News Archive: July 2012 - December 2012


We're back! The Compendium's ISP had a server failure and it took a spectacularly long 8 days for them to get the server restored. For the moment I will not diss them in public, but if we have a repeat.... :-)

I've put up the birthday page, way past its due date, for what it's worth. More soon, I hope.

(15 December)


Quick sign of life, Kenners! You can read a small article on this summer's performances of Macbeth here. It does not sound like very many people will actually get to see this, alas.

On a brighter note, we can all see Keira Knightley as Anna Karenina, and you can read what Kenneth has to say about her performance here.

Small photo finish: more photos of Ken directing "the unamed Jack Ryan project" in London in September 2012 - see them here.

There is more and one day I will catch up... back soon, I hope.
(28 November, thanks Emily, Jude, Isabel)


So... word is that the performances of the Scottish Play in Manchester next summer may not be many, and tickets may not be easy to get. There will probably not be more information until January - so sit tight and count on getting news here.

Meanwhile, Himself was created a Knight Bachelor for services to drama and the community of Northern Ireland last week. You can read an article here and here. And you can see lovely photos here. And there is a nice video here.

I'll be back soon!
(14 November, thanks Jude)


Woooo hooooo!! I am back sooner than later, not with catch-up (that will come) but with NEW news, of the absolute BEST kind: Kenneth Branagh will be on stage as Macbeth in July 2013! This will happen during the Manchester International Festival, with the exact dates of the performances to be announced next week.

Seeing Branagh on stage is a fantastic experience, seeing him on stage in Shakespeare is divine. Go to Manchester if you possibly can (so close to Liverpool and the Wirral, my favourite, not to be missed); pray/wish for a transfer to London and New York if you can't. You can read an article about this event here and another here.

And in complementary timing, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has put the webinar they held on the theme "Filming Shakespeare" up on their Blogging Shakespeare website, here. Enjoy!

More to come!
(8 November, thanks Jude, Terri)


Hi Ken-keeners! Apologies for the long AWOL (there was a bit of a holiday involved, but mostly just life running away too fast). One bit of news: it seems Kenneth investiture (when he gets tapped with the sword and it will finally be officially accurate to call him Sir Kenneth Branagh :-)) will be on 9 November. I think we can expect photos then or soon after.

What I didn't get to in the last update: a lovely group of articles relating to Wallander, photos and all, One Knight in Sweden, Inside My Casebook, Heart of Darkness, and Partners in Crime.

There will be more, much sooner than later, next time.
(6 November, thanks Jude, Robina)


Super quick! There are cool photos of Kenneth in his role as villan in the Jack Ryan project! See them here.

Just one other short article, praising (and rightly so!) Wallander.

There is lots more and I will be back as soon as possible! (16 September, thanks Teri, Jude)


Greetings Kenians! Just a few things (I'm starting to think I may never catch up, aack!) - mainly photos which I have finally pulled together.

Starting with the newest: a passle of photos of "the as yet untitled Jack Ryan movie", which was filming in New York city on 31 August and 1 September have been released. You can see them here. There was also a brief article announcing a Christmas Day release for the film (our first present!) and cast members Kevin Costner and Kiera Knightly.

Wallander series three is showing on PBS in North America tonight. You can read a preview-review here. And you can see two sets of related photos: from the PBS summer cocktail party and from the PBS presentation at the TCA Summer Tour. Looking good!

Perhaps there will be some plus fours in Kenneth's future: read this.   :-)

The News & Notes from January to June 2012 have moved to the Archive.

That's it for today - more as soon as possible!
(9 September, thanks Patricia, Emma, Jude, Vee)


Hi all - back with a slew of articles. There are four relating to Wallander: one, two, three, four.

You can read a couple of "interview" articles here and here and another short "post-knighthood" one here.

A couple of articles related to the Jack Ryan film (as yet not officially titled): a short speculation about Kenneth being in the film as well as directing it, and (yay!) the confirmation that he will!

There is a nice article about Ken's stays in Los Angeles and a fun one about his carpentry skills.

In the end, Kenneth was indeed part of the Olympic Opening Ceremony. My favourite "review" was the comment "No one can emote awe and childlike wonder better than Kenneth Branagh" from the Bardfilm blog. There was also an amusing article which noted some confusion about who Kenneth was actually portraying.

I am way behind with the photos (you can see lots at The Kenneth Branagh Network) but they will eventually get here. Here are just a couple from the Olympic event: one and two. And one fun one, proof that our Ken is still a popular coverboy.

Till soon!
(7 August, thanks Emma, Robina, Annette, Teri, Patricia, Dina)


Hi all, just very quick, so that some of you might see this before Friday... it seems that Kenneth will be part of the opening ceremonies at the London Olympics. It began with conjecture in an article in the Evening Standard and has, it seems, been confirmed. The new article is full of spoilers and I don't want to ruin the party, so here is just the Ken part:

[...]a 27-tonne bell will be rung to signal the start of the ceremony. The bell is inscribed with a quotation from The Tempest: “Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises”. Kenneth Branagh will then read extracts from the play.
Enjoy! (says this former Olympic hostess [that's what they called us, there must be a better name these days], enjoying the opening ceremony, standing just where the arrow points).
(24 July, thanks Jude, Annette, Paula)


Greetings Kenners! Just one quick thing now: the BBC was kind enough to draw my (scattered) attention to their TV blog, in which you can read a piece by the Wallander screenwriter. It's linked from the Wallander page and from here.

There a lots of new Wallander photos - that will be next time!
(7 July, thanks Elizabeth)