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The Living and the Dead | Episode 1

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THE BOY THAT NEVER WAS Episode 2

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The Living and the Dead (episode one)

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The Living and the Dead (episode one)

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STOPPPP tell me why tesco is selling a life size cutout of jethro cane

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“It was great! Colin’s so lovely, he’s such a sweetheart. He was really good on set as well. We’d often do a bit of improvisation before scenes to get into character, which he really helped me on. We also had this system where we quite liked to get into character with music. I’d share some of my music with him, and he’d share his music with me. […] To be honest, the music that Colin played me a lot of the time was just good songs. It wasn’t all to get into character. I can’t even remember the bands, but we’d go on a break, and he’d be like ‘hey, listen to this, it’s pretty damn cool’. Music helped a lot.”

— Charlotte Spencer on working with Colin Morgan on The Living and The Dead [x]

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I reckon we should worry about Colin on two topics :

his fashion sense,

how thin he is.

(photos from antontroy on instagram)

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Hello. What year did Colin do The Studio and Jealousy?

There has never been a definitive answer for either, however, I can narrow down the time frame window quite a bit.

The short film The Studio was commissioned by Whitenoise Studios in Belfast, Northern Ireland as a parody of themselves and was shown at their company Christmas party. It was filmed on location at Whitenoise Studio, most likely in the autumn of that year.

Using other early photos of Colin as a benchmark, it would not have been done while he was at secondary school at Integrated College Dungannon, because the photos of him from that time all show him with a very short haircut; almost buzzcut short, and his character Chris clearly has a hairstyle longer than that.

Using the Nothing to Confess performance from March 2005 as the benchmark (because of the noticeable scar on the bridge of his nose),

it’s clear that The Studio happened prior to that, since there’s no scar.

I would say that Colin looks younger in The Studio than even his Bite of the Night performance from October 2004.

He’s really pretty baby-faced here.

Plus, if it was recorded in the autumn (the most probable timeline for a production made ready for Christmas), Colin would not have been available, because he was in Scotland.

So, it most likely was made during the two years that Colin attended Belfast Metropolitan College, which would place the timing at either the Autumn of 2002 or 2003 (16 or 17 years old).

As for Jealousy, although the other actors in that short film were classmates of Colin’s from RSAMD (See the photo of Colin from Bite of the Night above… They are the two boys standing directly to Colin’s right), it was surely NOT filmed while they were at RSAMD.

Note the poster of Barack Obama on the wall behind this actor’s head. That would date this film definitively to 2008 or later, and most likely filmed in the USA.

The date of upload on YouTube account that originally posted it (before it was taken down) was from November 2011.

Colin’s look in Jealousy

is consistent with how he looked at the Supanova event in Australia, which was the same time frame (November 2011).

So I think it’s safe to say that Jealousy was likely recorded in October (Merlin Series 4 finished in October, so not before then) or November of 2011.

I hope that helps!

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Colin quickie

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Press Night of A Number, February 19, 2020

Source : Bridge Theatre Twitter

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RJC’s review of: A Number

I’d like to start by apologising for the continued use of the almost-pun “A Number” but in my defense… Caryl Churchill started it.

There are A Number of things one can look forward to in Polly Findlay’s production of “A Number” at The Bridge theatre and just three of them are Colin Morgan. Fangirls can delight that Colin’s stealth stage door exit skills have FINALLY been put to stunning use on the stage. Colin plays three different characters with about six to eight costume changes in the space of an hour. He disappears and reappears completely anew and it is magnificently seamless. 

When I first read the play I had A Number of concerns. Maybe I’m an old fashioned kind of gal but I prefer sentences to begin AND end. I’m greedy like that. I found the play far too difficult a read and I was somewhat apprehensive about the production. Fortunately, I can certainly see the text benefits from performance and it’s Roger Allam and Colin Morgan who breathe something reminiscent of natural into those lines. I am not completely sold on it but Colin’s nasal and fumbling B2 makes a lot of sense than I could have ever anticipated. A Number is not quite my cup of tea shall we say but it is becoming increasingly tolerable thanks to the efforts of this production. 

It’s an intriguing story. A failed father seeks a fresh start, sends his son into care but not before cloning him, as a “tribute” he might say. Written just as cloning became a legitimate thing it’s pushing at big relevant buttons but for my money it’s a paper thin rendition of something really quite traumatic and devastating. A Number is another “sins of the fathers” type narrative in which Salter, the father, cannot break the cycle of his own ineptitude and selfishness. A price his sons inevitably will have to play. I won’t give that price away but it makes for a sad little story. Some emphasis on little.

A Number hits a number of notes in its short duration. It’s kinda funny, it’s even kinda cute (maybe that’s just Colin), it’s kinda sad, kinda creepy, kinda cruel and ultimately super dark.

Roger Allam and Colin Morgan pull out of the bag a rather lovely and truly unforgettable chemistry as father and sons. I’m not quite used to seeing Allam as the “little man” if you will. His appearance was entirely ordinary and as a character he’s far from powerful or noble. For a man usually possessed of scene stealing charisma, Allam fearlessly relished in the grim and pitiful. He’s squirming from the beginning to the end. Trying to contain the anger of his first son, trying to contain the disappointment of his second son and in the final act, trying to salvage some scrap of meaning or importance from one beautifully blasé last (of 19) hopes. Allam’s physicality when B1 is on stage is intriguing to watch as he screams fear and seeks distance. His tone when B2 is on stage almost convinces you of wholesomeness and genuine love. Salter is quite an understated journey but enjoy as Allam hits every single note of it in true masterclass fashion.

One could marvel for A Number of hours about how amazing the stage is for this production. The first night, when the room completely changed angle, my eyes widened like a kid in a Colin Morgan-themed Candy store! WOW. It messed with my mind so much that I was second guessing everything. What they can do nowadays is awesome. I still don’t quite get how it all works and where exactly Colin escapes to in-between but… that’s the magic of theatre for you. I’m also a big fan of the 90s kinda feel. The stack tables, the CD tower, the TV stand, the landline phone! It’s soooooo 90s I keep expecting to hear Hanson’s MMM Bop playing upstairs or something. I feel like I’m a teenager again, at my friends’ house and it’s all kicking off between her hot older brother and his step-dad. Flashbacks…. 

My only criticism with the whole set change thing is the decision to blast some crazy sounds at you for their duration. It’s like watching a crappy horror movie with jump scares that don’t lead anywhere. It’s not particularly satisfying and ones patience tends to wear thin. Especially when everyone around you likes to gasp and yelp every time it happens. Personally, not sure why nobody took my advice of just playing Bjork’s “Army of Me” in-between the set changes but whatever. I’ve only got an entire playlist of suggestions but whatever. You know better. I suppose it might wake the odd theatre sleeper.

Can I talk about Colin Morgan now? 

I feel like A Number is a bit of a showcase of everything Colin can do and do better than anyone. He’s got the skills for comedy, for brutality, for tears and not to mention his signature LIMITLESS energy. As his self-elected number one fangirl I will quite happily sit there and bask in the pride.

Colin’s three characters are all quite different. One might easier refer to them as Benjamin, Leo and… well… Michael. B2 is adorable in his almost whiney tone and possibly too much “Worldship Humility” accent (for my liking). I keep expecting him to start calling people goat fucking somethings but so far he’s not done it. B1 isn’t exactly Leo-like, he’s far too efficient for that, he just STRANGELY ENOUGH looks A LOT like him. He’s got that similar breaking point type edge to him. B1 sounds as serious as he is and for the first time ever, he himself is somewhat unsettling, I don’t blame Roger for keeping his distance. He’s nasty and Colin goes there. Customarily though Colin helps us to “see it human” with the odd tear or two. As poor B1 just sits there stewing in his own anger, hatred and confusion, lost to a father and lost to himself. It’s a sad tale and Colin sure won’t let you miss the point.

There’s always one line in which Colin SLAYS me. “You threw the rest of me away”. I am dead now. He killed me. 

Can I talk about Michael now? Oh who doesn’t fucking love Michael? He’s so adorable. Can I just point out SPOILER that Michael is Irish. Even Irish clones are better. Unlike All My Sons, Colin catches a break and can conclude this show on a happier note, he’s a happy man attune to and accepting of similarities to the likes of apes and lettuces. He’s a purple shirt of sex wearing Maths teacher twenty years away from Netflix and Chill with his pointy eared wife (possibly called Rebecca in my head, just to give it context) and he’s at ease with life, fatherhood and clone-being. I love Michael. Dean has a contender for my heart.

I shall try not to go for a great number of times but I reckon Michael sealed the deal for a number of additional ticket purchases. He’s just too cute.

After that ridiculous wait we had to endure while Colin was being all lazy and stuff we finally get some Colin vs Bad Dad on stage again! It just has me going in a number of excitable essay directions I can assure you. 

PS. Did I mention Michael is lovely? 

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Colin Morgan came to the stage door 💝

Still can’t believe it! What a magical day, 20th February 2020!

After yesterday's matinee I tried to go to the stage door. I wasn’t in any hurry as I didn’t believe neither Colin Morgan nor Roger Allam would come. There were only a few people waiting. I was about 20 metres away when I saw Colin coming out of the door. I started to run, like a fool, but who cares? Colin looked like he was going to give two autographs and immediately return back to the theatre.

My hands were shaking. I was babbling, forgetting all my knowledge of English, looking for a pen in my bag. I was so ashamed - face to face with him, totally clumsy and unable to breathe at all.

I expected that he'd leave and wouldn't waste time with such a clumsy idiot ..... and Colin waited patiently for me to find the pen. He was so kind, relaxed, smiling, even found the right page with his picture in the program and then signed it. Colin does not behave like a megastar. He is extremely friendly and human. He deserves all our praises.

I’m the happiest person in the world today. I have his autograph, a personal photo of me with him and I had an opportunity to talk to him. It was incredible.

I received a great gift, and I want to share the joy with you, the shared joy is always greater. So, dear fans, enjoy his absolute beauty, and kindness in his eyes. Usually I make better photos, but my shaking hands refused to cooperate :-)

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New Colin Morgan Interview from the Sunday London Times, 23 February 2020

Link here: (Behind Paywall)

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New Colin Morgan Interview from the Sunday London Times 23 February 2020 (Typed out for those who need to translate)

Colin Morgan interview: the star of TV’s Merlin on why theatre is still his greatest love

The Northern Irish actor likes to avoid the obvious. He’s a perfect choice for Caryl Churchill’s disturbing two-hander A Number

Colin Morgan strolls out of rehearsal at the Mountview drama school, south London, with a smile on his face and a woollen cap pulled down on his black curls. He’s 34, but doesn’t look much older than the students rushing to lunch around him. Yet in the packed years since he left college — to take a leading role at the Young Vic — he has established himself as one of the best and most original actors around.

Whether on stage in acclaimed productions of Brian Friel’s Translations at the National and Arthur Miller’s All My Sons at the Old Vic, or on television in The Fall and Humans, he has a knack for finding a different aspect to a character, refocusing them in often revelatory lights. “I suppose I am interested in characters who are misfits,” he says with a grin, in his rolling Northern Irish accent. “Characters who may on the surface appear to be part of society, but actually internally, in their world, don’t feel like they are.”

He is starring opposite Roger Allam at the Bridge Theatre in Caryl Churchill’s elusive, disturbing A Number, about a father and his cloned sons. It’s a characteristically bold choice for someone whose instinct has always been to avoid the obvious. “The road I like to walk down is the one where you can’t see round the corners,” he says.

Given that, it’s a fascinating irony that Morgan is still best recognised for the role that launched him to fame: the titular Merlin in the BBC TV series, for four years from 2008. A rethinking of the Arthurian legends that put the young wizard at its centre, it started off as a children’s favourite and became something more. “It turned into a main-slot drama on Saturday night, which I hadn’t really anticipated.” He took the part because of his love of a challenge. “All I saw was the opportunity to do something that was on me, on my shoulders,” he says, with that disarmingly gentle smile. “I had only done one bit of filming, for an episode of Doctor Who, before then. It was an amazing experience.”

It did, nevertheless, change his life, making him recognised in ways that were not always easy. “You meet people who have grown up with it. You realise that you have been part of their life. Sometimes it’s hard to take that on board, because each individual has a different experience with something that essentially is not who you are. I must pale in comparison.”

Morgan is engaging company. He isn’t exactly reserved, but he does seem very private, making absolutely no comments about his domestic life, and quite shy. He stays completely away from social media — “I think if I had some platform it would be just part of my need. I have no attachment to technology, it’s not my go-to thing” — which means he is insulated to some extent from the frenzy his appearances provoke among his legions of fans. He hasn’t, for example, read any of the feverish excitement surrounding his brief appearance as a “hot journalist” in an episode of The Crown. “I know what people tell me. Which is bizarre, because it was just a few scenes in one episode of a show I was a fan of. I had that experience and I loved it. What happens afterwards is not in your control. It’s just mad.”

Looking back on the early days, when Merlin took off, he is thoughtful. “You are not really equipped to deal with these things. I was used to going into the theatre each day, doing the show and going home. I still feel like that’s my job. Then you realise that when you do other things, you have to be there for the promotion. That was the big adjustment. I don’t enjoy it.”

There is nothing in Morgan’s background in Armagh, Northern Ireland, to suggest a glittering career as an actor. But from a young age, performing with local drama groups, he knew it was what he wanted to do. “I was just fascinated by everything in school productions, watching things, being fascinated by what was behind the sets. The idea of this mysterious world behind what you could see.

“To this day, I get that childlike curiosity and excitement about being backstage — before you step on stage and everything changes. You are on your own, completely, then in a second you are in the company of hundreds. It’s an amazing transition.” He adds pensively: “I feel more comfortable on stage than I do off. That’s the weird thing.”

Morgan’s talent and determination took him to drama school in Glasgow; in his final year, he met Rufus Norris, then associate director of the Young Vic, who cast him in Vernon God Little. He was off and running in an unbroken line of work that has taken in film — he recently starred opposite Rupert Everett in The Happy Prince — TV and the stage. “I want to do that juggling act my whole life if I can. I never want to be just the one thing.”

Yet theatre holds his heart. “I will never, ever not do theatre,” he says firmly. His pleasure at rehearsing A Number under the direction of Polly Findlay is obvious. “What’s great in the room is that there is a combination of fun and seriousness. I’ve never done a two-hander before. It’s a different ball game — thankfully a good game, this one.” Predictably, it was “the impossibility of it” that attracted him to the part. “I had so many questions.” Normally, he prepares by trying to put himself in the environment of a play: for Translations, he took a trip to Donegal, where the drama is set. “Just to breathe that kind of air up there and bring that back over to London with you.”

For A Number, it’s different. “A lot of time was spent with the script as a catalyst for the imagination.” Churchill herself has been in rehearsals — but, like her plays, she doesn’t provide any easy answers. “You might ask her something specific, and she will literally say it could be that. Or it could be that. She is fantastic and liberating.” He looks cheerful. “You mustn’t put any of your inhibitions in the way. You just have to be incredibly open and disciplined to what’s there.” He might be talking about his entire career.

A Number, Bridge Theatre, London SE1, until March 14

Link here: (Behind Paywall)

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THE HAPPY PRINCE Trailer German Deutsch (2018)

The Happy Prince German Trailer Colin Morgan as Bosie 

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Colin Morgan (The happy prince)

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Colin in ’The Happy Prince’ trailer.