Monday, 31 March 2008
Verbal Diahorrea
I was meant to be keeping my posts to 250 words but the last one amounted to 1028 words. The limit was self imposed but I just don't know when to stop!
Tales from the Green Room 1979
The Best Beloved spotted a factual error in my last dispatch from the Green Room, this very personalised history of the Bench Theatre. As I have said before, these reminiscences are based upon personal memory without access to the Bench archives, so errors or misperceptions or views from an individual perspective are bound to occur. It is one of the reasons that these Tales from the green room will change format after this dispatch. This is the last one that will deal with ancient history and, from now on, the tales will be concerned with particular productions and will use the archive material carefully stored and maintained by the Bench archivist.
Anyway I was telling you about the factual error spotted in the last Tale when I was describing the 1977 production of “As You Like It” and the advent of the Penroses on the Bench scene. Spokey Wheeler did make an appearance in 1977 but didn’t play Silvius to Jenny Jones’ shepherdess.
Spokey did go on to be Bench Chairman and Chairman of the Arts Centre but he didn’t play Silvius.
That honour went to Langley Gifford, a Havant College student at the time. In fact Langley may have been the very first Havant College student to have joined us but he definitely was one of the first of a long line of highly successful Havant College additions to the company, which have been a direct result of David Penrose becoming a Bench member. Such Bench stalwarts as Mark Wakeman and Damon Wakelin joined initially as Havant College students, before going off to University, and eventually returning to Havant and the Bench Theatre. Mark, I remember, arrived for “Martin Chuzzlewit” (May 1990) and one of the productions lined up for a backwards look in the forthcoming series of “Tales from the Green Room”.
I did say that I would review our first version of “Habeas Corpus” in this particular Tale. We did the very first production of any kind in the Arts Centre in November 1977 with me directing the Alan Bennett farce (It was reprised in July 1994 with Jacquie Penrose as director).
Alan Bennett wrote a farce in Habeas Corpus – admittedly in his own linguistic style but he deliberately wrote it in the form of a farce. The driving force behind a farce and what motivates the characters is desperation. A superficial reading of Habeas Corpus can mislead you into thinking it’s about English eccentricity and observation of quaint people and their foibles. But if you remember that each one is driven by desperation then the throwaway lines are not occasioned by wry humour but are wrested from tortured souls. The audience reaction should begin as quiet chuckles of recognition but as the farce proceeds, the pace quickens and the events come tumbling in on one another in ever hectic fashion, the laughter begins to roll in waves until the ultimate sign of success is audience humour exhaustion – “enough is enough already – my sides ache – please stop!”
One of the comments heard occasionally at play selection evenings is the plea that the Bench do something light, a frivolous bit of fun for all concerned. When such a suggestion surface, I groan because invariably comedy is hard work to do really well and the payback only comes in performance – there are invariably tears and tensions during the rehearsal period unless everyone involved is on the same wavelength. Such comments go double for farce!
Added to the difficulty of mounting a farce as described above was the fact that we were about to mount a theatrical performance in 1977 in a building, which had just ceased being the Civic Offices and Council Chambers of the Borough of Havant. The sunken area in Red Mango on the way to the toilets used to be the Mayoral Changing Room and what is now the theatre was the Council Chamber itself. From this we had the public gallery, which is now the balcony and lighting box. However, in 1977, there was no tiered seating. In fact there was no seating at all. The entrance at the back of the auditorium entered on the same level as what is now the stage. It was a purely arbitrary decision on my part that the stage area became the stage area. We had to clean and clear the area to make it practicable as an auditorium. We could have built a temporary stage area on rostra and this would probably have existed to this day. However, I went for performing on the flat and raising the audience on temporary seating stands. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was setting down the way the theatre has been used ever since in what is the David Spackman Auditorium or Hall, named after one of the Bench members, whose exploits I have extolled in previous Tales from the Green Room. One of my reasons for performing on the flat was that I wanted to hang one of the cast. I wasn’t being unnecessarily cruel to my cast but rather the first act ends with an actor having hung himself and the second act starts from exactly the same moment. It is a dangerous activity, hanging, so I had hired a proper flying kit. The lighting grid you see now didn’t exist and the roof was too far for us to use. I designed and built a triangular setpiece similar to the one that Tim Taylor designed for “Art” (July 2006). The difference was that one of the triangles faces was left out but with the cross beams still visible. It was from these that the actor (Brian Sweatman) hung himself. The counter weighting of the whole structure took a bit of thought I can tell you – and quite a few trials and errors before we got it right – without damage to Brian, who fulfilled all performances and rejoined the Bench for “Man of La Mancha” in February 1995.
The audience must have been very uncomfortable during the show but I am pleased to say the production itself was something of a triumph and helped to successfully herald in a new era of the Bench Theatre at the Havant Arts Centre.
I hope to continue these “Tales from the Green Room” by taking a look at some of the landmark productions the Bench has mounted at the Arts Centre since then, relying less on personal memory and more on our wonderful archive material.
Anyway I was telling you about the factual error spotted in the last Tale when I was describing the 1977 production of “As You Like It” and the advent of the Penroses on the Bench scene. Spokey Wheeler did make an appearance in 1977 but didn’t play Silvius to Jenny Jones’ shepherdess.
Spokey did go on to be Bench Chairman and Chairman of the Arts Centre but he didn’t play Silvius.
That honour went to Langley Gifford, a Havant College student at the time. In fact Langley may have been the very first Havant College student to have joined us but he definitely was one of the first of a long line of highly successful Havant College additions to the company, which have been a direct result of David Penrose becoming a Bench member. Such Bench stalwarts as Mark Wakeman and Damon Wakelin joined initially as Havant College students, before going off to University, and eventually returning to Havant and the Bench Theatre. Mark, I remember, arrived for “Martin Chuzzlewit” (May 1990) and one of the productions lined up for a backwards look in the forthcoming series of “Tales from the Green Room”.
I did say that I would review our first version of “Habeas Corpus” in this particular Tale. We did the very first production of any kind in the Arts Centre in November 1977 with me directing the Alan Bennett farce (It was reprised in July 1994 with Jacquie Penrose as director).
Alan Bennett wrote a farce in Habeas Corpus – admittedly in his own linguistic style but he deliberately wrote it in the form of a farce. The driving force behind a farce and what motivates the characters is desperation. A superficial reading of Habeas Corpus can mislead you into thinking it’s about English eccentricity and observation of quaint people and their foibles. But if you remember that each one is driven by desperation then the throwaway lines are not occasioned by wry humour but are wrested from tortured souls. The audience reaction should begin as quiet chuckles of recognition but as the farce proceeds, the pace quickens and the events come tumbling in on one another in ever hectic fashion, the laughter begins to roll in waves until the ultimate sign of success is audience humour exhaustion – “enough is enough already – my sides ache – please stop!”
One of the comments heard occasionally at play selection evenings is the plea that the Bench do something light, a frivolous bit of fun for all concerned. When such a suggestion surface, I groan because invariably comedy is hard work to do really well and the payback only comes in performance – there are invariably tears and tensions during the rehearsal period unless everyone involved is on the same wavelength. Such comments go double for farce!
Added to the difficulty of mounting a farce as described above was the fact that we were about to mount a theatrical performance in 1977 in a building, which had just ceased being the Civic Offices and Council Chambers of the Borough of Havant. The sunken area in Red Mango on the way to the toilets used to be the Mayoral Changing Room and what is now the theatre was the Council Chamber itself. From this we had the public gallery, which is now the balcony and lighting box. However, in 1977, there was no tiered seating. In fact there was no seating at all. The entrance at the back of the auditorium entered on the same level as what is now the stage. It was a purely arbitrary decision on my part that the stage area became the stage area. We had to clean and clear the area to make it practicable as an auditorium. We could have built a temporary stage area on rostra and this would probably have existed to this day. However, I went for performing on the flat and raising the audience on temporary seating stands. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was setting down the way the theatre has been used ever since in what is the David Spackman Auditorium or Hall, named after one of the Bench members, whose exploits I have extolled in previous Tales from the Green Room. One of my reasons for performing on the flat was that I wanted to hang one of the cast. I wasn’t being unnecessarily cruel to my cast but rather the first act ends with an actor having hung himself and the second act starts from exactly the same moment. It is a dangerous activity, hanging, so I had hired a proper flying kit. The lighting grid you see now didn’t exist and the roof was too far for us to use. I designed and built a triangular setpiece similar to the one that Tim Taylor designed for “Art” (July 2006). The difference was that one of the triangles faces was left out but with the cross beams still visible. It was from these that the actor (Brian Sweatman) hung himself. The counter weighting of the whole structure took a bit of thought I can tell you – and quite a few trials and errors before we got it right – without damage to Brian, who fulfilled all performances and rejoined the Bench for “Man of La Mancha” in February 1995.
The audience must have been very uncomfortable during the show but I am pleased to say the production itself was something of a triumph and helped to successfully herald in a new era of the Bench Theatre at the Havant Arts Centre.
I hope to continue these “Tales from the Green Room” by taking a look at some of the landmark productions the Bench has mounted at the Arts Centre since then, relying less on personal memory and more on our wonderful archive material.
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Theatre Reviews
These are two brief theatrical reviews that I came across.
One is from Noel Coward, reviewing Lionel Bart's "Blitz" as "half as long as the original and twice as loud".
The other is from Groucho Marx: "I didn't like the play. But then I did see it in adverse circumstances. The curtain was up."
One is from Noel Coward, reviewing Lionel Bart's "Blitz" as "half as long as the original and twice as loud".
The other is from Groucho Marx: "I didn't like the play. But then I did see it in adverse circumstances. The curtain was up."
Sunday, 9 March 2008
Merrily We Roll Along
The Best Beloved, Penroses and I saw the production of "Merrily We Roll Along"(Stephen Sondheim) at the Watermill, Newbury, Thursday matinee on the 6th after lunch in the restaurant. This was my second viewing of this particular Sondheim musical, having seen a Donmar production with Daniel Evans a couple of years ago. I remember the Donmar version with particular affection as I was blubbing by the time we had got to the end of the show. The blubbing was induced by the excellent performances, the music and the story of youthful ideals and friendships lost in the search for fame and success. The two songs which get me going are "Friends Like Us" and "As days go by". Sondheim also gives a producer in the show a hummable tune, with which he derides the lack of hummable tunes produced by the young songwriters in the plot. Sondheim is just occasionally too clever for his own good. The show lasted sixteen performances on Broadway and was a parting of the ways, I believe, between Sondheim and Harold Prince.
"Merrily We Roll Along" is told chronologically in reverse. We begin with a speech by Frank Shepherd to an academic presentation day audience to which he has been invited as guest speaker because of his fame and success on Broadway and in the movie industry. The musical then works backward through his life showing the shortcuts and betrayals needed to become the success he is. The show actually ends where the life story of Frank Shepherd the composer begins - on the rooftop of a student community hall watching Telstar cross the skies with his two old friends, Mary and Charley. They pledge eternal friendship and commit themselves to the cause of producing remarkable music. This is an anthem to youth and youthful aspirations.
John Doyle, the director, made a name for himself by taking a production of "Sweeney Todd" from the Watermill all the way to Broadway in 2005. Doyle uses actor-musicians to perform his pieces. The twelve strong cast each plays one or more musical instruments as well as singing. The cast are the orchestra as well. The Watermill is a tiny theatre with a tiny performing space. There is no set other than a large vertical tape recorder on the back wall. The space is dominated by Frank's grand piano. I am pleased we saw this production from the circle so we were looking down on the action as i suspect the view from the stalls would have been highly restricted by the piano and pianist. As it was the action mainly consisted of duets and trios around the piano. The emphasis was mainly upon singing and the Best Beloved commented that it was more akin to watching a concert version than a stage one. I certainly did not feel the upswell of emotion that I had experienced during the Donmar version. It may have been due to having to admire the skill with which speeches or songs would be delivered, followed by the raising of an instrument to add to the score. One admired the skill rather than felt the emotion. Sam Kenyon as Frank was good looking but slight and this, for me, rather summed up his performance. I thought Elizabeth Marsh as Mary and Thomas Padden as Charley caught the disillusioned companions well but perhaps that is because the characters themselves are more worthy than Frank. I liked Rebecca Jackson as Gussie with black, thigh high split skirt and black fish net stockings perched high on the piano. Well, I would, wouldn't I?
Johnson Willis, with shaven pate, gets the part of Joe the producer and hapless husband to Gussie. Joe gets the hummable tune in which he derides the unhummable nature of much of the musical output of the composer/ songwriter duo that is Frank and Charley.
I love the intimacy of the Watermill and I love the intimacy of "Merrily We Roll Along" but somehow John Doyle's production never used either intimacy to arouse my soul sufficiently in a beautifully if minimally staged show. I admired it but like my heart strings to be twanged and they weren't.
"Merrily We Roll Along" is told chronologically in reverse. We begin with a speech by Frank Shepherd to an academic presentation day audience to which he has been invited as guest speaker because of his fame and success on Broadway and in the movie industry. The musical then works backward through his life showing the shortcuts and betrayals needed to become the success he is. The show actually ends where the life story of Frank Shepherd the composer begins - on the rooftop of a student community hall watching Telstar cross the skies with his two old friends, Mary and Charley. They pledge eternal friendship and commit themselves to the cause of producing remarkable music. This is an anthem to youth and youthful aspirations.
John Doyle, the director, made a name for himself by taking a production of "Sweeney Todd" from the Watermill all the way to Broadway in 2005. Doyle uses actor-musicians to perform his pieces. The twelve strong cast each plays one or more musical instruments as well as singing. The cast are the orchestra as well. The Watermill is a tiny theatre with a tiny performing space. There is no set other than a large vertical tape recorder on the back wall. The space is dominated by Frank's grand piano. I am pleased we saw this production from the circle so we were looking down on the action as i suspect the view from the stalls would have been highly restricted by the piano and pianist. As it was the action mainly consisted of duets and trios around the piano. The emphasis was mainly upon singing and the Best Beloved commented that it was more akin to watching a concert version than a stage one. I certainly did not feel the upswell of emotion that I had experienced during the Donmar version. It may have been due to having to admire the skill with which speeches or songs would be delivered, followed by the raising of an instrument to add to the score. One admired the skill rather than felt the emotion. Sam Kenyon as Frank was good looking but slight and this, for me, rather summed up his performance. I thought Elizabeth Marsh as Mary and Thomas Padden as Charley caught the disillusioned companions well but perhaps that is because the characters themselves are more worthy than Frank. I liked Rebecca Jackson as Gussie with black, thigh high split skirt and black fish net stockings perched high on the piano. Well, I would, wouldn't I?
Johnson Willis, with shaven pate, gets the part of Joe the producer and hapless husband to Gussie. Joe gets the hummable tune in which he derides the unhummable nature of much of the musical output of the composer/ songwriter duo that is Frank and Charley.
I love the intimacy of the Watermill and I love the intimacy of "Merrily We Roll Along" but somehow John Doyle's production never used either intimacy to arouse my soul sufficiently in a beautifully if minimally staged show. I admired it but like my heart strings to be twanged and they weren't.
Saturday, 8 March 2008
Bronte Begins
"Bronte" is the Bench Theatre production opening on Thursday April 24th until Saturday May 3rd, 2008. It is the Polly Teale version created with Shared Experience. The Best Beloved is the director with yours truly as movement director (and possibly dialogue coach). The Firstborn is the Stage Manager and Cat is playing Charlotte Bronte, so it is something of a family show. I think the Natty Chap may be approached as lighting designer.
The cast gathered for the first read through on Monday 3rd March. The other two sisters are Lorraine as Anne and Frankie as Emily. The ghosts were played by a single actress in the original production but they will be split in ours with Lynda as Bertha and Jo as Cathy.
The two men have to play a number of male characters each. David is Patrick, the Bronte father, and Callum is Branwell, the brother. David has given Patrick a slight Irish burr but has also discovered that Bell Nicholl, another male character he plays, was also Irish. Heger, a third character, is Belgian and David's final part is as Rochester from "Jane Eyre". Callum has also to play Heathcliff from "Wuthering Heights" and Arthur Huntington from "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall".
The play has an interesting structure. The actresses playing the three Bronte sisters change out of modern clothed and into costume during the Prologue. The play then plays chronological tricks with the timeline 1825 - 1854. We see the sisters' story at various times during their lives but not necessarily in time order. By the time the audience see it, this will be absolutely clear but it does mean the company have a lot of work to do to keep the structure clear in their own heads.
As this is FA Cup day and Barnsley are playing Chelsea at their Oakwell ground, I was intrigued to see that Charlotte Bronte - under her nom de plume of Fieldhead - stayed at Oakwell Hall. How's that for an interesting coincidence?
The cast will also have to take on board a Yorkshire accent, which will be part of my briefing. Also a physiotherapist observing the Club Night on Thursday last observed that the incorrect posture was adopted in response to the request to behave like Victorians. She has offered to help with the movement in rehearsal and to do some exercises in future Club Night sessions. The wardrobe are also working very hard to get costumes ready for rehearsal rather than just for performances. I am not sure whether corsets are part of the costume brief but perhaps they should be.
The Club Night also produced outlines of the plots of "Jane Eyre", "Wuthering Heights" and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" acted out by three sections of the gathered assemblage. It was interesting to note how much aspects of all three plots have been retained in the memory as almost iconic moments but how much of the plot is really unknown. It certainly helped the cast to learn about the three books in a painless way and hopefully helped the whole company towards an interest in the current production.
The next rehearsal is Sunday 9th March with a look at the two men and their variety of parts. We will also look at the interaction between Anne and her brother, Branwell.
Jo and Frankie are rehearsing "Stand and Delivery", the Mark Wakeman one acter, for the Totton Drama Festival on Friday 14th March. Cat is away in London at the Actors' Workshop.
I will try to keep you abreast of progress in the production as we go along. It is certainly an interesting challenge to be playing people with real lives who actually existed. The research possibilities are there but one has to rely on Polly Teale having done hers beforehand before writing the play. She will have selected what she wanted to include in the telling of her tale.
The cast gathered for the first read through on Monday 3rd March. The other two sisters are Lorraine as Anne and Frankie as Emily. The ghosts were played by a single actress in the original production but they will be split in ours with Lynda as Bertha and Jo as Cathy.
The two men have to play a number of male characters each. David is Patrick, the Bronte father, and Callum is Branwell, the brother. David has given Patrick a slight Irish burr but has also discovered that Bell Nicholl, another male character he plays, was also Irish. Heger, a third character, is Belgian and David's final part is as Rochester from "Jane Eyre". Callum has also to play Heathcliff from "Wuthering Heights" and Arthur Huntington from "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall".
The play has an interesting structure. The actresses playing the three Bronte sisters change out of modern clothed and into costume during the Prologue. The play then plays chronological tricks with the timeline 1825 - 1854. We see the sisters' story at various times during their lives but not necessarily in time order. By the time the audience see it, this will be absolutely clear but it does mean the company have a lot of work to do to keep the structure clear in their own heads.
As this is FA Cup day and Barnsley are playing Chelsea at their Oakwell ground, I was intrigued to see that Charlotte Bronte - under her nom de plume of Fieldhead - stayed at Oakwell Hall. How's that for an interesting coincidence?
The cast will also have to take on board a Yorkshire accent, which will be part of my briefing. Also a physiotherapist observing the Club Night on Thursday last observed that the incorrect posture was adopted in response to the request to behave like Victorians. She has offered to help with the movement in rehearsal and to do some exercises in future Club Night sessions. The wardrobe are also working very hard to get costumes ready for rehearsal rather than just for performances. I am not sure whether corsets are part of the costume brief but perhaps they should be.
The Club Night also produced outlines of the plots of "Jane Eyre", "Wuthering Heights" and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" acted out by three sections of the gathered assemblage. It was interesting to note how much aspects of all three plots have been retained in the memory as almost iconic moments but how much of the plot is really unknown. It certainly helped the cast to learn about the three books in a painless way and hopefully helped the whole company towards an interest in the current production.
The next rehearsal is Sunday 9th March with a look at the two men and their variety of parts. We will also look at the interaction between Anne and her brother, Branwell.
Jo and Frankie are rehearsing "Stand and Delivery", the Mark Wakeman one acter, for the Totton Drama Festival on Friday 14th March. Cat is away in London at the Actors' Workshop.
I will try to keep you abreast of progress in the production as we go along. It is certainly an interesting challenge to be playing people with real lives who actually existed. The research possibilities are there but one has to rely on Polly Teale having done hers beforehand before writing the play. She will have selected what she wanted to include in the telling of her tale.
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