About Mark Winter / Chicane

Cartoonist. Artist. Illustrator. Oh, and autograph hunter.

Drawing: Charlotte Rampling

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

In her films Charlotte Rampling often conveys a sense of severity that is accentuated by her unique beauty: the prominent cheek bones, the narrow mouth, adorned at times by an enigmatic smile and of course those narrow, cat-like eyes whose colour, depending on the light, can vary from green to grey and even yellow.

Meeting her in person is far less forbidding than her films and features suggest. At the rear entrance to the renowned Savoy Hotel in London on a chilly November night in 2010.

Charlotte was a guest presenter at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. In fact, it was too cold to be standing around for any length of time, so I left it to the last possible moment to enter the fray.

My arrival coincided with hers. I did intend to go behind the barriers, but didn’t get time. She stepped out of her car, saw the sketch, signed it then added the inscription when I asked. She smiled and said thank you, I returned the thank you. It was very all very symmetrical and pleasant…. I then had to contend with the hunters and collectors behind the barriers, but that’s another story.

Drawing: Judi Dench

Posted on June 22, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Dame Judi Dench – one of the greatest stage and screen actresses of all time, is also one of the best signers. Her most recent stage performance was as Alice in Peter and Alice at the Noël Coward Theatre in London. There was huge demand for her ‘graph and she always obliged – a real trouper!

I did this quick ‘portrait study’ in March 2010 and dropped it into the Rose Theatre in Surrey, where she was playing Titania as Queen Elizabeth I in A Midsummer Night’s Dream – almost 50 years after she first played the role for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Drawing: The Beauty Queen of Leenane at The Young Vic

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Martin McDonagh’s acclaimed comedy The Cripple of Inishmaan is currently running at the Noel Coward Theatre as a part of Michael Grandage’s five play season with the with the wizard himself, Daniel Radcliffe.

McDonagh’s earlier play The Beauty Queen of Leenane – a black comedy set in a village in County Galway, revolving around a plain, lonely woman in her forties with her first and possibly final chance at love and her manipulative mother who sets about to derail it.

It premiered in 1996 in Galway, then transferred to London’s Royal Court Theatre before an extensive National tour of Ireland, then returning to London’s West End at the Duke of York’s in November 1996. In 1998 it opened off-Broadway, receiving six Tony nominations and winning four.

The play was revived at The Young Vic in London. The excellent cast – Derbhle Crotty, Rosaleen Linehan, Frank Laverty and Johnny Ward all gladly signed my sketch after I saw the afternoon matinée on 31 August 2011

Drawing: Catherine Tate

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Comedian and writer Catherine Tate appeared in Season’s Greetings at the National Theatre at the end of 2010 and early 2011.

It’s the Alan and Ayckbourn’s 1980 black comedy about a dysfunctional family Christmas. Tate’s character is always flapping about the house and constantly decorating the Christmas Tree.

I remember one time filming Catherine signing at the National Theatre stage door and she said I should have asked her permission, which was a first. However, I apologised but said it was good to see talent taking the time to sign for fans. It was all very convivial, but I decided to leave my Season’s Greeting’s sketch for her to sign and post back, instead of another in-person encounter. That was December 2010. I received it the following October! But better Tate than never.

Drawing: Jim Broadbent and Rachael Stirling in Theatre of Blood

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Theatre of Blood is a cultish 1973 MGM film that featured Vincent Price as Edward Lionheart, an old, vengeful Shakespearean ham actor and Diana Rigg as his Cordelia -like daughter, Edwina.

Having been robbed of the coveted ‘Critics Cirtcle’ award, Lionheart decides to murder seven critics – each representing one of the seven deadly sins, one by one.

The butchery takes place in a crumbling derelict theatre and each critic’s demise is inspired by the deaths of characters in the plays Lionheart performed in his final season of Shakespeare Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, Troilus and Cressida, Richard III, Othello and Henry VI, Part I.

The National Theatre produced the stage version, which was adapted from the film by British Company ‘Improbable’ with Oscar winner Jim Broadbent playing Lionheart and two time Olivier nominee Rachael Stirling (Diana Rigg’s daughter) playing his daughter Miranda (not Edwina).

The adaption ran at the National’s Lyttleton Theatre between May and September 2005.

Drawing: Alan Bennett and Alan Jennings

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Winner of three Olivier Awards, Alex Jennings is one of Britain’s most revered actors and has been lauded as the new John Gielgud. His latest stage appearance was in the National Theatre’s critically acclaimed double bill, Untold Stories by Alan Bennett. Alex plays Alan in two autobiographical recollections “Hymn” a touching story of music and childhood and “Cocktail Sticks” which revisits some of the themes and conversations of the author’s memoir A Life Like Other People’s.

It transferred to The Duchess Theatre in April this year and completed its run last Saturday evening.

On press night, Alex stopped the curtain call applause to recall his old friend and colleague Richard Griffiths. He delivered a tear choked address and reminded the packed auditorium that the lights had been dimmed across the West End at 7.28pm in honour of the actor who had died the previous week following complications after a heart operation.

Drawing: Amy Adams

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Amy Adams portrays Lois Lane in the rebooted Superman franchise Man of Steel. The 38 year old, three time Academy Award nominee braved the wind and the rain in Leicester Square, London to sign for as many people as possible. Including my sketch. Even though the wind was flapping it around and the rain was turning it into maché she took her time to sign an dedicate it and compliment me – which I returned – a real trooper.

Drawing: Sally Field

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Popular American actress Sally Field signed my sketch a few years ago when I sent it to her via ABC studios where she was in the family drama Brothers & Sisters (2006-2011). She received both an Emmy and a Screen Actor’s Guild Award for her performance in the series. Sally has also won two Best Actress Academy Awards for Norma Rae (1979) and Places in the Heart (1984)

Drawing: Juliette Binoche

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Juliette Binoche signed my drawing at the Curzon Cinema in Mayfair, London after a Q&A session following the screening of her film Certified Copy in August 2010.

She won the Best Actress Award at Cannes that year for her role in the movie.

Drawing: Daniel Radcliffe in Equus

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

When Richard Griffiths passed away earlier this year, Daniel Radcliffe lead the tributes:

“Richard was by my side during two of the most important moments of my career. In August 2000, before official production had even began on Potter, we filmed a shot outside the Dursley’s, which was my first ever shot as Harry. I was nervous and he made me feel at ease. Seven years later, we embarked on Equus together. It was my first time doing a play, but, terrified as I was, his encouragement, tutelage and humour made it a joy. Any room he walked into was made twice as funny and twice as clever by his presence. I am proud to say I knew him.”

Peter Shaffer’s Equus is a favourite of mine, both on screen and stage. A revival, directed by Thea Sharrock opened at the Gielgud Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue in February 2007 and subsequently transferred to the Broadhurst Theater on Broadway, running until February 2009. Daniel received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play.

I did a quick ‘montage’ sketch of Daniel as Alan Strang, the boy who blinds a number of horse with a hoof pick and Richard’s Martin Dysart, a child psychiatrist trying to understand the cause of the boys actions, while wrestling with his own sense of purpose.

In the mayhem that surrounds Daniel I risked damage at this year’s Olivier Theatre Awards at the Royal Opera House to get it signed. Daniel’s signature is always his full name, so that combined with haste to sign as many as possible means the final ‘graph can vary in quality. However, he did take the time to dedicate it to me and seemed genuinely touched by the drawing.

I had also drawn another sketch of just Daniel with Richard behind him, so dropped it into the rehearsal room where Daniel was preparing for The Cripple of Inishmaan (currently in previews at the Noël Coward Theatre). I also enclosed a flyer for him to sign, which he did and sent it back. As you can see, the more ‘relaxed’ ‘graph is a model of legibility.