Tennis player Rafael Nadal signed my sketches yesterday, as he left the O2 Arena in London after winning his opening match at the Barclays ATP World Tennis Finals, beating fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.
Drawing: Rafael Nadal
7
Tag Archives: Chicane
Drawing: Laura Carmichael in Uncle Vanya at the Vaudeville Theatre
Laura Carmichael, best known for her role as Lady Edith Crawly in the Golden Globe and Emmy award winning historical drama Downton Abbey, made her West End debut in the new production of Uncle Vanya at the Vaudeville Theatre.
She joined Kim Stott, Anna Friel and Samuel West.
Laura’s other television and film credits include The Heart of Thomas Hardy and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
2012 was certainly the year of Uncle Vanya revivals. A very funny and mercurial account of Chekhov’s great tragicomedy of wasted lives, directed by Lucy Bailey at the Print Room, and a more melancholic take from Jeremy Herrin at Chichester. In November, opening within days of each other, two ‘Vanyas‘ hit the West End. A version from Moscow based Vakhtangov Company at the Noël Coward Theatre and Lindsay Posner’s rendering at the Vaudeville, based on a sharp, ruefully witty translation by Oscar Winner Christopher Hampton.
Theatrical titan Sir Peter Hall enjoyed the evening and Laura’s performance immensely, but had to apologise to her for an outburst during the poignant closing speech, during the opening night. “Being rather aged I dropped off for a moment and on being woken up by my wife I was briefly disorientated.”
The production generally garnered positive reviews with the 25 year old Laura’s performance as Vanya’s niece Sonya singled out for praise for its sensitivity.
Drawing: Mary-Louise Parker in Proof on Broadway
Mary-Louise Parker is no stranger to screen and stage acting awards – in 2003 she won both a Golden Globe and an Emmy for Supporting Actress in Angels In America. She won a Tony Award for Proof in 2001 and in 2006 another Golden Globe for Best Actress in Needs.
Proof is a 2000 play by American writer David Auburn. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony Award for Best Play. It premiered off Broadway in May 2000, before transferring to the Walter Kerr Theater in October that year.
Mary-Louise played Catherine, the daughter of a deceased mathematical genius and Professor at the University of Chicago, who struggled with mental illness. After his death, one of his students finds his ‘proof’ for a paradigm shift involving prime numbers. Catherine has to prove her father is the author amongst fears of following in her father’s footsteps, both mathematically and mentally.
Mary-Louise signed my sketch at the European Premiere of Red 2, Empire Cinema in Leicester Square, London, on the 22nd July 2013.
Movember!
A couple of years ago I entered a t-shirt design competition at Spunky, and this design was made into t-shirts:
Here are my other entries:
Drawing: Laurie Metcalf
American actress Laurie Metcalf played Jackie Harris in the sitcom Roseanne, which ran for 221 episodes from 1988-97. She won three consecutive Emmy Awards (1992-94) and was nominated for two Golden Globes for her performance in the role. She has also appeared in Desperate Housewives, The Big Bang Theory. She has won both a Theatre World Award and an Obie Award for her work on stage.
In 2012, she joined David Suchet in Eugene O’Neills Long Day’s Journey Into Night at London’s Apollo Theatre.
Laurie signed my sketch at the Apollo Theatre stage door in July 2012.
Drawing: Brooke Shields
When Brooke Shields was only 5 days old, her mother, Teri, openly stated that she was grooming her for show business. Eleven months later, Brooke modelled for Ivory Soap. As a twelve year old she won critical acclaim in Louis Malle’s film Pretty Baby, playing a child prostitute. In 2009 a naked photo of her, taken when she was 10 was included in an exhibition of works by Richard Prince at the Tate Modern. It was removed after a police warning. By the time she was 16, Brooke was one of the most recognisable faces in the world, due to dual careers as a provocative fashion model and as a child actress.
In 1983, she abandoned her acting and modelling to complete a Bachelor’s degree in French literature a Princeton University. She returned to acting in the 1990s, including a four season run in the titular role of the TV sitcom Suddenly Susan (1996-2000), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
Brooke has appeared in several Broadway productions, including revivals of Grease (1999), Cabaret (2001), and as Roxie Hart in Chicago (2005), a role she previously played at the Adelphi Theatre in London’s West End a year earlier.
Brooke signed my sketch at Barnes and Noble Tribeca in New York on 24 June 2008. She was doing a signing for her book Welcome to Your World, Baby.
Drawing: Cillian Murphy in Misterman at The National Theatre
After a year and a half trying, I finally managed to get Cillian Murphy (pronounced Kil-ian, not Sil-ian as a fellow collector warned me – an error I and many others have made) to sign a sketch for me. He is a fiercely private person who shirks celebrity status. The Cork-born, former law student and rock musician is also known for his distinctive eyes and chameleonic performances in diverse roles.
In 2011 Cillian performed in the monodrama Misterman, written and directed by Enda Walsh. After playing to packed audiences and rave reviews in Ireland and New York, it transferred to the Lyttleton stage at the National Theatre in London n 2012.
Misterman is a physically demanding one man performance on a vast set. Cillian plays Thomas Magill – a crazed small town preacher who has fled the town and is holed up in an unused depot in the countryside, existing on Fanta and Jammie Dodgers. The unhinged evangelist has made a row of crosses out of flattened Fanta and surrounded himself with several ancient tape recorders, out of which come several disturbing voices that tell a fractured story of a single day’s events. Cillian won the Irish Theatre Award and a Drama Desk Award for his performance.
In April 2012 I left a sketch at the National Theatre for Cillian to sign after him a couple of times at the stage door. Subsequently I was in the wrong place at the right time at a couple of premieres Cillian attended. So, I redrew another sketch and sent it to his London agent. Come 26 October 2013 nothing had materialised. On that evening he was due to introduce the film that inspired him at the BFI in London as part of their Screen Epiphanies series. The film was Jerry Schatzberg’s Scarecrow, with Al Pacino and Gene Hackman. It won the Grand Prix at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival. Maybe no coincidence he plays the DC comics super villain Dr Jonathan Crane – alias ‘The Scarecrow’ in the last two Batman films.
The same collector who gave me pronunciation advice also said Cillian turned up three hours earlier last time. 8.45pm minus 3 hours = 5.45pm. I made my was to the BFI on London’s Southbank at 4pm and ensconced myself in a corner and waited. At 8.15pm he arrived through the front and quickly headed for the Green Room. Only a phone call halted his progress… and a handful of ‘graphers. He was happy to sign and dedicate the fourth sketch before he slipped into the safety of the Green Room – well worth the wait.
Drawing: Montserrat Lombard in Barking in Essex at Wyndham’s Theatre
Montserrat Lombard is “an interesting name,” I said, when she signed it on my sketch. “It’s Spanish,” the English-born actress replied.
Montserrat – a Caribbean island with a once dormant volcano erupting, forcing two thirds of its population to flee; or a multi-peaked mountain near Barcelona? Probably the latter. Close. In fact, her Spanish father named her after the Barcelonian opera legend Montserrat Cabellé.
Lombad – from Lombardy, the region in Northern Italy. Her mother is Italian, so she’s half Spanish, half Italian. She’s also best known as policewoman Sharon ‘Shaz’ Granger in the BBC Drama series Ashes to Ashes, plus roles in a variety of television shows and films such as St Trinians 2 and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
In September this year, Montserrat made her professional stage debut in the World Premiere of the crime caper Barking in Essex at Wyndham’s Theatre in London. She plays Allegra Tennyson (an equally interesting name) a lawyer trying to sort out the Packer family, a dysfunctional Essex brood played by Lee Evans, Sheila Hancock and her Ashes to Ashes co-star, Keeley Hawes. The black comedy runs until 4 January 2014.
Drawing: Mojo, starring Brendan Coyle, Rupert Grint, Daniel Mays, Ben Whishaw, Colin Morgan and Tom Rhys Harries
The first major revival of Jez Butterworth’s Olivier award-winning black comedy Mojo is currently in previews at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London. The original production directed by Ian Rickson opened at the Royal Court Theatre in July 1995 prior to a sell out West End run in 1996.
Two of Britain’s great theatre collaborators, Jez and Ian reunite for this staging after their hit sensation Jerusalem and the critically acclaimed The River in recent years. A subsequent film adaption featuring Harold Pinter himself, was directed by Jez in 1997.
Set against the fledgling rock’n’roll scene of 1950’s Soho, the savagely funny play delves into the sleazy underworld and power games of London’s most infamous district. It features a stellar ensemble cast, Brendan Coyle, Rupert Grint (making his stage debut), Daniel Mays, Ben Whishaw, Colin Morgan and Tom Rhys Harries. The first performance was on Saturday evening (26 October) which I was lucky enough to get a £10 ticket for (standing in the balcony). I returned on Monday with my sketch which all the cast signed at the stage door. Mojo opens 13 November and will run to 25 January 2014.
Drawings: Tuppence Middleton
Actress Tuppence Middleton has a peculiar rare medical condition that allows her eyes to change colour of their own accord. They range from yellow to hazel, or green. She also collects stuffed animals.
Her mother was nicknamed ‘Tuppence’ as a small girl by her grandmother, so ‘Tuppence’ was christened with the moniker.
“It’s come in handy,” she said, “I haven’t met another Tuppence so far, so people remember it.” She made an impact recently in Danny Boyle‘s Trance, as the girl locked inside James McAvoy‘s past. Her first London theatre engagement was a rare revival of Graham Greene’s The Living Room at the Jermyn Street Theatre in early 2013, where she signed my sketches.
ChicanePictures 