Drawing: Janie Dee in Noises Off at the Novello Theatre

Posted on November 23, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Janie Dee is the charming and versatile multi-award winning British actress, singer and musical theatre star. She won the three most prestigious awards in British Theatre, the Olivier, the Evening Standard and the Critic’s Circle Award for Best Actress in a Play. In addition, she has also collected the Obie and Theatre World Best Newcomer Award in New York for her legendary performance as Jacie Triplethree in Alan Ayckbourn’s Comic Potential, which was written especially for her. Janie also won the Oliver for Best Supporting Actress in a musical for her performance as Carrie Pipperidge in Nicholas Hytner’s acclaimed production of Rodger and Hammerstein’s Carousel at the National Theatre.

She signed a previous sketch I drew of the Noises Off cast at the Old Vic in late 2011. Due to popular demand it transferred to the Novello Theatre, where she signed this drawing. She remembered the previous sketch and was very complimentary, offering me free tickets to her cabaret show at the Hippodrome the following month.

Drawing: The Recruiting Officer, signed by Josie Rourke, Nicholas Burns, Nancy Carroll, Mackenzie Crook, Kathryn Drysdale, Mark Gatiss, Gawn Grainger, Tobias Menzies and Rachael Stirling

Posted on November 22, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

George Farquhars 1706 Restoration comedy The Recruiting Officer was Josie Rourke’s first play as the new artistic director at the Donmar Warehouse in 2012. She assembled an impressive cast for this pacy and complicated piece in which big themes (love and war) are presented amid a riot of bed-hopping, social blockades, meddling servants and enticing legacies. Described as an unashamed celebration of love, lustiness and victory in battle and in the bedroom, it was a critical success, ensuring Josie’s tenure at the Donmar got off to a bright start.

On the 12th of April 2012, I managed to get all the cast on my sketch (Nicholas Burns, Nancy Carroll, Mackenzie Crook, Kathryn Drysdale, Mark Gatiss, Gawn Grainger, Tobias Menzies and Rachael Stirling) to sign it – not an easy feat given that there were eight of them leaving through various exits and often at the same time.

Drawing: Eve Best in The Duchess Of Malfi at The Old Vic

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Eve Best is one of the most compelling British stage actors of her generation, with an unforgettable run of performances over the past decade and a half, including an Olivier Award for Hedda Gabler.

Earlier this year, after a stint in the long running American TV comedy Nurse Jackie, she returned to the London stage – to be more precise, Shakespeare’s Globe – for her directorial debut, with the “Scottish Play”.

Eve signed my sketch in June 2012 at the Old Vic Theatre while she was performing in The Duchess of Malfi

Drawing: Sally Hawkins and Rafe Spall in Constellations at The Royal Court Theatre

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Following on from my Sally Hawkins post yesterday, I also sketched a Constellations drawing including Sally and Rafe Spall.The play, written by Nick Payne, premiered at The Royal Court in 2012 before a West End transfer. It won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play and received an Olivier writing nomination. Both Sally and Rafe signed the sketch at the Royal Court in January 2012 after a matinée performance.

Drawing: Sheridan Smith and David Walliams in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Noël Coward Theatre

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

For our wedding anniversary each year my wife Frankie and I celebrate with a little Shakespeare. Last year we saw Mark Rylance and Stephen Fry in Twelfth Night at the Apollo Theatre. This year the Winters saw A Midsummers Night’s Dream at the Noël Coward Theatre with Sheridan Smith as Titania and David Walliams in the ‘Bottom’ role. I did this quick sketch before hand, but on the anniversary evening Sheridan was “indisposed,” so we didn’t see her on stage.

David was happy to sign after the performance. I went back a week later and Sheridan, as usual was delightful. She loved the drawing and thanked me for taking the time to come back and was pleased to sign it.

Drawing: Rory Kinnear in Hamlet at The National Theatre

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Outstanding thespian Rory Kinnear has been shortlisted for two Evening Standard Theatre Awards – Best Actor for his astonishing portrayal of Iago opposite Adrian Lester (also nominated) in the National’s Othello. He has also got the nomination for the Most Promising Playwright for The Hero at the Bush Theatre.

The award winners will be announce this Sunday (17 November 2013) at the Savoy Hotel in London.

Rory kindly signed my sketch of him in Hamlet with a nice dedication at the National Theatre in October 2010. I gave him a copy and he said he had it framed and hanging in his home the day he got it.

Drawing: Laura Carmichael in Uncle Vanya at the Vaudeville Theatre

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Laura Carmichael, best known for her role as Lady Edith Crawly in the Golden Globe and Emmy award winning historical drama Downton Abbey, made her West End debut in the new production of Uncle Vanya at the Vaudeville Theatre.

She joined Kim Stott, Anna Friel and Samuel West.

Laura’s other television and film credits include The Heart of Thomas Hardy and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

2012 was certainly the year of Uncle Vanya revivals. A very funny and mercurial account of Chekhov’s great tragicomedy of wasted lives, directed by Lucy Bailey at the Print Room, and a more melancholic take from Jeremy Herrin at Chichester. In November, opening within days of each other, two ‘Vanyas‘ hit the West End. A version from Moscow based Vakhtangov Company at the Noël Coward Theatre and Lindsay Posner’s rendering at the Vaudeville, based on a sharp, ruefully witty translation by Oscar Winner Christopher Hampton.

Theatrical titan Sir Peter Hall enjoyed the evening and Laura’s performance immensely, but had to apologise to her for an outburst during the poignant closing speech, during the opening night. “Being rather aged I dropped off for a moment and on being woken up by my wife I was briefly disorientated.”

The production generally garnered positive reviews with the 25 year old Laura’s performance as Vanya’s niece Sonya singled out for praise for its sensitivity.

Drawing: Laurie Metcalf

Posted on November 2, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

American actress Laurie Metcalf played Jackie Harris in the sitcom Roseanne, which ran for 221 episodes from 1988-97. She won three consecutive Emmy Awards (1992-94) and was nominated for two Golden Globes for her performance in the role. She has also appeared in Desperate Housewives, The Big Bang Theory. She has won both a Theatre World Award and an Obie Award for her work on stage.

In 2012, she joined David Suchet in Eugene O’Neills Long Day’s Journey Into Night at London’s Apollo Theatre.

Laurie signed my sketch at the Apollo Theatre stage door in July 2012.

Drawing: Montserrat Lombard in Barking in Essex at Wyndham’s Theatre

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Montserrat Lombard is “an interesting name,” I said, when she signed it on my sketch. “It’s Spanish,” the English-born actress replied.

Montserrat – a Caribbean island with a once dormant volcano erupting, forcing two thirds of its population to flee; or a multi-peaked mountain near Barcelona? Probably the latter. Close. In fact, her Spanish father named her after the Barcelonian opera legend Montserrat Cabellé.

Lombad – from Lombardy, the region in Northern Italy. Her mother is Italian, so she’s half Spanish, half Italian. She’s also best known as policewoman Sharon ‘Shaz’ Granger in the BBC Drama series Ashes to Ashes, plus roles in a variety of television shows and films such as St Trinians 2 and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

In September this year, Montserrat made her professional stage debut in the World Premiere of the crime caper Barking in Essex at Wyndham’s Theatre in London. She plays Allegra Tennyson (an equally interesting name) a lawyer trying to sort out the Packer family, a dysfunctional Essex brood played by Lee Evans, Sheila Hancock and her Ashes to Ashes co-star, Keeley Hawes. The black comedy runs until 4 January 2014.

Drawing: Mojo, starring Brendan Coyle, Rupert Grint, Daniel Mays, Ben Whishaw, Colin Morgan and Tom Rhys Harries

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The first major revival of Jez Butterworth’s Olivier award-winning black comedy Mojo is currently in previews at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London. The original production directed by Ian Rickson opened at the Royal Court Theatre in July 1995 prior to a sell out West End run in 1996.

Two of Britain’s great theatre collaborators, Jez and Ian reunite for this staging after their hit sensation Jerusalem and the critically acclaimed The River in recent years. A subsequent film adaption featuring Harold Pinter himself, was directed by Jez in 1997.

Set against the fledgling rock’n’roll scene of 1950’s Soho, the savagely funny play delves into the sleazy underworld and power games of London’s most infamous district. It features a stellar ensemble cast, Brendan Coyle, Rupert Grint (making his stage debut), Daniel Mays, Ben Whishaw, Colin Morgan and Tom Rhys Harries. The first performance was on Saturday evening (26 October) which I was lucky enough to get a £10 ticket for (standing in the balcony). I returned on Monday with my sketch which all the cast signed at the stage door. Mojo opens 13 November and will run to 25 January 2014.