Samuel Barnett on becoming Britten

Florence Lockheart
Thursday, April 17, 2025

Barnett, who stars as Benjamin Britten in Mark Ravenhill’s ‘Ben and Imo’ which returns to London’s Orange Tree Theatre this weekend, sits down with editor Florence Lockheart to talk about the process of embodying the composer, why Imogen Holst should be a household name, and whether the creative industries should still be tolerating capricious genius

Samuel Barnett: 'If you were to shrink the play down, it's about their friendship and that's the thing that always anchors me as Ben in this show; everything comes back to the relationship between him and Imo'
Samuel Barnett: 'If you were to shrink the play down, it's about their friendship and that's the thing that always anchors me as Ben in this show; everything comes back to the relationship between him and Imo'

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