Drawing: Jonathan Pryce in The Caretaker at Trafalgar Studios

Posted on July 8, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce is equally at home on screen and stage. Critically lauded for his versatility, Jonathan’s breakthrough film performance was in Terry Gilliam’s 1985 cult film Brazil. Five years earlier he won the Olivier Award for his title role in the Royal Court’s production of Hamlet. In his Broadway debut he won the Tony for Comedians in 1997. He collected his second Olivier and Tony for playing the engineer in Miss Saigon.

Jonathan’s filmography includes The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Dead Man’s Chest, Evita, Glengarry Glen Ross, Tomorrow Never Dies and Carrington, for which he won the Best Actor award at Cannes. Jonathan was also nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his role as Henry Kravis in the 1993 television film Barbarians At The Gate.

While starring in the National’s My Fair Lady his co-star Martine McCutcheon was so frequently absent that he made an appeal form the stage for any member of the audience who fancied playing Eliza to make themselves known.

In 2010 he played Davies, the loquacious tramp in Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker at the Trafalgar Studios in London. It transferred from an initial run at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre. He had previously appeared in the National Theatre’s 1981 production of the play in the role of Mick, the dangerous young hustler. “It’s one of those plays you graduate through in the course of your life,” Jonathan was quoted.

Drawing: Grigor Dimitrov

Posted on July 7, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Twenty three year old Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov was another young tennis star to shine at this year’s Wimbledon.

Prior to his professional career he was the World Junior No. 1, winning the 2008 Wimbledon and US Open titles. He reached the semi final at the Championships this year, beating reigning champion Andy Murray in straight sets.

In the semi he battled back and had three consecutive set points in a fourth set tie break, but lost to the eventual tournament winner Novak Djokovic 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6. However, it was enough for Grigor to move into the World top ten with the No 9 spot in the ATP rankings, one ahead of Andy.

Drawing: Nick Kyrgios

Posted on July 5, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The overnight sensation of this year’s Wimbledon has been 19 year old Nick Kyrgios, the 1.93m Australian teenager with a Greek father and a Malaysian mother. Making his debut at SW19, he was playing courtesy of a wild card entry and ranked 144 in the world. Very few thought he had any chance of beating world number 1, Rafa Nadal on centre court in the fourth round. Four sets later he produced the shock of the tournament, blitzing the two time champion 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

He put his motivation down to his mother’s prediction that he would lose. “My mum said Rafa was too good for me and it made me a bit angry.”

In the second round he saved nine match points to beat 13th seed Richard Gasquet, but fell to Canadian eighth seed Milos Raonic in the quarters. However, from a ranking of 838 last season, he is guaranteed to read the mid 60s. Going into the quarter finals, Nick was leading the ace standing with 113. A staggering 37 of those were bashed past Nadal. He is donating £5 for every ace served at Wimbledon to the Rally for Bally fund – set up in memory of former British No 1 Elena Baltacha.

His cheeky ‘tweener’ – a beteen the legs stoke that sent the ball out of Nadal’s reach, went viral on YouTube, amassing more than 500,000 views. I was actually at The Championsoips on ‘the’ day and watched events unfold from ‘the hill’, amongst a very vocal group of Aussie supporters and manged to get this sketch to him the next day, which he signed and returned along with a clipping from The Times reporting his sensational victory.

Drawing: Gemma Arterton in The Duchess of Malfi at Shakespeare’s Globe

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Gemma Arterton made her professional stage debut at Shakespeare’s Globe in 2007, with huge critical acclaim as Rosaline in Loves’s Labour’s Lost while still a student at RADA. She returned at the beginning of the year to play the title role in the Jacobean tragedy The Duchess of Malfi by English dramatist John Webster directed by Dominic Dromgoole.

It opened the curtain on the inaugural season at the Globe’s Sam Wanamaker Playhouse – an intimate 340 seat indoor Jacobean theatre, built from authentic designs and craftsmanship of the period. It is named after the director and actor who founded the modern recreation of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. The conspiratorial atmosphere is enhanced with the 17th century practice of being lit almost solely by beeswax candles.

The Duchess is one of the great theatrical roles for women and Gemma jumped at the chance to play her on such a magical stage. “It’s like Tarantino,” she said, “there’s mass bloodshed, incest, violence, lots of kick-arse stuff and everybody dies in the end.” Gemma’s own death scene is gruesome. She is strangled with two ropes pulling in opposing directions for nearly ten minutes.

Drawing: Andrew Scott, Lisa Dillon and Tom Burke in Design for Living

Posted on July 3, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Initially banned in the UK, Noël Coward’s 1932 provocative, witty, dark, bisexual comedy Design For Living had a major revival at London’s Old Vic in the Winter of 2010.

Directed by Old Vic Associate and Tony Award winner Anthony Page, the production featured Tom Burke (Otto), Lisa Dillon (Gilda) and Andrew Scott (Leo) as the menage-a-trois in this three act, two interval play.

Otto is a painter, Leo is a playwright and Gilda is an interior designer. The lines of engagement are: Gilda lives with artist Otto, but is equally drawn to playwright Leo. The two men, however, have enjoyed intimacy that predates Gilda.

Critic Michael Billington said, “the play offers a genuine contest between the bohemian talentocracy and moral orthodoxy. It is an attack on bourgeois stuffiness.”

As Leo puts it, “I love you. You love me. You love Otto. I love Otto. Otto loves you. Otto loves me,” providing the basis for the play’s plot convolutions.

Drawing: Bryan Cranston in All The Way on Broadway

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Bryan Cranston won this year’s Tony award for his portrayal of the former US president Lyndon B Johnson in the play All The Way at the Neil SImon Theatre on Broadway. The title of the play takes its name from Johnson’s 1964 campaign slogan ‘All The Way With LBJ’.

It was a good year for winning awards. His role as Walter White in Breaking Bad earned him a Golden Globe, after five nominations. It was a role he had previously won three consecutive Emmys for.

Bryan attended the May premiere of Godzilla at the Odeon in Leicester Square. I had hoped to get him to sign it in person. Alas, I missed, so sent i tot him at the theatre in New York, where he kindly signed and returned it.

Drawing: John Williams

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The world’s most celebrated guitarist, the brilliant, Grammy Award winning Australian John Williams played the Royal Festival Hall in London earlier this month, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Described by guitar historian Graham Wade as, “perhaps the most technically accomplished guitarist the world has seen.” John’s technique is universally considered flawless.

His career has spanned six decades and although he is best known for his classical work, he has explored different musical genres, including the acclaimed classical rock fusion duet with Peter Townshend of The Who for the 1979 Amnesty International benefit show The Secret Policeman’s Ball.