Yes! Americans need to take notice of Colin Morgan !!

This article is short and easily read.  While we wholeheartedly agree with the Headline: “AMERICANS NEED TO TAKE NOTICE OF BRITISH (IRISH) ACTOR, COLIN MORGAN”, remember that Colin has deflected questions about Dr. Who, saying: “That box is ticked”.   Colin’s path since Merlin seems to concentrate on short-term series rather than a long-running one.  Given his incredible thirst for ‘what’s next”, he already fits more into a month than most can do in a year.  (I think someone recently mentioned 4 projects in 5 months!  Still trying to find that clip.)

This, however, is a statement that needs to be emphasized more often:

Why should Americans care? Colin Morgan is an example of the so-called “American Dream” we Americans constantly talk about. … Morgan worked incredibly hard all of his life to achieve his dreams and where he is now. … He is an example that anything is possible with the right amount of dedication and talent.

We are certain Colin’s path forward with interesting projects and incredible portrayals will continue to contribute to a steady rise upward.  His is a career built on solid foundation.  Americans who are interested in serious people who are serious about their passion;  Americans who are interested in amazing talent having nothing to do with Hollywood type ‘stardom’;  these Americans would find unlimited joy in watching Colin’s haunting and unforgettable characterizations.  Welcome to our world.

Magic ! *

It’s the first few months of 2007 … How can we out here know the magic that is brewing inside the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama?   We are oblivious.   We are not prepared.   We know nothing of the exciting talent that germinates inside this auspicious institution.  We are innocents.

We are not privy to the first steps onto 3 London West End Theatres … one, then the next … and another following in quick succession.  We, in the world outside London, are still unaware of what’s coming.

Then …

2008 arrives … bringing with it “Merlin” and the beginning of an enchantment that will never end.

.

(*archives 2/18/2015)

Time Travel … Graduation*

It’s 2007 … Colin Morgan is in his final year at RSAMD.  He is pursuing his studies, pursuing improving his craft, looking to a future fast coming toward him.  What will it be like?  To be out of school and treading the boards to audition after audition?  It will be exciting, surely … and a little scary perhaps … but this is the first step out into the world he has been preparing for.

Along the way, there have been those watching … among them, Rufus Norris, Associate Director at the Young Vic from 2002 – 2007.   May 8, 2007 … Rufus Norris, along with many of his generation, was excited by the novel, Vernon God Little, and began preparing to bring it to a theatre audience.  Not one to wait for his destiny, but rather one who pursues it, and not due to graduate until July, Colin auditioned for the lead role of Vernon Little. When asked about the casting of the young undergraduate, Mr. Norris responded,

Good casting directors have their spies in many places. We did have to look pretty hard for that part and it took a long time. Colin was literally the last person we saw. There were two others who were alright but when Colin came in on the last day we knew we had our Vernon. 

Colin had to leave RSAMD three-quarters of the way through his final year to make this professional London West End theatre debut as the title character of Vernon God Little, a role for which he was critically acclaimed, and one that was also assessed for his final grade.

We will begin our look at Colin’s early stage work soon. However,

It is very special to note: … This is the  first time he will set his foot on the professional stage.  It is the well-known Young Vic Theatre in London, and he takes on the role which launches his professional career.

(*archives 2/23/2015)

Time Travel … The RSAMD Years * … A Glimpse of the Future

It is 2005.  Colin Morgan is a 19 year old student at the RSAMD.  Viewing this we begin to understand that it holds promise of a bright future … a path, gently rippling forward, stretching out before this young thespian, one more step in achieving his dream.

Continuing in 2005 … Another very early performance.

The play is Bite of the Night: An Education (Playscript). He was part of the First Youth, the Chorus. I have found the First Prologue to this play, which is full of meaning about the art of drama.  These are the last stanzas:

And again, she listened to everything
This time understanding different things
This time untroubled that some things  Could not be understood
Laughing rarely but now without shame
Sometimes suffering disgust  Sometimes thoroughly amazed
And in the light again said

This is art, it is hard work. And one friend said, too hard for me. And the other said, if you will, I will come again. Because I found it hard, I felt honoured.  — (Howard Barker, from “The Bite of the Night”)

Between 2005 and 2006 he participated in three other productions mentioned in his CV.  God the Game Show as Stewart; Vassa, a Soviet Drama, as Semyon; and Last Supper as a young man in the Chorus.

2006 … His education with RSAMD continues in their student drama productions and goes on to include the following performances:

“Plasticine” … An extraordinary and disturbing play about post-Communist Russia by a young Siberian-born writer.  The first of Vassily Sigarev’s plays performed at London’s Royal Court was an unremittingly bleak evocation of Russian provincial life that opened with a harrowing suicide and concluded with a vicious male rape.  Apparently they do not shrink from exposing students to extremes at the Royal Conservatoire … this is Drama … this is the substance of Colin’s education.  His dual roles were Groom and Grandmother.

From Dark to Light, the next play is “The Tempest”.  His role:  Prince Ferdinand.

Followed by Brecht’s “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”.  Written in self-imposed exile towards the end of World War II, this a story within a play, in which a bard, or singer, interrupts a group of Caucasian farmers arguing over ownership of land that has been ravaged by Nazi tanks and entertains them with a relevant tale of yore.  Colin’s role is the Singer, Arkadi Tsheidse.

And back to the Light as Marble Archie, Superhero, in “Jack and The Beanstalk”.

2007 is hovering in the background … graduation time, which holds an interesting story, known by some, perhaps not by all, and which we will publish in our next Time Travel post … Graduation Year.

(*archives 2/22/2015)

Time Travel … The Early Years*

Even when I was really young I wanted to perform and do shows. I also had this fascination with magic. I was doing magic tricks when I was three. If I ever saw magic on television I would say: ‘I want that. That’s what I want from Santa Claus’. So the cupboard in my bedroom was full of boxes of magic tricks, cups and balls, cards and foam rabbits, all sorts of stuff.

Colin Morgan

Despite limited opportunities due to the turmoil surrounding him, his natural acting ability and ambition was evident from an early age — he was only five years old when he made his acting debut, appearing in the chorus in a production of Cinderella and then Peter Pan, then going on to participate in various local amateur stage productions during his childhood.  While he was attending Saints and Scholars Integrated Primary School, Morgan had a teacher named Harry McGee who was a tremendous inspiration to him and whose support and belief made a real difference in how he felt and gave him the real confidence to go on. According to Morgan,

  “He recognized something in me that… He would stay behind after class each day and he’d pull out a poem and he’d say, ‘Let’s work on this,’ and we’d just do it. He really believed in me and really fueled my passion. And that’s all it takes sometimes, I think, just one person to believe in you.”

Morgan was inspired to become a professional actor. From the age of eleven, he studied in Integrated College Dungannon from 1997 until 2002, winning the ‘Denis Rooney Associates Cup’ for best overall student in Year 10. The school described him as a keen musician and budding actor, as he starred in several college productions including the renowned Surgical Sensations at St Senapods and Bad Day at Black Frog Creek. Morgan’s drama teacher at the college, James McCoy, said this about him,

“His potential to become a successful actor was evident from a young age here at ICD. He participated wholeheartedly in every Drama class, concert and production that the college was showcasing. He loved Drama and he was a pleasure to teach.”

Determined, he went on to study in Belfast, and every day for two years, he commuted between Armagh and Belfast for an hour and twenty minutes each way because it was the closest place that had a college that offered drama as a subject.There, he was awarded a National Diploma in Performing Arts from the Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education in 2004.

We visit Colin’s next steps in the upcoming post:  Time Travel …The RSAMD years

(*archives 2/21/2015)

(information primarily from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Morgan)

Oh, to be a Pirate King !

Thank you for sharing, @noctupus!

Progress …. next up

• COLIN MORGAN NEWS
  

  Charlotte spencer ‏@charspencer Oct 19

  Rehearsals for the next block!….bring it on #thelivingandthedeadhttps://instagram.com/p/9BSBxUklM3/

   

  Ashley Pharoah ‏@AJPharoah Oct 12

  Second – and final – readthrough of #TheLivingAndTheDead brilliant cast, could be v special

  Ashley Pharoah ‏@AJPharoah Sep 22

  God helping with the Lighting #thelivingandthedead

  

“LEGEND” … Coming Soon

Coming out of Century Theatre restroom yesterday afternoon … full sized poster in prominent display on coming attractions wall.   As easily predicted, major chains will bring this UK film to US audiences.  (Gangsters … no risk for them there!)  Not yet in the Previews grouping, that is expected in early November.  The film will probably air shortly after the official release on 20 November.

Almost all still pictures feature either the wedding or the funeral.  We are looking forward to seeing more of Frankie Shea in the finished film.

“Legend” … USA 2015

29 October 2015  (Austin Film Festival)  …

20 November 2015  …. Happy Thanksgiving!

Mid November start watching your local theatres for What’s Coming.  I have seen Legend listed in only one, but it may become wider after the Film Festival in Austin.  We are hoping this gets a broader release than Testament.  Given the subject matter, and the general, American, population’s ‘taste’ in current movies, it seems probable that this film will garner a larger audience, which should appeal to theatre owners.

Putting that aside, we are always anxious to see Colin take on a new role.  His diversity is unbelievable and stunning!

A Treat for You !!

For those who never saw this clip … and for those who so enjoyed it they want to watch it again … and again.  This is for you … Enjoy … Laugh, and Laugh, and Enjoy.  🙂  😀

This was the image in my head when I wrote, “The Storm is Coming!”  😀

He is so exuberant and full of life with a laugh and a smile that light up the room. His happiness is contagious. 😉 ❤

.