Review of Graduate Showcase (MADD) at The Criterion Theatre London

Graduate Showcase for MADD college Nottingham students at The Criterion Theatre. May 11^th 2015.

The Criterion Theatre in London's West End is one of the most beautiful and characterful theatres I have ever seen. Echoing with the energy of its current production of The 39 Steps the empty stage is set for the twenty-five young graduates of Nottingham's MADD (Midlands Academy of Dance and Drama) to showcase their triple threat talents. Industry agents sit in the circle eager to see what special talents await them. Music pulses. The house lights go down and an hour long extravaganza begins.

Directed by Emma Clayton, the showcase is a musically bright mix of ensemble numbers, solos and duets interspersed with short explosive hits of comedy and drama all knitted together with cleverly thought through transitions. The transitions give the showcase a fluid and unified feel and keep the pace going throughout.

The main ensemble numbers Thoroughly Modern Millie, and the finale number 'Transylvania Mania' – Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks) demonstrate the students highly trained professional musical focus and unselfish performances. The energy is strong in both pieces, the vocal clarity pin sharp and the two sections are choreographically tight. With only an hour to prove themselves both ends of the showcase start and finish with colourful fun and pizazz.

Then, during the show, we witness the shorter single sex ensembles both from South Pacific by Rogers and Hammerstein. The seven guys singing 'There is Nothin' Like A Dame' all deliver spot on performances vital in a piece where just one performer with poorer diction can ruin the feel of it. Not so with these guys and they really look like they are having tremendous fun with the song and delivering it professionally.

Also from South Pacific we have the other end of the sexual argument with the eleven female performers oozing sweet femininity offset by gutsy determination with their strong rendition of 'I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair' . Already we have performances from two musical theatre shows from the past. In an age of theatrical entertainment, there are demands for a varied style mix of shows in the West End and throughout the UK. Where nostalgic classics can prove a real box office draw and become critical hits it is crucial that today's students are versatile enough to be able to audition and perform to suit the period nature of the piece. These Midlands based students have no fear here and can hold their best alongside the London based schools. The standard is extremely high.

Built into the programme there are short scenes from drama based works. Mostly, these are of a comedic nature and actor Benjamin Hart proves that comedy is often best done as a serious business to gain the laughs. He demonstrates his straight faced comedy best alongside the versatile Matthew Brock in Hit and Run created by David Dalton and Chad Schnackel. Holly Wathall and Jessica Gilbert are both hilarious in Sloppy Mouth and totally all out brave in the execution of the physical comedy.

Benjamin Hart

Certain comedy needs to be shown as an heightened form of reality, non-more-so than in the audition based piece 'You Laughing At Me'. In the showcase this is pulled off well by actors Savanna Darnell, Sadie Renée Malo and Frances Alicia. In a theatrical environment with an audience of theatre folk this particular piece goes down a treat especially because it is so well done, including the deliberately bad Laarndan accent.

Out of all the comedy pieces 'Over The Edge', (written by David Dalton and Chad Schnackel) performed with wit and alacrity by Leanne Storey, Harriet Guard and Francis Alicia is beautifully done. The focus on the invisible car about to be 'helped' over the edge of a cliff is so well judged one believes in the car and the comedy responses by the women when they realise the man inside isn't dead are - to die for.



Kennedy Faith

With the one serious piece of drama namely Two by Jim Cartwright actors Joshua -Kyle Cantrill and Kennedy Faith put a dangerous edge to this scary piece about chauvinistic manipulation. At times it is so unbearably cruel that one wants to leap up in protection of the woman. Of course Cartwright's writing is darkly affecting but the bravery and treatment of it by the actors and their director make it really live. Kyle Cantrill and Faith perform this piece with extremely mature and courageous performances.

Joshua Kyle-Cantrill

The modern dance performance Joie De Vie (Natalia Kills/Rihanna) fully demonstrates the commitment and talent to dance by the MADD students that brought such admiration and applause from the audience at the Move It dance expo recently. Dance done as good as this is never easy but these dedicated students make the finished result look effortless. This is due to the natural talents nurtured to a fine point by the professional training they receive at MADD college.

The showcase is littered with quality solo songs all sung to a very professional standard. Amongst these are Sondheim's 'Broadway Baby' sung by Rebecca Telling plus two numbers from Thoroughly Modern Millie –  'Gimmie Gimmie' sung by Holly Wathall and the jazzy 'Only In New York' given a great smoky vocal treatment by Summer Rozenbroek. The Calamity Jane classic 'Secret Love' is a hit for student Jessica Gilbert and Lauren Hart finds the camp humour in 'It's Hard To Tell' – Soho Cinders. She is helped by the funny interpretations of the men completing the feel of the piece.

The duets don't go by unnoticed either particularly when done with such style. Kennedy Faith with Thomas Adam Monk express well the musically challenging style of Jason Robert Brown through his wry comic song 'A Summer In Ohio'. Daniel Fuins and Matthew Brock find the total silliness in 'We Can Do It' from Mel Brooks' The Producers.

Real charisma on stage is that undefinable thing borne of natural talents encouraged and honed, coupled with an innate gift for heartfelt interpretation. In a cast of twenty-five clearly talented students destined to do the MADD college proud in the theatrical arts sector two students for this reviewer stood out. Sadie Marie – Ebbon and Savanna Darnell.

Both of them are excellent in their comedy roles but more especially in their solo songs. Sadie Marie-Ebbon pulls the heart-strings with her touching and polished rendition of Marc Shaiman's 'Fly, Fly Away – Catch Me If You Can'. In her interpretation she brings out much of the song's tender feeling. At times, during her mesmerising presentation I am reminded of a younger Frances Ruffelle. A very confident piece.

Sadie Marie Ebbon

With another song by Marc Shaiman – this time from the popular musical Hairspray - Savanna Darnell brings all of her character's smoky soul filled glamour to the stage with 'I Know Where I've Been'. Darnell is most certainly one to watch and judging from the audience's whooping and cheering reaction today they could have watched her and listened to her sing all night.



Savanna Darnell

In this sparkling and packed showcase of twenty-nine pieces featuring twenty-five young talents this reviewer can only applaud the work that has gone into its presentation at one of London's most historic theatres. It is impossible to mention everyone for everything in a short review but given the excellent professional standards experienced today many of the students could graduate and achieve lengthy careers in the arts.

Praise should also be given to Principal Frances Clayton and all the supremely dedicated staff/tutors at MADD for showing that there is great young talent to be nurtured in the Midlands.

 

Budding talents at Midlands Academy of Dance and Drama.

Given my avid interest in musical theatre I was especially delighted to be invited to speak to Midlands Academy of Dance and Drama principal Frances Clayton at their Nottingham base last week. The college stands proudly at the top of a hill in Carlton Nottingham and as I approached its front entrance I was met by a group of very happy looking students on their way to a dance class in the college's second purpose built building. My first impression was of energy and enthusiasm and students keen to develop their craft through expert tuition often from West End professionals.

Frances spoke to me extensively about the college's decision to include a level 6 Diploma in Musical Theatre (3 year course) additional to the 1 Year Foundation Musical Theatre Course, the pre-vocational training for 3 to 16 year old's and the very popular Summer course in July. The level 6 Professional 3 year Musical Theatre diploma validated by Trinity London provides an APEL (Approved Prior Experience and Learning) route into the BA (Hons) Professional Practice (BAPP) designed by Middlesex University for awarded students. This gives participants the opportunity, following graduation at MADD, to study for a BA(Hons) while continuing with their professional performing career. Additionally the Professional Performing Arts Diplomas provide an APEL route into some MA programmes.

Frances Clayton said that there a very good employment success rate for their graduates and that the high standards they enforce match that of the London based colleges. They are also accredited with the Council for Dance Education and Training and their academic standards are set and monitored through Trinity College London. David Essex OBE, Arlene Phillips OBE and David Wood OBE are the three patrons of the college.

As well as generously offering a talented boy student a full scholarship worth £26,400 (3 year training at MADD on the Professional Musical Theatre Diploma Course David Essex takes time out to visit the college whenever he is in Nottingham. He also goes to see the graduates perform at the Criterion Theatre in London. Frances described him as having extensive personal knowledge as a seasoned performer and writer who is keen to develop new talents, sometimes offering chances of employment in his own shows, all achieved with a quiet elegance. When David Essex was on tour with his show 'All The Fun Of The Fair' he attended the MADD college with his two leads and offered valuable insights into the business to the students including sharing the knowledge that each one of the students should recognised that their biggest asset was their uniqueness. Additionally, the Stage newspaper offer an opportunity to audition for a full scholarship for one boy and one girl.

Arlene Phillips OBE and world renowned choreographer offers her continual support as patron even though she is constantly in work and often on the other side of the world. Arlene is a very busy and sort after individual and in great demand for her skills. She is also patron of the IDTA. Through her recommendations several of the MADD students have got work in shows like Starlight Express (UK and Germany) and Grease.

Writer David Wood OBE writes and produces pre-dominantly theatre for children and he is the only writer allowed to adapt the works of Roald Dahl for the stage. Amongst many other titles David Wood's adaptations include The Fantastic Mr Fox and James and The Giant Peach. Frances Clayton's own daughter Emma has worked continually with David Wood in the theatre. He often attends the college and showcases and is constantly on the look out for new talent. He has a big input in the casting of his shows. In 2014 he came over to Nottingham to do workshops with the third year students. In 2013 he came to workshop a play and one of the female students impressed him so much with her all round talents and particular gift of comedy that he suggested she audition for his theatre adaptation, The Tiger That Came To Tea. She was given work and has toured all around the world with the show.

After our chat in the MADD office Frances gave me a leisurely tour of the college and I had the great pleasure of sitting in on some of the classes including a singing class with about twenty mixed students held by actor/singer and West End performer Shona Lindsay. Shona has performed as Christine in the London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of The Opera alongside Glyn Kerslake as Phantom for 18 months. Glynn is also engaged as a tutor periodically at the college. The students cannot but benefit from Shona's fantastic musical theatre pedigree. Whilst I was there a young girl student was selected to sing her choice of song in front of the note taking and observing class. The young woman sang 'Look What Happened to Mabel from Mack and Mabel.' Shona coached her on her breathing and on her delivery and the importance of the knowledge of the back story and character. The whole class began with a powerful vocal warm up and were 120% attentive to the tutor and pianist. I sense that there is a profound amount of dedication in this college, not just from the devoted and skilled staff but from the young people themselves and none of it came across as false hopes at stardom more as true development of innate talents ready for realistic work in the theatre or other entertainment mediums.

I also briefly sat in on two drama classes – one based on the musical Chicago – complete with dancers in the wings as a young man sang Mr Cellophane and the other deep in discussion about the characters in Animal Farm. As the students here are trained in dance, singing and drama I my time was also spent in a class teaching ballet. This was mostly young women but there were a few young men in the class too. Before I reluctantly left (could have happily stayed all day) I attended a one to one singing session with a student who was fresh from the ballet class and sang beautifully.

All in all, a wonderful short insight into the daily routines and enthusiastic practices of all at MADD college in Nottingham. Thank you to all the friendly and welcoming staff and students and especially to Principal Frances Clayton for sparing her valuable time to show me around and talk about her exemplary school. I got the distinct impression that MADD is a college that genuinely cares for its students and their futures. I very much look forward to the showcase at Nottingham Playhouse on
19^th and 20^th June 2015.

Images with kind permission of MADD.

At the Lace Theatre Nottingham. Till Eulenspeigel performed by Karlsruhe's Die Kauze group

As part of The Lace Market theatre partnership the Die Kauze theatre of Karlsruhe will be playing at the Lace Market Theatre for three performances. 16th to 17th April 2014. Tickets are free but of a limited capacity and need to be booked through the box office 0115 9520721 or online www.lacemarkettheatre.co.uk.

The performances will be in German with surtitles.

An insight on my year as a theatre reviewer and writer.

Well, this time last year I would never have known what 2013 was about to grant me. With my 'proper' job I went on a course in mid Wales to learn about beef and lamb slaughtering and meat packaging and I got to appear on a national television advert for Tesco as the Tesco butcher in their Love Every Mouthful campaign.

More importantly to me I found an opportunity to work on a new aspect of my writing and from it I began to further develop my second blog about my involvement with the world of professional theatre. This came about through a chance finding of a review website called www.thepublicreviews.com. They were asking for new reviewers and so, as per their remit, I sent in a copy of a review I had done for Piaf at Curve theatre in Leicester which was accepted with some critical suggestions for style improvement and a particular way of writing. I also received an online booklet that gave all reviewers guidance and rules about the way a review should be submitted. The way it works is that every Sunday a listing is sent by email and you send in a 'bid' by email if you want to critique a particular show. If successful you get a notification saying that two tickets will be at the box office to pick up. There is no choice in the night you go and often it can be a press night so there is a chance to mingle and have a chat with the theatre staff with a glass of wine. There is a time pressure to have the review in on time. It is sent by email and must be with Public Reviews by 12pm the next day or you may be taken off their books. Considering I don't get home from the shows until about 11pm I still have to write the review and am often up until 1am until I am satisfied with the result. I do some research prior to going to the show which is important and helps with the writing. Incidentally, there is no wage to do this – it is done out of love for the theatre and writing. The tickets are comps.

I still review plays independently and now I have got my name and good reputation known over the year I get invites from Nottingham Live and Derby Theatre to review a variety of shows. I also use Twitter and Facebook to promote my blog post reviews and those that appear on the Public Review site.

Over the last ten months (I started in March 2013) I have reviewed over thirty shows mostly in Derby. I began at The Guildhall with Hardgraft Theatre's 'I Love Derby' and Reform Theatre Company's 'Me and Me Dad' and UK Touring Theatre's new translation of Strindberg's 'Miss Julie'.

For Derby Theatre I have reviewed their home grown productions and touring productions including Balletboyz -the talent, The Opinion Makers, Cooking with Elvis, September in the Rain, Go Back for Murder, Kes, Blue Remembered Hills, The Seagull, The Pitmen Painters and Horrible Christmas. For Derby Live I went to their amazing arts festival (Derby Festé ) and witnessed the stunning outdoor event – As The World Tipped.

For Nottingham Playhouse I have reviewed, The Ashes, The Kite Runner, Richard III and Jack and the Beanstalk and I went also to a free event about the writing process of a future production by Amanda Whittington called My Judy Garland Life. There have been very few chances to review at Nottingham's Theatre Royal but Nottingham Live did ask me review Nottingham Operatic Society's Oklahoma!

Recently I returned to Curve in Leicester to review the musical Chicago and even attended Martin Berry's 'A Christmas Carol' at Lakeside before going to work one Friday morning and then working until nine that evening! When I got home at 10pm I wrote their review and put it online. Phew!

There have been talks and shows that I have attended and decided not to do a review. This isn't because I didn't like them but usually to give myself a rest from 'having' to review everything and work full time and write my food blog as well!

I tend not to review at The Lace Market Theatre because I have so many friends there and it is difficult to offer an impartial view on a production when you know practically everyone involved. I do write articles for their monthly magazine -The Boards however and like to promote ex members who have gone on from an amateur status to study drama and theatre design with an aim of working professionally in the arts.

If I were to choose – the best play I have seen over the last ten months I would unreservedly say it was Cooking With Elvis at Derby Theatre.

The old Derby Playhouse (same building) gave me my grounding and enthusiasm for theatre going and acting during the 1970s and 1980s and this led to me joining and performing with Derby Theatre in The Round and Derby Shakespeare Company and eventually coming to Nottingham in the late 1980s to take my degree in the performing arts. I then spent many a happy year performing with The Lace Market Theatre and others and dipped into the world of television through Central Television productions and some film work.

So, thank you fate for steering me on this exciting course of writing about the theatre that I love. Who knows what 2014 will bring!

Do check out my theatre reviews on this blog!

A Stage Writing Development Project for all writers

The PLAYWRIGHTS’ PROGRESS
 

A Stage Writing Development Project for all writers
 

The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain is inviting emerging and established writers throughout England to take part in Playwrights’ Progress, an inspiring new script development project, FREE to the chosen participants with all expenses paid. This is a major promotion run in partnership with Royal Central School of Speech &... Drama (RCSSD) and Leicester Square Theatre.

The project (open to Guild and non-Guild applicants) aims to give writers the opportunity to progress their career paths. Four will be chosen to attend a three day, intensive workshop to develop their exciting new scripts in progress. The best work from the workshops will be showcased by actors of the highest calibre, at Leicester Square Theatre to an audience of invited literary managers, directors and producers.

Funded by the Arts Council England and The Writers’ Foundation (UK), with substantial support from the RCSSD and Leicester Square Theatre, this project has been set up by the Guild to promote writing through education and training. The scheme is open to all writers, at any stage of their careers, to enable them to work on their unperformed plays with professional actors, directors and dramaturges of the highest calibre.

To apply, candidates should:
Submit one hard copy plus an electronic copy of a draft of an unpublished, unperformed dramatic piece. Initially this needs to be the first act only (drawn from a full-length script of maximum running time of 2 hours 30 minutes). The text should include a cast list, essential production notes plus a resume/ scenario of the whole piece. A shortlist of contenders will then be drawn up and these will be asked to submit their full scripts for the final selection.

• Submit a brief biography of your experience and career to date, which must include at least one production for public performance or equivalent publication.

• Include a letter of application, of no more than 500 words, setting out your reasons for wanting to develop this piece, its potential as a drama and your aspirations for it. And why this experience would be valuable in terms of your personal development as a writer. This letter should also include all your contact details plus a stamped, addressed envelope if you wish your script to be returned.
The initial read-through workshops will take place in London in the week beginning 3rd March 2014, followed by the three day workshops held from 1 - 4 April. The public showcasing at Leicester Square Theatre will take place in the week beginning 4th May.

All applications and hard copies should be sent to the Writers' Guild of Great Britain, 40 Rosebery Avenue, London EC1R 4RX, FAO Richard Pinner by the 11th December 2013. Electronic copies should be sent to admin@writersguild.org.uk

Owing to the considerable task of selection, it will not be possible to offer a critique or respond to those candidates who have not been selected. But if you have any questions or need more information about this project then please do not hesitate in contacting Richard Pinner.

Review: God of Carnage at The Lace Market Theatre. Nottingham

Director Graeme Jennings has made a terrific job of bringing to life this one act play by Yasmina Reza (English translation from the original French by Christopher Hampton) at Nottingham's premier amateur theatre - The Lace Market Theatre.

God of Carnage is about the breakdown of two supposedly sophisticated and successful couples after they meet to politely discuss the potential solution of their young sons fighting and the resultant missing teeth of the young son of the Hunts - in whose modern and stylish house we meet the protagonists and remain in their company for the duration of the play.

The set design is of a very modern apartment based on a black and white hop scotch pattern and it serves the play perfectly with the designer, Emma Pegg, creatively following through on Reza's staging notes of ' a living room, no realism, nothing superfluous. With some colour highlights this is a monochromatic world that according to the excellent programme notes "alludes to the barely concealed conflict between the characters." Deliberately, only the two artfully arranged vases of flowers and the red carpet and cushions bring any bright colour to the set.

Easy going Michael Hunt (Hugh Jenkins) tries to reason things out with Alan and Annette Raleigh and attempts to form a friendship with Alan through recognition that all boys fight and that it is part of the growing up process. Alan Raleigh superficially goes along with this man talk but is constantly at the beck and call of his mobile phone. Fraser Wanless plays the arrogant Alan to perfection. This is no one dimensional character portrayal however. Wanless subtly switches his role from mood to mood whether he is speaking his business demands down the mobile phone or temporarily comforting his wife Annette (Emma Nash) after she has been dramatically sick on stage. He controls and commands the stage with Alan's persona and is the master of wry humour.

Photo by Mark James.

This is a demanding four hander and the performances are very professional especially from the actresses Sarah Taylor and Emma Nash playing the wives. The women go through a vast array of emotion throughout the play and Taylor and Nash bring out very truthful performances through their body language and barely controlled emotions that go from socially polite to sudden outrage and lack of control.

Hugh Jenkins plays the most sympathetic character in Michael Hunt, a man who just wants to keep the peace yet finds himself getting out of control with a toxic mix of problems including his mother constantly calling up for health advice and his weird decision to set the family hamster free to fend for itself in the wild. He valiantly tries to cope with all this, alongside the trauma caused by his son being attacked and injured by another boy. Jenkins plays the sympathy card well with this well rounded character, always at the ready with the hair drier to fix every disaster.

                                                              Photo by Mark James

On the surface the play could be perceived as a serious polemic on the breakdown of social morals caused through lack of compassion, uncivil and  selfish behaviour, stress and exacerbated by too much rum and it does have this in the background but the evening's entertainment was that of laughter as the characters descended into ridiculous childish behaviour. There are some fantastically funny situations and lines and the actors worked them to perfection. This is another 'must see' at the Lace Market Theatre.

The performances run until the 19th October.

Tickets can be booked online or by ringing the box office. Lace Market Theatre link.

Kindertransport - teaching the German script

In the Autumn of 2009 I had the privilege of being asked to teach a young teenager German language skills and German pronunciation for a studio production of Diane Samuels harrowing play, Kindertransport. Kaiti Soultana who played Eva Schlesinger (the German Jewish escapee) had no knowledge of German and felt she had no confidence in learning foreign languages but seemed up for a challenge.

Over a three month rehearsal period we worked together on the not unsubstantial, German language aspects of the script. We worked on the emotional context of the German/English dialogue and the phrasing and emphasis on particular words to make dramatic sense. I also did her an audio tape of me reading all the parts to help her on the text and acting. She put a tremendous amount of work into the challenging role and it all paid off with her winning praise from the critics and especial praise from a senior German language tutor from Nottingham University. All this from a girl who thought she would struggle with the foreign language.

Here are some images I took of the show at the Lace Market Theatre. The play was a cast of six and directed by Maggie Andrew and the co-director and set designer was David Supper.

Cast list:
Eva   Kaiti Soultana
Helga   Monika Johnson
Evelyn   Maeve Doggett
Faith   Rebecca Tarry
Lil   Penny Kimmins
The Man   Phil Pearson

Costumes by The Lace Market Theatre

Playing Gethin Price in Comedians by Trevor Griffith.

Some considered thoughts about being involved in a production of Trevor Griffith's play, 'Comedians' at the Lace Market Theatre, Nottingham, in April 1995.

Notes from the Lace Market Theatre programme.

“We work through laughter, not for it. (…) A joke releases the tension, says the un-sayable, any joke pretty well. But a true joke, a comedian's joke, has to do more than release tension, it has to liberate the will and the desire, it has to change the situation... there's very little won't take a joke. But when a joke bases itself upon a distortion – a 'stereotype', perhaps – and gives the lie to the truth, as to win a laugh and stay in favour, we've moved a way from the comic art and into the world of entertainment and slick success.” (Trevor Griffiths, Comedians, Act 1)

I think that the quotation above is a key to the heart of the play in terms of determining a dangerous/ harsh truth through laughter (often based on an element of distort and cruelty) and the 'staying in favour' aspect refers, in my opinion, to the pulling back of the 'punch' line to a gentler and perhaps more publicly acceptable definition of funny = light entertainment. The cruel humour of Gethin Price serves to demonstrate the bruised skeleton of the future of no holds barred comedy. A true theatre of cruelty.

This particular production's audition for an all make cast was open to women and the role of Sammy Samuels was offered to Anne Bone. The casting added an additionally interesting male/female often, potentially violent, conflict between the characters Gethin Price and Ms Sammy Samuels. The caretaker was also cast as a female role and humorously played by Barbara Fisher.

 

 

The first production of the play ' Comedians' by Trevor Griffiths was performed at the Nottingham Playhouse, February 20^th 1975 and then at the Old Vic: September 24^th 1975. Jonathan Pryce played Gethin Price and Jimmy Jewel, Eddie Waters.

 

 

 

Nottingham Playhouse and Richard Eyre as they appear in the original programme

 

 

 

The Lace Market Theatre production.

 

Story in brief.

Eddie Waters is an older, formerly professional, comedian generously imparting his skills to a class of mixed ability, would be working class comedians. He is written as a man who stopped being funny at a point in his life and rarely says anything funny through the whole drama. He teaches them to look for the truth: the implication is that society can be changed by persuasion. His main principles are that the comedians confront/reject comedy that reinforces stereotypes, that attacks gay people, the Irish, the blacks, women or a particularly 1970s comedy scapegoat, the Pakistanis. Interestingly, this play pre-dated the rise of alternative comedy in the 1980s and practically leaks sexism and racism from every sweaty pore, deliberately.

 

Water's students are due to perform their acts to a live audience in a Bingo Club and to a Mr Bert Challenor, and old foe of Waters who can offer the most talented members of the group a contract to play the working men's clubs.

 

Vince Handley as George McBrain

 

There are two staged venues: the classroom where the evening class is held; a bingo hall where they perform and then back in the classroom when the performance is over. Bert Challenor gives them a preparatory chat before they leave the safety of the class and insists on the need to be entertaining and that the audience is their paymaster. He perceives the entertainer, Max Bygraves, to be the ultimate standard of comic perfection. Gethin Price is disgusted at this news and has changed his comedy act at the last minute much to Eddie Waters dismay and surprise. Gethin is seen by Waters as the shining star of the group and is considered by the rest of the group as a teacher's pet and a strange character.

Divided between Waters and Challenor's opposing views, most of the class have moments of doubt about the forthcoming event, and start to reconsider their comedic futures and the desperate hope of escaping their dead end jobs.

 

 

Gethin Price performs a very different act to what has been expected in rejection to Eddie Water's ideals. During his performance, Price, paying tribute to Grock, the famous clown, wears a white face and launches an attack on a pair of dummies, a man and woman in evening dress. He pins a flower on the woman's dress and blood appears. Eddie Waters is hurt to find that Price's act is fuelled by hate, lacking in compassion and, as far as Waters is concerned, the truth. Comedic truth/ liberating truth. At the end of a dispiriting evening after the others have left, Waters and Price bitterly argue about the purpose of comedy. The raging Price explains that he favours revolution against gradual reform.

 

 

                                                         Stuart Power as Eddie Waters.

Eddie Waters fights to regain his moral ground and explains to Price that he once went to a German Prison of War camp after the war and he was attracted and also repelled by what his intellectual and unexpectedly erotic feelings gave lie to there.

The play ends on a quasi optimistic note but with shadows of doubt from all the participants. Two are chosen by Bert Challenor to get contracts to work the clubs and the rest are rejected. Throughout the play a bitter dark vein of comedy prevails. End.

I was attracted to the role of Gethin Price after seeing a TV version of the play with Jonathan Pryce as Gethin. I patiently waited years to be offered an opportunity to play this part and it was my first role at the Lace Market Theatre in 1995. My favourite part of the rehearsals was when I had some time to look at the role having learnt a lot of his dialogue and to find a way for the character to inhabit the stage. I virtually looked like a skinhead so an aggressive walk was created, exaggerated and toned down for realism. I like that kind of approach. My accent was a whiny Manchester accent with hints of danger, knowing bitterness and sarcasm.

Although the comedy 'act' for Gethin was written out in the script there was a lot of opportunities for the 'action' to be improvised, i.e: the Kung Fu, the aggression toward the models and the audience themselves and the upper middle class. Any actor who plays this role must love the variety that Gethin's 'act' provides.

Review in Arts Extra (Nottingham Evening Post) by Joan Appleton.

LOOKING AT THE EDGE OF COMEDY.

Comedy is a serious business. The would be comics in Trevor Griffith's powerful play 'Comedians', which the Lace Market Theatre presents this week, go through a rigorous training under 'old pro' Eddie Waters, played movingly by Stuart Power.

The Murray Brothers (Steve Herring and Andrew Haynes) come hilariously to grief, the two Irish boys (Vince Handley and Keith Milne) turn in predictably funny performances.

The Jewish comic, originally a man but played here by Anne Bone, had a nice line in mock aggressive humour.

But the real aggression comes from Gethin Price, a violent man driven by hatred and resentment played brilliantly by Philip Lowe as a weasely white faced clown.

If humour, as Griffiths says, has to be based on the truth, then perhaps his is the best kind. Only you don't laugh.

Cynthia March directs the ensemble, which includes a morose caretaker (Barbara Fisher), a lost Indian (Adrian Perkins) and a smooth Cockney agent (John Hunt) with fine attention to detail.

Martin Hooper's set, a grimy classroom which becomes, after the interval, a sparkling Bingo Club, leaves little to the imagination.

Twenty years after the play first opened, the boundaries of what we may laugh at has widened. Comics go further. We follow uneasily. The message seems to be that you can joke about everything provided it is done from love.

Comedians is a thought provoking play given a marvellous production by a first rate cast. It can be seen at the Lace Market Theatre until Saturday.

April 1995.


 

Playing a serial killer in Frozen by Byrony Lavery

Description of the play 'Frozen' written by Bryony Lavery.

“One evening ten year old Rhona goes missing. Her mother Nancy, retreats into a state of frozen hope. Agnetha, an academic, comes to England to research a thesis titled “Serial Killings: A Forgivable Act?” Then there's Ralph, a loner with a bit of a record who’s looking for some distraction … Drawn together by horrific circumstances, these three embark upon a long, dark journey that finally curves upward into the light in this big - brave, compassionate play about grief, revenge, forgiveness and bearing the unbearable.” (The Guardian)

Robert Hewison of The Sunday Times (London) describes it thus: 'A profound, hypnotising drama about the moral and emotional effect on both the relatives of victims and the murderer.... (It) rewards you at last with a sense of understanding and release.'

In Frozen the playwright Bryony Lavery examines the almost unbearable subject of abducted and murdered children ( young girls in this case) but carefully manages to avoid either sensationalism or sentimentality. Her play 'Frozen' has a cast of three characters, (with two extra – non speaking roles in the original text and Birmingham Rep 1998 production) who speak as much to the audience as they do to each other later in the play. The majority of the writing is structured through individual soliloquy and further into the play develops into two person dialogues.

The story:

The mother Nancy, sends her ten year old daughter Rhona round to her grandma's with a pair of secateurs and never sees her again. She conducts her own fraught journey of initial dis-belief and terror at one of her two daughters going missing to that of support for other families in equally terrible strife through a support organisation called FLAME.

The American psychiatrist, Agnetha Gottsmundottir, is exploring an academic theory that child abuse causes profound and pathological changes in the structure of the brain as surely as physical injury does and brings herself, and her clinical and personal convictions, to study Ralph in soliarty confinement and lecture on her findings.

Many years after Rhona disappears, Ralph is caught and it becomes Agnetha's job to interrogate him in prison. It quickly becomes clear that he provides further proof for her theory, in particular that abused children lack the ability to create emotional bonds, that their brains actually look different from those with happier backgrounds.

 

Ralph Ian Wantage is the serial killer of young girls who cares only for his tattoos and his secret collection of child porn videos. He is an isolated obsessive whose sensibilities and conscience are indeed, Frozen. Ralph shows no remorse at all; his only concern is that killing girls isn't legal. He fantasises about a childhood in which he was 'spoilt rotten' and his mum and dad sat around reading poetry. To Nancy, however, he describes a father who washed his mouth out with soap and water and beat him viciously on the side of his head. Forced by Nancy to recognise what he has done, he is unable to cope any more, commits suicide.

Playing Ralph:

The director Gill Scott and the Lace Market Theatre cast discussed the themes of the play at length and I watched the acclaimed film The Woodsman (Kevin Bacon) and read several articles about the grim subject of child abduction and murder. Not easy reading but interesting in trying to understand the motives of the character I was to play. The director and I discussed how he would move, dress, talk and behave and it was agreed that he would dress quite smartly with a shirt and tie and be clean shaven. Most of the first act her wears a casual jacket to hide the tattoos on his arms that were revealed later in the play. We felt that he strove to be as 'normal' as he could be, to avoid detection.

Ralph's character 'celebrates' his killings with a tattoo after each event and as he travels around the   northern parts of the country in his van he gets to know the best tattooists around certain areas. The tattoos were described in the text, that he confesses to the audience. as being all over his body.

The first practical problem that raised itself was how do we do these tattoos? I looked all over for some fake ones that could be applied each night but the tattoos were so specific (Sunburst dagger of Death – Angels fighting with devils) that it would have been very hard to find the right sort. After a fair battle to find a solution the actress playing Agnetha came up with a solution. She had a friend who might be agreeable to coming to the theatre prior to every performance to paint them on my arms. Luckily this young lady was a skilled face painter and applied her skills to creating some false tattoos based on my designs. When he tells the audience of his all over body tattoo prowess I just alluded to the others that were positioned on his back and legs.

 

 

Regarding the speech patterns of Ralph; I decided that his voice would have a slight impatient tone about it except where he got to his need to 'groom' the young girls and gain their trust in accepting a lift in his van from them. Then I changed his tone to something more avuncular as I thought, and the director concurred, his normal gravelly tone would just frighten his victim away. The often staccato text (for Ralph) itself helped in developing this decidedly odd character's way of behaving. He says “obviously” regularly throughout the play which to me indicated a man with very little patience and some of his other language is almost military – 'my centre of operations and logistically' and everything is spoken of as needing to be very organised. When he finally converses with Agnetha and the mother for often fabricates stories of his idyllic early family life and only when the mother presents to him, in a very gentle way,  photos of the daughter he has killed, does the realisation of what he has done start to hit home.

He was a very interesting character to play – some interesting foul language to work with and some dark moments to get through but overall I 'enjoyed' – if that's the word – playing Ralph each night in a very close and confined studio performance where you were very much in the audience's very nervous faces. There is often reference to catharsis in theatrical terms and the way this play ends the audience certainly have a cathartic ending. Obviously!

As the play was very episodic I made myself a list during the later rehearsals to remind myself of my entrances and exits and where I sat in this complex jigsaw of a play. I didn't use it during the week's run but it certainly helped to clarify what was what and indeed where.

Phil Lowe


                                                                     

 Amazon link above to a selection of plays by Byrony Lavery including Frozen. Click on link above to order.

 

Review from the Nottingham Post

Torments in the cold

Frozen by Bryony Lavery

Lace Market Theatre

Alan Geary

'From the moment we hear his harsh and fractured ramblings, and see his awkward gait, darting glances and madly rolling eyes we're convinced that Ralph (Phil Lowe) is a serial killer. This isn't caricature, this is frightening, accomplished acting. And, in the end, Lowe makes his character pathetic.

Bryony Lavery's beautifully wrought play, directed by Gill Scott as a studio piece, takes us deep into the mind of a child murderer.

It's also an exploration of the emotional plights of Nancy (Maeve Doggett), the mother of one of his victims, and Agnetha (Sylvia Robson), a psychiatrist studying the case, torn between professional duty and personal need – shades of Equus here.

Whether she's hanging out the washing or addressing a public meeting, Doggett never lets us forget that she's a soul in anguish.

And Agnetha, with her ringing American voice, professionally assertive but actually as vulnerable as her subjects, is brilliantly captured by Robson.

The three are talking sometimes to the theatre audience, sometimes to the audience at a lecture. And the narrative moves back and forth into different pockets of time. There's strong language and revolting dialogue but it is never gratuitous.

Thematically it's deeply upsetting -obviously; it's also sometimes touching. Despite the worrying confusion between the concepts of psychopath and paedophile, as a piece of theatre it could hardly be more rewarding.'

Alan Geary.

Richard III on the roof of a carpark.

Recently I wrote a blogpost about Richard III and thought it would be fun to attempt the famous first speech by Richard Gloucester ... "Now is the Winter..." and as Richards remains were found under a car park in Leicester what better to place to film this but in a car park. In actuality on 'top' of the car park at Fletcher Gate in Nottingham. The Lace Market Theatre is down below me as I'm acting so it all seemed fitting somehow.

The idea was for a modern day take of the first speech by Richard in Shakespeare's play Richard III. Apologies to WS for some small mis-quotes but as this was practically take 155 and I was freezing up there and I finally felt happy with this last attempt. Plus my hands were like ice blocks from holding the laptop and the biceps brachii muscle in my upper left arm was seizing up big time!

Character-wise I wanted to get Richard's dark sardonic sense of humour into the piece and reflect changes in thought with halting as he moves about the space. Also I considered how the speech itself demonstrates his embittered considerations of how nature has given him a bad deal and his murderous thoughts of betrayal and cunning social climbing.

This video was filmed on my laptop and I wanted Richard to be moving around the space as if it were a stage. I chose this car park because of the tower at the end of the parking area. It made me think of a castle and also symbolic of The Tower of London where the Princes are held in the play. I hope you enjoy my take on this character.

PS: This famous speech is a sod to learn and even more difficult to remember and to perform when there is the potential of folk parking their cars around you!

Review for 'On Golden Pond' at the Lace Market Theatre

'On Golden Pond' by Ernest Thompson showing at the Lace Market Theatre, Nottingham.

11^th -16^th February 2013

Review by Phil Lowe

The emotional ripples on this gentle American play about age, family expectations, recriminations and blinkered intolerance are, in the main, a genial wave lapping on the shore of US life with a few bugs thrown flying in to irritate when the waters threaten to become too placid.

A retired couple, Norman Thayer Jr and his wife Ethel Thayer (exquisitely under played by Geoff Longbottom and Carol Parkinson) arrive at their summer home at Golden Pond in Maine and their banter is that of an old pair of talking comfy slippers. Excepting that Norman, the left slipper, has lost its way slightly and is now shuffling in a daze of shifting memories and what it has to say isn't always palatable to the family. He is convinced he is going die within a year.

Norman is soon to be eighty but doesn't want to recognise it nor the fact that his estranged daughter Chelsea Thayer Wayne (Helen Sharp) and her new dentist partner Bill (Kevin Briffett) are soon to be arriving at the house for his celebration. Along with them comes Bill's thirteen year old son Billy (a terrifically mature and still performance from Alec Boaden) who not only rocks the proverbial boat in the family arrangement but becomes a central force in healing the family unit.

The whole piece is gently humorous and surprisingly touching throughout especially in the scenes that challenge the matriarch's slightly bullying and condescending attitudes. Kevin Briffett's assured handing of the scene when the dentist gets his metaphorical teeth into the future father-in-law and the scene when Helen Sharp playing the damaged daughter attempts to make peace with her father who she calls 'Norman' not Pop or Dad, are very well handled.

The role of Charlie Martin is superbly played by Andy Taylor. He is the local postman with a romantic history linked to Chelsea and Andy Taylor practically glows with energy as the simple minded local guy who laughs at most things in life even if it is not politic to do so.

The whole cast have a real feeling of 'family' about them as they move around the wonderful realistic set designed by Peter Hillier. I felt that the solid looking summer home had a life beyond its physical structure, that somewhere on the horizon was the Golden Pond and it's mating loons mirroring the past life of the Thayer family. Beautifully directed by Marcus Wakely.

Highly recommended.

Phil Lowe

11th Feb 2013

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.

Les Miserables Nottingham Playhouse

This Friday the film of the musical Les Miserables goes on general release and I expect to be amongst the excited fans queuing to see how the cast and director have done.

Back in 1992 I was thrilled to be in the professional production of Christina Reid's play version at Nottingham Playhouse. There were eight hand picked male extras to play soldiers, citizens, students at the barricade and a chain gang. The story started with Gavroche and Eponine meeting in heaven after being killed on the barricades and suddenly shot back in time to the battle of Waterloo with the Thenardiers picking over the corpses.

I remember going to the rehearsals and trying to behave as professionally as possible (I was a performance art student in my third year at the time and this was a paid job). I made a good friend of the actor Roger McKern and kept in touch with him for years and went to see him in many productions around the midlands and in London. Through him I started to learn about the life of a professional actor.

Unfortunately, I don't have any decent photographs to put up on here, only copies of copies.

That's me with my arms folded as a citizen in the dressing room, alas not all the extras were as professional as myself. A few of them were quite noisy backstage and pissed about. I was probably one of the older ones and tried to keep myself to myself or mingled with the pros.

There was no dialogue for the extras but we did get  to sing the French National Anthem as we constructed the barricades each night. On the first night the actor who was supposed to get trapped under the cart forgot to come on (he was playing multiple roles) and the extras had to improvise with one of us falling under the cart to be rescued by the actor playing Jean Valjean.