I was impressed by a Sky Arts 1 television production of "In the Company of Actors". It was the transfer of a Sydney Theatre company production of "Hedda Gabler" with Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving to the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The programme was an interesting look at the rehearsal process and would make a terrific Club Night for the Bench Theatre. Robyn Nevin, the STC Artistic Director, directed both the original production and the transfer to America. She made a number of telling comments about being pedantic about the script, about listening to the rhythm of the lines and insisting that the actors adhere to the words in the text. She also commented that when the books were down she would inevitably watch the actors listening on stage rather than the actors speaking. She found that their concentration and reactions in responding to the speeches were telling and uplifting.
In amateur acting actors without words to say sometimes see themselves as lesser roles as a consequence. I can remember at one workshop two actresses playing Gwendolen and Cecily in "Importance of Being Earnest" (not the ones in the final production I hasten to add) trying very hard not to impinge on the scene or the speeches of the young men, who are given all the words. I had to point out that these two young women were the whole reason for the scene and for the young men's speeches. Their reactions were paramount and of far greater importance than what the young men were saying. Actors sometimes need reminding to ask themselves why the writer wanted them on stage in this particular scene. Sometimes their presence is why the scene was written and that their reaction makes or breaks the scene. This is easier to understand if you are the lead character but are not given words in a particular scene. However this can be equally true of a smaller role and an ill-judged or badly thought out reaction can ruin a scene.
Friday, 10 April 2009
Being directed
I believe I have related elsewhere that I was personally directed by Michael Stevenson in "Shanghai". I had one tiny sequence where I had to cross a crowded room and had to do so on the personal nod of Michael Stevenson stood out of camera. I had grown to like Michael over the five days of shooting and realised he was much admired by those around him. Recently I was watching a television biography of David Lean. Michael Stevenson was interviewed with the tag line of second assistant director on "Lawrence of Arabia". This was in 1962 of course but Michael's list of credits on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is stunning: Harry Potter, Alexander, Atonement, Bourne Ultimatum and V for Vendetta to name but a few! Wow, so I can claim to have been "personally directed" by someone who has a fantastic film career and experience and who has worked with stars galore! I love this business!
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Directing
I intend continuing with my mini series on directing especially for the newer and inexperienced director started in a previous post.
However in the interlude I am delighted to say I got the autograph of Sir Richard Eyre, who directed "The Last Cigarette" at the Minerva as part of the Chichester Theatre Festival 2009. If he had hoped to sneak in to a performance of his production without being spotted by an eagle eyed theatre fanatic like me he was mistaken. I caught him leaning against the first floor rail and in my most oily tones asked him for his autograph. He signed my programme over his own autobiographical notes and I managed to let him do so in silence without my usual gushing, bowing and scraping and licking of toecaps. Usually I burble on about how brilliant their production is and probably sound as insincere as hell. I once sat next to Harold Pinter in his production of "Blithe Spirit" at the Lyttleton. I must have been at my most obsequious because he didn't come back after the interval. I laughed at all the "jokes" as well even though, with a cast led by Richard Johnson and I can't remember the star playing Madame Arkadi, I didn't enjoy it very much.
We have "Hay Fever" tickets for this year's production at Chichester but I wait to be convinced by Noel Coward. This is a hint to the director, Nikolai Foster.
However in the interlude I am delighted to say I got the autograph of Sir Richard Eyre, who directed "The Last Cigarette" at the Minerva as part of the Chichester Theatre Festival 2009. If he had hoped to sneak in to a performance of his production without being spotted by an eagle eyed theatre fanatic like me he was mistaken. I caught him leaning against the first floor rail and in my most oily tones asked him for his autograph. He signed my programme over his own autobiographical notes and I managed to let him do so in silence without my usual gushing, bowing and scraping and licking of toecaps. Usually I burble on about how brilliant their production is and probably sound as insincere as hell. I once sat next to Harold Pinter in his production of "Blithe Spirit" at the Lyttleton. I must have been at my most obsequious because he didn't come back after the interval. I laughed at all the "jokes" as well even though, with a cast led by Richard Johnson and I can't remember the star playing Madame Arkadi, I didn't enjoy it very much.
We have "Hay Fever" tickets for this year's production at Chichester but I wait to be convinced by Noel Coward. This is a hint to the director, Nikolai Foster.
The Last Cigarette
The "Last Cigarette" by Simon Gray and Hugh Whitemore is adapted from the former's book, "The Smoking Diaries". It was performed at the Minerva Theatre (Chichester Festival 2009)until April 11th, prior to a subsequent move to the West End.
The play is an autobiographical account by a writer blessed with acute observation, the ability to turn a telling phrase and the wit to make the onlooker laugh. Gray began the play himself but had to collaborate with his friend of forty years, Hugh Whitemore. Whitemore describes the collaboration as "tremendous fun" and that "Simon wrote like a jazz musician. He could improvise beautifully."
It was Whitemore that came up with the idea of portraying the narrator with two actors and an actress. This quickly establishes what a complex character with whom we are dealing. It also enables other people encountered in Simon Gray's life to be portrayed by these aspects of himself. This works beautifully as the script works in and out of remembered snatches of the past. Simon Gray would write through the night, go to bed at dawn and not rise until midday. The first half is devoted to the telling of his story and each scene is punctuated by the ritual lighting up of cigarettes by all three aspects of the writer simultaneously. The effect is clever and telling - and the health of the cast and the audience were never endangered at any time. The second half is more concerned with Gray's terminal cancer. its impact on him and the well meaning but clumsy attempts of the medical profession to deal with the condition.
The production is marvellously paced and the reference to jazz music is very apt. The voices and emotions of the three actors, Jasper Britton, Felicity Kendal and Nicholas Le Prevost, are beautifully tuned together under the direction of Sir Richard Eyre. We believe that they are all Simon Gray and we believe that they are the characters he meets in his life - Jasper Britton does a wonderful scene as Harold Pinter with Nicholas as Gray. In the second half Jasper takes on more and more of the role of Simon Gray as Nicholas plays the medical profession ( a brilliant impersonation of the "chipmunk" doctor which made the audience roar) and Felicity the supportive wife. At no point does it become maudlin or sentimental. We are told that this is a man who smoked sixty cigarettes a day for fifty years and not once does he ask us to pity him.: "it's about the experience of going along a path which we shall all have to take one day". In the hands of a writer and craftsman like Gray, that experience is not downbeat or depressing.
In the programme, Hugh Whitemore reflects, "Even now, when England are playing a test series against the West Indies, I still think that I must ring Simon to talk to him about the cricket and then I realise I can't."
The play is an autobiographical account by a writer blessed with acute observation, the ability to turn a telling phrase and the wit to make the onlooker laugh. Gray began the play himself but had to collaborate with his friend of forty years, Hugh Whitemore. Whitemore describes the collaboration as "tremendous fun" and that "Simon wrote like a jazz musician. He could improvise beautifully."
It was Whitemore that came up with the idea of portraying the narrator with two actors and an actress. This quickly establishes what a complex character with whom we are dealing. It also enables other people encountered in Simon Gray's life to be portrayed by these aspects of himself. This works beautifully as the script works in and out of remembered snatches of the past. Simon Gray would write through the night, go to bed at dawn and not rise until midday. The first half is devoted to the telling of his story and each scene is punctuated by the ritual lighting up of cigarettes by all three aspects of the writer simultaneously. The effect is clever and telling - and the health of the cast and the audience were never endangered at any time. The second half is more concerned with Gray's terminal cancer. its impact on him and the well meaning but clumsy attempts of the medical profession to deal with the condition.
The production is marvellously paced and the reference to jazz music is very apt. The voices and emotions of the three actors, Jasper Britton, Felicity Kendal and Nicholas Le Prevost, are beautifully tuned together under the direction of Sir Richard Eyre. We believe that they are all Simon Gray and we believe that they are the characters he meets in his life - Jasper Britton does a wonderful scene as Harold Pinter with Nicholas as Gray. In the second half Jasper takes on more and more of the role of Simon Gray as Nicholas plays the medical profession ( a brilliant impersonation of the "chipmunk" doctor which made the audience roar) and Felicity the supportive wife. At no point does it become maudlin or sentimental. We are told that this is a man who smoked sixty cigarettes a day for fifty years and not once does he ask us to pity him.: "it's about the experience of going along a path which we shall all have to take one day". In the hands of a writer and craftsman like Gray, that experience is not downbeat or depressing.
In the programme, Hugh Whitemore reflects, "Even now, when England are playing a test series against the West Indies, I still think that I must ring Simon to talk to him about the cricket and then I realise I can't."
Monday, 30 March 2009
I am delighted to inform you that I was awarded a cup for the best direction at the Totton Drama Festival last week. This was for my production of "Father for Justice", a two handed one act play by talented Mr Mark Wakeman. I was privileged to work with two of the best actors on the local circuit in Damon Wakelin and Martin McBride. The latter actually won the Best Actor Award for the week as well, with Damon as one of the other nominees for the award. It sounds ungrateful but I did feel like those directors at the Oscars who say I won the Best Director Award and my star won the Best Actor Award so how come I didn't win the best film (or in this case, production) award? Suffice it to say we didn't but we were invited to perform in the next stage of the competition at the regional finals, with the chance thereby of getting through to the national finals later. I will settle for now for that chance. I thought the Bench team, which includes Jasper as stage manager, did very well and could do even better next time! I told the adjudicator that my direction method was based on the actors learning their lines and avoiding bumping into the furniture. This is the answer I always give when asked what is the secret of my success. There is a bit more to it than that of course. The first essential is to find a good script that intrigues and interests you and that you want to do. It may be a script you have picked up and have read off the page. It may be the subject matter that fires your interest or it may be the characters. If it is just one character that interests you it is probably best to see the play as an acting project and find someone else to direct it. It may be a production that you have seen on stage and that you want to try your hand at yourself. If it is a play that you saw a poor production of but that you feel the play itself is worthy of better treatment, there is a motive for wanting to direct it.
The second essential is to surround yourself with good people, a producer and a stage manager.The former will help with all the other aspects of putting a play outside of the rehearsal room and the latter will be invaluable in the rehearsal room. Using the same principle, you then cast the play. If you are fortunate you will choose a cast that will do the play despite you if necessary. Young directors often express their concern that they don't know what they should be doing as the director. My glib reply is keeping out of the way of the actors.
The second essential is to surround yourself with good people, a producer and a stage manager.The former will help with all the other aspects of putting a play outside of the rehearsal room and the latter will be invaluable in the rehearsal room. Using the same principle, you then cast the play. If you are fortunate you will choose a cast that will do the play despite you if necessary. Young directors often express their concern that they don't know what they should be doing as the director. My glib reply is keeping out of the way of the actors.
Sunday, 15 February 2009
I can't do both!
Looking back I seem to have been in a bit of a lull seem the start of the new year - there have been one or two occasional highlights and sparks but nothing sustained. Since the building work finished I feel I have been hibernating a little and of course the weather hasn't helped.
However things are starting to pick up now and I am starting to get overlapping demands and pressures. In fact so much has the lull disappeared that I have reverted back to a schedule of my own. I suppose that was inevitable after nearly forty years of leading a timetabled life - the only difference being that this is a schedule of my own devising and that I can abandon it at a time of choosing or of necessity.
The playwriting competition, of which I am one of the readers and the chief recorder, has reached the stage where all the scripts have been read twice. We now need to decide which scripts need a third read before drawing up a long list of plays, which all have to be read again by the whole panel. I love reading plays and particularly plays which deal with issues. That sounds very worthy on reading it back to myself but it is seasoned by the fact that I like plays that make me laugh and have characters in it that actors will want to play.
I am putting together a funding application for a local society of which I am treasurer. I hadn't realised that I would have to put together a dissertation as part of the application. I had thought of filling in a form, ticking a few boxes and making sure the sums add up. The responsibility, and the prospect of failure to secure the funding,have suddenly loomed large in my life. Luckily I have friends who will help and there is a deadline.
I have been taken on by a company producing murder mystery dinners professionally and my first rehearsals and performance are in the coming fortnight. Rather nervous about the prospect as it is not my usual theatrical venture. I am very good at learning the lines and avoiding the furniture - especially after lots of rehearsals. Though these attributes are useful, thinking quickly on your feet and remaining in character seem to be even more important in the murder mystery business. Still I thoroughly enjoyed my introduction to the Ghost Walk business after expert tuition with Mark Wakeman so hopefully will find I can adapt to this new aspect of the theatrical business equally successfully. I will certainly let you know how I got on and any amusing anecdotes that may arise out of the business.
The Bench Theatre is working on its 40th Anniversary season. I was amazed to find that I was chairman in the 1975 to 1978 period. I remember being chairman but hadn't realised that it was at the same time I was recently married and trying for a family. My chairmanship finished as the firstborn arrived. Looking back from where I am now, I am impressed by the dedication, the energy and the sex drive I obviously possessed then. I still believe I possess all three attributes but their application is rather more erratic these days! It's that old joke. The woman says, "Come upstairs and make love to me". The man replies, "I can't do both!"
I am working on my personal history memoirs as I would like to present a booklet at the birthday gala on August 1st. I am still in the 1980's so need to get a move on and cover the productions in years rather than individual entries. There were four plays in 1984, one of which is being repeated this year. There were five plays in 1985 to 1987. There were five plays in 1988 and 1989. These three periods should provide the material for my next three Benchpress articles using some archive material.
I am also working on a couple of touring production ideas over which I am inordinately excited. Hopefully the spring will also see more film jobs as we approach re-registration day in April.
However things are starting to pick up now and I am starting to get overlapping demands and pressures. In fact so much has the lull disappeared that I have reverted back to a schedule of my own. I suppose that was inevitable after nearly forty years of leading a timetabled life - the only difference being that this is a schedule of my own devising and that I can abandon it at a time of choosing or of necessity.
The playwriting competition, of which I am one of the readers and the chief recorder, has reached the stage where all the scripts have been read twice. We now need to decide which scripts need a third read before drawing up a long list of plays, which all have to be read again by the whole panel. I love reading plays and particularly plays which deal with issues. That sounds very worthy on reading it back to myself but it is seasoned by the fact that I like plays that make me laugh and have characters in it that actors will want to play.
I am putting together a funding application for a local society of which I am treasurer. I hadn't realised that I would have to put together a dissertation as part of the application. I had thought of filling in a form, ticking a few boxes and making sure the sums add up. The responsibility, and the prospect of failure to secure the funding,have suddenly loomed large in my life. Luckily I have friends who will help and there is a deadline.
I have been taken on by a company producing murder mystery dinners professionally and my first rehearsals and performance are in the coming fortnight. Rather nervous about the prospect as it is not my usual theatrical venture. I am very good at learning the lines and avoiding the furniture - especially after lots of rehearsals. Though these attributes are useful, thinking quickly on your feet and remaining in character seem to be even more important in the murder mystery business. Still I thoroughly enjoyed my introduction to the Ghost Walk business after expert tuition with Mark Wakeman so hopefully will find I can adapt to this new aspect of the theatrical business equally successfully. I will certainly let you know how I got on and any amusing anecdotes that may arise out of the business.
The Bench Theatre is working on its 40th Anniversary season. I was amazed to find that I was chairman in the 1975 to 1978 period. I remember being chairman but hadn't realised that it was at the same time I was recently married and trying for a family. My chairmanship finished as the firstborn arrived. Looking back from where I am now, I am impressed by the dedication, the energy and the sex drive I obviously possessed then. I still believe I possess all three attributes but their application is rather more erratic these days! It's that old joke. The woman says, "Come upstairs and make love to me". The man replies, "I can't do both!"
I am working on my personal history memoirs as I would like to present a booklet at the birthday gala on August 1st. I am still in the 1980's so need to get a move on and cover the productions in years rather than individual entries. There were four plays in 1984, one of which is being repeated this year. There were five plays in 1985 to 1987. There were five plays in 1988 and 1989. These three periods should provide the material for my next three Benchpress articles using some archive material.
I am also working on a couple of touring production ideas over which I am inordinately excited. Hopefully the spring will also see more film jobs as we approach re-registration day in April.
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Future Benchpress Articles
This is the 40th anniversary season of the Bench Theatre in Havant. I have been a member now for 37 years, which is even longer than I have been married. I am loyal if nothing else!
I intend writing Benchpress articles about 1984, 1985, 1986/7, 1988 and 1989 this year as my contribution to the anniversary season. Hopefully in time to complete a booklet for presentation / sale at the Gala Evening on August 1st 2009.
I intend writing Benchpress articles about 1984, 1985, 1986/7, 1988 and 1989 this year as my contribution to the anniversary season. Hopefully in time to complete a booklet for presentation / sale at the Gala Evening on August 1st 2009.
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