Drawing: Pádraic Delaney and Gary Lilburn in The Cripple of Inishmaan

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Pádraic Delaney and Gary Lilburn complete my set of The Cripple of Inishmaan sketches. The third in the series of Michael Grandage’s five plays at the Noël Coward Theatre in London. It transfers for a Broadway run in April.

Pádraic international breakthrough came in 2006 as Irish revolutionary Teddy O’Donovan in Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes The Barley, which won the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He followed up his role in Inishmaan with a consecutive shift in the following Michael Grandage Company play A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the twin roles of Oberon and Thesus.

Gary can currently be seen in the critically acclaimed Oscar nominated Philomena with Judi Dench

Drawing: Calendar Girls, starring Lesley Joseph, Kacey Ainsworth, Camilla Dallerup, Helen Fraser, Sue Holderess, Deena Payne, Kathryn Rooney and Ruth Madoc

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Tim Firth adapted his screenplay for the highly successful comedy Calendar Girls for a stage version in 2008. Based on a true story about a group of Yorkshire women who produce a nude calendar to raise funds for Leukaemia Research, the film starred Helen Mirren and Julie Walters.

After playing to sell out audiences at the Chichester Festival Theatre, and a lengthy national tour, it previewed at the Noel Coward Theatre in the West End in April 2009. After a run of nearly a year and numerous cast changes it embarked on a second national tour. I drew the cast near the end of its run, which included Lesley Joseph, Kacey Ainsworth, Camilla Dallerup, Helen Fraser, Sue Holderess, Deena Payne, Kathryn Rooney and Ruth Madoc, who all signed my sketch at the Buxton Opera House, strangely enough in Buxton, in November 2012.

Drawing: Kelly Brook in Calendar Girls

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Model, actress and TV presenter Kelly Brook signed this quick sketch for me at the Noël Coward Theatre stage door during her season in Calendar Girls in November 2009. It would be fair to say that the costume crew weren’t overly worked during their production…

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

Posted on November 29, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The final play in the Michael Grandage season at the Noël Coward Theatre is Henry V, starring Jude Law. Jude signed and dedicated my drawing on Wednesday night, after a preview performance of Henry V.

Drawing: Sheridan Smith and David Walliams in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Noël Coward Theatre

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

For our wedding anniversary each year my wife Frankie and I celebrate with a little Shakespeare. Last year we saw Mark Rylance and Stephen Fry in Twelfth Night at the Apollo Theatre. This year the Winters saw A Midsummers Night’s Dream at the Noël Coward Theatre with Sheridan Smith as Titania and David Walliams in the ‘Bottom’ role. I did this quick sketch before hand, but on the anniversary evening Sheridan was “indisposed,” so we didn’t see her on stage.

David was happy to sign after the performance. I went back a week later and Sheridan, as usual was delightful. She loved the drawing and thanked me for taking the time to come back and was pleased to sign it.

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.