Drawing: Ken Stott and Reece Shearsmith in The Dresser

Posted on October 12, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

the-dresser

THE DRESSER, considered Ronald Harwood’s greatest play, returned to the West End this month at the Duke of York’s Theatre with Ken Stott as ‘Sir’ and Reece Shearsmith as his devoted dresser Norman, directed by Sean Foley.

The story of an ageing actor’s personal assistant who struggles to keep his charge’s life together takes place over the course of one night in a small English regional theatre during the Second World War. It’s based on Sir Ronald’s own experience as the dresser for English actor-manager Sir Donald Wolfit who is the model for ‘Sir.’

The Oscar-winning playwright is always puzzled by the play’s popularity. When it opened at Manchester’s Exchange Theatre in 1980 he thought it would only last six weeks. It’s been a long six weeks. The original production transferred to the Queen’s Theatre in London’s West End a few months later before moving to Broadway and in 1983 a film starring Albert Finney as Sir and Tom Courtenay as Norman (who reprised the role in both stage and screen versions) was released. In all formats THE DRESSER was nominated for multiple Olivier, Tony and Academy, BAFTA and Golden Globe Awards.

I caught up with Ken and Reece earlier this week at the Duke of York’s during previews before tomorrow night’s opening and they signed my Dresser drawing for me.

Drawing: Jasper Britton as Charles II in The Libertine

Posted on October 11, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

jasper-britton

I read that versatile British actor Jasper Britton spent a number of years as an assistant stage manager and sound operator until in 1989 he marched into Jonathan Miller’s Old Vic office and threatened to stay there unless he as given an audition for KING LEAR. His subsequent King of France to Eric Porter’s Lear was the start of a distinguished stage career, punctuated by playing monarchs at The National and under Mark Rylance’s tenure at Shakespeare’s Globe. His latest is Charles II in THE LIBERTINE at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, captured here in majestic 4B.

The ignoble British sovereign spent many an hour in the company of the notorious 17th century rake and poet John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester and the many… shall we politely say, fallen daughters of Eve. He is one of the only characters in the play to stand up to Rochester and grants him a valuable commission with the proviso, ”Don’t fuck it up.” Paul Taylor wrote in the Independent, “The best performance of the evening comes from Jasper Britton who brilliantly captures the posturing, overripe Charles II’s unnerving swings between chumminess and assertion.”

Jasper’s mode of transport to the theatre is a motorbike. Don’t ask me the make or model, but it’s big and fast. Clad in resplendent grey leathers, befitting royalty he arrived for Saturday’s matinee on the said cycle, popped into the stage door to sign in and sort out the removal of his garb, then sauntered back out to sign this drawing.

Drawing: Mona Golabek in The Pianist of Willesden Lane

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

mona-g

“Hold on to your music, it will be your best friend,” was the last thing young 14 year-old Austrian piano prodigy Lisa Jura’s mother told her as she boarded the ‘Kindertransport’ in 1938 bound for London. She was one of the 10,000 Jewish children bought to England before WW2 as part of the mission to rescue them from the threat of the Nazi regime and it’s anti-Semitic violence. Torn from her family and just about to embark on a concert career in Vienna, Lisa spent the war years, surviving the Blitz in a rambling hostel that housed 30 children on Willesden Lane in North London. She later resumed to her concert career and married French Resistance hero Michel Golabek, moving to Los Angeles in the early 1950’s.

In 2002 their daughter and renowned concert pianist, Grammy-nominated Mona Golabek co-wrote with Lee Cohen, the book ‘The Children of Willesden Lane’ that chronicles her mother’s wartime experiences. She adapted the publication into a one woman play, THE PIANIST OF WILLESDEN LANE, which opened at LA’s Geffen Playhouse in April 2012 and transferred to London’s St Jame’s Theatre in January this year, selling out and receiving a galaxy of stars from all the critics. The Londonist said, “Effortlessly moving, joyful, sobering and spellbinding.” Due to the demand, Mona has returned for an encore season until 22 October. I left this drawing at the theatre and she kindly signed and dedicated it for me, returning it with a thank you note.

Drawing: Nina Toussaint-White

Posted on October 5, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

nina-t-w

Nina Toussaint-White romps about the West End boards as Jane, the favoured prostitute in THE LIBERTINE, the bawdy 17th century tale of the Earl of Rochester (Dominic Cooper) currently playing the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
She made her professional debut in 2007 in an episode of CASUALTY, then THE BILL before securing regular and recurring roles in the soap EASTENDERS as the straight-talking Nurse Syd Chambers and Angie Bailey in EMMERDALE. She has also appeared in HOLBY CITY and DOCTOR WHO among others. Nina’s last stage appearance as Tree in the Theatre Royal Stratford East’s production of THE ETIENNE SISTERS garnered Nina a nomination for Best Performance in a Musical in this year’s UK Theatre Awards.

On Saturday, while a passing, annoying Autumn shower threatened to dampen my mission, I interrupted her fast trek to the stage door. Between us we managed to balance her cooling cup of coffee, my broken umbrella, the artwork and a sharpie, all of which were co-ordinated sufficiently to get the said rendering signed with only minor rain-drop impressions.

Drawing: Lizzie Roper in The Libertine

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

lizzie-roper

Equally at home in stand-up, comedy and straight theatre on stage and screen for the past 25 years, the always popular Lizzie Roper is part of an impressive ensemble in the romping period piece, THE LIBERTINE at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket.

When not appearing in sold out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, Lizzie has put in shifts on all the British small screen ‘biggies’, CORONATION STREET, WATERLOO RD, SHAMELESS, HOLBY CITY, THE BILL and being killed off in HOLLYOAKS, after playing Sam Lomax for over a year as well as appearing on London stages in plays such as ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST with Christian Slater at The Garrick in 2006 and THE ODD COUPLE in Edinburgh, opposite Alan Davies and Bill Bailey a year earlier.

In THE LIBERTINE Lizze plays four roles in this ‘delightful naughtiness’, including Big Dolly who is ‘enthusiastically rogered’ on a balcony by King Charles. For her solo show PICCADILLO CIRCUS, which she performed at the EdFringe, the Trafalgar Studios in London and as part of a National Tour, Lizzie researched and interviewed members of the public about their sex lives, which may have come in handy for her participation in LIBERTINE.

It was great to meet Lizzie on Saturday at the stage door to get this drawing signed.

Drawing: Dominic Cooper in The Libertine

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

dominic-cooper

Described as one of Britain’s more eclectic actors, Dominic Cooper returns to the London stage as the legendary 17th Century poet and Restoration rebel the John Wilmot who’s appetite for excess is chronicled in the revival of Stephen Jeffrey’s THE LIBERTINE at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Last seen seven years ago at the National Theatre in PHEDRE, opposite Helen Mirren, where he also played Dakin in Alan Bennett’s THE HISTORY BOYS at the National in 2004, transferring to the Broadway production and then an International tour, including Sydney, Wellington and Hong Kong. He also repeated the role in the 2006 film version.

Directed by Tony and Olivier Award winner Tony Johnson, THE LIBERTINE is a portrait of debauchery and self-destruction, chronicling the exploits of the 2nd Earl of Rochester, the notorious willy-wagging rake, boozer and frenemy of King Charles II who died from his sins at the young age of 33. He wrote some of the most distinctive poetry of the 1670’s, sweetly versified, pungently phrased prose about premature ejaculation, impotence and the love of a young woman for an older man.

“You will not like me,” Dominic tells the audience in his opening monologue, clearly not the case, judging by the popular reaction of patrons and press alike.

Dominic signed my sketch on arrival at the theatre for Saturday’s matinee.

Drawing: Alice Bailey-Johnson in The Libertine

Posted on September 29, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

alice-baily-johnson

THE LIBERTINE, which follows the debauched exploits of the 2nd Earl of Rochester opened this week at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London after a limited run at the Theatre Royal Bath. Dominic Cooper plays the lead, besotted by the young actress Elizabeth Barry (Ophelia Lovibond) who ultimately rejects him. Consoling himself with
much whoring and drinking, he returns to his long-suffering, rusticated wife Elizabeth Malet played by Alice Bailey Johnson and dies.

Alice was recently seen in Mike Leigh’s MR TURNER, the biopic of eccentric British painter J M W Turner, and the popular TV series GRANTCHESTER. Her stage credits include OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR opposite Caroline Quentin in 2014 at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and NOISES OFF at the Old Vic, which I was lucky enough to see and Alice signed my cast sketch. I caught up with her again before Saturday’s matinee of THE LIBERTINE and she signed this Elizabeth drawing for me.

Drawing: Ophelia Lovibond in The Libertine

Posted on September 28, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

ophelia-lovibond

Ophelia Lovibond sounds a really posh name, but her background, growing up on a Shepherd’s Bush council estate in a single-parent family was anything but. In an interview with the Express this month she said, “It’s a mad name, but I think it was almost inevitable that I would end up in this profession and not become a librarian in Tunbridge Wells.”

She attended Saturday morning drama at 50p a session. Ophelia made her film debut as Bet in Roman Polanski’s OLIVER TWIST in 2005 and more recently played Carina in THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. TV viewers will know her as Sherlock’s new apprentice Kathryn ‘Kitty’ Winters in ELEMENTARY. This week she made her West End debut as the intrepid heroine and 17th Century actress Elizabeth Barry in THE LIBERTINE at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. This is a montage sketch of her in rehearsal and in the role, which she signed at the stage door before last Saturday’s matinee.

Drawing: Kathryn Hunter as Richard III

Posted on September 27, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

kathryn-hunter

The brilliant British actress Kathryn Hunter was born Aikaterini Hadjipateras in New York to Greek parents fifty-nine years ago and raised in England where she trained at RADA.
The Telegraph’s Charles Spencer once described her as “…diminutive in stature and slightly lame, she has a deep, guttural voice, eyes like black olives and the most expressive of faces.”

In 1991 she won an Olivier Award for her portrayal of the millionaire in Friedrich Durrenmatt’s THE VISIT. When reviewing Samuel Beckett’s FRAGMENTS at London’s Young Vic in 2008, The Guardian’s Andrew Dickson said that Kathryn “crams into a few minutes of stage time more than most actors achieve in a career.”

Her ‘uncommon ability to shape shift’ has led her to play roles typically reserved for male actors. In 1997 she was the first British female actor to play KING LEAR professionally and four years later she lead an all-female cast in RICHARD III at Shakespeare’s Globe.

For most of September this year, the ‘master of transformation’ performed ten roles in an hour at the Young Vic, including the title character, Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie in the world premiere of THE EMPEROR in what The Sunday Times declared, “her shape-shifting brilliance could be the stage performance of the year.”

I managed to catch up with her after the final matinee, which is no mean feat in itself as her boundless energy is not restricted to the stage. She was moving quickly looking for a friend, but did stop momentarily to thank me for this drawing I did of her as the Plantagenet King and sign it.

Drawing: Sir Kenneth Branagh – Plays At The Garrick

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

ken-branagh

For the past year Sir Kenneth Branagh and his theatre company’s creative home has been the Garrick Theatre on London’s Charing Cross Road. The ‘Plays At The Garrick’ debut season has now entered its final chapter with John Osborne’s THE ENTERTAINER, featuring Sir Ken in the lead role as the failing music-hall performer Archie Rice. He appeared in four of the six productions and co-directing three with Rob Ashford.
My montage sketch depicts him as Archie, hit-man Ralph in THE PAINKILLERS and Leontes, the King of Sicily in Shakespeare’s THE WINTER’S TALE. I caught up the the theatrical knight himself as he arrived at the stage door on Saturday morning, as usual, hours before the matinee and signed it for me. I asked if there would be another residency next year and he replied. “As Mr Schwarzenegger would say, we’ll be back.”