LOCKDOWN THEATRE ANNOUNCES FOR ONE KNIGHT ONLY WITH DAME JUDI DENCH, SIR DEREK JACOBI, SIR IAN MCKELLEN AND DAME MAGGIE SMITH – HOSTED BY SIR KENNETH BRANAGH

LOCKDOWN THEATRE ANNOUNCES FOR ONE KNIGHT ONLY

IN AID OF ACTING FOR OTHERS

WITH DAME JUDI DENCH, SIR DEREK JACOBI, SIR IAN MCKELLEN AND DAME MAGGIE SMITH

HOSTED BY SIR KENNETH BRANAGH

Lockdown Theatre, in association with Acting for Others today announces For One Knight Only, a special evening of intimate conversation with British acting legends Dame Judi DenchSir Derek JacobiSir Ian McKellen and Dame Maggie Smith hosted by Sir Kenneth Branagh. The live Q&A will take place via Zoomon Sunday 29 November at 7pm and there will be opportunities for audience members to participate throughout the event.

All proceeds will be donated to leading theatrical charity Acting for Others who provide emotional and financial support to theatre workers in times of need through its 14 member charities. For more information and to buy tickets please visit: www.RtfLockdown.com – all tickets must be booked in advance and box office closes 1 hour before.

This is the latest from Lockdown Theatre, a quarantine initiative set up to present exclusive live table reads with all-star casts, raising money to support Acting for Others. Previous events have included Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot, NoëI Coward’s Private Lives and Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound, with actors including Sanjeev BhaskarEmilia ClarkeRobert LindsayJoanna LumleyMichael PalinJennifer Saunders and Emma Thompson, raising over £112,000 for those in need.

Producer of Lockdown Theatre, Rob Grant,said today, “We began this initiative when Robert Lindsay suggested we considered donating our proceeds to the RTF charity, a charity that is part of Acting for Others. In this climate, it sounded like a truly worthy cause, and we decided to  mount future productions entirely for the benefit of the charity, and via them, the performing arts industry, which is suffering so hideously from the restrictions on live entertainment, with no clear end in sight. We enjoy putting the shows on, the cast enjoy performing them, and the audiences enjoy watching. It’s a three-way win.”

Donations to Acting for Otherscan be made here: www.justgiving.com/ctcafo

www.actingforothers.co.uk       

Twitter: @ActingForOthers

A special thank you to Corbin and King at The Wolseley for their generous support.

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Sir Kenneth Branagh is an Oscar and Golden-Globe nominated actor, producer, writer and director. For the Kenneth Branagh Theatre company, founded in 2015, his credits include The EntertainerRomeo and JulietThe PainkillerThe Winter’s TaleAll On Her Own and Harlequinade (Garrick Theatre). Further theatre credits include Ivanov (Wyndham’s Theatre), Edmond (National Theatre) and Henry V (Barbican); and for TV his credits include Wallander, Shackleton and Conspiracy. His credits as a film director include adaptations of Shakespeare’s Henry V (Academy Award-nomination for Best Actor and Best Director), Much Ado About NothingOthello, Love’s Labour’s Lost, As You Like it and Hamlet (Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay). Further film credits as a director include ThorCinderellaMary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Murder on the Orient Express; and film credits as an actor includes as Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of SecretsMy Week with MarilynDunkirk and Tenet.

Dame Judi Dench is an Oscar and Golden-Globe award-winning British actor. With a career spanning 63 years, her most recent theatre credits include The Winter’s Tale (Garrick Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Rose Theatre), Filumena (Piccadilly Theatre) and The Seagull (National Theatre).  Having made her professional stage debut in 1957 with the Old Vic company, she went on to become a leading Shakespearean performer, eight times Olivier Award-winner, working frequently with the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company in a host of leading roles including Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. Her TV credits include Cranford, Angelina Ballerina and As Time Goes By.Her film credits include Notes on a Scandal (Academy Award nomination for Best Actress), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Chocolat (Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress), Shakespeare in Love (Academy Award Winner for Best Supporting Actress), Mrs Brown (Academy Award nomination for Best Actress) and she played the role of M in the Bond films between 1995 and 2015.

Sir Derek Jacobi is a BAFTA award-winning, and Golden Globe-nominated British actor. He made his 1986 West End debut as Alan Turing in Hugh Whitemore’s Breaking the Code, his other theatre credits include Don Carlos (Sheffield Theatres/Gielgud Theatre), King Lear (Donmar Warehouse/National Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Garrick Theatre), The Tempest (Old Vic), Cyrano de Bergerac (Barbican – Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Revival), Voyage Round My Father (Donmar Warehouse), Twelfth Night (Wyndham’s Theatre/Apollo Theatre – Oliver Award for Best Actor) and Much Ado About Nothing (Gershwin Theatre – Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play). His film credits include GladiatorGosford Park, Last Tango in HalifaxDead Again and The Tenth Man (Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special) while his extensive television credits include I, Claudius, Doctor WhoInside Number 9 and The Crown.

Sir Ian McKellen is a Golden Globe award-winning British actor with a career spanning a wide variety of theatre and screen roles. He spent 2019 travelling across the UK with his one-man show Ian McKellen On Stage (Olivier Award for Special Recognition), other theatre credits include Macbeth (National Theatre), The Seagull (Royal Shakespeare Company), Waiting for Godot (Haymarket Theatre) and King Lear (Chichester Festival Theatre/Duke of York’s). For TV his credits include, as himself in Extras and The SimpsonsDoctor WhoRasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny and The Prisoner. His film roles include as Gandalf in Lord of The Rings and The HobbitThe Golden CompassCatsRichard IIIGods and Monsters (Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role), and the X-Men franchise.

Dame Maggie Smith is an Academy Award-winning British actor with an extensive stage, film and television career. Her theatre credits include Hedda Gabler (National Theatre), The Way of the World (Haymarket Theatre), Three Tall Women (Wyndham’s Theatre), Lettice and Lovage (Globe Theatre/Ethel Barrymore Theatre – Tony Award for Lead Actress) and A German Life (Bridge Theatre). Her TV credits include as Countess Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey; and for film her credits include The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Academy Award for Best Actress), California Suite (Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Tea With Mussolini (BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress), Othello (Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress), Travels with my Aunt (Academy Award nomination for Best Actress), A Room with a View (Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress) and Gosford Park (Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress),andshe played Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter film series between 2001 to 2011.