Pennington, Michael 1943-

views updated

Pennington, Michael 1943-

PERSONAL

Full name, Michael Vivian Fyfe Pennington; born June 7, 1943, in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England; son of Vivian Maynard Cecil and Euphemia Willock (maiden name, Fyfe) Pennington; married Katharine Ann Letitia Barker, October 10, 1964 (divorced, 1967); children: Mark Dominic Fyfe. Education: Trinity College, Cambridge, B.A., English, 1964. Avocational Interests: Music, literature.

Addresses:

Contact—Cassie Mayer, Ltd., 5 Old Garden House, The Lanterns, Bridge Lane, London SW11 3AD United Kingdom.

Career:

Actor and writer. Royal Shakespeare Company, member of company, 1964-66 and 1974-81; affiliated with British Broadcasting Corp., ITV, Woodfall Films Ltd., and various theaters, 1966-74; member of National Theatre Company, 1984; English Shakespeare Company, cofounder, joint artistic director, and principal actor, beginning 1986; Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, associate member.

Member:

British Actors' Equity Association, Marylebone Cricket Club.

Awards, Honors:

Special Award (with Michael Bogdanov), London Critics Circle Theatre Awards, 1987, for The Henry Trilogy; multiple nominations for Laurence Olivier awards, Society of West End Theatre.

CREDITS

Stage Appearances:

The Judge, Cambridge Theatre, London, between 1966 and 1974.

A Woman of No Importance, Vaudeville Theatre, London, between 1966 and 1974.

Ballad of the False Barman, Hampstead Theatre, London, between 1966 and 1974.

Pretty Boy, Royal Court Theatre, London, between 1966 and 1974.

Captain Jack's Revenge, Royal Court Theatre, between 1966 and 1974.

Savages, Royal Court Theatre, between 1966 and 1974.

Trelawny of the Wells, Cambridge Theatre Company, between 1966 and 1974.

The Promise, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England, between 1966 and 1974.

Trapp, The Judge, Cambridge Theatre, 1967.

(New York debut) Laertes, Hamlet, Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, 1969.

Angelo, Measure for Measure, Royal Shakespeare Company, between 1974 and 1981.

Ferdinand, The Tempest, Royal Shakespeare Company, between 1974 and 1981.

Johnnie Hobnails, Afore Night Come, Royal Shakespeare Company, between 1974 and 1981.

Mercutio, Romeo and Juliet, Royal Shakespeare Company, between 1974 and 1981.

Edgar, King Lear, Royal Shakespeare Company, between 1974 and 1981.

Hector, Troilus and Cressida, Royal Shakespeare Company, between 1974 and 1981.

Major Rolfe, Destiny, Royal Shakespeare Company, between 1974 and 1981.

Mirabell, The Way of the World, Royal Shakespeare Company, between 1974 and 1981.

Berowne, Love's Labour's Lost, Royal Shakespeare Company, between 1974 and 1981.

Title role, Hippolytus, Royal Shakespeare Company, between 1974 and 1981.

Duke, Measure for Measure, Royal Shakespeare Company, between 1974 and 1981.

Shervinsky, The White Guard, Royal Shakespeare Company, between 1974 and 1981.

Diary of a Madman, Royal Shakespeare Company, between 1974 and 1981.

The Hollow Crown, Royal Shakespeare Company, Fortune Theatre, London, 1981.

Jack Beaty, Thirteenth Night, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, London, 1981.

Pleasure and Repentance, Royal Shakespeare Company, Fortune Theatre, London, 1981.

Donal Davoren, The Shadow of a Gunman, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, 1981.

Title role, Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, London, 1981.

Rodion Raskolnikov, Crime and Punishment, Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, England, 1983.

Title role, Strider: The Story of a Horse, National Theatre Company, Cottesloe Theatre, London, 1984.

Jaffier, Venice Preserv'd; or, A Plot Discovered, National Theatre Company, Lyttelton Theatre, London, 1984.

Title role, Anton Chekhov, Cottesloe Theatre, 1984.

The Real Thing, Strand Theatre, London, 1985.

Bill, Playing with Trains, Royal Shakespeare Company, Pit Theatre, London, 1989.

Edward Davison, The Gift of the Gorgon, Wyndham's Theatre, London, 1993.

Old Times, Dublin Pinter Festival, Dublin, Ireland, 1994.

One for the Road, Dublin Pinter Festival, 1994.

Cladius, Peter Hall Company, 1994.

The ghost, Hamlet, Peter Hall Company, 1994.

Taking Sides, Criterion Theatre, London, 1995.

Archie Rice, The Entertainer, Hampstead Theatre, 1996.

Waste, Old Vic Theatre, London, 1997.

The Seagull, Old Vic, 1997.

The Provoked Wife, Old Vic, 1997.

Anton Chekhov, Old Vic, 1997.

Alceste, The Misanthrope, Piccadilly Theatre, London, 1998.

Domenico, Filumena, Piccadilly Theatre, 1998.

Oscar Wilde, Gross Indecency, Gielgud Theatre, London, 1999.

Timon, Timon of Athens, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford, England, and Barbican Theatre, London, 2000.

Nandor, The Guardsman, Albery Theatre, London, 2000.

Prentice, What the Butler Saw, 2001.

John, The Shawl, 2001.

Walter Burns, The Front Page, Chichester Theatre, Chichester, England, 2002.

Dr. Dorn, The Seagull, Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2003.

George III, The Madness of King George, West Yorkshire Playhouse, London, 2003.

Cecil, When the Night Begins, Hampstead Theatre, 2004.

The Cosmonaut's Last Message, Donmar Warehouse, London, 2005.

Made stage debut as Fortinbras, Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, London; also appeared as Andrei, Three Sisters, Cambridge Theatre Company.

Major Tours:

Title role, Richard II, English Shakespeare Company, international cities, 1987-89.

Prince Hal, Henry IV, Part I, English Shakespeare Company, international cities, 1987-89.

Prince Hal, Henry IV, Part II, English Shakespeare Company, international cities, 1987-89.

Title role, Henry V, English Shakespeare Company, international cities, 1987-89.

Earl of Suffolk, Henry VI: House of Lancaster, English Shakespeare Company, international cities, 1987-89.

Jack Cade, Henry VI: House of York, English Shakespeare Company, international cities, 1987-89.

Duke of Buckingham, Richard III, English Shakespeare Company, international cities, 1987-89.

Caius Marcius Coriolanus, Coriolanus, English Shakespeare Company, international cities, 1990-91.

Leontes, The Winter's Tale, English Shakespeare Company, international cities, 1990-91.

Title role, Macbeth, English Shakespeare Company, international cities, 1992.

Title role, John Gabriel Borkman, English Touring Theatre, 2003.

Stage Director:

Twelfth Night, Shakespeare Repertory Company, Chicago, IL, 1996.

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Regents Park Open Air Theatre, London, 2003.

Stage Director; Tours:

Twelfth Night, English Shakespeare Company, international cities, 1991-92.

Television Appearances; Series:

Narrator, Timewatch (also known as BBC History: "Timewatch"), BBC, 1996.

Narrator, Tourists of the Revolution, BBC2, 2000.

Judge Howard Sinclair, The Bill, ITV1, 2003.

Television Appearances; Miniseries:

Carl Jung, Freud, BBC, 1984.

Himself, Playing Shakespeare, LST, 1984.

Hugh Pargeter, Summer's Lease, BBC and PBS, 1991.

Narrator, Auntie: The Inside Story of the BBC, BBC, 1997.

Voice of narrator, Empire Warriors, BBC, 2004.

Television Appearances; Movies:

The Witches of Pendle, BBC, 1977.

Bob, Outside Edge, LWT, 1982.

Posthumus, Cymbeline (also known as BBC Television Shakespeare: "Cymbeline" and The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: "Cymbeline"), BBC and PBS, 1983.

Title role, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, CBS, 1987.

Gordon Ellison, Cracker: White Ghost, Arts and Entertainment, 1996.

Hartley Culpepper, Dalziel and Pascoe: Ruling Passion, Arts and Entertainment, 1997.

William Buckland, The Dinosaur Hunters, 2002.

Voice of narrator, Colosseum: A Gladiator's Story, Discovery Channel and BBC, 2003.

Voice of narrator, Building the Great Pyramid (also known as Lander-Menschen-Abenteuer-die pyramide: ein weltwunder entseht and Die Pyramide-ein weltwunder entsteht), BBC, 2003.

James Clayton, Q.C., Trial and Retribution XIV: Mirror Image, 2007.

Also appeared in Middlemarch, BBC; as D. H. Lawrence, A Portrait of D. H. Lawrence.

Television Appearances; Specials:

(Television debut) Alexei, The Single Passion, BBC, 1967.

Oedipus, "Oedipus the King," The Theban Plays, PBS, 1988.

Voice, Le tombeau d'Alexandre (also known as The Last Bolshevik), 1992.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

Youth, "The Order," The Wednesday Play, BBC, 1967.

Garry, "Anyone for Tennis?," The Wednesday Play, BBC, 1968.

Adrian, "No Easy Walk," Armchair Theatre, ABC (UK), 1968.

Lancelot Wishart, "Rogues' Gallery: The Tale of Lancelot Wishart," ITV Playhouse, ITV, 1968.

Peter Bell, "The Tycoon," ITV Playhouse, ITV, 1968.

Tom, "The Dolly Scene," Armchair Theatre, ABC (UK) and Thames, 1970.

"Mad Jack," The Wednesday Play, BBC, 1970.

Hans, "The Unconquered," W. Somerset Maugham, 1970.

John Sheldon, "Well-There Was This Girl, You See," Public Eye, ITV, 1971.

"An Affair of Honour," Thirty-Minute Theatre, BBC, 1972.

Lafarge, "The Contract," Callan, ITV, 1972.

"An Affair of Honour," Thirty-Minute Theatre, 1972.

Ian Strawson, "Last Land," No Exit, BBC, 1972.

Don Harris, "It's Only Rock ‘n’ Roll," ITV Playhouse, ITV, 1977.

"Mr. & Ms. Bureaucrat," BBC2 Play of the Week, BBC2, 1978.

Saint-Just, "Danton's Death," Play of the Month, BBC, 1978.

John Liburne, "A Last Visitor for Mr. Hugh Peter," BBC2 Playhouse, BBC2, 1981.

Alexei Turbin, "The White Guard," Play of the Month, BBC, 1982.

Thomas Wenleigh, "Some Must Watch," Between the Lines (also known as Inside the Line), BBC, 1993.

Thomas Wenleigh, "The Fifth Estate," Between the Lines (also known as Inside the Line), BBC, 1993.

Commander Gordon Ellison, "White Ghost," Cracker, ITV, 1996.

Ralph Merridew, "Diplomatic Baggage," Kavanagh QC, ITV, 1997.

Hartley Culpepper, "Ruling Passion," Dalziel and Pascoe, BBC, 1997.

Priest, "Scream State Scream!," Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible, BBC, 2001.

Dennis Morgan, "Tell No Tales: Part 1," Silent Witness, BBC, 2002.

Richard Siegler, State of Play, BBC1 and BBC America, 2003.

Professor Alan Macintosh, "Breaking Glass: Part 1," Waking the Dead, BBC, 2003.

David Powell, "The Good Fight," Holby City (also known as Holby), BBC, 2006.

Narrator, "The Da Vinci Code: The Greatest Story Ever Told," Time Shift, BBC, 2006.

Film Appearances:

Laertes, Hamlet (also known as Shakespeare's "Hamlet"), Columbia, 1969.

Moff Jerjerrod, Star Wars: Episode VI—Return of the Jedi (also known as Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1983.

Marcus, Fragiles (also known as Fragile and Fragile: A Ghost Story), Bauer Martinez Studios, 2005.

WRITINGS

Stage:

(Compiler with Michael Bogdanov) God Say Amen (includes selections from history plays by William Shakespeare), English Shakespeare Company, Lyric Studio, 1990.

Other Writings:

Rossya: A Journey through Siberia, Red Man, 1977.

(With Bogdanov) The English Shakespeare Company: The Story of the Wars of the Roses, 1986-1989, Nick Hern Books, 1990.

Hamlet: A User's Guide, 1995.

Twelfth Night: A User's Guide, 1999.

Are You There, Crocodile—Inventing Anton Chekhov, 2002.

About this article

Pennington, Michael 1943-

Updated About encyclopedia.com content Print Article

NEARBY TERMS

Pennington, Michael 1943-