December 12, 2009 – 11 images

December 29, 2009 – 10 images

January 8, 2009 – 8 images

Here are some shots taken from The Misanthrope!

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]]> http://miss-knightley.net/the-misanthrope-fan-greetings/feed 0 http://miss-knightley.net/keira-in-the-misanthrope http://miss-knightley.net/keira-in-the-misanthrope#comments Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:38:55 +0000 Ashley http://miss-knightley.net/?p=323 Here are some shots taken of Keira on stage for ‘The Misanthrope’.

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The 24-year-old British actress had just performed Martin Crimp’s blistering version of Molière’s greatest comedy, The Misanthrope.

Synopsis: Transported from 17th Century Paris to modern-day London, Alceste (Damian Lewis) is a famous British playwright, disillusioned and angry with the hypocrisy, shallowness and vanity of the contemporary world. Vowing to reject society, Alceste’s plans are derailed when he falls madly in love with Jennifer (Knightley). An ambitious American film star and darling of the social scene, she may prove to be his biggest challenge yet.

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]]> http://miss-knightley.net/the-misanthrope-premiere-night/feed 0 http://miss-knightley.net/keira-cast-interview-for-the-misanthrope http://miss-knightley.net/keira-cast-interview-for-the-misanthrope#comments Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:21:12 +0000 Ashley http://miss-knightley.net/?p=310

The professional stage debut of Keira Knightley has been astutely packaged. The star of Pirates of the Caribbean, The Duchess and Atonement has been parachuted into a rhyming play by Molière, but one that allows her to keep a toehold in the world she knows.

Martin Crimp’s version of The Misanthrope, first performed at the Young Vic in 1996, updates Molière’s savage attack on 17th-century social mores to the present-day world of theatre and the media. He has revamped it for this star-studded West End revival. Knightley, 24, plays Jen­nifer, 22, a sizzling-hot American film star who has briefly descended on London. It may not be the lead role, but it’s the eye-catching one around which all the other characters flit. Damian Lewis plays Alceste, a playwright petulantly in love with Jennifer. Tara Fitz­gerald plays an older mentor desperate to hang onto her rights of access to the star.

The production is directed by Thea Sharrock, who has form when it comes to ushering the young stars of Hollywood franchises onto the stage. In Equus, she coaxed out of Daniel Radcliffe a performance of unexpec­ted detail and emotional heft. Lewis, in Band of Brothers, and Fitzgerald, in The Camomile Lawn, both made their name in front of the camera, too.

How did each of you respond to Martin Crimp’s modernised version?

Thea Sharrock: On my first reading, I was amazed the thing did not feel like something that had been written 15 years ago.

Tara Fitzgerald: It’s so nice to read something that’s so irreverent.

Damian Lewis: I knew the play and always loved it. It’s a fascinating theme. The targets have always been the same, since 1666: the hypocrisy and insincerity, the transience of the fashion-based world. It’s now the media-based world, but it’s instantly recognisable.

Keira Knightley: Ditto. [Everyone laughs.]

Could I maybe have a bit more?

Knightley: It made me giggle. That really was it. I’ve been sent things that were very serious, and I read this and thought, “How lovely, that really might be fun.” I’d just been to see quite a few tragedies in the theatre. You get that numb-bum feeling, and I thought, “Ooh, I don’t want to be part of a numb-bum show.” I’d done a lot of serious dramas on film, and I fancied doing something that might actually make people giggle.

Check Out the Rest of the Interview