Tag Archives: sketch

Bradley Cooper as The Elephant Man

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bradley cooper

Bradley Cooper returns to the role of disfigured London celebrity Joseph Merrick – better known as The Elephant Man for a three month run on the West End.

Although The Elephant Man is expressionistic in style, it is based on true historical events. Joseph Merrick (referred to as “John” in the play) suffered from a condition that no one had properly recognised. After being toured around the UK and Europe under the not-too-flattering title, he is rescued by surgeon Frederick Treves who studied him at the London Hospital in White Chapel up until Merrick’s death in 1890.

The play, written by Bernard Pomerance, premiered at the Booth Theater on Broadway in April 1979 and returned there for a much-lauded revival last winter. It has garnered 4 Tony Award nominations, including one for Bradley for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. There are also nods for fellow leads, Patricia Clarkson and Alessandro Nivola and for Best Rvival.

As the script instructs, Bradley declines make up and prosthetics. Instead he contorts his body and his face, adding layers of speech as he gulps and gasps to communicate through mishappen lips.

Director Scott Ellis stages an anatomy lesson with Treves addressing his students in front of a full length photograph of the near-naked Merrick and Bradley performs a mimed illustration of the lecture.

In her Variety review, Marilyn Stasio writes : “as Nivola’s Treves dispassionately drones on about his subject’s twisted limbs and misshapen torso, Cooper stands stock still in a cone of light and silently contorts his own perfect body into an approximation of each deformity. The piece de résistance is the depiction of the wide slobbering aperture that is Merrick’s mouth. Shaping his own mouth into a fleshy oval, the thesp gives expressive voice to the sensitive and intelligent human being imprisoned in his own body. It’s a stunning  performance, deeply felt and very moving”.

Bradley returened to normal to greet fans at the stage door barriers on opening night.

Drawing: Alessandro Nivola in The Elephant Man

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alessandro n

Following a highly acclaimed, record breaking run on Broadway, Scott Ellis’ production of Bernard Pomerance’s historical tale The Elephant Man transferred to London’s theatre Royal Haymarket for a 1 2 week season.

The US cast, led by Bradley Cooper, Patricia Clarkson and Alessandro Nivola have all joined the West End run. The play is based on the short life of severely deformed Joseph Merrick in Victorian London.

Alessandro plays the celebrated surgeon Dr Frederick Treves who saves Merrick form living in freak shows and takes him to a private London hospital for ‘rehabilitation’.

“In this version it is Treves to whom we look for emotional complexity. And Nivola delivers it beautifully,” writes Ben Brantley in the New York Times.

Alessandro, Bradley and Patricia have all all been nominated for Tony Awards in next month’s ceremony. I met Alessandro as he was tanking a break from final rehearsal at the Theatre Royal.

He saw the sketch and said “heeeeeeyyyy… nice sketch”. I asked him if they were goring back to New York for the Tony Awards which are on Sunday 7 June and he said they we were.

Patricia Clarkson in The Elephant Man

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Patricia Clarkson The Elephant Man

The 2014 Broadway revival of THE ELEPHANT MAN opened at the Booth Theatre for a 13 week run with Bradley Cooper in the title role, transferring to London’s  Theatre Royal Haymarket this year until early August. The production also featured Patricia Clarkson and Alessandro Nivola also in the lead roles. All three have received Tony nominations for next month’s  Awards ceremony.

Written by American playwright Bernard Pomerance  in 1977, it is based on the real-life story of Joseph (‘John’ in the play) Merrick, a grotesquely deformed young man, who was a freak show attraction in the 19th Century. He is rescued from the squalor by Frederick Treves, a renowned surgeon who offers him shelter and comfort for his short life in a private London hospital.

Patricia plays the high-society English actress Madge Kendal,  who befriends Merrick, helping him to embrace Victorian society before his ailments defeat him. In his Broadway review for The Hollywood Reporter David Rooney wrote about Patricia: “Her tender performance is an exquisite rendering of artful layers, at its most poignant in a scene in which she shows that her humanity trumps her coded sense of property. There’s a lovely, understated erotic tension in her interactions with both Merrick and Treves.”

Patricia’s impressive credentials have made her a very much demand character actor, including diverse roles in THE GREEN MILE (1999), THE STATION AGENT (2003), VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA (2009) and PIECES OF APRIL (2003) for which she received an Oscar and a Golden Globe nomination. On the small screen she won two Emmy Awards for her recurring guest role as the free-spirited  Sarah O’Connor in the TV series SIX FEET UNDER.

I meet Patricia at the Theatre Royal Haymarket’s stage door after the opening performance  on 19 May, where she signed and dedicated my sketch.

 

Sketch: American Buffalo at Wyndham’s Theatre

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American Buffalo

Sheffield Theatre’s Daniel Evans production of David Mamet’s 1970s classic American Buffalo opened at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre last month starring Damian Lewis, John Goodman and Tom Sturridge. The play examines “the fickle nature of humour among theives as three small time crooks plan one big time heist, a tragedy of errors spins this razor sharp and darkly funny play into a blistering account of divided loyalties, insatiable greed and a coveted Buffalo nickel”.

Damian, John and Tom had signed a portrait drawing I did of them after the opening night’s performance. This sketch is more of a character montage, which they also signed for me this week.

Drawing: Georgia Jarman in Król Roger

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Georgia Jarman in Krol Roger

Brilliant American soprano Georgia Jarman made her Royal Opera debut as Roxana in Karol Szymanowski’s masterpiece Król Roger (King Roger) which finished this week. Kasper Holten’s “devastating” production was the first time in almost 40 years that the 1926 Polish opera was on a London stage.

A mysterious shepherd is brought before 12th century King Roger of Sicily. The church officials want him punished for his pagan preaching of love and pleasure but Roger’s Queen Roxana has converted and pleads with her husband to let the shepherd speak. Things fall apart from that point, as the charismatic stranger gains power.

“The singing – notably by Kwiecien, Jarman and Pirgu – is superb” wrote Michael Church in The Independent.

The New York Times even reviewed it, stating, “Georgia Jarman delivered Roxana’s show-stealing coloratura with immaculate style”.

The excellent staff at the Royal Opera House managed to get my sketch to Georgia on the final night, which she signed and added a kind dedication.

Sketch: Clare Higgins and Greg Hicks in Clarion at the Arcola Theatre

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Clare Higgins and Greg Hicks

Multi-award winning actress Clare Higgins recently returned from her completed Broadway run of A Delicate Balance to star in the world premiere of former journo Mark Jagasia’s debut play Clarion for a five week run at the Arcola Theatre in East London.

Clare starred with fellow National Theatre veteran actor Greg Hicks in Arcola Artistic Director Mehmet Ergen’s lively production.

It’s a dark comedy about British media, set in the offices of Britain’s worst newspaper, The Daily Clarion, a toxic tabloid that specialises in sustained anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Greg plays the Clarion’s egomaniacal editor Morris Honeyspoon who spends his weekends dressed as Julius Caesar and Clare is washed up foreign correspondent Verity Stokes, a Fleet Street legend who is, as Michael Billington describes, “less well-preserved than constantly pickled”. He writes, “Jagasia has created a genuine modern monster scorchingly embodied by Hicks”.

Clare said in an interview for The Evening Standard, “it’s a necessary play. It describes what is going on in the underbelly of the pages we flip through every morning. Not only did it make me laugh, it made me think.”

The Arcola Theatre is a studio theatre in Dalston, in the London borough of Hackney. It features two studios seating up to 240 and two rehearsal rooms. It describes itself as “locally engaged and internationally minded” staging a diverse programme of plays, operas and musicals. It also runs a number of community arts activities, including youth drama and a writers programme. TimeOut call it “an undisputed powerhouse,” and the Stage said “the Arcola is one of the great success stories of British theatre” and what’s more their extremely friendly and helpful staff passed my sketch on to Clare and Greg to sign for me.

Sketch: Michael Urie in Buyer and Cellar

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Michael Urie

What would it be like to work in Barbara Streisand‘s personal shopping mall in the basement of her Malibu mansion? That is the subject of American actor Michael Urie’s one man show Buyer and Cellar, which just completed a run at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory, transferring from New York.

From that one quirky but true premise, New York playwright Jonathan Tolins has created an outrageously funny monologue about Alex More – the sole employee in the music legend’s private collections of antiques, clothes, and toys presented in various boutiques… a “dream refuge”.

Alex is “hired to work in the in the mall and describes his journey from mock merchant to Gypsy acting coach via a ‘religious ecstasy’ in front of the  ‘people dress’ through short sharp and wonderfully witty vignettes” describes Ben Hewis in his four star WhatsOnStage review.

Michael portrays every character from the eccentric and authoritative diva herself to her hubby James Brolin and Alex’s head tossing, vindictive boyfriend, Barry.

The New York Times called it “a delicious target for satire… a featherweight but irresistible play about celebrity false bonding, the solitude of uber-fame and the seductive allure of expensive chintz.”

I interrupted Michael as he was pressing the entry code at the Chocolate Factory’s stage door on the final day of his London season. He didn’t mind the interruption and loved the sketch… as you can see by the dedication, before he went out to work in “Babs basement’.

Sketch: Imelda Staunton in Gypsy

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imelda gypsy

Jonathan Kent’s dazzling revival of Julie Styne and Stephen Sondheim’s Gypsy has gathered a galaxy of five star reviews, in particular for Imelda Stunton in the lead role of the legendary Momma Rose.

Transferring from Chichester Festival Theatre, the production has extended its run at London’s Savoy due to huge demand. It is considered by many to be America’s greatest musical, playing Broadway no less than five times, this is the first showing of the celebrated musical in London in over 40 years.

In what Matt Trueman in Variety calls, “a helluva performance… Staunton makes Momma Rose every bit the equal of Willy Loman, Arthur Miller’s doomed salesman, but where he hawks his wares door-to-door, she’s selling her family.”

Tom Eames in Digital Spy simply states “Staunton is ridiculously brilliant as Rose” and Michael Billington in The Guardian says it’s “one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen in musical theatre”.

Sondheim was so impressed with Imelda’s turn as Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd that he insisted she starred as Momma Rose in this revival, often called Broadway’s answer to King Lear, due to Momma Rose’s single minded devotion and delusional attempts to turn her two daughters into vaudeville stars.

When people first see the diminutive Imelda off stage, they are taken aback. One lady whispered to her friend at the stat door after a performance,”how can so much power come out of that tiny person?”

I was told that Imelda was only signing programmes, so out of respect for that I left my sketch with the stage door team with a return envelope. As usual, Imelda sent it back, graphed, a five six star signer.

Sketch: Vote for Me: A Musical Debate

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Vote for me

After an off-Broadway run to packed houses at the Roy Aria’s Stages last summer, Vote For Me – a musicalised presidential debate – hit London this month. The musical was commissioned by Robyn Goodman, the producer of Avenue Q, written by Drew Fornarola and Scott Elmegreen, and directed by Dom O’Hanlon. Candidates dance and sing their way through the three ring circus of American politics and the audience actually cast their votes to help determine the outcome of the show.

The show is staged by The London Theatre Workshop combining commercial theatre, workshops, staged readings and education for up and coming artists and musicians. It’s ‘home’ is a brand new 65 seat studio theatre located above the impressive Eel Brook pub in South West London. It’s an independent theatre company that doesn’t receive funding so is reliant on ticket sales. My wife and I were guests of Official Theatre on the evening of the UK Election, so we got to vote twice that day!

The US presidential race is between Senator Buddy Rounsaville (Hans Rye) and Governor Janet Tilghman (Emily Lynne), supported by their respective spouses Amy (Jennie Jacobs) and Roger (Arvid Larson) and advisor (Joe Leather) and TV host Robyn (Lucy Grainger).

The show is a 90 minute wurlitzer with a cast that is one of the most energetic and enthusiastic I’ve ever seen – both on and off the stage. I drew this sketch after the show and went back before a Sunday matinee ‘cornering’ them going in. They were all very friendly and happily signed the drawing. Life may imitate art with the US Presidential Elections next year and the possibility of Hillary Clinton in the mix.

I even got to chat with Dom the director and the two writers Drew and Scott, who had just flown out from the States for a Q&A. Vote for Me runs until 23 May at London Theatre Workshop, above the Eel Brook pub, near Fulham Broadway station.

Sketch: Finty Williams

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Finty Williams

Tara Cressida Frances “Finty” Williams always seemed destined to have an acting career with both parents – Dame Judi Dench and Michael Williams – well established in the business. In a Telegraph interview Dame Judi said they did try and dissuade Finty from following them, but “Finty is very much her own woman”.

She has appeared on screen with her mother a number of times, including Mrs Brown (1997), The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) and the award winning TV series Cranford  (2007).

I first met Finty at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London when she featured in Alan Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce in October 2009. She played Kate, who WhatsOnStage described as, “a ball of exuberant energy,” which this sketch is based on. Dame Judi and Finty joined an all star cast of 50 in Donmar Warehouse’s The Vote this month. Set in a fictional London polling station during the final ninety minutes before the polls close in this year’s general election, the final performance on the actual polling Day (7 May ) was televised live on More4.

They play, appropriately, mother and daughter who stroll on stage at 9.42pm and remain there for the final 18 minutes until curtain call. Even though things go a little hectic after the election night show, Flinty stopped to sign my sketch for me.