Drawing: Lance Cairns

Posted on November 3, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

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“The method was identical,the timing was superb and the spectators at long-on are now an endangered species,” said Channel 9 commentator Frank Tyson, describing New Zealand’s crowd-pleasing Lance Cairns batting heroics against the old foe Australia at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground on a hot February afternoon in 1983. It was the final of the World Series Cup, Lance carried more of a wooden club than a bat, with cutaway shoulders and a massive blade, which became known as ‘Excalibur’ The veteran all-rounder hit six 6’s in ten balls, including a one-handed hit to the longest boundary in one of the world’s biggest sporting stadiums of the legendary Aussie quick Dennis Lillie. NZ may have lost the match and the series but few overseas players ever receive such sustained acclaim for a performance against the home side as Sir Lancelot did that day.

He probably didn’t hear much of it since he has been profoundly deaf since the age of 17, but I’m sure he was aware of the adulation that is still spoken about today. The following month back in NZ he hit the English spinners to all parts of the ground, including a gigantic six at the Basin Reserve in Wellington that cleared the inner-city ground and sailed down the street never to be seen again.

His bowling style was unique-an awkward wrong footed right arm ‘Harvey the helicopter’ delivery action that he thought was orthodox, but it produced big lethal medium quick in-swingers that harvested a lot of wickets. I have captured the just before release in this sketch which was part of a series of the best 11 NZ cricketers I did in 1991 and all signed through the mail for me. I have described the energetic biro technique before as the ‘epileptic expressionism’… more scribble than careful draftsmanship, but as Jackson Pollock said “technique is just a means of arriving at a statement.”

Drawing: Bert Sutcliffe

Posted on November 2, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

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Back in the early 1990’s I did a series of NZ cricketers, essentially the best kiwi 11 that had played the game to that point. I adopted what could be best described as an ‘epileptic biro’ rendering technique, which only lasted momentarily. One of the first picked was Bert Sutcliffe, the legendary left-handed batsman who was named one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year for his outstanding achievements during their tour of England in 1949. He was later to be named as NZ Champion Sportsperson of the 1940’s Decade in 2000. However it was one particular innings that has engraved Bert into kiwi folklore.

It was Christmas Eve,1953 at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. NZ was being routed by the South African fast bowler Neil Adcock on a very green wicket. Bert suffered a near fatal blow to the head and was taken to hospital. But he returned swathed in a large head bandage to continue his innings.It was an injury that would affect him for the rest of his life. He later said, “I must confess I was fortified to some extent by a generous helping of Scotland’s chief product… and I don’t mean porridge.”

Another sombre event affected the team that day. Back in NZ, 151 people lost their lives on the Overnight Express passenger train which was derailed when the Whangaehu river bridge collapsed at Tangiwai. NZ bowler Bob Blair’s fiance, Nerissa Love was one of them. He was too distraught to play, so stayed back at the hotel. When the ninth wicket fell, Bert was unbeaten and started to leave the field. Then Bob appeared, walking to the middle. 23,000 spectators fell silent, not a dry eye on or off the field.

It was one of the most poignant days in the history of sport and Bert’s words to the grieving youngster have been immortalized in what has been regarded as one of the defining chapters in NZ sport, “C’mon son this is no place for you. Let’s swing the bat at the ball and get out of here.” And that they did, putting on 33 in ten minutes before Bob was dismissed, leaving Bert on 80 not out. He passed away in 2001 at the age of 77.

Drawing: David Gower

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

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This David Gower caricature was the final cross-hatching experimentation in my series of English cricketers who toured New Zealand in the summer of 1991/92. Considered as one of the most stylish and prolific batsman that has ever played the game, ‘Lord Gower’ recorded an impressive First Class record, accumulating over 26,000 runs at an average of 40.08, including 53 centuries, 18 of which were scored in Test matches, including his top total of 215 against Australia at Edgbaston during the 1985 Ashes series.

The former England captain was described by Wisden as “fluffy haired, ethereal looking, who payed beautifully until the moment he made a mistake, but somehow the mistake was put off long enough for him to play an innings of unforgettable brilliance.” He was often criticised by the media for being too laid back and nonchalant Peter Roebuck to remark “Gower ne’er moves, he drifts,” and France Edmonds in the Daily Express wrote,” it’s difficult to be more laid back without being actually comatose.”

These days he leads the Sky Sports commentary team in his usual stylish and relaxed manner.

Drawing: Greta Scacchi in The Entertainer

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

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This is the third drawing that Greta Scacchi has signed for me. The first two were graphed when she starred in BETTE AND JOAN alongside Anita Dobson at the Arts Theatre in 2011. The Emmy-winner has returned to the West End in the last play of the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company’s productions at the Garrick. John Osbourne’s venomous 1957 play THE ENTERTAINER. Greta plays Phoebe, the sad wife of Sir Kenneth’s clapped-out Vaudevillian Archie Price. The Independent’s Paul Taylor wrote in his four-star review, “Greta Scacchi vividly captures the touchiness and squally mood-swings of Archie’s weary, put-upon working class wife.” Greta was running a little late for Saturday’s matinee, but graciously stopped to sign for three of us waiting at the stage door, including this sketch of her as Phoebe and a younger portrait, which I identified when she asked me who the second person was? She smiled and signed.

Cartoons this week

Posted on October 29, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

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Drawing: Harriet Thorpe in The Dresser

Posted on October 28, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

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British actress Harriet Thorpe’s most recognisable TV roles are receptionist Carole in THE BRITTAS EMPIRE and Patsy’s eccentric chum Fleur in ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS, a role she revised in the film adaption this year. She’s also appeared in a few films, including CALENDAR GIRLS and actually played the elderly witch Wakanda in a deleted scene from HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1. On stage Harriet had several seasons with the National Theatre and has worked extensively in the West End including Madame Thenardier in LES MISERABLES. She has returned to the London boards in the role of Sir’s faithful wife, ‘Her Ladyship’ in the revival of Ron Harwood’s THE DRESSER at the Duke of York’s, where I meet Harriet after the evening performance last Saturday and she signed my drawing.

Drawing: Noma Dumezweni and Paul Thornley in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2

Posted on October 27, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

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Olivier Award winner Noma Dumezweni portrays the adult Hermione Granger-Weasley, married to Ron Weasley, played by Paul Thornley in the original West End run of HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD PARTS 1 AND 2, which opened in June this year at the Palace Theatre. In the eighth instalment of JK Rowling’s HARRY POTTER phenomenon, set 19 years after THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, Hermione is now the Minister of Magic and Ron runs Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. Their daughter Rose is about to follow in their footsteps and attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Both Noma and Paul had kindly signed a previous sketch of the plays leads. Since then I have been a periodic ‘visitor’ to the stage door with a pile of renderings including this one of them together in their respective roles, which they both happily signed.

Drawing: Selina Cadell in The Dresser

Posted on October 26, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

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Selina Cadell has, as they say a ‘face that is tantalisingly familiar’. That is because the well known English actress has appeared on stage and the small screen for over thirty years. Her most recognisable role is probably Mrs Tishell, the overwrought pharmacist in a neck brace in DOC MARTIN. But many will recall her familiar face in JEEVES AND WOOSTER, THE CATHERINE TATE SHOW, FATHER BROWN and VICTORIA WOOD among a whole host of others. She played the vanishing lady herself, Miss Froy in the BBC TV film THE LADY VANISHED. In theatre Selina has an equally long list of appearances, including the Sam Mendes’ acclaimed Broadway production of Anton Chekhov’s THE CHERRY ORCHARD and her role as Maria in TWELFTH NIGHT for the Donmar Warehouse in both London and New York.

She has returned to the West End as the pragmatic and cynical but highly efficient stage manager Madge in Ron Harwood’s classic 1980 play THE DRESSER at the Duke of York’s Theatre. When I asked her to sign this drawing in the role she said, “How very sweet” and did so.

Drawing: Alicia Vikander

Posted on October 25, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

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Swedish actress Alicia Vikander began her performing career in stage productions in her home town with the Gothenburg Opera, before training as a dancer at the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm and then the School of American Ballet in New York. After some TV and short film work in Sweden, Alicia’s feature film debut was PURE in 2010 and she gained widespread recognition two years later as Princess Ekaterina ‘Kitty’ Alexandrovna Scherbatskaya in Joe Wright’s adaption of ANNA KARENINA. She followed that up as Vera Brittain in TESTAMENT OF YOUTH and a humanoid robot in EX MACHINA, which earned her BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. This year she won the Best Supporting Actress SAG and Academy Awards for her role as artist Gerda Wegener in THE DANISH GIRL.

Alicia signed my portrait sketch for me at the UK premiere of her latest film, THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS at the Curzon Mayfair cinema in London last week.

Drawing: Lydia Piechowiak – Miss Giddy Heights

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Lydia Piechowiak Drawing

English actor and burlesque artist Lydia Piechowiak is part of the cool cast of the Restoration romp THE LIBERTINE at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket.
Lydia, whose surname is from her Polish ancestry is also known by her stage name, the intoxicating ‘Miss Giddy Heights.’

TimeOut calls her “The international burlesque Dynamo… shimmering from elegant to debauched at the drop of a feather fan,” ideal credentials for her current ensemble West End role. After completing a degree in TV, Film and Theatre from the University of Bristol Lydia studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York before establishing her own theatre company Open Door Productions.

Recently seen in the film BRIDGET JONES’ BABY, Lydia also received rave reviews from theatre critics as the over-the-top refugee maid Mitizi in the UK tour of Agatha Christie’s A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED earlier this year. I intercepted her exit from an evening LIBERTINE performance last week to get this drawing signed.