Drawing: Jennifer Saunders in Lady Windermere’s Fan

Posted on March 7, 2018 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of Jennifer Saunders in Lady Windermere's Fan at the Vaudeville Theatre on London's West End

After a 20 year wait, Jennifer Saunders has returned to the West End, this time as the imposing Duchess of Berwick in Kathy Burke’s production of Oscar Wilde’s LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN at the Vaudeville Theatre.

One of the most influential women in British television comedy, Jennifer kept to prominence as Vyvyan in THE YOUNG ONES and, with her comedy partner Dawn French, launched the sketch show FRENCH AND SAUNDERS in 1987, which became staple BBC viewing through to 2007. Let’s not forget the champagne-quaffing PR Edina Monsoon opposite Joanna Lumley in ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS, among a raft of other memorable characters and appearances, collecting a truck-load of accolades along the way.

Her current stage performance has garnered equal plaudits, The Guardian’s Lyn Gardner calling her portrayal, “a monstrous star turn,” as “A Duchess with a walking stick like a taser and a hat like a homunculus.”

The two things Jennifer and I have in common is our age and being at the same stage door at the same time after Saturday’s matinee, where I asked her to sign this sketch. “Well done you,” she said, which is always a good sign.

Drawing: Nina Sosanya in Frozen

Posted on March 6, 2018 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of Nina Sosanya in Frozen at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on London's West End

Nina Sosanya has made a welcome return to the London stage, playing Agnatha, a clinical psychiatrist in the West End revival of Bryon Lavery’s psychological thriller FROZEN, which opened last month for a limited run at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

The dark and compelling 1998 three-hander with Suzanne Jones and Jason Watkins is not for the faint-hearted, dealing with the abduction and murder of a ten-year old girl. Nina’s character looks at the difference between crimes of evil and crimes of illness. This is a rehearsal sketch that Nina kindly signed for me when she arrived for last Saturday’s matinee.

Drawing: Rory Keenan in Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Posted on March 5, 2018 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of Rory Keenan in Long Day's Journey Into Night at Wyndham's Theatre on London's West End

Irish actor Rory Keenan joined the cast after Richard Eyre’s 2016 production of Eugene O’Neill’s LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT after it transferred to the West End last month. He plays Jamie, one of the Tyrone’s two son’s opposite Jeremy Irons and Lesley Manville in the 1945 study of the hellish damage a sick person can wreck on a family.

This is Rory’s second play under Sir Richard’s direction, having played the title role in LIOLA at the National. He won Best Supporting Actor at the Irish Times Theatre awards for his portrayal of Ronan in THE LAST DAYS OF THE CELTIC TIGER at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre in 2009. His extensive screen work includes PEAKY BLINDERS and the BIRDSONG mini series. In her Arts Desk review for JOURNEY, Ismene Brown wrote, “Rory Keenan’s terrific, (as the) cynical Jamie… roughens and undersells himself to very touching effect.”

I caught up with the likeable and friendly Rory at the Wyndham’s stage door on a bitterly cold lunchtime prior to last Saturday’s matinee and he managed to get the sharpie to work on my sketch.

Drawing: Jessica Regan in Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Posted on March 1, 2018 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of Jessica Regan in Long Day's Journey Into Night at Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End

Kilkenny-born actress Jessica Regan reprised her role as Catherine, the Irish housemaid in Richard Eyre’s revival of Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize-winning family drama, LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT which premiere at the Bristol old Vic in 2016 before transferring to london’s Wyndham’s Theatre. It’s also Broadway-bound after it’s April West End conclusion.

Jessica will be familiar to soap fans, appearing in EASTENDERS and more recently as regular Niamh Donoghue in the BBC’s DOCTORS, for which she won the Best Newcomer at the British Soap Awards.

The Guardian’s Michael Billington wrote that Jessica’s Catherine was a “welcome relief in a play that, if well done, as it is here, leaves you emotionally pulverised.” Allison Vale in the British Theatre Guide said Jessica added “moments of real sparkle.”

It was great to meet her at the stage door after the matinee a couple of Saturdays ago where she signed my sketch.

Drawing: Grace Molony in Lady Windermere’s Fan

Posted on February 27, 2018 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of Grace Molony in Lady Windermere's Fan at the Vaudeville Theatre on London's West End

Dominic Dromgoole’s year-long effort to stage all of Oscar Wilde’s plays at London’s Vaudeville Theatre continues with his four-act comedy, LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN.

Playing the title role is recent LAMBA graduate Grace Molony in her West End debut. Last year she won Best Actress in a Play at the Stage Debut Awards for her first professional role, playing Kate in THE COUNTRY GIRLS at the Minerva Theatre in Chichester.

The Telegraph’s Claire Allfree described her as a “freshly hatched chick, full of undimmed optimism and awkward passion.” As the funny, winsome and good-hearted Lady Windermere, who suspects her husband is having an affair, Grace “is terrific in a part where she has to hold her own against (Jennifer) Saunders’s stonkingly good Duchess of Berwick,” wrote Mark Brennan in The Times.

I met Grace at the stage door after Saturday’s matinee where she signed and inscribed my sketch.

Drawing: Toby Jones, Zoe Wanamaker, Stephen Mangan, Pearl Mackie, Peter Wight and Tom Vaughn-Lawlor in The Birthday Party

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of Toby Jones, Zoe Wanamaker, Stephen Mangan, Pearl Mackie, Peter Wight and Tom Vaughn-Lawlor in The Birthday Party at the Harold Pinter Theatre on London's West End

Many happy returns to Harold Pinter’s ‘comedy of menace’, THE BIRTHDAY PARTY as the starry West End revival opened last month. The play turns 60 this year and to celebrate at the theatre that is bearing the playwrights name, Sonia Freedman and seasoned Pinter-director Ian Rickson have assembled a wonderful cast for this British classic.

Famously savaged by all but the Sunday Times after the legendary London premiere in 1958, it has now grown to become one of Pinter’s most famous and most performed works. It’s a disturbing portrait of life in a run-down seaside boarding house on the southern English coast where piano-player Stanley Webber (Toby Jones) lives, run by Meg (Zoe Wanamaker) and Petey (Peter Wight) Boles, who arrange a party to celebrate their lodger’s birthday. The flirtatious Lulu, target of Stanley’s lust (Pearl Mackie) joins them, followed by two sinister strangers, Goldberg (Stephen Managan) and McCann (Tom Vaughn-Lawlor).

Critic Dominic Cavandish, in his five-star Telegraph review “rejoices in the play’s undiminished power to disconcert.” It has all the Pinteresque elements, ambitious identity, confusions of time and place and dark political symbolism.

I left my sketch with Toby at the Pinter stage door on Saturday and he along with the rest of the cast very kindly signed it for me.

Drawing: Justine Mitchell and Sam Troughton in Beginning

Posted on February 20, 2018 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of Justine Mitchell and Sam Troughton in Beginning at the Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End

After a sell-out run at the National’s Dorfman Theatre, David Eidridge’s masterful new play BEGINNING transferred to Ambassador’s Theatre just off Charing Cross Road in central London until 24 March.

‘The (anti) romance for the 21st Century,’ is a two-hander with Justine Mitchell as Laura and Sam Troughton as Danny, sozzled loners, desperately seeking common ground and a connection. It’s the early hours of the morning, and Danny is the last straggler at Laura’s party. The flat’s a mess and so are they. In his four-star review for the Guardian, Michael Billington said, “Both actors peel away the protective layers in a play that leaves you caring deeply about its characters and which adds unusual poignancy to the dating game.”

Justine and Sam signed my drawing at the stage door, between Saturday shows.

Drawing: The Play That Goes Wrong

Posted on February 13, 2018 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of Dave Hearn, Henry Lewis, Charlie Russell, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields in The Play that Goes Wrong at the Duchess Theatre in London and the Lyceum Theatre in New York

One of the big success stories of British Theatre is the creation of the Mischief Theatre Company and their first hit production THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG. Written by LAMDA graduates Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, it follows the exploits of members of the fictitious Conley Polytechnic Drama Society and their disastrous attempt to put on a 1920’s murder mystery. The writers were joined in the original cast by Charlie Russell, David Hearn, Greg Tannahill, Nancy Wallinger and Rob Falconer, who used to work at my local pub and said he was working on an interesting theatre project.

From modest beginnings above one of London’s oldest taverns at the sixty-seater Old Red Lion Theatre in 2012, it moved to the Trafalgar Studios a year later then to the Duchess in September in 2014, where it is currently in residence and booking to later this year. It won the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. Last year it transferred to the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway, where it won the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design. It has now gone global, with productions in over 20 countries, including a UK tour.

Last month the two Henrys, Jonathan, Charlie and David returned to the West End, as part of the ensemble for the improv MISCHIEF MOVIE NIGHTS at London’s Arts Theatre, where I met them to sign this drawing for me.

Drawing: Shirley Henderson in Girl From The North Country

Posted on February 7, 2018 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of Shirley Henderson in Girl From The North Country at The Old Vic Theatre in London, and the Noel Coward Theatre on the West End

Irish playwright and director Conor McPherson’s new Dust Bowl drama GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY, incorporating the music of Bob Dylan, opened last Summer with a sell-out run at The Old Vic, before transferring to the Noel Coward Theatre in London’s West End. Claire Allfree, in The Telegraph headlined her review with “A magical fusion of Dylan and the Depression.”

Conor beautifully weaves the iconic songs (21 of them) of Bob Dylan into his show of hope, heartbreak and soul. It is set in a struggling guesthouse in Dylan’s hometown of Duluth, Minnesota, during the Great Depression, where poverty is rife amongst the gathering of the dispossessed and the most affected citizens… a place Ben Brantley in the New York Times describes as “a corner of the United States where it is all too easy to lose your way.”

The production and the cast has received unanimous critical acclaim, with Scottish BAFTA-winning actress Shirley Henderson portrayal of Elizabeth Laine, the wife of the inn-keeper Nick ( Ciaran Hinds) gaining special mention. In the grip of dementia and nearly feral, Shirley’s performance is nothing short of mesmerising.

“Henderson delivers a smoking version of ‘Like A Rolling Stone’,” wrote Natasha Tripney in TheStage. I met Shirley at the stage door last weekend after a matinee, where she signed my montage sketch for me.

Drawing: James Norton and Imogen Poots in Belleville

Posted on February 6, 2018 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of James Norton and Imogen Poots in Belleville at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre in London

“James Norton and Imogen Poots are brilliant,” wrote Andrzej Lukowski, the theatre editor for Time Out in his review of Amy Herzog’s 2011 play BELLEVILLE, which has just completed its run at London’s Donmar Warehouse. James and Imogen play uprooted American newlyweds Zack and Abby living in Belleville, the Bohemian district of Paris in a romantic dream gone sour. The Independent’s PaulTaylor agreed, “The acting’s terrific.”

I managed to catch up with James and Imogen at the Warehouse, where they signed my sketch.