Drawing: The Motive and the Cue

Posted on February 5, 2024 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of Johnny Flynn, Mark Gatiss, Tuppence Middleton in The Motive and the Cue at the Noel Coward Theatre on London's West End

After a sell-out season at the National Theatre last spring, THE MOTIVE AND THE CUE, Jack Thorne’s latest, critically acclaimed fierce and funny play directed by Sam Mendes, described by many critics as ‘a love letter to theatre’, transferred to the Noel Coward Theatre in London’s West End in December, running until 23 March.

Winner of the Best New Play at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards, it centres on the 1964 experimental, modern-dress Broadway production of Shakespeare’s HAMLET starring Richard Burton, the most famous actor in the world at the time, newly married to Elizabeth Taylor, directed by theatre royalty, Sir John Gielgud. Burton,”still smoking hot from his big-screen romance with Taylor in CLEOPATRA, was looking to solidify his street cred as a serious actor after a few Hollywood duds. Gielgud’s motivation was a little less obvious, as gradually became clear to the rest of the cast and crew”.

As rehearsals progress, two ages of theatre collide, as the collaboration soon threatens to unravel. It was a difficult production with Burton behaving badly because he didn’t get the direction from Gielgud he felt he required… or perhaps he got more direction than expected. The two, who were prior friends, couldn’t work out how their HAMLET might work. For Gielgud, the play mattered a great deal, having played the role more than 300 times, over forty-plus years of playing Shakespearean roles.

Jack Thorne was inspired by two first-hand accounts of the politics of the rehearsal room and the relationship between art and celebrity. William Redfern, a cast member, who played Guildenstern, wrote a series of letters to his friend Bob Mills, which were eventually published as ‘Letters From An Actor’ and Richard L. Sterne’s ‘John Gielgud Directs Richard Burton In Hamlet’. The title comes from HAMLET’s “O, what a rogue and peasant slave” speech. As Gielgud explained, the motive is Hamlet’s reason for a given act, the cue is the passion behind that act.

The three leads, Johnny Flynn as Burton, Mark Gatsis as Gielgud and Tuppence Middleton as Taylor reprised their roles for the West End run and kindly signed my quick sketch at the stage door a couple of weeks ago.

Drawing: Tuppence Middleton, John Hopkins and Julia Sandiford in The One

Posted on August 21, 2018 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of Tuppence Middleton, John Hopkins and Julia Sandiford in The One at the Soho Theatre in London's West End

Vicky Jones’ vicious relationship drama, THE ONE, originally staged in 2014, returned to the Soho Theatre for a two-month residency, ending this weekend.

One night, one room. Sexy, messed-up oddball couple, Jo (Tuppence Middleton) and Harry (John Hopkins) are drawing the battlelines of their relationship with sex, violence and throwing Wotsits (that’s a British brand of cheesy flavoured corn puffs for the uninitiated). They are trapped in a destructive cycle of love and lust, interrupted by an upset visitor, Harry’s former lover Kerry with her own agenda, who ‘re-equips’ the couple when they run out of ammo.

Described as ‘sadistic games of bored people’ a ‘forensic unflinching examination of the casual cruelty couples inflict on each other.’ In his review for WhatsOnStage, Alun Hood said, “The acting is astonishing: detailed and unsparing… a tremendously accomplished fusion of writing, performance and stagecraft, that entertains as much as it shocks.”

John, Tuppence and Julia kindly signed my montage scribble a couple of weeks ago at the Soho.

Drawings: Tuppence Middleton

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Actress Tuppence Middleton has a peculiar rare medical condition that allows her eyes to change colour of their own accord. They range from yellow to hazel, or green. She also collects stuffed animals.

Her mother was nicknamed ‘Tuppence’ as a small girl by her grandmother, so ‘Tuppence’ was christened with the moniker.

“It’s come in handy,” she said, “I haven’t met another Tuppence so far, so people remember it.” She made an impact recently in Danny Boyle‘s Trance, as the girl locked inside James McAvoy‘s past. Her first London theatre engagement was a rare revival of Graham Greene’s The Living Room at the Jermyn Street Theatre in early 2013, where she signed my sketches.