Dominic was recently interviewed by Last Broadcast about his role in the upcoming BBC drama Freefall which airs on BBC 2 in the UK this month:

Dominic Cooper plays Dave, the smooth-talking mortgage salesman who shamelessly pushes discounted loans to people who can ill-afford them. As the man who creates the debts that the banks eventually package together, Dave is at the heart of the story.

Getting into the head of the character like this is typical of those who work with writer/director Dominic Savage, whose improvisational style and attention to detail often result in ultra-realistic performances.

“It was amazing working with real people, going to these estates and talking with real families who did want to change their lives. In terms of getting under the skin of the character and truly inhabiting that person’s life, it was incredible. The way people were advised is terrifying. These salesmen made it difficult to even comprehend the concept of money.”

Read the full interview here

Two new stills have also been added to the gallery.

Dominic was on BBC Breakfast yesterday to promote the NT Live broadcast of Phedre which takes place today and is broadcast around the world from 7pm (GMT). See here for a list of participating venues.

Thanks to Lorna I have added scans of the UK newspaper’s reviews of Phedre as published last week as well as more production photos.

Reviews for Phedre are pouring in, with all the major UK newspapers each giving thier take on the play at this early stage in its run. There is a generally mixed reaction, with high praise for the performances but criticism of the play as a whole from some critics. Here’s a selection:

From The Times (full review here) :

As the wronged Hippolytus himself, Dominic Cooper is what his secret love, Ruth Negga’s Aricia, says he is: strong, graceful, noble, proud.

From WhatsOnStage (full review here) :

It’s a funny thing, Racine in English, and it’s nobody’s fault, really, but it just doesn’t work. For this Phedre at the National, director Nicholas Hytner reverts to the 1998 translation by Ted Hughes in which Diana Rigg appeared at the Almeida and in the West End. It’s very good in its way but it’s not Racine. The verse is free form, with occasional pentameters and it’s brutish rather than stately and grand.

From The Guardian (full review here):

Racine in English always poses a problem. How do you get over the fact that violent emotion bursts through a rigidly contained form? Nicholas Hytner’s answer, in this powerful and striking production, is to sidestep the neo-classical restraints. What we get is more psychological drama than tragic poem: something closer at times to Euripides than Racine.

Mirren, in short, gives us a real woman poleaxed by passion; and, even if she doesn’t supplant the memory of past performances by Glenda Jackson and Diana Rigg, she more than matches them. But this is anything but a one-person show. Dominic Cooper’s Hippolytus combines vocal incisiveness with a visible horror of his stepmother’s wayward desire.

From The Independent (full review here):

At least Dominic Cooper as Hippolytus has a bit more to do than when he last knocked around the Mediterranean in the film of Mamma Mia!. And he’s very good. Everyone’s very good. They’re just all acting in something very bad, a thoroughly traduced and reverentially presented “classic”.

More production photos have also been added, as well as a scan of the Daily Mail review scanned by Lorna.

Phedre has now opened in the West End and the pictures are already beginning to come in. Rehearsal and performance pictures have been added to the gallery.

Press night is tonight so reviews will be posted soon!

Gallery updates:

•Soccer Six Tournament

•Esquire Spain scan (thanks to Michele)

•Glamour Women of the Year Awards 2009

•His Dark Materials - Performances (thanks to Lorna)

Dominic turns 31 today. We hope he has a wonderful day!