Drawing: David Troughton in Goodnight Mister Tom

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

David Troughton

Veteran stage and screen actor David Troughton returned to the West End to play the title character, elderly recluse Tom Oakley in the stage version of Michelle Magorian’s 1998 novel GOODNIGHT MISTER TOM. The Olivier Award-winning 2011 Chichester Festival Theatre production, adapted by David Wood. originally transferred to the Phoenix Theatre in November 2012 for a nine week run.

During the dangerous build-up to the Second World War, GOODNIGHT MISTER TOM follows young William Beech’s evacuation to the idyllic English countryside where he forms a remarkable and heart warming friendship with the curmudgeon Tom.

David’s such a wonderful character actor. I remember seeing him in INHERIT THE WIND, opposite Kevin Spacey at the Old Vic in 2009. Both actors signed a sketch for me. This drawing of David’s ‘Tom’ was signed on the last day at the Duke of York’s before the production moved to Manchester to start the 2016 UK Tour.

Drawing: Jeremy Secomb as Phantom and Javert in the same week

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Jeremy Secomb

One of my ‘brain gone, leaving no forwarding address’ moments occurred a few weeks back when I was speaking to Ben Forster as he signed my ELF sketch on the final day of it’s run at the Dominion Theatre. Given my many moons involvement in theatre, both on, off and in between stages, I said something so profoundly stupid yet, by a twist of fate I almost redeemed myself. Bear with me.

I asked Ben what he was doing next and he said PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.
‘Which part?” I asked.
“The Phantom” he replied.
“Oh the big one.”
“Yes the big one.”
This is when my wires crossed and I asked,
“Is Jermey Secomb still playing Javert?”
“That’s LES MISERABLES,” he said in his usual very nice manner.
Half mask, brain at half-mast, half wit… find a hole to disappear down.

Anyway this week the moons all lined and some theatrical lunacy occurred that in a perverse way vindicated my stupidly, in my own mind at least. Ben, as the lead Phantom was injured, Scott Davis the standby and Kieran Brown understudy were unavailable, so all of a sudden PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, one of the West End’s major musicals was just…’of the Opera.’

Step in Jeremy, aka Javert, the emergency Phantom, who was familiar with the role, having played it many times around the globe and previously at Her Majesty’s. He literally leaped form the barricades at the Queen’s Theatre down the Haymarket to the secret lair, at the last minute to save the day. Slightly dramatic, but you get the picture.

I just had to do this sketch of Jeremy, who I had previously drawn as SWEENEY TODD and get it signed to commemorate the occasion. On Saturday I headed out on my vindication venture, but which role was he doing and at which royally-named theatre? I found out he was back on the barricades at Queen’s and showed him this is a little tribute to his brilliance professionalism and Antipodean versatility He remembered my Sweeney sketch and was pleased to be able to graph it for me. My rendered redemption was complete… sort of. Jeremy Secomb was Javert, who played the Phantom. You get the picture.

Drawing: The Mother at the Tricycle Theatre

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The Mother

The Freudian drama, THE MOTHER is Florian Zeller’s companion piece to THE FATHER, the French dramatists’ brilliant tale of an old man with Alzheimer’s, which transferred from Kilburn’s Tricycle Theatre to the West End last year, and is due to return this month.
The follow-up Royal Theatre Bath production is on transfer to the Tricycle from its Ustinov Studio and looks likely to also make it to the West End after it completes it’s sell-out run at the North London venue in early March. Both plays have been translated into English by Christopher Hampton.

THE MOTHER is a haunting portrait of Anne, (Gina McKee) a mother losing her grip. Her sense of reality is under attack as her fear of slipping into the void once she’s no longer needed takes hold. The children have left the nest and her 25 year-old marriage to Peter, (Richard Clothier) is crumbling as he spends all his time at work and probably sleeping with his secretary. Her son Nicholas (William Postlethwaite) and his racy girlfriend Elodie (Frances McNamee) complete the quartet. Is his appearance part of a regular apparition or does he actually visit? “This time, he’s here,” Anne cries.

The ArtsDesk critic Marianka Swain described Gina’s portrayal of a mother’s primal grief as, “riveting…. as she ricochets between vicious barbs and defeated slumps, giddy elation and despairing vulnerability”.

I managed to catch-up with Richard and William before a Saturday matinee in my attempt to get this sketch signed by all four cast members. They very kindly said they would get it done for me and so they did.

Drawing: Torvill and Dean in Cinderella

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Torvill and Dean

International ice icons Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean made their pantomime debut over the festive season in CINDERELLA at the Manchester Opera House, playing the fairy godparents, Queen Juniper and King Crispin, a slight deviation from the traditional tale. It was still the familiar Cinders story though, with an icy twist… well not real ice, but it looked like ice and Jayne and Christopher used roller skates rather than the ice versions, but their routines were just as immaculate and amazing.

It’s been over 30 years since the pair shot to International fame, becoming the highest scoring figure skaters of all time and providing one of the most memorable sporting and entertainment moments, skating to Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo to win the gold medal.

For the past decade they have been involved with ITV’s DANCING ON ICE.
“This is our first pantomime,” said Jayne in an interview prior to the Christmas run, “…and something we have been wanting to do for some time.”

I didn’t get to Manchester to catch their performance live, but by all accounts Britain’s most loved sporting heroes impressed in their first ever panto. My drawing however got to them in person at the venue and immediately came back signed.

Drawing: Alistair McGowan in 4000 Days

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Alistair McGowan

There’s not much Alistair McGowan hasn’t done when you skim through his bio. The English impressionist, comic, actor, singer, sports commentator, environmentalist, political activist and writer seems to have done everything in his 51 years on the planet… oh except sign one of my sketches. I gave him a chance to add that to his impressive CV during his run in 4000 DAYS at the Park Theatre.

Alistair’s life is a rich and varied tapestry from starring in the BBC’s top-rated THE BIG IMPRESSION for many years, winning a BAFTA in 2003, to stage work, including Shakespeare to an Olivier Award nomination for his role as Orin the Dentist in the Menier Chocolate Factory’s revival of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, which transferred to the West End in 2007. He has hosted LIVE AT THE APOLLO and provided voices for the cult TV series SPITTING IMAGE. In 2011 he did commentary at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships for the BBC. In partnership with three other Greenpeace activists, including Emma Thompson. Alistair, a World Wildlife Fund-UK ambassador, bought some land in 2009, near Sipson in Middlesex, a village under threat from the proposed third runway for Heathrow Airport to prevent it’s expansion. I could go on, but you get the picture.

Continuing to extend his theatrical range, Alistair recently returned to the new, intimate Park Theatre in North London, where he last portrayed media personality and predatory sex offender Jimmy Savile to critical acclaim. This time he played Michael, a man who wakes up from a coma caused by a brain haemorrhage without any memory of the past 11 years in Peter Quilter’s new play 4000 DAYS. His character is at the centre of a struggle between his boyfriend Paul and Michael’s formidable, thrice-married mother Carol. Critic Dominic Cavendish described Alistair’s performance as exerting ” a strange, magnetic appeal.”

As the celebrated playwright and screenwriter Anita Loos once said “Memory is more indelible than ink.” Alistair remembered his name and inked my sketch with a less indelible but old-fashioned black biro.

Drawing: The Homecoming at the Trafalgar Studios

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The Homecoming

Fifty years after it premiered in London, director Jamie Lloyd staged the anniversary production of Harold Pinter’s THE HOMECOMING at the Trafalgar Studios over the last three months. Considered by many to be the English playwright’s masterpiece, the play opened at the Aldwych Theatre in June 1965, before its Broadway premiere two years later at The Music Box.

The story revolves around a villainous family and an unexpected reunion. This domestic war zone is inhabited by six characters, five of whom are male and related. Prodigal son and Philosophy Professor Teddy (Gary Kemp) returns home from America with his pretty but disturbed wife Ruth (Gemma Chan) to his grotty North London home, where retired butcher and fading family patriarch, (or as critic Dominic Cavendish calls him ‘paterfamilias’) Max (Ron Cook) exists with his camp chauffeur brother Sam (Keith Allen) and two sons, the quick-witted and toxic pimp Lenny (John Simm) and the dim-witted demolition man and boxer-in-training Joey (John Macmillan).

“Jamie Lloyd’s excellent revival offers a fresh approach to the play without in any way violating the rhythms of Pinter’s text,” wrote Michael Billington in The Guardian.

This montage sketch took a few attempts to get graphed. Between the inclement weather, cast illness and exit variations, I eventually managed to get it all sorted after the final matinee on Saturday.

Drawing: Jon Jon Briones in Miss Saigon

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Jon Jon Briones

Manila-born Jon Jon Briones was only 22 when he came to London’s Drury Lane in 1989 to be part of the original ensemble of the hit musical MISS SAIGON. Now, twenty-five years later, he has returned in the lead role as the Engineer in the show’s revival which completes its run at the Prince Edward Theatre this month. His is a true ‘rags to riches’ story.

“I had never before spoken English and there I was, living in my own apartment and earning money and appearing on the West End.”

Having played the Engineer in Germany, on the US, Asian and UK tours and in his native Philipines, Los Angeles-based Jon Jon slipped across the Atlantic take on the part for the latest West End engagement, which began in May 2014.

Being part of the original production, Jon Jon worked with the great Jonathan Pryce, who originated the role of the Engineer. “He basically provided the blueprint for all the Engineers to follow” said Jon Jon when asked about his inspiration. “I really love what he did and I was privileged to have watched it take shape,” but he has also added some of his own interpretation. “My take is darker than usual,” he said.

“Growing up in a very poor part of the Philippines, I was constantly confronted with people who struggled through life, people who were completely desperate. As an actor, these first hand experiences have proven to be vital in getting the characters desperation across to the audience every night.”

He’s obviously got the formula right with by the critics and the audience, winning a WhatsOnStage Award and a nomination for an Olivier.

Drawing: Jeff Wayne in The War of the Worlds

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Jeff Wayne

” No one would have believed…” are the opening lines in Jeff Wayne’s musical version of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. I got the chance to meet the American composer, who conducts the live orchestra on stage, during previews for the West End premiere of the reimagined production about the invasion of the earth by ruthless Martians at London’s Dominion Theatre last week.

The original 1978 concept album became a global music phenomenon. Adapted from English author H.G Wells’ 1897 sci-fi novel, it was one of the first stories to detail a conflict between mankind and an extraterrestrial race. Jeff’s musical reached the Top 10 in 22 countries and in eleven it was number one. It picked up many accolades including two Ivor Novello Awards, whose judges included Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Alfred Hitchcock. In 2009 it was listed as the 39th best-selling album of all time in the UK.

On the original recording, Richard Burton plays the Journalist/Narrator, which I said to Jeff, must have been a great experience. He acknowledged that and said he had been privileged to work with a lot of great people on the project. In an interview Jeff said his first choice for the narrator was always Richard, because “his voice was like a musical instrument.” He wrote to him in 1975 when the legendary actor was playing EQUUS on Broadway and received a call a few days latter. He loved the concept and said “Count me in dear boy”.

When I asked Jeff to sign my sketch I specifically asked if he could please add the Martian war cry “ULLA!” which he was happy to do, “OK, but first I’m going to write something else”, and inscribed Richard Burton’s opening lines from the intro tune, ‘The Eve of the War.’ Very cool.

Drawing: Lisa Batiashvili

Posted on February 13, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Lisa Batiashvili

The popular Georgian-born violinist Lisa Batiashvili is in demand with all the world’s leading Orchestras. Named ‘Musical America’s’ 2015 Instrumentalist of the Year, she has been artist-in-residence with the New York Philharmonic and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich among others.

Last Summer she ‘stole the show’ when the Philadelphia Orchestra played two concerts on the last leg of its European Tour at the Royal Festival Hall. When Lisa joined the distinguished orchestra for Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto, Telegraph critic John Allison described it as “a performance better than any I have ever heard of this work – indeed a performance that must have left many wondering whether they had ever heard the violin quite so mesmerisingly played”.

She returned to the Royal Festival Hall last week with the London Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the SHAKESPEARE 400 series, celebrating the Bard’s influence on four centuries of music and also finding a few moments to sign my sketch.

Drawing: Michael Praed in The White Carnation

Posted on February 12, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Michael Praed

I first saw Michael Praed on stage at the Comedy Theatre in 1994 in Daphne du Mauriers’s SEPTEMBER TIDE. He starred opposite the late Susannah York in a production that still rates as one of my favourites. I mentioned this to Michael last night in the dimly-lit stage door area of London’s Dominion Theatre where he is in previews for Jeff Wayne’s musical version of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS.

TV viewers will be familiar with Michael as, in the words of Telegraph critic Tim Walker, ‘the once smouldering star’ of the Eighties hits series’ ROBIN OF SHERWOOD and DYNASTY. He has forged a versatile stage career in both musicals and plays.

In 2014 he appeared in the first revival since it’s 1953 premiere of R.C. Sherriff’s supernatural drama THE WHITE CARNATION at London’s Jermyn St Theatre, after a sell-out run at the Finborough Theatre. Walker described his portrayal of John Greenwood, a man everyone thought was dead but suddenly comes back to life, as marking “Michael Praed’s transition from sex symbol to serious stage actor.” Fellow scribe, Dominic Cavendish wrote, “What a neglected little treasure it prove; not life-changing maybe, but life-affecting.”

I drew this sketch of Michael in the ‘ghost’ role and that was the reason I was lurking with a sharpie in the dimly-lit Dominion Theatre stage door area. I didn’t see him leaving after the matinee and he had actually gone past me, but turned to enquire if I wanted something signed. How polite. I must have had ‘that’ look, one that I have been cultivating over many years. Probably helps holding a drawing and a pen. Big clue. Michael has one of the most beautiful sigs, with crafted and distinctive handwriting, as you can see, it’s a piece of artwork itself. I did do another drawing ages ago of him in SEPTEMBER TIDE which I might find and pay another visit to the dimly-lit Dominion Theatre stage door.