BFI to screen Memento Mori, Once in a Lifetime and Harry Potter

10 December 2014 01:43

In January the BFI will screen not one but two rare TV shows featuring Zoë, as well as one of her most successful films.

First up is Memento Mori, a 1992 comedy-drama, adapted from Muriel Spark's novel of the same name. Zoe plays Olive, the young acquaintance of a group of elderly friends plagued by mysterious, disturbing phonecalls in 1950s London. Memento Mori is described by the BFI as ‘technically perfect’ and ‘beautifully cast’ – Zoë appears alongside a host of other well-known actors including Maggie Smith, Stephanie Cole, Thora Hird and Michael Hordern. There are two opportunities to watch the programme: it will be screened on 11 January (6:10pm) and 14 January (8:30pm), as part of the BFI’s celebration of Maggie Smith’s work.

The BFI will screen the satirical Once in a Lifetime on 29 January (6:10pm). George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s play, adapted here for TV, focuses on the introduction of ‘talkies’ in late-1920s Hollywood. Zoë stars as May, part of a band of down-on-their-luck vaudeville performers who try their hand at giving elocution lessons to silent film stars. This 1988 programme features Zoë’s second appearance in the role – she won the 1979 Society of West End Theatre Award (now known as Olivier Award) for her portrayal of May in the RSC’s staging of Once in a Lifetime. Also reprising his role from that stage production is David Suchet. The screening is part of the BFI’s season about American playwrights’ work on the British small screen.

Coincidentally, TheKaufmanPlays.com, a tribute to George S. Kaufman and his writings, has published Zoë's recollections of her experience of Once in a Lifetime. Reading, rehearsing and performing the play, she emphasises, made her feel closer to her American roots. In Zoe’s words, ‘I was introduced back to where I came from’.

Another BFI event of interest to Zoë’s fans is the return to the big screen of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001), which also forms part of the Maggie Smith season. The film, in which Zoë memorably portrays Quidditch teacher Madam Hooch, will be shown on 22 January (5:50pm) and again on 31 January (3:10pm).

All of the cinema screenings mentioned above will take place at the BFI Southbank in London. Tickets for each are now available, but numbers are very limited, and so I would recommend booking early.

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Zoë's episode of Let's Do Christmas... With Gino and Mel to be broadcast on 17 December

6 December 2014 19:50

The broadcast date for the episode of Let's Do Christmas... With Gino & Mel featuring Zoe as a special guest has now been announced. UK TV viewers can catch this hour-long culinary-themed chatshow on 17 December at 12:30pm on ITV1. Presented by chef Gino D'Acampo and Melanie Sykes, it is sure to be a great start to the festive season!

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Photos: Stevie and The Sick Children's Trust carol service

5 December 2014 19:49

In anticipation of Stevie's transfer to its main stage in March, Hampstead Theatre has today released a new photo of Zoë as quirky poet Stevie Smith in the biographical drama.

Meanwhile, The Sick Children's Trust has announced that yesterday's Christmas carol service, at which Zoe gave a lovely reading from Dickens' A Christmas Carol, has raised a record £10,880. Zoe and some of the other speakers - Sarah Alexander, Sam Bailey and Christine Hamilton - are pictured on the charity's Twitter profile. Many other photos from the event can be found on the charity's Flickr profile.

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Photos: Clara's Song and Asthma UK Christmas carol service

2 December 2014 22:28

This week is off to a very busy but exciting start for Zoë.

On Sunday evening, she joined tenor Keith Lewis and pianist Melvyn Tan on-stage for the premiere of Clara’s Song at London’s Royal Academy of Arts. The trio are pictured before their beautiful musical performance, in which Zoe played German musician Clara Schumann, in a photo on Melvyn Tan’s Twitter profile. Clara's Song was devised by Keith Lewis and written by Zoë’s husband, Gawn Grainger, who has since tweeted that the performance was ‘spectacular’.

This evening, Zoe gave a reading at Asthma UK’s Christmas carol service, which took place at St Luke’s Church in Chelsea, London. She is pictured with the event’s other well-known supporters – Anton Du Beke, Patricia Hodge, Julian Fellowes, Margaret Keys and Kirsten O’Brien – in a photo on the charity’s Twitter profile.

The rest of the week also looks busy for Zoë, with two more charity carol services over the next two days: the Prostate Cancer UK 'Carols by Candlelight' service (3 December; now sold out) and The Sick Children’s Trust carol service (4 December).

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Public booking opens for Zoë's Stevie at Hampstead

28 November 2014 23:31

Public booking opened earlier today for Stevie, in which Zoë will star as quirky poet Stevie Smith at London's Hampstead Theatre. This biographical drama, by Hugh Whitemore, will run from 6 March to 18 April (press night: 16 March). Tickets are priced between £10 and £35.

London arts guide Culture Whisper has published a lovely article about Stevie, praising 'the mighty Zoe Wanamaker' and recalling her success in the title role when the play was staged at Chichester's Minerva Theatre during the summer. The article is particularly enthusiastic about the 'ferocious intelligence and fragility flickering beneath the surface' of Zoe's portrayal of the poet, and suggests that Stevie's Hampstead transfer is not to be missed.

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