Play it Again Sam - a superb production.

'Play it again Sam' by Woody Allen.

The Lace Market Theatre.

September 2004.

I think if there ever a play I was able to get the opportunity to be involved with again, as the lead, it would be Woody Allen's silly three act farce 'Play it Again Sam'.

Original poster framed

Max Bromley directed the Lace Market Theatre production back in 2004 and also designed and built the set with a wonderful backdrop of New York apartments. This was another play where the cast wanted to move into Alan Felix's fictional apartment as it was so well designed and constructed. The photos accompanying this article were taken during a dress rehearsal and the empty book cases were actually full of American books and authentic magazines for the show.

Alan Felix (the Woody Allen character) lives in New York and is a writer for various film magazines. He has an obsession for Humphrey Bogart and sees him as the ultimate macho man who always 'gets the dames'. Alan Felix is the opposite of macho cool; nervy,  a hypochondriac, desperate for love and sex, nerdy and self consciously witty. He has just been dumped by his ex wife is feeling very down at the start of the play.

His best friend, Dick ( a workaholic) and his attractive wife Linda try to set him up with a new woman on a series of disastrous dates. Each date gets worse and worse and in the Lace Market Theatre production we had one actress playing his ex wife Nancy plus all the other women he dated. This led to some very funny scenes where Alison, who played all the would be girlfriends, would go off stage as one character, rip off the costume and come back on as another character. As the play is essentially a New York farce all the actors had similar moments to deal with especially when things hot up and Alan Felix starts to date his best friend’s wife Linda and feels impassioned but dreadfully guilty at the same time. Typical Woody Allen fare and enormous fun to do.

Sally who played Linda recalls being helped with a really fast change backstage and the zipper caught on the dress she had to remove, to then put on another, before I opened the door to let her.in. I don't think the audience heard her repeatedly and frantically whispering “Not YET, not YET!” If I'd have opened the door the audience would have seen far more than they should have!

 

A lot of the action is based in the apartment and we used the front of the stage areas for outdoor scenes such as the 'day in the park scene' the 'disco scene' and the 'art gallery'. The main lighting for the apartment was dimmed with the acting areas lit to suggest the venue. We sourced a selection of film posters featuring Bogart and some were directly referred to in the text.

 

In the auditions there was a worry that we would struggle to get a man to be convincing in the Bogart role but then John Parker stepped and did the Bogart character brilliantly. Likewise, a new member called James Walker was just right as my best friend Dick in all his comedy incarnations.

 

 

The text was often very fast paced and quirky and very very funny. Most rehearsals we were in tucks at the ridiculous plot and the great wit that Woody Allen is renowned for in his comedies. Max Bromley's superb direction helped us all with the comic actions and comic timing and made sure that the show was the huge success that it was. Plus, of course, the support from backstage and the sound and lighting technicians.

Playing Alan Felix, I spent quite a lot of time reading about Woody Allen and watching some of his earlier comedies to get the quirky nuances and vocal coughs and ticks that he employs when talking and was thrilled and delighted when, almost at the last minute, I managed to get a pair of glasses from Nottingham's Gray and Bull optician's that were the same as Woody Allen's 1960's library glasses. This pair had no glass in them and that really helped with audience being able to see my eyes. A lot of feelings are conveyed through the eyes.

 

One of my fondest memories from the show, and there are many, was a fantasy scene where the character of Linda comes on to Alan Felix big time and throws him to the floor then pounces on top of him. Sally (Linda) and I could hardly contain ourselves from laughing all the way up to the dress rehearsals and then the director decided to add in a sultry soundtrack of  Serge Gainsbourg's 'Je t' aime'. How we got through each performance with a live audience there I do not know!

 

Edited notes I made to myself after the last night:

'I was on such a high last night that I couldn't sleep and finally grabbed fours worth at 4am this morning, finally dragging myself out of bed at 10am Sunday morning. No more looking in the mirror mouthing words by Woody Allen. I think I'll miss that.

 

For starters I've wanted to do this play since it was announced that it would be the first play of this artistic season and the opportunity came up to play Alan Felix, the lead part (practically Woody Allen) and the rest of the small cast chosen, were perfect. The director Max has been a source of inspiration throughout the whole three months rehearsal. A great teacher and an absolute pleasure to work with from start to finish. The rehearsals were very hard work, particularly as I am working full time as well, but very fulfilling and fun. Thanks goodness I took a week off work to do this.

 

Our last night was a dream come true, a full and very appreciative audience who laughed at everything, even things we thought were funny but with some audiences hadn't raised a titter. What a fabulous feeling to generate laughter through Woody's play and lines; my character and our cast's interpretation of events unfolding on the stage. By the end of the longer second act the whole place was buzzing with excitement and we were eager to 'whack it to 'em' in the third and final act. And we did!

As the curtain closed on us and we got ready for our line up we were like little kids at Christmas, bouncing around with joy and a tremendous sense of achievement. Two curtain calls and a standing ovation, cheers, clapping and a sea of delighted faces followed and us brave four were grinning from ear to ear. The curtain closed for the last time and we all gave each other big hugs and sincere “well dones” to close the experience. What a feeling! Great camaraderie and a brilliant job well done.

We had ten minutes in the bar where we were heartily congratulated by the remaining audience and club members. Extremely positive comments all around. All that effort I and my friends had put in over the last three months had paid off. I am so pleased and proud of myself and the stirling efforts from the director, other actors, the backstage crew and technicians to make the whole thing a success.

After all that applause there then came the call to go back downstairs and help take the set down. A mammoth job but with some extra hands it was done in two hours and the stage swept clean by midnight. Then we wearily climbed back upstairs to some welcome food and champagne and a calm down and a chance to look back on our week. Our sound man, Daniel, gave me a lift home and I unpacked my 'prize' of a big framed Casablanca poster and I shall put that up in my bedroom later today.

 

I have decided to keep the glasses as a memento and I am still covered in bruises from the 'action' during the week. They will heal and my wild hair will be shorn early next week so I don't look quite such a geek!'

Sunday 26^th September 2004

Great times, great laughs and I wish I could 'Play it Again Sam' again.




                                                                     

 

To order a script of Play It Again Sam click Amazon link above.

 

Sarah Milican has a big new fan - me!

I'd heard of Sarah Millican the award winning comedian and perhaps caught glimpses of her in the press but had never seen her live or even on DVD or telly until a friend recommended that I take a peak at her latest DVD Sarah Millican Live– Thoroughly Modern Millican. Ohhh! I have never laughed so much flower!!! The Telegraph describe her as “Supremely talented” and The Observer says she is “A Distinctive Blend of Northern Charm and Utter Filth”

 

 

I love stand up and this fantastic lady totally did it for me. There is obviously a lot of hard graft over the years and astute writing skill gone into her keenly funny and off key observations and she appears now to be at that seemingly effortless stage and gloriously rude. There is certainly a lot of effort that goes into this level of effortless. I enjoyed her knowing giggle and the way she commanded the stage and had the audience lapping up every ribald word and gesture.

For those who are interested in how she caught the stand up bug there is a great one page interview in the Radio Times 16th-22^nd February edition. On the DVD there are some great extras including:

• Sarah's Rider

• About me

• About my comedy

• Stairlift us up to where we belong (BBC Radio 4 monologue recorded live at the Edinburgh Festival)

• Sarah Millican's Support Group (First episode of Sarah's BBC Radio 4 programme).

• There is also a sheet inside the DVD case listing all her tour dates in 2013.

In the 'About my comedy' DVD extra she says that one of the key elements of getting on in the comedy world is to be nice to people along the way and always carry a notebook for the 'gold' as a comedy writer. She also says that she records all the shows she does and analyses them to improve her act. She said it is the only was to do it as you never remember all of the things that go well when you are 'in the moment'. The DVD and Sarah Millicant Chatterbox is available through this link below to Amazon. I believe that I have become a very big fan!! Or as Sarah might say “ A fucking big fan pet!”

 

      

Alfie 40 years on. The making of.

This short film reflects humorously on the later life of the iconic film character played by Michael Caine. We find Alfie forty years after the end of the film and he is just as sexist as ever and a chain smoker.

I enjoyed the film again recently on DVD and made note of Caine's expressions and use of language. His constant usage of the term 'birds' for women (his alleged conquests) and the expressions 'mumsy but in good condition' for an older woman with whom he had a sexual liaison or two. Also I decided to call the little dog he befriends 'It' after the fact that he refers to all his girlfriends as 'it' - this has got to be one of the most demeaning put downs against womankind ever. There is also his constant belief that women still find him irresistible despite his obvious lack of tact, manners and down at heel looks. Note egg deliberately spread on t shirt.

I don't smoke but watched the way that Alfie lit up during various parts of the film (hand guarding against a draft.)

The piece was filmed at my home on the stairs with the front door open to let in a goodly amount of light for filming and the ciggy smell out! It was done in one take after a practise run.

Michael Caine's screentest for Hitchcock.

This is one of my short films on Youtube featuring my impersonations of Michael Caine in various fictional situations. This particular one came about because I had purchased the silly shower cap with the intent of doing another video of me as Colm Wilkinson singing 'Bring him Home' in the bath. I thought this would be funny and practised the song (it ain't easy) yet when I came to film the piece in he actual bath - minus water - I found I simply wasn't up to the job I had given myself.

 

 

So I reluctantly abandoned that project and set thinking what I do to add another fun video to my Michael Caine's Brief Encounters collection. I came up with a fictional premise that Michael Caine and Terence Stamp 'potentially' could have auditioned for Hitchcock in the 1950s when Psycho was made. The joke is that they didn't screen test for the male role but for the girl in the shower (played by Janet Leigh). I played with a few script ideas and practised my filming with the camera in my laptop. I had to remove all the mirrors in the bathroom as I could see that more of me was being exposed than I would have liked!!!

 





The film started with me holding the laptop up high and slowly coming to a holt at a head and showers shot. On playback the sound was a bit wobbly in places but I was pleased with the result.

Developing my writing

I am currently researching for more information on the world of butchery for my proposed book "Tales From The Block" as well as developing my comedy writing by creating pieces for Youtube and other comedy formats.

I seem to have a surreal sense of humour influenced by Monty Python, The Goodies, classic TV series such as Steptoe and Son and others broadcast in the 1970s. These were my teenage years and the years where I started to realise that I could make people laugh. Then came the Canadian comic Kelly Monteith with his observational comedy sketches whose show I used to love.

I was never a fan of the traditional stand up comic like Bernard Manning and similar comedians. My sense of humour was rather in the style of Not the Nine O'clock News and further comedic adventures with Rowan Atkinson as Edmund Blackadder. I saw Jasper Carrott in his early days at Derby Playhouse and followed him throughout his career.

Then along came the clever American humour of Third Rock From The Sun and the hit TV show Frasier. I was also influenced by the styles of Woody Allen and his films and somewhat by the corny style of the Mel Brookes films such as Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles.

These days I am a fan of the Black Books series, Father Ted, Eddie Izzard and Bill Bailey.

A short video of the first part of A Chip In The Sugar.

A short video of the first few pages of A Chip In The Sugar by Alan Bennett.

Rehearsing A Chip In The Sugar

Rehearsing ‘A Chip In The Sugar’ written by Alan Bennett.

At the moment I am two weeks into my ad hoc rehearsal schedule in learning Alan Bennett’s ‘A Chip In The Sugar’ monologue. My pet name for this foolhardy project is ‘Chip’ and it is going to Germany in May alongside another short play called, ‘The Typists’. In my enthusiasm to perform, I blithely ignored the realistic fact that this humorous and pathos filled theatrical piece from Bennett’s original Talking Heads TV series  is actually sixteen pages long and forty minutes in performance on me tod!!!  Proverbial light comes on when Phil realises a monologue is one person talking! Alone! On stage! Without a script!

In this case, the monologue has the main character of Graham, an older gay man with mental health problems, living with his elderly mother who has met up with an old flame, a Mr Frank Turnbull , and is courting him despite her own problems with a failing memory. I have chosen to use differing voices for the various characters in the storytelling unlike Bennett who originally played Graham himself and all of the other characters with his own iconic voice. Both work equally well in performance and the writing is undeniably Alan Bennett in style; laconic, Yorkshire through and through and witty, very witty indeed, and also full of understanding for human frailties.

It is a joy to try and learn and even though there are lots of ‘she said – he said - Mr Turnbull/Mother saids’ liberally scattered throughout the piece they are a part of the rhythm of the theatrical writing and though these interjections seem odd  to an actor, at first, they actually work very well. They help create a rhythm, a pace and a balance.

Like any comedy, a lot of the performing does rely on being aware of where the laughs/chuckles are likely to occur and whilst rehearsing I have left a short space after the punch lines to practice, albeit sans audience, the art of remembering the pick-up lines or the proceeding passage and story development. To help me with the rehearsal process I have recorded the piece with my Dictaphone and put it on a CD to play again and again at home and get me used to the story and the pace of its’ telling. I have also kept a copy on the Dictaphone itself to listen to during the day via a set of headphones.

Consequently, I think that I am now the official ‘nutter on the bus’ who mutters to himself on the 6am Indigo bus to work each morning.  I am even getting brave and almost talking the script out loud as I walk the streets of Nottingham. I can almost imagine folk looking out for the ear piece and mobile connection. "Surely' he's talking to a friend on his blue tooth jobby. except he hasn't got a blue tooth jobby. Mavis, call the cops!"

Alan would be proud

I am often tired after a day’s work and don’t always feel inclined to spend the evening rehearsing and getting frustrated with myself because the lines aren’t coming out right, so I rehearse as and when the energy or enthusiasm is with me. I am enjoying the rehearsal process and the humour of the piece so I do try and find time to devote to learning it. The fact that I really need to be ready by the end of April (my deadline) spurs me on. Come June I will look back with astonishment that I managed to learn it all and perform successfully in Karlsruhe!

The script itself has a lot of repetition throughout and it is easy to find oneself verbally leaping on to another section in the story so concentration is paramount and doing one’s best to be true to every word and inflection helps build confidence in the piece. Without sounding immodest I often give myself a mental ‘slap on the back’ when I think that I am getting stronger in the recalling and performing without the script in front of me. Any actor would agree that these moments of freedom from eye-balling  or gripping on to the script are scary but also very satisfying part of the rehearsal process.

I mark up the script itself to remind myself of my own verbal errors (the odd word wrong or slight paraphrasing) and to illuminate links from one ‘idea’ within the storytelling to another. A good example of this last notion would be that Graham mentions his mother sitting on the cold pavement and in the next breath says, ”Come on Mother, we don’t want piles!” The link being that a cold bum might give her piles. The additional fact that pile and pavement both begin with P helps to cement the script memory too. Additionally, I often try to visualise the scene like a mini movie in my head and find this helps and I am prone to making little drawings in the margin to remind me of the thread and order of the prose.

At this stage of writing this up (mid March) I am confident in the first six pages. Only ten more to go!!!

A Chip In The Sugar

The Lace Market Theatre are taking three plays to Karlsruhe as part of a twinning arrangement in May. They are Hedda Gabler, The Typists and A Chip In The Sugar. The Alan Bennett piece (Chip) is a late entry offered by and performed by myself and I have about ten weeks rehearsal to learn sixteen pages of monologue.

I started three days ago and have the first two pages secure. The script is very well written and mostly chronological in the story telling and relatively (ahem) easy to learn. Saying that there are several characters to deal with as well as the main character, Grahame. For an actor this is a gift.

A CHIP IN THE SUGAR

My own poster design above shows Grahame nervously looking outside the house as he feels 'someone' is watching the house.

Later in the rehearsal process I'm going to have to rehearse this with a director/overseeer to cement the work and get used to pausing and picking up dialogue where the laughs are and there are many laughs in this piece.

I am already muttering the lines to myself at any given moment, on the bus, in the street, under my breath at work. Fun times.