Film Screening: Sophie Fiennes' ACTING

About the film:

In the summer of 2021, the theatre company Cheek by Jowl joined forces with British filmmaker Sophie Fiennes to produce an immersive documentary that explores the art of performance. ACTING follows eight young actors over a period of two weeks as they rehearse key scenes and soliloquies from Shakespeare's Macbeth under the direction of Cheek by Jowl's Artistic Directors, Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, at Twyford Abbey in Ealing.

But this film is not about Macbeth. It’s about being offered a different position from which to view acting and theatre – of seeing text newly animated in ways more subtle, surprising, revelatory and various than even the most dedicated theatregoers might have considered possible. Within the labyrinthine remains of Twyford Abbey, we watch with increasing fascination as actors and spaces combine to give Shakespeare’s words seemingly infinite new lives. The film is entirely observational.It is shot by Sophie Fiennes, who operates as a single shooter from inside the ensemble, and its narrative construction flows along the narrative lines of the play. Throughout, Donnellan’s interactions with the actors serve simultaneously as a guide for the film’s audience, using humour, insight and challenge to open our eyes to fresh possibility.

About the Screening:

3.00 – 5.30 PM, Welcome and screening

5.30 – 6.15 PM, Panel discussion and Q&A with Sophie Fiennes, Declan Donnellan, and Nick Ormerod.

6.15 PM – 7.00 PM, Drinks and networking

Tickets are available to all.

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Host or Publisher St John's College