Drawing: Annapurna Sriram in The Spoils

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

annapurna-sriram

In May this year, Jesse Eisenberg’s dark comedy THE SPOILS transferred from its New York premiere run to London’s Trafalgar Studios for a three month season. Not all the original cast ventured to the West End, but joining Jesse and THE BIG BANG THEORY’s Kunal Nayyar was Annapurna Sriram who played Reshma, Kunal’s pushy medical student girlfriend. Annapurna, or Anna or AP as she is often called, explained the reason for reprising her role. “Reshma is something I am really proud of – that’s my role, my baby. I didn’t like the idea of someone else doing it.” It’s her second visit to London, having spent time at The Globe studying Shakespeare after competing her Arts Degree from Rutgers University.

She came to prominence in the 2015 supernatural horror series SOUTH OF HELL and more recently as Tara Mohr, the hard-partying employee of US Attorney Chuck Rhodes played by Paul Giamatti in the Showtime hit TV series BILLIONS.

Brooklyn-based Annapurna is Indian-American, which she said has helped her acting career. “We’re in a day and age where being ethnically ambiguous – which is what I am – is a commodity”. I meet the very amiable Anna at the Trafalgar Studio’s stage door a couple of weeks before the play finished in mid-August, where she took a photo of my drawing then signed it for me.

Drawing: Lead Pencil in Full HB

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Lead Pencil

Now this is a group I had to draw. The comedy sketch trio of Louise Beresford, Maddie Rice and Dave Bibby, collectively known as LEAD PENCIL and specialising in nonsense. As their blurb says, “a comedy sketch show that is literally sketched.”

Realising that life is absurd the group formed in 2012 to deconstruct it with a show that is based on 90’s nostalgia, full of observational sketches, songs and their trademark 2D stylised, colourful cardboard props. Sell-out shows (some may say they were drawing in the crowds, but that would be silly) at the Underbelly in Edinburgh followed and appearances on Comedy Central and BBC Radio 4.

I just had to give them my 4B treatment with a splash of colour. The rendering was dropped into the Leicester Square Theatre at the end of June where they were performing for one night only. It was returned via an unusual route. Nothing came back for a couple of weeks, so I thought they maybe they didn’t get it, didn’t like or simply run out of writing instruments.

Then I received a letter from Transport for London’s Lost Property office saying they may have an item of mine. As it transpired it was this drawing, signed by Louise, Maddie and Dave with a complimentary note and the stamped envelope I had left with the drawing. It appears that one of them was intending to post it and left it on a bus. Thanks LEAD PENCIL and TfL Lost Property.

Drawing: Elf Lyons

Posted on August 19, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Elf Lyons

“Enthusiastically peculiar” and “Endearingly essentric” are two labels attached to stand-up comic and writer Emily-Anne ‘Elf’ Lyons. The Latitude Festival blurb, where she performed this year was a tad more specific, calling her an “award-winning, immortal, red-hatted comedian and storyteller from London.” She’s a mixture of the surreal, saucy and the strange covering everything from budget erotica to very physical impressions of a Dressage horse.

With two theatre degrees, Elf is a founder member of ‘The Secret Comedians’, a small comedy collective who perform satirical evenings in East London. She is also a recent alumni of the Paris-based clown school, L’Ecole Philippe Gaulier and wants to kill her mother….in a comedic way of course. Her current show PELICAN is being performed nightly at the VooDoo Rooms as part of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe (or if your savvy and lazy, the ‘Edfringe’). It’s based on her mother’s complaint that she didn’t feature prominently enough in her daughter’s comedy routines, so she was made the subject of a show, relishing the madness of mothers and the age-old fear of turning into your mum. “Lyons is endearingly awkward, sexually frank and delightfully silly” wrote Rowena McIntosh in The List review.

She signed my sketch at the Leicester Square theatre as part of her Edfringe foreplay.

Drawing: Cherrelle Skeete as Rose Granger-Weasley

Posted on August 11, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Cherelle Skeete

Birmingham-born actress Cherrelle Skeete plays Rose Granger-Weasley in HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD, PARTS ONE AND TWO at London’s Palace Theatre. In the eighth instalment of J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter adventures, the two-part play is set nineteen years later. Rose is the daughter of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. She is about to embark on her first year at Hogwarts along with Harry’s son Albus. J.K.Rowling in ‘Pottermore’ said, “Rose is like her mother, but more secure, more grounded. She was born to wizards and knows her place in the world. Cherrelle plays her perfectly: bossy but deeply lovable.”

After graduating with an Honours Degree from the Central School of Speech & Drama in 2011, Cherrelle made her West End debut in THE LION KING the following year as Shenzi cover and swing. She played Sister Sally in the Olivier-nominated THE AMEN CORNER at the National in 2013, returning last year to play Katya in Patrick Marber’s THREE DAYS IN THE COUNTRY, an adaption of Ivan Turgenev’s moving comedy A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY. Cherrelle’s small screen debut was in the fourth series of the BBC period drama CALL THE MIDWIFE, then starred in the BBC1’s ORDINARY LIES.

It was a little quieter before last Saturday’s matinee, compared with the hustle and bustle of the previous week’s World Premiere gala performance when I missed Cherrelle at the stage door. This time only a handful of ‘graphers were hovering and a lot easier to have my drawing signed.

Drawing: Sam Clemmett as Albus Severus Potter

Posted on August 9, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Sam Clemmett

Twenty-two year-old English actor Sam Clemmett plays Harry Potter’s troubled middle son Albus Severus in the eighth and latest instalment of the Potter juggernaut, HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD, PARTS ONE AND TWO at London’s Palace Theatre. Albus is a shy, introverted, often misunderstood character, having to deal with his famous father’s past, who is propelled into a massive journey as he follows in Harry’s footsteps at Hogwarts and the wizarding world.

Sam, from a non-theatrical family, didn’t go to drama school. He joined the National Youth Theatre sometime between the ages of 16 and 17, which led to his first professional stage role in THE LORD OF THE FLIES at the Regent Open Air Theatre. His TV roles include THE MUSKETEERS, FOYLE’S WAR, DOCTORS and HOLBY CITY. Actually he doesn’t look 22. In a recent Evening Standard interview he said he looks, “Around 12. I’ll be ID’d forever,” an obvious advantage when it comes to playing the child wizard.

My recent frequent visits to the Palace Theatre stage door in Soho included the World Premiere gala performance on a whirlwind Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago, where I managed to catch Sam, who graphed my sketch.

Drawing: Lin-Manuel Miranda in Hamilton

Posted on August 8, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Hamilton Lin Manuel Miranda

The new musical obsession, HAMILTON is the hottest ticket on Broadway at the moment. Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also starred in the title role, the hip-hop homage to American founding father and George Washington’s chief aide Alexander Hamilton is based on the biography by Ron Chernow. After an initial run off-Broadway at the Public Theatre in early 2015, the production transferred to the Richard Rodgers Theatre in August with unprecedented advance box-office sales. It garnered a record 16 Tony nominations, winning eleven, including Best Musical. It also picked up a Grammy and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Lin-Manuel’s Tony and Olivier-winning musical IN THE HEIGHTS is currently playing London at the King’s Cross Theatre. It collected 13 Tony noms, winning four, two Olivier Awards and a Grammy.It was also nominated for a Pulitzer. HAMILTON is scheduled to hit the West End next October at the Victoria Palace Theatre with Sir Cameron Macintosh spending £30 million renovating the venue for its much anticipated arrival.

I did this montage drawing with Lin-Manuel as the centre-piece and sent it to the Richard Rodgers Theatre, with low expectations. While I’ve had some success through the mail from Broadway, the ratio isn’t encouraging. When he finished his lead role in early July and nothing came back I thought it will be a case of waiting until next year in London. But to my surprise it arrived back signed, dedicated and inscribed ‘siempre’ (always) on Saturday. That’s a rap!

Drawing: Pixie Lott in Breakfast At Tiffany’s

Posted on July 27, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Pixie Lott

One of Britain’s best-loved pop performers, Pixie Lott has made her stage debut as Holly Golightly, the dizzy, enigmatic New York good-time girl in the theatrical adaption of Truman Capote’s classic novella BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S. After opening at The Curve Leicester Theatre in March and a brief tour, the production has settled into the Theatre Royal Haymarket in the West End. Pixie will play Holly, the role immortalised by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film version, for a limited 12 week run, ending in September.

The production is the latest stage version adapted by American playwright Richard Greenberg from Capote’s original rather than the film script. It was first performed on Broadway in 2013 with GAME OF THRONES star Emilia Clarke as Holly.

Pixie knows a thing or three about singing. Her Platinum-record selling pop career started with a bang. Her debut single ‘Mama Do’ went to Number 1 in June 2009 and things have continued on an upward trajectory since. She insists she’s not ditching singing, just developing a wider audience appeal with her acting.

In fact she gets to perform three songs in the play, including the classic Academy Award winning number ‘Moon River”. Pixie has been making a strong sartorial display arriving and leaving the theatre each day, keeping the tabloids busy, so the paps were positioned along with a handful of us graphers in equal numbers, outside the stage door on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

The amiable Pixie arrived, (now for a rare moment of fashion commentary) in a stylish pastel pink tea dress, snakeskin ankle boots with a small silver handbag and matching winged sunglasses, adding a blue sharpie to the accessories and everyone got what they wanted.

Drawing: Alexander Hanson and Frances O’Connor in The Truth

Posted on July 26, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The Truth

Eighteen months ago very few theatre-goers in London had heard of Florian Zeller. Now the Parisian playwright is “the go-to man if you are looking for 90 minutes of elegant perceptive drama that plays games with the slippery nature of theatrical reality,” according to WhatsOnStage critic Sarah Crompton.

His latest offering, THE TRUTH completes a dazzling hat-trick that includes THE FATHER and its companion piece THE MOTHER, both of which have graced the London stage to critical acclaim recently. THE TRUTH, directed by Lindsay Posner, opened at the Menier Chocolate Factory earlier this year and has transferred to the West End’s Wyndham’s Theatre. In her five-star review for the Guardian, Kate Kellaway described it as “a devious must-see.”

Like his previous English successes, LA VERITE, which was written in 2011, has been translated by Christopher Hampton. It’s a confounding and unsettling tale of infidelity and the lying game as Michel (Alexander Hanson) attempts to keep his wife (Tanya Franks), his mistress (Frances O’Connor) and his best friend (Robert Portal) in the dark about his intentions. Sarah Crompton wrote, “It’s a plot as slim as a Parisian woman, and just as sophisticated, with a faint whiff of 1950’s wreathing its etiolated gestures.”

Both Frances and Alexander signed my drawing at the stage door after last Saturday’s matinee.

Drawing: Anne Archer in The Trial of Jane Fonda

Posted on July 22, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Anne Archer

THE TRIAL OF JANE FONDA is a one-act play inspired by a meeting between the Hollywood ‘wild-child’ of Henry Fonda and angry American war vets disgusted by her visit to Hanoi and photographed with North Vietnamese soldiers sixteen years earlier.

Written and directed by seven-time Emmy Award-winner Terry Jastrow, the production debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2014, featuring his wife, the Oscar-nominated actress Anne Archer as ‘Hanoi Jane’. The meeting took place after irate Vietnam veterans, outraged by her anti-war protests, threatened to halt shooting of the her film STANLEY AND IRIS in Waterbury, Connecticut.

She agreed to meet 26 of them (in the play there’s a lot less) in the local St Michael’s Episcopal Church on 18 June 1988 to listen to them and explain her side of the argument and her outrage at a brutal foreign policy based on a flawed ‘domino effect’ theory about the spread of Communism.

Last seen in the London in her West End debut as Mrs Robinson in THE GRADUATE at the Gielgud in 2001, Anne Archer reprises her role as Jane Fonda, which is currently running at the Park Theatre directed by Joe Harmston until mid August. I left this portrait of Anne at the venue which she signed and dedicated for me.

Drawing: Rebel Wilson in Guys And Dolls

Posted on July 21, 2016 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Rebel Wilson

‘There’s a new Doll in town’ proclaims all the billboards around London, announcing Australian Hollywood star Rebel Wilson’s West End debut in the 1950’S Broadway musical GUYS AND DOLLS at the Phoenix Theatre. The 36 year old bubbly blonde, ‘Sydney-born sensation’ (as the Telegraph’s critic Dominic Cavendish called her) plays the show’s interminably engaged New York night-club singer Miss Adelaide for an eight-week engagement.

She received a standing ovation on her opening night, tweeting to her 3.3 million followers afterwards, thanking the audience and saying how honoured she was and saying “sooo… one down, 63 performances to go.”

On Saturday night I positioned myself at the stage door barriers among the hoards where she signed my sketch.