Tag Archives: Theatre

Drawing: Lily James in Romeo and Juliet

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Lily James

Young English actress Lily James’s star continues its meteoric rise with the title role in Shakespeare’s tragic tale of young star-crossed lovers, ROMEO AND JULIET as part of Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company’s Plays at the Garrick season in London.

Already well known for her roles are Lady Rose Aldridge in ITV’s period drama DOWNTON ABBEY, for which she and the ensemble cast have won two Screen Actors Guild Awards and this year’s BBC drama series WAR & PEACE, Lily is no stranger to the stage. After graduating from London’s The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2010 she quickly appeared in a variety of prominent plays, including the modern version of Chekhov’s THE SEAGULL at the Southwark Playhouse and as Desdemona in OTHELLO alongside Dominic West at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. The Daily Mail’s Quentin Lett’s wrote “…she practically sweeps all before her as Desdemona, poise, diction, allure – she has them all.”

I managed to position myself in a good place at the Garrick’s stage door barriers after the first night performance last Thursday, where initially two security officers were in attendance and soon joined by a third after he had finished his duties at Kit Harington‘s meet-and-greet one street over at the Duke of York’s. Obviously they were anticipating a large gathering and that proved to be the case. Eventually, both Lily and her ‘Romeo’, Richard Madden, who was also her Prince Kit in Disney’s 2015 live-action version of CINDERELLA appeared and Lily signed and dedicated this sketch for me.

Drawing: David Benson and Alice McCarthy in Boris: World King

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Boris World King

Boris Johnson’s eight year term as London’s Mayor ended last week, but at the Trafalgar Studios he has assumed the mantle, ‘World King”… well at least for 80 minutes, (no interval) in the smash hit play, BORIS: WORLD KING.

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is one of the most controversial figures in British politics and journalism, ideal for a bit of satire. After a sell out run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival,  the production relocated for a four-week transfer at the West End venue.  Impressions master David Benson plays the bumbling Boris and Alice McCarthy is his long-suffering assistant Helen.

“Buffoonery conceals the dark heart of the London mayor in Tom Crawshaw’s mischievous and unsettling Boris-bio,” wrote Stewart Pringle in his four-star review for the The Stage.

David and Alice signed my sketch at the Trafalgar Studios last week. The play finished on Saturday. Boris may last a little longer.

Drawing: Clare Holman in The Master And Margarita

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Clare Holman
British actress Clare Holman’s prolific career includes both a wide variety of stage and screen appearances, but she is probably best known as the forensic anthologist Dr Laura Hobson in the ITV crime dramas INSPECTOR MORSE and its spin-off LEWIS, spanning twenty years from 1995 to 2015.

On stage Clare was nominated for an Olivier Award for her supporting role as Honey in WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINA WOOLF? in 1996 at the Aldwych Theatre in London’s West End. She received unanimous critical acclaim as the passionate heroine in the Faustian tragicomedy THE MASTER AND MARGARITA alongside Samuel West. The production, which premiered in 2004 at the Chichester Festival Theatre is based on Russian writer Mikhail Bulgarkov’s epic novel about the devil making an unscheduled visit to Stalinist Moscow as an expert in black magic. The astute stage adaption by Edward Kemp was directed by Steven Pimlott. Paul Taylor in his Independent review described Clare’s performance as “wonderfully ardent”.

In a recent interview Clare said she receives ‘masses’ of fan mail so I added this drawing to the pile and thankfully it was returned signed and dedicated.

Drawing: Lauren Herley from Circa

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Lauren Herley

“I enjoy risk and the beauty of pain,” said ‘corde lisse’ (vertical rope) artist, contortionist, hand-balancer, acrobat… in short, circus artiste Lauren Herley, a member of the Internationally acclaimed Australian contemporary circus company CIRCA, which has returned to London this month with Its latest show, CLOSER as part of the infamous Udderbelly Festival.

Seattle-born Lauren trained at the National Circus School of Montreal. After graduating she become an original cast and creation member of Cirkopolis by Cirque Eloize, touring Europe, North America and Mexico. Since then she has worked with a number of universal circus groups including Nord Nord Est, Les7 Doights de la Main and Circque de Soleil and has taken part in large events such as the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. In 2014 she was part of the Broadway cast of PIPPIN THE MUSICAL.

Last  year she joined Circa at their training centre and studio in Brisbane under the direction of Yaron Lifschitz. Described as “The rock stars of the circus world” who push the boundary of circus art, blurring the lines between movement, dance, theatre and circus, with different casts performing simultaneously around the world. Last night they not only played London but also Santa Monica and Bologna.

CLOSER was commissioned for Udderbelly’s distinctive upside-down purple cow is an exhilarating journey to reveal the extremes and limitations of the human body in intimate encounter and runs until 12 June.

I left this drawing at the inverted iconic plastic plum ungulate and Lauren retuned it signed with a nice note.

Drawing: F. Murray Abraham in The Merchant of Venice and Galileo

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F Murray Abraham

F. Murray Abraham grew up in El Paso, Texas and was a gang member before becoming one of the most respected character actors of his generation, after his high school teacher introduced him to acting.

Since winning Hollywood’s piece de resistance, the Academy Award for his career-defining portrayal of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s bitter rival Antonio Salieri, in Milos Forman’s 1984 Best Picture, AMADEUS, he has mainly focused on classical theatre and some TV, including the award-winning series HOMELAND, collecting Emmy and SAG Award nominations.

Two of his acclaimed stage roles have been Shylock in an Off Broadway production of Shakespeare’s MERCHANT OF VENICE in 2011 and the title character in Bertolt Brecht’s GALILEO at the Classic Stage Company the following year. He reprised his Shylock role replacing Al Pacino in the Public Theatre production.

F. Murray returned to the Classic Theatre Company in New York this month in NATHAN THE WISE, which gave me the perfect opportunity to send this sketch for signing.

Drawing: Bette Midler in I’ll Eat You Last

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Bette Midler

Showbiz icon Bette Midler returned to Broadway in 2013 to play her late friend, the legendary super-agent who ruled Hollywood during the 1970’s Sue Mengers, in John Logan’s I’LL EAT YOU LAST at the Booth Theatre.

I drew this drawing of Bette in the role and managed to get it to ‘The Divine Miss M’ when she toured the UK last July. Nothing came back, so I assumed it was assigned to the round file or left unopened along with zillions of other fan mail. When it arrived through the post last month I was very happy… for a brief moment, until I realised it was probably a ‘secretarial’.

This is a term used in the ‘graph business for signatures by authorised personnel but not the authentic autograph of the celebrity. It’s one of the disappointing aspects of collecting, one which I have experienced on a few occasions. All the more reason to try and get a graph in person. Bette does sign in person and did so at the stage door, but through the mail is a different matter. Bette’s original graph is more ‘energetic’ and her ‘M’ is more divine, without a loop as it darts across from crossing the ‘t’s’. I checked exemplars of her authentic graph and the secretarial versions and this one, sadly, looks like the latter. I’ll just have to catch her in person next year when she takes the lead role in the Broadway revival of HELLO DOLLY or pops back to Britain.

Drawing: Ron Cook in Trelawny of the Wells

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Ron Cook

Patrick Marber’s adaption of Pinero’s ‘ love letter to theatre,’ TRELAWNY OF THE WELLS, directed by Joe Wright in the early Spring of 2013, at the Donmar Warehouse in London’s Covent Garden. Included in the outstanding cast was the impressive and very busy Ron Cook – so busy he played two roles in this production. Opening the 1898 comic play he appears in drag as the ‘theatrical landlady’ described by Charles Spencer in The Telegraph as a “brilliant comic coup” before settling into his role as the “superb” crusty old judge Sir William Gower.

Ron is always very friendly and obliging at the stage door. He signed this drawing for me at the Trafalgar Studios earlier this year when he was appearing in THE HOMECOMING. He returns to the Donmar in June in FAITH HEALER.

Drawing: Amanda Drew

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Amanda Drew

Florian Zeller’s five-star play THE FATHER returned to the West End for a four-week run at the Duke of York’s last month. Joining Olivier winner Kenneth Cranham was Amanda Drew who replaced Claire Skinner as his daughter Anne.

Amanda has previously signed a few of my drawings so this gave me another opportunity to catch up with her to get my latest sketch signed-a montage of her versatile and varied stage career over the past seventeen years, incorporating PARLOUR SONG (2009), ENRON (2010), THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA (1999), MADAME BOVARY (2003), OTHERWISE ENGAGED (2005) and her current role.

THE FATHER is currently on a short tour,which concludes at the Royal Brighton Theatre at the end of the month.

Drawing: Tessa Peake-Jones

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Tessa Peake-Jones

If you think that Tessa Peake-Jones’ face is familiar, that’s because the popular English actress has appeared in every major TV show over the past twenty years, including
DR WHO, CASULTY, MIDSOMER MURDERS, THE BILL, HOLBY CITY, POPPY SHAKESPEARE and HEATBEAT. However, her most notable role was the bubbly Rachel Turner, Del Boy’s longtime ‘significant other’ in ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES from 1988 until it ended in 2003. At it’s peak the iconic sitcom attracted 24 million viewers. She is currently on the small screen as the crotchety housekeeper with a heart of gold, Mrs Maguire in ITV’s GRANTCHESTER.

Tessa’s equally impressive stage career has seen her in a variety of plays in London and beyond. She has just finished playing Julie who operates an ice-cream van near Beachy Head in the World Premiere of Tabitha Mortibiy’s BEACONS at the Park Theatre in North London. She described it as a “It’s a sweet story about loneliness”.

I drew this sketch of Tessa from two London productions, HOME at the Arcola Theatre in 2013 and PARK AVENUE CAT at the Arts Theatre in 2011, which she signed with a lovely dedication for me during her run at the Park.

Drawing: Timothy Spall, Daniel Mays and George MacKay in The Caretaker

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The Caretaker

When it premiered in 1960, Harold Pinter’s first big hit, THE CARETAKER changed the face of modern theatre. The psychological study of the confluence of power, allegiance, innocence and corruption among two brothers, Aston and Mick and the homeless hobo Davis. The Old Vic’s latest revival, directed by Matthew Warchus stars Timothy Spall, who specialises in characters outside the social norms He plays Davis, the classic Pinter outsider,disruptive, insistent, menacing yet pathetic. Daniel Mays is the kindly Aston and George MacKay portrays the brutal brother Mick, who exposes Davis as an ‘Artful Dodger.’

I caught up with Daniel and George during a passing shower, under the protection of a cheap umbrella at the stage door and Timothy a week later in drier conditions. All three were happy to sign this sketch.