column: Shakespeare Project of Chicago will present a new dramatization of Ben Hecht's memoir at the Newberry
Writers William Shakespeare and Ben Hecht will make quite a pair on Saturday afternoon when some fine local actors well versed in and passionate about Shakespeare will be speaking Hecht's words at the Newberry Library Saturday afternoon in a new dramatization of Hecht's memoir, 'A Child of the Century,' by Shakespeare Project of Chicago, one of the city's great, if relatively quiet, treasures. 'You might think of us as Shakespeare unplugged,' said Peter Garino, one of the founders of The Shakespeare Project of Chicago and longtime artistic director, when I first met him a decade ago. 'We are unadorned and direct, and sometimes a person will tell us after a reading, 'I finally get this play.' That means a great deal to us. … We are under the radar. We are barely, if ever reviewed, mentioned by the mainstream press. We are up and gone in a weekend.' There is something charmingly 'Brigadoon'-ish about that, and The Shakespeare Project is in the midst of celebrating its 30th season, which started in November with 'Measure for Measure,' then 'The Winter's Tale' last weekend, with 'The Tempest' scheduled for April and 'King Lear' in June. Garino has been there from the start, explaining how he and other actors and Shakespeare fans would often bump into one another at auditions. A group of eight decided to meet once a week. One thing led to another and after a public performance attracted an enthusiastic crowd, The Shakespeare Project of Chicago was formed. No one is in this for the money and all shows are free to the public. The group is a nonprofit and, 'the classic itinerant company,' says Garino. It presents shortened versions of the plays with casts composed of theater pros, all members of Actors' Equity, the professional union of actors and stage managers. All of these people have long lists of credits, from dozens of local stages and Broadway to TV and movies. Hundreds of actors have participated, tackling the work of other writers too, a few of them Shakespeare's contemporaries, but also such offerings as Lynn Redgrave's 'Shakespeare for My Father' and Truman Capote's 'A Christmas Memory,' shows based on Shakespeare's poetry and a few musical offerings. (It should be noted that a decade ago, as an acknowledgment of The Shakespeare Project of Chicago's ongoing importance, the Newberry invited it to contribute artifacts such as scripts, production notes, photographs, programs, posters and other materials for a permanent archive). This Hecht presentation came to them through Scott Jacobs in 2018. Wisconsin-raised (as was Hecht), Jacobs came to Chicago in the mid-1970s. He wrote for the Sun-Times before devoting himself to a career as a pioneering videographer and writer. In 1985, he and Michael Miner, the Chicago Reader columnist and his former Sun-Times colleague, used Hecht in their play, 'Kiss It Good-Bye,' which had its world premiere in 1985 with Organic Theater. He was introduced to actor-director J.R. Sullivan by a mutual friend, actor-director and former newspaperman Gary Houston, who knew of both men's affection for Hecht's work. Amazingly, they had never met before but Sullivan too had a connection to Hecht, having written and performed in a one-man show based on 'A Child of the Century.' I reviewed that production for the Tribune in 1995, writing, 'The few periods of dullness that afflict this show might be erased with some judicious, if for Sullivan painful, editing. Hecht's life and times … tote an inherent romanticism that has never had a problem capturing readers and easily could grab audiences as well.' Jacobs and Sullivan's collaboration sadly ended in October 2021 when Jacobs died of a heart attack. Sullivan was determined to finish what they had started. 'This book is a treasure trove of fantastic tales. The real challenge is to structure it, to bring it down to two hours,' he tells me, and it's exciting to hear that Saturday's reading will also feature music and many photos, most taken from the mountain of Hecht materials now housed at the Newberry. 'A Child of the Century' was published in 1954, Hecht died in 1964 and in 1979 his wife Rose donated all of his papers, correspondence, photographs and other materials to the Newberry. That includes material from his Hollywood years, very fruitful years since, thought likely most famous for writing, with pal Charles MacArthur, 'The Front Page,' he is also credited with writing 65 films, including 'Spellbound' and 'Monkey Business,' and had his uncredited hand in dozens more, including 'Gone With the Wind.' It is a vast gathering, 92 linear feet that includes a small statue. It is an Oscar, handed out at the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929. Remember this if you are watching Sunday night: The first bash took 15 minutes to present awards in 13 categories. 'Wings' won best picture, and the award for best original screenplay, then referred to as best original story, was won by Hecht for 'Underworld.' He would later write, 'A movie is never any better than the stupidest man connected with it. Out of the thousand writers huffing and puffing through movieland, there are scarcely 50 men and women of wit and talent.' He was surely one of them, and his shadow abides.
