Michael Pennington
Encyclopedia
Michael Vivian Fyfe Pennington (born 7 June 1943) is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 who, together with director Michael Bogdanov
Michael Bogdanov
Michael Bogdanov , is a British theatre director known for his work with new plays, modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare, musicals and work for Young People.-Early years:...

, founded the English Shakespeare Company
English Shakespeare Company
The English Shakespeare Company was an English theatre company founded in 1986 by Michael Bogdanov and Michael Pennington to present and promote the works of William Shakespeare on both a national and an international level....

. Although primarily a stage actor, he is best known to wider audiences for his role as Moff Jerjerrod, ill-fated commanding officer of the Death Star in the film Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand and written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. It is the third film released in the Star Wars saga, and the sixth in terms of the series' internal chronology...

.

Biography

Pennington was born in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, the son of Euphemia Willock (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....

 Fyfe) and Vivian Maynard Cecil Pennington. Most of his career has been on stage in works such as Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

(RSC), Oedipus the King
Oedipus the King
Oedipus the King , also known by the Latin title Oedipus Rex, is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed c. 429 BCE. It was the second of Sophocles's three Theban plays to be produced, but it comes first in the internal chronology, followed by Oedipus at Colonus and then Antigone...

, The Entertainer
The Entertainer (film)
The Entertainer is a 1960 film adaptation of the stage play of the same name by John Osborne, which told the story of a failing third-rate music hall stage performer who tried to keep his career going even as his personal life fell apart....

, and Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde
Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde
Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde is a 1997 play written by Moisés Kaufman. It deals with Oscar Wilde's three trials on the matter of his relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas, which led to charges of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons"...

. In 1986, Pennington and director Michael Bogdanov
Michael Bogdanov
Michael Bogdanov , is a British theatre director known for his work with new plays, modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare, musicals and work for Young People.-Early years:...

 together founded the English Shakespeare Company
English Shakespeare Company
The English Shakespeare Company was an English theatre company founded in 1986 by Michael Bogdanov and Michael Pennington to present and promote the works of William Shakespeare on both a national and an international level....

. As joint artistic director, he starred in the company's inaugural productions of The Henrys and, in 1987, the seven-play history cycle of The Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (adaptation)
The Wars of the Roses was a 1964 adaptation of four of the history plays of William Shakespeare by John Barton, directed by Barton himself and Peter Hall at the Royal Shakespeare Company. It conflated Henry VI, Part 1, Henry VI, Part 2 and Henry VI, Part 3 into two new plays, Henry VI and Edward...

, which toured worldwide. He has directed plays including Twelfth Night at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Chicago Shakespeare Theater is a non-profit, professional theater company located at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. Its more than six hundred annual performances performed 48 weeks of the year include its critically acclaimed Shakespeare series, its World's Stage touring productions, and youth...

 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. A notable TV appearance was on the television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...

 The Return of Sherlock Holmes in the late 1987. He appeared in the 2005 film Fragile, co-starring Calista Flockhart
Calista Flockhart
Calista Kay Flockhart is an American actress who is primarily recognized for her work in television. She is best known for playing the title character in the Fox comedy-drama series Ally McBeal for which she won a Golden Globe Award...

. He is the author of the book Are You There, Crocodile? which combines biographical material about the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov with a narration of Pennington's efforts to write a one-man play about Chekhov; the book also includes the full text of the play that resulted.

In April 2004 he became the second actor, after Harley Granville-Barker
Harley Granville-Barker
Harley Granville-Barker was an English actor-manager, director, producer, critic and playwright....

 in 1925, to deliver the British Academy
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...

's annual Shakespeare lecture. The lecture was entitled Barnadine's Straw: The Devil in Shakespeare's Detail.

Selected stage credits

  • Richard II
    Richard II (play)
    King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...

    (Earl of Salisbury), National Youth Theatre
    National Youth Theatre
    The National Youth Theatre is a registered charity in London, Great Britain, committed to creative, personal and social development of young people through the medium of creative arts....

    , Apollo Theatre
    Apollo Theatre
    The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. Designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner Henry Lowenfield, and the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street, its doors opened on 21 February 1901 with the American...

    , London, 9–19 August and 30 August - 2 September 1961
  • Henry IV, Part 2
    Henry IV, Part 2
    Henry IV, Part 2 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed written between 1596 and 1599. It is the third part of a tetralogy, preceded by Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 and succeeded by Henry V.-Sources:...

    (Earl of Warwick), National Youth Theatre
    National Youth Theatre
    The National Youth Theatre is a registered charity in London, Great Britain, committed to creative, personal and social development of young people through the medium of creative arts....

    , Apollo Theatre
    Apollo Theatre
    The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. Designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner Henry Lowenfield, and the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street, its doors opened on 21 February 1901 with the American...

    , London, 22–29 August 1961
  • Hamlet
    Hamlet
    The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

    (title role), ADC Theatre
    ADC Theatre
    The ADC Theatre is a theatre in Cambridge, England and also a department of the University of Cambridge. It is located in Park Street, north off Jesus Lane. The theatre is owned by the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club , but is currently run as the smallest department of the university,...

    , Cambridge, February 1964
  • Love's Labour's Lost
    Love's Labour's Lost
    Love's Labour's Lost is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s, and first published in 1598.-Title:...

    (Dumaine and understudying Berowne), Royal Shakespeare Company
    Royal Shakespeare Company
    The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...

    , Stratford-upon-Avon, 1965
  • Hamlet
    Hamlet
    The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

    (Fortinbras), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon and Aldwych Theatre
    Aldwych Theatre
    The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...

    , London, 1965
  • The Judge by John Mortimer
    John Mortimer
    Sir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE, QC was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...

    , Theatre Royal, Brighton
    Theatre Royal, Brighton
    The Theatre Royal, Brighton is a theatre in Brighton, England, United Kingdom presenting a range of West End and touring musicals and plays, along with performances of opera and ballet and a Christmas pantomime.-History:...

     and Cambridge Theatre
    Cambridge Theatre
    The Cambridge Theatre is a West End theatre, on a corner site in Earlham Street facing Seven Dials, in the London Borough of Camden, built in 1929-30. It was designed by Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie; interior partly by Serge Chermayeff, with interior bronze friezes by sculptor Anthony Gibbons...

    , London, 1967
  • Hamlet
    Hamlet
    The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

    (Laertes), Round House, London, Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
    Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
    The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 205 West 46th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by the architectural firm of Carrere and Hastings, it was built by producer Charles Dillingham and opened as the Globe Theatre, in honor of London's Shakespearean playhouse, on...

    , New York and Huntington Hartford Theatre, Los Angeles, 1969
  • Three Sisters
    Three Sisters (play)
    Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...

    (Andrei), Cambridge Arts Theatre, 1971
  • "Trelawny of the Wells (Ferdinand Gadd), Cambridge Arts Theatre
    Cambridge Arts Theatre
    Cambridge Arts Theatre is a 666-seat theatre on Peas Hill in central Cambridge, England. The theatre presents a varied mix of drama, dance, opera and pantomime. It attracts some of the highest-quality touring productions in the country, as well as many shows direct from, or prior to, seasons in the...

    , 1971
  • "Savages" by Christopher Hampton
    Christopher Hampton
    Christopher James Hampton CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. He is best known for his play based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the film version Dangerous Liaisons and also more recently for writing the nominated screenplay for the film adaptation of...

     (Crawshaw), Royal Court Theatre
    Royal Court Theatre
    The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...

     and Comedy Theatre, London, 1973
  • Measure for Measure
    Measure for Measure
    Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...

    (Angelo), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1974
  • The Tempest
    The Tempest
    The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...

    (Ferdinand), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1974
  • Afore Night Come
    Afore Night Come
    Afore Night Come is a play by the British playwright David Rudkin, first staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1962. While the subject matter of the play meant that any production in a public theatre would likely have been vetoed by the Lord Chamberlain, the RSC was able to mount the play at...

    (Johnny Hobnails), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1974
  • Romeo and Juliet
    Romeo and Juliet
    Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...

    (Mercutio), RSC, Straford-upon-Avon, 1976 and Aldwych Theatre
    Aldwych Theatre
    The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...

    , London, 1977
  • Troilus and Cressida
    Troilus and Cressida
    Troilus and Cressida is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602. It was also described by Frederick S. Boas as one of Shakespeare's problem plays. The play ends on a very bleak note with the death of the noble Trojan Hector and destruction of the love between Troilus...

    (Hector), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1976 and Aldwych Theatre
    Aldwych Theatre
    The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...

    , London, 1977
  • "King Lear" (Edgar), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon 1976 and Aldwych Theatre London 1977
  • Destiny by David Edgar
    David Edgar (playwright)
    David Edgar is a British playwright and author who has had more than sixty of his plays published and performed on stage, radio and television around the world, making him one of the most prolific dramatists of the post-1960s generation in Great Britain.He was resident playwright at the Birmingham...

     (Major Rolfe), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1976 and Aldwych Theatre
    Aldwych Theatre
    The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...

    , London, 1977
  • The Way of the World
    The Way of the World
    The Way of the World is a play written by British playwright William Congreve. It premiered in 1700 in the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London...

    (Mirabell), RSC, Aldwych Theatre
    Aldwych Theatre
    The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...

    , London, 1978
  • Measure for Measure
    Measure for Measure
    Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...

    (the Duke), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1978 and Aldwych Theatre
    Aldwych Theatre
    The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...

    , London, 1979
  • Love's Labour's Lost
    Love's Labour's Lost
    Love's Labour's Lost is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s, and first published in 1598.-Title:...

    (Berowne), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1978 and Aldwych Theatre
    Aldwych Theatre
    The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...

    , London,
  • Hippolytus
    Hippolytus (play)
    Hippolytus is an Ancient Greek tragedy by Euripides, based on the myth of Hippolytus, son of Theseus. The play was first produced for the City Dionysia of Athens in 428 BC and won first prize as part of a trilogy....

    (title role), RSC, Stratford-Upon-Avon, 1978 and The Warehouse, London, 1979
  • The White Guard
    The White Guard
    The White Guard is a novel by 20th century Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov, famed for his critically acclaimed later work The Master and Margarita.-History:...

    (Shervinsky), RSC, Aldwych Theatre
    Aldwych Theatre
    The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...

    , London, 1979
  • The Shadow of a Gunman
    The Shadow of a Gunman
    The Shadow of a Gunman is a 1923 play by Seán O'Casey. It centers on the mistaken identity of a building tenant who is thought to be an IRA assassin....

    (Donal Davoren), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1980 and The Warehouse, London, 1981
  • Hamlet
    Hamlet
    The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

    (title role), RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1980, Theatre Royal, Newcastle
    Theatre Royal, Newcastle
    The Theatre Royal is a Grade I listed building situated on Grey Street in Newcastle upon Tyne. It was designed by local architects John and Benjamin Green as part of Richard Grainger's grand design for the centre of Newcastle, and was opened on 20 February 1837 with a performance of The Merchant...

    , 1981 and Aldwych Theatre
    Aldwych Theatre
    The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...

    , London, 1981
  • Crime and Punishment
    Crime and Punishment
    Crime and Punishment is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments during 1866. It was later published in a single volume. This is the second of Dostoyevsky's full-length novels following his...

    (Raskolnikov), directed by Yuri Lyubimov
    Yuri Lyubimov
    Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov is a Soviet and Russian stage actor and director associated with the internationally-renowned Taganka Theatre which he founded ,...

    , Lyric Hammersmith
    Lyric Hammersmith
    The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on King Street, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, which takes pride in its original, "groundbreaking" productions....

    , London, 1983
  • Strider, The Story of a Horse by Mark Rozovsky based on Kholstomer
    Kholstomer
    "Kholstomer", also translated as "Strider", is one of the most striking stories in Russian literature. It was started by Leo Tolstoy in 1863 and left unfinished until 1886, when it was reworked and published as "Kholstomer: The Story of a Horse". Georgi Tovstonogov staged it in his theatre in 1975....

    by Leo Tolstoy
    Leo Tolstoy
    Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...

     (title role), Cottesloe Theatre, London, 1984
  • Venice Preserv'd
    Venice Preserv'd
    Venice Preserv'd is an English Restoration play written by Thomas Otway, and the most significant tragedy of the English stage in the 1680s. It was staged first in 1682, with Thomas Betterton as Jaffeir and Elizabeth Barry as Belvidera...

    (Jaffier), Lyttelton at the Royal National Theatre
    Royal National Theatre
    The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

    , London 1984
  • Anton Chekhov, his one-man-play about Anton Chekhov
    Anton Chekhov
    Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...

     (Anton Chekhov), Cottesloe Theatre, London, 1984
  • Waste (Henry Trebell), directed by Peter Hall, Old Vic London 1997
  • The Seagull (Trigorin), directed by Peter Hall, Old Vic London 1997
  • The Provoked Wife (Sir John Brute), directed by Lindsay Posner, Old Vic London, 1997
  • The Misanthrope (title role), directed by Peter Hall, Piccadilly Theatre London, 1998
  • Filumena (Domenico), directed by Peter Hall, Piccadilly Theatre London 1998
  • Gross Indecency (Oscar Wilde), directed by Moises Kaufman, Gielgud Theatre London 1999
  • Timon of Athens (title role), directed by Gregory Doran, RSC Stratford and London 1999-2000
  • John Gabriel Borkman (title role), English Touring Theatre, 2003
  • The Madness of George III (title role) West Yorkshire Playhouse and Birmingham Rep 2003
  • The Seagull (Dr Dorn), directed by Peter Stein, Edinburgh Festival 2003
  • Sweet William (One man show about Shakespeare) London and international touring, 2007 on
  • "Collaboration" by Ronald Harwood (Richard Strauss), Duchess Theatre London 2009
  • "Taking Sides" by Ronald Harwood (Wilhelm Furtwangler), Duchess Theatre London 2009
  • "The Master Builder" by Henrik Ibsen, (title role), Chichester Festival Theatre 2010
  • "Love Is My Sin" directed by Peter Brook, International tour and Broadway 2010

Television

  • War of the Roses (1965)
  • Sat'day While Sunday (1967)
  • Middlemarch
    Middlemarch
    Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Evans, later Marian Evans. It is her seventh novel, begun in 1869 and then put aside during the final illness of Thornton Lewes, the son of her companion George Henry Lewes...

    (1968)
  • The Witches of Pendle (1977)
  • Cymbeline
    Cymbeline
    Cymbeline , also known as Cymbeline, King of Britain or The Tragedy of Cymbeline, is a play by William Shakespeare, based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobelinus. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance...

    (1982)
  • Freud (1984)
  • Summer's Lease (1989)
  • The Bill
    The Bill
    The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...

    (2003)
  • The Tudors
    The Tudors
    The Tudors is a Canadian produced historical fiction television series filmed in Ireland, created by Michael Hirst and produced for the American premium cable television channel Showtime...

    (2008)

Films

  • Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
  • Degas and Pissarro Fall Out (1994)
  • Fragile (2005)

Books

  • Rossya: A Journey through Siberia (1977)
  • Txèkhov - Un monòleg sobre la vida d'Anton Txèkhov (1989)(Catalan translation of Anton Chekhov) ISBN 84-297-2876-7
  • Hamlet: A User's Guide (1996)
  • Twelfth Night: A User's Guide (2000)
  • Are You There Crocodile? Inventing Anton Chekhov (2003)
  • A Pocket Guide to Ibsen, Chekhov and Strindberg (2004)
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream: A User's Guide (2005)

External links

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