Drawing: Ekaterina Bakanova in La traviata

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Ekaterina Bakanova

“One hell of a way to make a Royal Opera debut” is how Tom Service headlined his Guardian article as Russian soprano Ekaterina Bakanova became the talk of the opera world on 4 July.

She stepped in to sing Violetta in the last show of this season’s La traviata at Covent Garden with only hours’ notice and “gave the performance of her life”.

The evening’s scheduled Violetta, Sonya Yoncheva woke up unwell and by lunchtime was forced to cancel her appearance. It just so happened, Ekaterina was rehearsing that morning at the ROH for her role as Musetta for her Covent Garden debut in Puccini’s La Boheme on 9 July. With only five hours’ notice, she was asked to stand in for Sonya.

She agreed. Apparently she had a ticket for that evening’s performance, so she got to see the show form a much closer vantage point (hopefully they gave her a refund!) She had played the role before, but this was a whole new production and in one of the world’s biggest opera houses.

Ekaterina received a deserved standing ovation performing without a slip. “She had the audience spellbound from pretty well her first notes and her scintillating vocal power… embodied the desperation, dramatic extremity and existential plight of Violetta more completely than any other performance I have seen”, wrote Tom Service.

What better reason to draw a sketch… as if I needed one. This is a quick portrait of Ekaterina and a drawing of her as Musetta in the Torino production of La Boheme in 2013. I left it with the great staff at the ROH stage door and Ekaterina returned it straight away, signed and dedicated.

Drawing: Ria Lina in Taboo Raider

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

ria lina

Comedian, musician, and writer Ria Lina previewed her new show Taboo Raider at the Museum of Comedy in the Leicester Square Theatre before taking it to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival next month. A regular in stand up for the past 14 years both in the UK and internationally, The Guardian said, “I have no doubt she will hold her own so easily that she’ll have a hand free to hold someone else’s too.” Her shows combine stand up comedy and song.

At last years’s festival Ria’s show School of Riason received award nominations and plaudits alike and a commission for BBC Radio 4. A mother of three, Ria based the comedy routine on home schooling her children.

Taboo Raider looks at modern taboos – racism, sexism and discrimination – “not for the faint of humour” warned the show’s publicity material.

With a BSc in Experimental Pathology from St Andrews University, a Masters in Forensic Science and a PhD in Viral Bioinformatics from UCL… it owudld be fair to say Ria’s Creative juices are fuelled by potent cerebral content.

Did I think I’d be a stand up comic? No, I kinda fell into that but it’s been a surprisingly good fit” Ria said in a recent interview with The New Current.

When asked what she wants her audiences to take away from her shows she says “hopefully buy the CD”. Ria signed this sketch at the Leicester Square Theatre. You can vote for Ria’s Taboo Raider poster in the Edinburgh Comedy Poster Awards, or if you’re lucky enough to be in Edinburgh, catch the show.

Drawing: Gillian Anderson in A Streetcar Named Desire

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

gillian anderson

The 2014 summer production of Tennessee Williams’ 1948 Pulitzer Prize winning drama A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE at London’s Young Vic Theatre became the fastest-selling show in the venue’s history with the run extended due to demand.

Gillian Anderson gained critical acclaim for her performance as Blanche DuBois, winning the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress and her second Olivier award nomination. Directed by Benedict Andrews, the production also featured Ben Foster and Vanessa Kirby. The theatre collaborated for the first time with the National Theatre Live to broadcast the show live to over 1100 venues on 16 September 2014. It will also transfer to St. Ann’s Warehouse in New York next year.

I met Gillian at the Young Vic where she signed a sketch I did of her in the role of Nora from THE DOLL’S HOUSE, which collected her first Olivier nom. I left this sketch of the three STREETCAR leads at the theatre, hoping they would sign it. Time passed and nothing returned, so I forgot about it. Vanessa signed an individual drawing for me. The dealers harassed Ben and tended to avoid graphing, so I didn’t bother him. Then, last week, this arrived in the mail, signed by Gillian. It’s one of the many surprises of this game. The longest time an item has taken to come back was three years, so don’t give up hope…or change your address.

Drawing: Rory Kinnear in Othello

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Rory Kinnear

“Rory Kinnear is a National Treasure”,states The Independent, and they may well be right. Throughout the summer of 2013, the brilliant British actor played the Shakespearian villain Iago opposite Adrian Lester in the title role of OTHELLO at the National Theatre in London. Both won the Best Actor Award at the Evening Standard Awards with Rory going on to win his second Olivier. The Mail’s Quentin Letts wrote it was a “fine performance from Mr Kinnear, who cements his reputation as one of our stage’s stars”.

His last theatre success however was as a playwright with his debut play THE HERD, which opened at the Bush Theatre in September 2013. It was shortlisted for the Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards and has just ended it’s first American run at Chicago’s legendary Steppenwolf Company.

Rory is currently treading the boards, or in this case a 15m long moving ‘travelator’ as Josef K in Richard Jones’s production of Nick Gill’s adaption of Franz Kafka’s THE TRIAL at London’s Young Vic. During rehearsals for the play he was also required for night shoots on the next Bond film SPECTRE, reprising the role of M16’s ever-dependable Tanner. He said he would finish at 5am and then be required at rehearsals between 11 and noon, so sleep was in short supply. A punishing schedule made all the more extreme when he is on stage for the entirety of the interval-free production.

Then, just when you finish a Saturday evening after a long week, looking forward to the Sunday off, you are confronted at the exit by a serial sketcher wanting you to sign a drawing. But, true to form, Rory was his usual amiable self…’Ah, another masterpiece”, he complimented. (Rory actually has a HAMLET sketch I did of him, framed and hanging on his wall at home.) Sleep deprivation I modestly thought.

Drawing: Bad Jews

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Bad Jews

Joshua Harmon’s corrosive family comedy BAD JEWS, directed by Michael Longhurst just completed it’s extended West End run at the Arts Theatre in London on Saturday. It originated at the Theatre Royal Bath’s Ustinov Studio last year before transferring to the St James Theatre in London in January then onto the Arts a month later.

Described by WhatsOnStage as a “brutal, feral script with great soul” it centres on a gathering of three jewish cousins in a cramped Manhattan apartment for their grandpa’s funeral. Daphna (Jenna Augen), a puritanical vegan uber-Jewess and Rabbi in training is jealous of Jonah (Joe Coen) and Shlomo (Ilan Goodman), who calls himself Liam, because their wealthy parents bought them a flat before either had found a job. Liam is a self-styled ‘bad jew’,obsessed with Japanese culture and intends to marry out of the faith. He arrives late, missing the funeral because he was skiing (apparently a non-Jewish activity) in Aspen with his dim, but beautiful gentile girlfriend Melody (Gina Bramhill). The crux of the conflict is a lucky medallion, a treasured family heirloom, which their grandfather hid in his mouth during years in a concentration camp. Daphna and Liam both claim it, but the latter has it in his pocket and intends to give it to Melody as a marriage garland. Daphna is displeased, screaming, get it off her “Christian c**t neck!”

Paul Taylor in the Independent put it simply, “blisteringly funny…brilliantly acted.”

I, as usual left it to the last day to get my sketch signed, but not the last performance. I thought I would attempt to get the cast going in for the matinee in an already over-subscribed saturday stalking schedule. Getting there at noon, the very helpful box office staff told me that they all arrive at different times, but usually after 1.30. Plan B. I wrote a quick note and left it with a stamped envelope (a sig stalker is always prepared) and one of my black Pentel fine point pens… oh yes and the drawing (which once or twice I’ve forgotten to include, but that’s for another time), with the aforementioned wonderful staff. ‘No Problem, the Production Manager calls past before each performance – we’ll give it to her”, and ‘mazel tov’ to me… it arrived, signed in my post box, within three days.

Drawing: Felicity Kendal in Hay Fever

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

felicity kendall hay fever

Following a successful run at the Theatre Royal Bath and a subsequent tour last year that included Australia, Noel Coward’s Classic comedy Hay Fever returned to the West End with Felicity Kendal in the lead role of Judith Bliss the thespian matriarch of the dysfunctional Bliss family at London’s Duke of York’s Theatre.

I loved Jane Shilling’s description in the Daily Telegraph, “her performance is a positive mille-feuille of theatricality, fading sexual allure and suppressed rage, spun around a cone of pathos.”

Apparently ‘mille-feuille’ – the classic French pastry – is having a resurgence across the UK. It’s the culinary ‘in thing’, hence the analogy… I guess.

After a splendid stage and screen career spanning 45 years, audiences and critics alike have never lost their appetite for one of Britain’s most popular performers.

Quentin Letts gave the production five stars in his Daily Mail review, stating “From the moment Miss Kendal steps through the French windows from the garden (where Judith has been trying to learn flower names) this show is a winner.”

Felicity signed this ‘Judith sketch’ I did going into the theatre for last Saturday’s matinee. As usual she was engaging, discussing the wonderful summer weather. A fellow cast member walked by and said, “wow!” referring to the drawing (I think) and Felicity said “I know!”. Hay Fever is scheduled to run until 1 August 2015.

Drawing: Sonya Yoncheva

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Sonya Yoncheva

According to VOGUE magazine, Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva is “Opera’s brightest star” after two remarkable performances at the Metropolitan in New York last winter. Both appearances were not originally scheduled, but fate intervened, propelling her onto one of the world’s most famous stages as a late replacement for both the role of Mimi in LA BOHEME, only five weeks after giving birth to her son and a month later, playing Violetta in Verdi’s LA TRAVIATA.

“Her dizzingly swift and serendipitous ascent to Opera’s Most Buzzed About Soprano” is how VOGUE described her performances.

This was nothing new for Sonya. I first became aware of her prowess last April when she once again replaced the original singer-in this case none other than Anna Netrebko-in the role of Marguerite in Gounod’s FAUST at the Royal Opera House to rave reviews.

She returned to Covent Garden last month for a few performances as Violetta in LA TRAVIATA and signed this portrait study for me.

Cartoons: Greece is the word

Posted on July 11, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The Greek financial crisis in ‘toons.

acropolis now atHENs discus-sions greek eco no money

Drawing: David Suchet as Lady Bracknell

Posted on July 10, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

David Suchet

One of Britain’s most revered actors plays one of theatre’s most iconic roles with David Suchet starring as Lady bracknell in Oscar Wild’s timeless and popular comedy of errors THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST.

After a short UK tour the production, directed by Adrian Noble settled in to the Vaudeville Theatre in London’s West End late last month for a five-month residency.

While known for his TV roles, especially as Agatha Christie’s fastidious detective Hercule Poirot, he is no stranger to treading the boards and has been nominated for no less than seven prestigious Olivier Awards and a Tony for his Broadway portrayal of Salieri in AMADEUS.

The man most famed for his pencil moustache and distinctly male attire is now decked out as a very Victorian lady. The formidable, biting character of Lady Augusta Bracknell represents Wilde’s opinion on Victorian upper-class negativity-conservative, repressive, powerful and arrogant. Famous ‘Lady Bracknells’ have included Dame Judi Dench and Penelope Keith, but in the past few years the role has also been played by men. Geoffrey Rush in Australia and Brian Bedford in Stratford, Ontario and Broadway. “I’m trying to become the best woman I can”, said David in a recent interview, although “the character almost defies gender really”.

The Guardian critic Michael Billington called David’s performance “majestically funny” and said “As Lady Bracknell, Suchet does not so much enter a room as occupy it totally”.

There’s a large poster of David as Lady B outside the Vaudeville’s stage door, where many gather after each show. I joined them after last Saturday’s evening performance. It’s on a busy thoroughfare with lots of traffic-vechicles and pedestrians. Many passing by would comment on the poster, ‘oh there’s what’s his face…Poirot!” He’s still recognisable even in a drag. David is the nicest man (and woman) you could ever wish to meet. He doesn’t come to the stage door, but remains in the foyer area and you are invited in to meet him, take selfies, get sigs and have a brief chat. He loved this sketch and as usual was more than happy to sign it.

Drawing: Billie Piper in Great Britain

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

billie piper

Billie Piper’s performance as Paige Britain, the ambitious tabloid news editor, garnered unanimous praise when the National Theatre staged Richard Bean’s GREAT BRITAIN last summer. Described by The Telegraph’s theatre critic Dominic Cavendish as “a sultry, stiletto-stamping schemer”, Billie’s character took the lead in a timely look at the tangled relationship between the press, politicians and the police. The play was in secret rehearsals for months and was only announced after the key verdicts in the phone-hacking trial were delivered. It premiered without a preview period on 30 June 2014 at the National’s Lyttelton Theatre. Paul Taylor called it a “farce with fangs” in The Independent, stating Billie’s performance as “excellent”-a description shared by all the major critics.

This sketch is a montage-a page on Paige-so to speak..I mean draw. Billie signed and returned it in the mail.