Drawing: Emma Thompson as Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Emma Thompson returned to musical theatre after a 30 year break to make her New York stage debut in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street to critical acclaim alongside Bryn Terfel as the serial-killing shaver. She last appeared on the boards in London in 1989 in Look Back in Anger. With her then husband Kenneth Branagh and in the musical Me and My Girl with Robert Lindsay in 1985.

For five performances she played Mrs Lovett, London’s worst pie maker in the concert production of the Sondheim’s classic, seminal musical at the Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts in the Big Apple. Backed by the New York Philharmonic Emma wowed the critics last month, one saying she, “not only held her own against more experienced vocalists, but wound up running off with the show”.

I quickly drew this minimal line drawing when I found out she would be attending the Empire Awards at the end of March, where she was nominated for Saving Mr Banks. Like the trooper she is, Emma signed for everyone, including my sketch, “Oh Sweeney,” she smiled, “I hope you win,” I said. “So do I,” she replied – and she did.

Drawing: Dominic West in Butley at the Duchess Theatre

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

In December last year British actor Dominic West and Prince Harry were part of three teams competing to reach the South Pole first on the trek to raise money for the charity Walking with the Wounded. The competition part of the race was cancelled due to hazardous weather conditions, so the teams combined forces to successfully reach the pole.

He is nominated for a TV BAFTA for his role as Richard Burton in Burton & Taylor. Helena Bonham Carter, who played Elizabeth Taylor, is also nominated.

In June 2011 Dominic took the title role in Simon Gray’s classic comedy Butley at the Duchess Theatre in London. Dominic is always great with ‘graphers and was more than happy to sign this rapid 4b pencil sketch at the stage door on the way in for a July Saturday matinee performance which I saw.

Drawing: Elena Roger in Passion at the Donmar Warehouse

Posted on April 24, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Elena Roger is an Argentine actress and singer who won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2009 for her portrayal of Edith Piaf in Piaf.

She was discovered in her home city of Buenos Aires when Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group were researching for the 2006 West End revival of Evita and was cast as Eva Peron. She won critical acclaim and an Olivier nomination. She reprised the role last year at the Marquis Theatre.

Elena signed this black fineliner drawing on the final night of Passion at the Donmar in November 2010. She played Fiona in Stephen Sondheim’s musical about a young soldier in 19th Century Italy and his obsessive love with her character, earning yet another Olivier nomination.

Drawing: Rebecca Hall

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The 31 year old British actress Rebecca Hall won the Supporting Actress BAFTA in 2007 for Red Riding in the Year of Our Lord 1974 and was nominated for Leading Actress n 2013 for her role as Sylvia Tiefjens in BBC Two’s Parade’s End.

Her latest film Transcendence with Johnny Depp and Morgan Freeman will be released in the UK this Friday (25/04/14).

Rebecca signed this very quick fine biro portrait at the BAFTA screening of The Town with Ben Affleck at the Odeon West End in September 2010.

Drawing: Tamara Rojo in Romeo and Juliet

Posted on April 22, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

This is the second sketch of Tamara Rojo, The English National Ballet’s principal dancer and artistic director, signed for me this month. She is reuniting with Cuban star Carlos Acosta for the classic romantic tragedy Romeo + Juliet, (which they last performed in 2011 for the Royal Ballet) at the Royal Albert Hall in June 2014.

Drawing: Jessie Buckley in The Tempest at Shakespeare’s Globe

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Irish singer and actress Jessie Buckley made her Globe debut in April 2013, playing “a tomboyish” Miranda opposite Roger Allam‘s “delicatedly handled” Prospero in The Tempest. The Bard’s last great masterpiece with a modern twist.

Described as “an ambiguous but magical production of Shakespeare’s problem play”. The Stage reviewer Catherine Usher said Jessie’s “energetic, rebellious, vaguely feminist Miranda is very enjoyable.”

Jessie signed my sketch, which I left at The Globe and wrote me a lovely note, appreciating my support and the rendering.

Drawing: Helen Bradbury and William Nicholson in Crash at the West Yorkshire Playhouse

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

British actress Helen Bradbury featured in William Nicholson’s Crash at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in the Autumn of 2010. It was the Tony and Oscar nominated author’s first play in ten years and focuses on the banking crash and its subsequent fallout and blame game.

William’s screenwriting credits include Shadowlands and Gladiator. Helen’s TV CV includes Sherlock, The Borgias and Upstairs Downstairs and appeared in Quartet, directed by Dustin Hoffman. She signed my Crash sketch in the final week of Versailles a the Donmar Warehouse, where one critic called her performance “a striking combination of beauty, pragmatism and idealism”.

Drawing: Gemma Whelan in Dark Vanilla Jungle at the Soho Theatre

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Actress and comedian Gemma Whelan took time out from Game of Thrones to return to the stage. She has just completed a run of Dark Vanilla Jungle at the Soho Theatre as part of the Soho Solo Season. It’s a breathtaking drama about one girl’s craving for family and home and the lengths she will go to to achieve them, by award winning writer Philip Ridley.

“On a Fringe full of powerful monologues, there’s none more shattering in its impact than this blazing new solo drama.”

“A masterpiece… An absolute must-see”

“Riveting… the extraordinary performance of Gemma Whelan… vivid and audacious”.

“Grabs you but he throat and takes you to some nasty places… the sheer velocity is astounding.”

I met Gemma after her final performance at the Soho, where she signed my sketch, which she was obviously happy with.

Drawing: Mark Gatiss

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

An accomplished actor, director, producer, comedian, novelist, screenwriter and playwright, Mark Gatiss is the modern Renaissance man. “I’m all over the TV like a rat,” he said in The Independent, when they listed all his small-screen involvement over the past winter season. He has written for and acted in DOCTOR WHO and SHERLOCK, which he also created and produced with Steven Moffat and is cast as banker Tycho Nestoris in Season 4 of THE GAME OF THRONES. Mark’s latest stage appearance was Menenius in the Donmar’s acclaimed production of CORIOLANUS, opposite Tom Hiddleston. It was his first Shakespearean role since his student days at Bretton Hall drama school in Yorkshire. The RadioTimes said,”… a beautifully modulated performance, provides the voice of reason throughout the play with skill and precision”. With other super turns under his belt-such as his Charles I in Hampstead Theatre’s 55 DAYS last year – Gatiss really is growing in statue as a stage performer”. Mark said he spent a lot of the play saying “calm down”. He was like Geoffrey Howe to Coriolanus’s Thatcher. Both Mark and Tom, in the title role were nominated for Olivier Awards, which were presented at the Royal Opera House last Sunday (13 April,2014). I drew a quick montage of Mark as Menenius and the seventeenth-century British Monarch, which he signed on the red carpet at the ceremony.

Drawing: Barbara Flynn

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The 65 year old veteran actress Barbara Flynn believes there are now more roles than ever for older women. She currently stars in the new ITV British sitcom Pat & Cabbage with Cherie Lunghi. It’s about two newly single women with no intention of growing old gracefully, much to the annoyance of their kids. “I want to look my age, otherwise who’s going to play the old woman?” she was quoted in the Mail.

Throughout her successful career she has tended to play, as she puts it, “feisty strong women,” beginning with A Family At War and including Cracker, The Beiderbeke Trilogy and A Very Peculiar Practice. Many will remember he as the milk delivery lady and Granville’s unrequited love interest in Open All Hours.

But Barbara’s so-called “live-in” face doesn’t look odl at all when you see her in person. As one writer pointed out, “the few lines are mostly made by laughter,” which is what makes her a delight to meet.

I’ve always enjoyed Barbara’s many performances over the years and finally met her after a performance in the final week of the new WWI play Versailles at the Donmar. I had drawn this sketch some time ago from the early eighties and I took the opportunity to have it signed while she was in theatre. “That was a while ago,’ she laughed, “I drew it a while ago.” I replied. She laughed again and happily signed it.