Drawing: Hugh Grant

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Fifty four year old Hugh Grant thinks he’s getting too old to play the lead in romantic comedies. Yesterday he was at the Odeon cinema in Kensington for the premiere of his latest film, The Rewrite, and he doesn’t think it is a rom-com… or maybe just a little bit.

Not one for stardom and celebrity status, Hugh, “isn’t feeling very showbizzy at the moment”. In fact he’s more of an anti-film star. He often claims that acting isn’t a true calling, just something he fell into. But he is known for a very strong work ethic on set and will do endless takes to achieve the desired standard.

His films have earned US$2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide, especially in the genre of romantic comedy. Although recently he played several non-comedic cameo roles, all in one film. He plays six characters in the epic drama Cloud Atlas, all of which he said are, “incredibly evil”.

He has joined the latest craze to replace the ‘ice bucket challenge’. Launched by Jemima Khan, ‘wake up call’ is where famous people take pictures of themselves after they’ve just woken up. It raises money for Unicef’s Syria Emergency Fund. Others to do it are Stephen Fry, Derren Brown, Tom Hiddleston and Nigella Lawson.

For the sake of recognition and avoiding rejection I based my sketch on a more familiar looking Hugh. I was a last minute thing. The Odeon in London’s fashionable High Street Kensington is a little way out of my normal beaten track. Hugh makes his acting appear spontaneous. He is known for his nonchalant approach with a touch of sarcasm and irony, precisely timed dialogue, delivery and facial expressions.

Hugh was generous with his time for the sizeable crowd at the small cinema, signing graphs and posing for selfies. His quick efficient sig was splashed across my drawing, and belatedly I asked for a dedication, “To Mark” in my six-years-living-in-London-antipodean-accent. “Matt?” he asked, “no, with a k,” I replied. Puzzled, he gave his famous smile and returned the drawing to me…

Drawing: Ciaran Hinds and Sinead Cusack in Juno and Paycock at The National Theatre

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Sean O’Casey’s gutting tragicomedy Juno and The Paycock is one of the most highly regarded and often performed plays in Ireland. First staged in Dublin at the Abbey Theatre in 1924 and set in that city during the Irish Civil War in the early 1920s, it is the second of the ‘Dublin Trilogy’ between The Shadow of a Gunman (1923) and The Plough and the Stars (1926).

London’s National Theatre in association with the Abbey Theatre staged the revival on the Lyttelton Stage in late 2011 with Ciarán Hinds and Sinéad Cusack in the lead roles as Captain Jack Boyle and Juno Boyle respectively.

“Searing, sobering, devastating and beautiful,” said the Sunday Independent. Both Ciarán and Sinéad signed my sketch in February 2012 at the Theatre and for a brief moment my stage door name became Martin…

Drawing: Tony Bennett

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The eighty eight year old artist formerly known as Anthony Dominick ‘Tony’ Benedetto is the now known as the legendary Tony Bennett – one of the greatest entertainers over the past six decades. Winner of 17 Grammys and two Emmys, Frank Sinatra once said of him, “for my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business.”

He’s also a successful painter under his family name ‘Benedetto’. In fact he paints or sketches every day. His work, mostly in the Impressionist style, is exhibited in numerous galleries around the world and in international art publications.

“I’ve never worked a day in my life because I love what I do,” he told ABC News. “I sing and I paint. And I do that every day.”

He made history this week by becoming the oldest artist (musical, that is) with a number one on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart, with Lady Gaga and their tandem jazz disc Cheek To Cheek. He drew a nude sketch of her for his Duets II album, which was auctioned for charity.

Tony signed my sketch with his stage name, while performing at London’s Royal Festival Hall last month.

Drawing: Billie Piper in Reasons To Be Pretty at the Almeida Theatre

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Playwright Neil LaBute is haunted the American obsession with physical beauty. His 2008 play Reasons To Be Pretty was successfully revived in London at the Almeida Theatre in late 2011 with a cast including award-winning British actress Billie Piper. It examines our perception of beauty and asks whether it is as much of a curse to be conventionally attractive as it is to be considered ugly. It’s the final intstallment of his trilogy about society’s obsession with looks, following The Shape of Things which premiered at the Almeida in 2001, and Fat Pig which was a West End hit in 2008.

Billie, expecting her second child, played pregnant supermarket security guard Carly who is worried she may be losing the affections of her partner Kent who is besotted by a ‘stunner’ working in another part of the factory. The Telegraph’s Charles Spencer said that the play “…is blessed with a heart wrenching turn from the wonderful Billie Piper.”

LaBute has written a sequel Reasons To Be Happy which premiered in June 2013 at the MCC Theatre in New York.

Billie has just completed the premiere season of Richard Bean’s latest satire Great Britain to rave reviews at the National before it transferred to the West End’s Theatre Royal Haymarket with Lucy Punch replacing Billie in the lead role.

Drawing: Lucy Punch in Great Britain at the Royal Theatre Haymarket

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Richard Bean’s new political satire Great Britain about “Press, Police and Politics” and the cosily corrupt connections of all three, opened at the National Theatre within days of the end of the phone-hacking trial and was an immediate hit.

Directed by Sir Nicholas Hytner, it transferred to the Royal Theatre Haymarket with Lucy Punch replacing Billie Piper in the title role as Paige Britain, the ruthless and power crazed news editor who ends up sleeping with both the PM and the Assistant Met Commissioner.

The 36 year old Lucy returns to the stage after a 12 year absence. Her stock character on the screen she admits are ‘the vulgar and the ditsy’ such as the dopey receptionist in Doc Martin, to Anthony Hopkins promiscuous trophy girlfriend in Woody Allen‘s You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. She told The Guardian “If the character is smug, bitchy, trashy or has dubious morals, call me!”

Paul Gent in The Telegraph said of her role as Paige Britain, “Lucy Punch makes her ballsy and thoroughly unlikeable”. She was thoroughly likeable at the stage door when she signed this sketch after last night’s performance.

Drawing: Jill Halfpenny in Calendar Girls

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Top British actress Jill Halfpenny is equally known for her small screen appearances and stage work. She has appeared in both Coronation Street (1999-2000) and its rival Eastenders (2002-2005) and was the winner of Strictly Come Dancing‘s second season in 2004.

Her successful theatre career includes West End productions such as Chicago, Abigail’s Party and Legally Blonde, for which she won both the Theatre Goers Choice and Olivier Awards for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a musical (2011).

She also starred in the West End transfer of Tim Firth’s Calendar Girls at the Noël Coward Theatre in the summer of 2009. It’s the theatre version of the film and, based on the real life tale of the Women’s Institute members from North Yorkshire who stripped off for a charity calendar in memory of member Angela Baker’s husband John who died of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1998. It raised more than £1million for Leukaemia Research.

Jill dressed down for the role and as one newspaper put it, “to get her thruppeny bits out”. Like the film, modesty is protected on stage by a series of well positioned props.

I drew this quick black biro sketch which she signed at the stage door during her three month stint.

Drawing: Charlie Cox and Ian McDiarmid in The Prince of Homburg

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The Prince of Homburg or, to give it its full German title: Prinz Friedrich von Homburg oder die Schlacht bei Fehrbellin was written by Heinrich von Kleist around 1810, but not performed until after his suicide in 1821.

During the Prussian war with Sweden young army officer, the Prince of Homburg, is court martial led for disobeying orders form the ruling elector and sentenced to death. I has been the subject of many films and an opera Der Prinz von Homburg but Hans Werner Henze in 1960.

An English stage adaption by Dennis Kelly premiered at the Donmar Warehouse from July to September in 2010 with Ian McDiarmid as The Elector and Charlie Cox in the title role.