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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

Cockney Slang

In this 40^th Anniversary Season . I was going to continue my personal history of the Bench Theatre based on reminiscence and faulty memory and still have that intention. However the deadline for the first Benchpress of 2009 arrived before I expected and before I was ready.

I decided, therefore, to use this column as means of disseminating some theatrical facts and defining some theatrical terms, with which I grew up and yet somehow seem to have fallen into disuse. Elsewhere I have described the origin of the theatrical custom of not allowing whistling in the theatre. I would like to explain the term, “Green Room”, as that is from where these tales are supposedly coming. “Green Room” is one of the most used but least understood phrases in the theatre.

The phrase, “dressing room”, is fairly self-explanatory as a place where one puts on one’s costume, applies make up and gets oneself ready to perform. The dressing rooms at the Arts Centre are also provided with comfy chairs ,upon which the actors can repose, before receiving their call to go on stage. In some ways the latter action should be the function of the green room, but space doesn’t permit such a luxury at the arts centre. The dressing room can sometimes be the centre of enormous activity and therefore not the ideal spot for elderly actors “hibernating”, or “catching up on their correspondence”, in preparation for a taxing role such as Badger.

In days gone by there would be a room just off the stage, where actors could wait for their call, and this was called the “green room” The reasons for the name are lost in the mists of time but here are some possible ideas.

There is a reference in Thomas Shadwell’s play of 1678, “A True Widow”, in which there is mention of “a green room, behind the scenes”. One possible explanation is that green is a corruption of Scene Room or Screen Room, i.e. a room where the scenery was stored. It could be that these rooms were painted but why paint them green?

In December 1662 there is a description of the upper tiring room at the Cockpit being lined in green baize, presumably to stop “rich clothes” from getting dirty. It could also be that the green baize was a primitive early form of soundproofing as stage managers throughout the ages will testify, actors congregating backstage leads to idle chatter and the command, “No talking backstage!”

Another reason advanced ties in with the scenery idea, as the artificial grass (green carpet) would also have been stored there. This also fits with shrubbery or plants to be used on stage also being stored there. In Greek theatre actors retired from the bright sunlight of the stage to an area shaded by vines. Limelight in old theatres gone by would leave a greenish after-image on the actor’s retina apparently and one suggestion is that painting the room green eased those tired eyes.

Finally, I like this explanation for the term “green room” although there is no evidence to support it, (But I have never been one to let truth get in the way of a good story). In the days when the old make up was applied, it was prone to cracking unless fully dried or “cured”. The latter is an expression taken from the process of tanning leather, and another term for leather before it is cured is “green”. So the Green Room was a place where the actors could go to sit and relax while their make up was “green” and allow it to cure or set properly.

“Greengage” is Cockney slang for “Stage” – not a lotta people know tha’!

I love the website www.theatrecrafts.com/glossary

Many of the explanations outlined above are garnered from there and I have simply edited and prioritised the ones that I like personally. The term, "Green Room", though, was one I met personally when I was 16. It was used by the Bradford Playhouse to describe their acting classes for young actors and which I attended for a couple of years before joining the main company. Martin Holt was one of the leaders and a personal mentor in days gone by. I think some of the older theatrical expressions may be redundant but some have been discarded too soon as they provide a useful shorthand for some of the technical work actors do. Choreographers describing steps to dancers will use a shorthand for the moves they want rather than going into lengthy longwinded step by step breakdowns - and I think actors should be able to do the same - use an understood shorthand.

Hamlet 2010

I have started to rework Hamlet in my head as a possible production for the 2010 season. I stopped on the 2008 possibility because I didn't want to do a large scale with excellent principals but shakier acting lower down in the production. My thoughts are working on the idea of what is the smallest cast one can do Hamlet with. One obviously needs a Hamlet but it seems to me that every other part can be doubled or tripled up so that is what I am investigating. I am also working out whether the two actresses playing Ophelia and Gertrude could play male parts elsewhere - in which case couldn't more of the parts be played by women. Alternatively though why not have an all male cast as per Shakespeare's day?
I have also been thinking about "Coriolanus" because one of my favourite actors said he was interested in playing the lead. I remember seeing Ian Richardson play the part in a RSC production at Stratford or the Aldwych many moons ago in tanned body make up and a blonde wig. I think he was killed by a shield press of body length shields and being totally surrounded. Is it "Coriolanus" where Olivier was killed atop an arch several feet above the stage? He allowed himself to fall forward off the arch and two actors had to catch his ankles so he swung upside down in the archway. I think this is a story told by the young Edward Petherbridge who said it was a heavy responsibility to catch the greatest English stage actor of his and probably all time. Olivier refused a safety harness.