Drawing: Sir Bob Charles

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Sir Bob Charles is a New Zealand sporting hero. His golfing achievements over five decades rank him as one of the most successful left handed players of all time.

He was the first ‘lefty’ to win a major, securing the British Open Championship title in 1963 after a 36 hole playoff with American Phil Rodgers. He is also the first player with a left handed swing elected into Golf’s Hall of Fame, although ironically Sir Bob is actually right handed, except “games requiring two hands”. He came close to winning more major titles with runner-up finishes in The open in 1968 and ’69, the PGA Championship in 1968 and third place in the US Open in 1964 and 1970.

Drawing: John Travolta

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

While the whole film industry congregated next door for the BAFTAs at the Royal Opera House last Sunday afternoon, the dreaded and drying metallic silver marker pen made an unwelcome appearance at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane.

A handful of expectant ‘graphers gathered by one of a dozen possible doors in anticipation of catching ‘Danny Zuko’s’ early arrival for ‘A Conversation with John Travolta’.

A large black Land Rover pulled up, signalling the designated entry point, and like Greased Lightening we quickly slipped into position. Chills weren’t the only thing multiplying as numbers suddenly swelled and it was the quills multiplying…. well, not exactly, but a quill would have been a lot better than the dreaded drying metallic silver marker that belonged to the first person who greeted John with a ‘graph request. He was more than happy to sign as many as possible, but with the wretched rendering instrument, not the one that I want! Ew, ew, ew!

Always remember when ‘graphing, be first in line, or make sure that if you can’t be first, give em a black sharpie!

Drawing: Blanka Vlasic

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Six foot four Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlasic is one of high jump’s most charismatic characters. Named after the city of Casablanca, where her father, Josko (also her coach), won the decathlon gold in the 1983 Mediterranean Games around the time of her birth, Blanka is second in the all time high jump rankings behind the Bulgarian great Stefka Kostadinova.

Unfortunately, illness and injuries have plagued her career, but in spite of this she has fashioned an impressive record since competing in her first Olympic Games in Sydney (2000) at the age of 16. She has won gold twice at both the World and the World Indoor Championships and narrowly missed the Olympic title in Beijin, winning the silver. In 2010 she was named IAAF World Athlete of the Year. She missed the London Olympics in 2012 due to complications after an achilles tendon operation, but is now back competing, beginning with the Gothenburg Meet last Saturday. Blanka signed my sketch at her home club in Split in September 2012.

Drawing: Iain Glen and Richard McCabe in Fortune’s Fool at The Old Vic

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Lucy Bailey’s new staging of Ivan Turgenev’s savagely funny FORTUNE’S FOOL completes its successful season at the Old Vic this week. It featured Iain Glen and Richard McCabe in the lead roles, until the former had to recently leave the production following doctor’s advice. Critics praised the play, with The Observer calling it a “little masterpiece”. It described Iain’s performance as “perfect” and Richard was “magnificent”. Unfortunately, I waited at the stage door with this drawing on the day Iain left the show. Richard, as usual was happy to sign, but I missed Iain and finding out about his illness and subsequent withdrawal presented a different kind of challenge. Rats! Fortunately, I decided to leave it at the Theatre with a note and return envelope in the hope that someone may pass it on to Iain along with a bundle of ‘get well’ cards. And indeed hope sprang eternal… well it sprung a siggy and dedication from the man himself, which arrived by post yesterday.

Drawing: Kevin Spacey and David Troughton in Inherit The Wind

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Trevor Nunn’s INHERIT THE WIND featured Kevin Spacey as Henry Drummond and David Troughton as Matthew Harrison – two legal titans confronting each other with freedom of thought on trial. It’s based on the 1925 ‘Monkey’ trial when science teacher John Scopes was accused of violating Tennessee State law by teaching Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Staged at London’s Old Vic, Kevin and David kindly blue-biroed my black biro sketch in the autumn of 2009.

Drawing: Eve Best and Charles Edwards in Much Ado About Nothing at The Globe

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Eve Best and Charles Edwards played the perfect Beatrice and Benedick in Shakespeare’s 1599 comedic play Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe in mid 2011, signing my quick biro sketch with a thin red fineliner

Drawing: Emilia Fox and Emma Fielding in Rapture, Blister, Burn

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Gina Gionfriddo’s Rapture, Blister, Burn is currently in season at the Hampstead Theatre, directed by Peter DuBois. After University, Catherine and Gwen chose opposite paths. Catherine becomes a high flying academic and author, while Gwen builds a home with a husband and children. Decades later, each woman covets the other’s life. It’s a dissection of modern gender politics in a virtuosic comedy. It received four stars from The Times, Evening Standard, Telegraph, Independent and Time Out. Emilia Fox and Emma Fielding play Catherine and Gwen respectively. Both signed the drawing at the theatre last. The play continues until 22 February 2014.

Drawing: Jude Law and Jessie Buckley in Henry V at The Noël Coward Theatre

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The inaugural season of work for the Michael Grandage Company at the Noel Coward Theatre comprising of five productions ended with the final performance of Henry V, starring Jude Law as the national hero, come war criminal monarch.

After a pioneering 15 month season, the star-studded team played to 390,000 people, with a quarter of the tickets sold for £10. At the heart of the Company’s philosophy was to offer affordable seats to attract a new generation of fans. A third were bought by first time theatre goers.

Jude was the last big draw, in a season that included Simon Russell Beale, Dame Judi Dench, Ben Whishaw, Sheridan Smith and David Walliams. On the final night he and Jessie Buckley (Princess Katharine) signed my sketch.

Drawing: Bertie Carvel as “The Trunch” in Matilda – The Musical

Posted on February 15, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Roald Dahl’s Matilda – The Musical won a record seven Olivier Awards in 2012, including Best Actor in a Musical for Bertie Carvel, playing the hammer-throwing schoolmarm Miss Trunchbull.

After a 12 week stint at Stratford-Upon-Avon, Matilda transferred to the Cambridge Theatre in the West End in November 2011.

He reprised the role on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre, earning a Tony nomination. Bertie performed 650 show-stealing turns as the despot with a colossal bosom and hunchback who lived by the motto: Bambinatum est maggitum (children are maggots)

Drawing: Imelda Staunton in A Delicate Balance at The Almeida Theatre

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

A Delicate Balance won Edward Albee his first Pulitzer Prize in 1967, followed by the more commercially successful Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

The Almeida Theatre’s revival in the summer of 2011 featured Imelda Staunton as the drunken Sister Claire – “Vodka? Sunday? Ten-to-eight? Well, why the hell not.”

This ‘country comedy’ explores the “secret terror that lurks beneath the bland routines of bourgeois life.” Imelda’s performance, as usual, attracted rave reviews. She signed my sketch at the final matinee on the 2nd of July.

My sketch of Imelda in Sweeney Todd is here.