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www.bristololdvictheatreclub.org.uk

Bristol Old Vics Achieving the Vision fund-raising Gala, advertised over several months in the Theatre Clubs Newsletter, proved a sparkling event on Saturday 26th April.

It excited a great sense of occasion and more than lived up to its advertised promise of an evening of glittering entertainment, sumptuous food and wine. It was the outcome of many months of serious planning.

Happily all its elements came together sublimely in a celebration of the past and a vision for the future.

Swell party

he man in ultimate charge was BOVs Director of Development Alan Wright who is too modest to congratulate

himself heartily in this months In His Own Wright column. We must do that for him. The Coopers Gallery was packed with party-goers, all of whom had responded to the dress code glamorous. Plentiful amounts of champagne and canaps ensured an electric energy and, threading their way from group to group, conjurors baffled and delighted guests with their close-up magic. Eventually we took our seats in the auditorium for a hilarious cabaret that loosely followed a script in which there was more than one reference to the Theatre Club. Howard Coggins and Craig Edwards were firmly and comically in charge as maitre ds in this smorgasbord of entertainment. A highlight was a battle of the dogs: in a light-hearted sequence poking fun at themselves and their recent performances, Howard reprised his endearing Nana from Peter Pan (rolling on his back and wanting his tummy tickled) while Craig reminded us of the more resonant Owf! Owfing and ostentatious tail-wagging of the mastiff Pilot from Jane Eyre, so once again stealing a show. The review was fun and enjoyed guest appearances from esteemed veterans of the

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May 2014

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Gala guests in party mood gather on the Coopers Gallery . Photo: Paul Blakemore

stage as well as some relative youngsters to the profession in the shape of Katie Moore (The Little Mermaid) and from Minotaur, Jack Holden (see In His Own Wright for more of the cast). There was something very satisfying about seeing these generous actors giving self-parodying party-pieces. A coup de theatre was achieved when the front tabs went up to reveal an exquisitely lit set the banqueting tables where supper was about to be served. Who would have thought that an arrangement of furniture could have such seductive appeal? We were ushered through to the stage. Much to our delight, at the Theatre Club table were seated Timothy West and Prunella Scales. (Pru told us that her very first job in theatre was at Bristol Old Vic: she was a member of stage management and had walk-on roles). Major managers of this exhilarating, feel-good event are mentioned by Alan in his column, but among other creative, unseen contributors deserving accolades were Tim Streader and Owain Davies (Lighting), James Hartland (Sound), Arthur Newton (Flyman) and Ruth Sidery (Stage Manager). Staff of Bristol Old Vic joined waiters and waitresses of the catering company to provide faultless table service. The food and wine were of a quality to satisfy epicures and with all its various elements fitting so perfectly together, BOVs Gala was an evening to remember.

RP

Alan Wright, BOVs Director of Development, gives his perspective on organising a party.

In his own Wright

love entertaining. We spent ages finding a suitable flat to live in with a kitchen big enough to comfortably accommodate a

dinner party. I really enjoy thinking about the right mix of guests to invite and then planning the food and drink. My wife makes wonderful desserts and I, more than happily, do the rest. So organising a Gala should just be an extension of that, shouldnt it? Obviously, I dont have to attempt the cooking but I do have a say on the menu and the wine list. I also have a pretty good idea of who I want to attend. However, I have to consider a little more than a selection of CDs when it comes to the entertainment. It has to be something that strikes a chord with a couple of hundred very disparate guests and sets the tone for the evening to come. Finally, just to make it all worthwhile, why not have an auction? Oh, and I forgot to mention, the event should make enough profit to satisfy the Board. Of course, unlike a dinner party, I was able to summon an army of help. Former

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Party-goers: actor Jack Holden (sixth from left) is flanked by Theatre Club members (from left to right) Bob Havard, Fran Havard, Tony Statham, Jo McDonald, Ray Price,

Margot Sampson, Chris Sampson, Pauline Peck, Ernie Peck. Photo: Paul Blakemore

events organiser Vicky Fraser oversaw all the logistics, calling in favours from companies to provide the lighting, tables and chairs. Our own James Lane came up with a wonderful concept for the table decoration and, as usual, Aidan Woodburn and Hannah Maun marshalled the front of house team. And in his own lugubrious way Jason Barnes made sure every technical element of the evening was seamlessly delivered. I had no worry that Fosters would, as usual, provide delicious food and with Averys supplying the champagne and Corks of Cotham the wine, I knew that there wouldnt be any complaints about the quality of alcohol on offer. As soon as Toby Hulse had extricated himself from Minotaur he turned his attention to writing the entertainment for the Gala. In collaboration with John Retallack, Toby decided to attempt a light-hearted romp through two-hundred and fifty years of the theatres history in the comedic hands of Howard Coggins and Craig Edwards.

Meanwhile we set about luring some of our favourite artists to enter into the spirit of the occasion. On the night Patrick Malahide gave a flawless exhibition of stagecraft with his hilarious reprise of a scene from King Lear when Goneril fails to make an entrance. Then Isla Blair revealed herself as the ghost of Sarah Macready after Simon Shepherd had been forced to deliver a speech from Hamlet as if Sarah Siddons, while having his/her legs exposed (you had to be there!). Pru Scales and Tim West were enveloped by the warmth of the ovation they received before Julian Glover brought the performance to a fitting climax by summoning the collective throng to boldly follow us towards the brave new world we are trying to create at Bristol Old Vic. It is fair to say, everyone went off to dinner in very good humour. Many of our guests had never been to the theatre before and so when they arrived at their tables and looked out upon the auditorium, many were transfixed by the beauty of the place.

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A surprise appearance from Prunella Scales and Timothy West (with Craig Edwards) who took

part in the cabaret Photo: Paul Blakemore

Dinner on stage with auction. Photo: Paul Blakemore

Just as with a dinner party, you can sense how well its going by the buzz in the room, or lack of it. I can safely say the place bristled with liveliness and jollity. Like any host I tried to visit as many tables as possible and people genuinely seemed to be having great fun. The one element that had given me most

cause for concern was the auction. We had managed to accumulate over twenty lots designed to offer something to suit all pockets. The live auction was presided over by Arne Everwijn of Christies but all the lots had been presented on-line ten days before the Gala by a New York company called Gavel and Grand which has a world-wide

Katie Moore, Jack Holden, Lizzie Westcott, Howard Coggins and Craig Edwards

entertain. Photo: Paul Blakemore

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community of members who can bid on any auctions placed on their website. It is rather like a very up-market e-Bay, and like e-Bay there is a published deadline on bids which has to coincide with the end of the live auction. Knowing how Galas over-run, especially when there is an element of performance involved, I was acutely aware of the challenge of co-ordinating the on-line and live auctions. Unfortunately, when Arne eventually got onto to the rostrum, he had eleven minutes to auction twelve lots. Under the circumstances he did brilliantly raising over 26,000. Adding income from ticket sales and sponsorship I am delighted to say we raised over 70,000, with donations still coming in from many of the guests who attended. Finally, a massive vote of thanks to Joe and Kate who make up the triumvirate of the Development Department. They have had to liaise with all the guests, prepare all the auction items, produce all the print, chase the money and deal with a grouchy old manager who never dared to believe we could pull it off with such success. Finally, finally, a huge thank you to the Theatre Club for all the extraordinary effort put into selling tickets and giving the Anniversary Works campaign just the public launch it needs.

AW

Peter OToole There is to be a celebration of the life and work of Peter OToole at midday on Sunday, 18th May at the Old Vic in London (by ticket only). It will be hosted by Stephen Fry, The beneficiary of this event will be the

Bristol Old Vics Patrons Prize, which allows two deserving Theatre School graduates a contract with Bristol Old Vic Company for its Autumn 2014 season. A small group of Theatre School acting students will be performing a stage combat routine at the event.

Saturday, 24th May from 10.30 a.m.

at

The Tobacco Factory (Raleigh Road, Bedminster)

and at 11.15 a.m.

with

MILLIE & DOM Millie Corser and Dominic Creasey are about to graduate from BOV Theatre

School.

Among many roles Millie has played are the White Witch in

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Arabella in The Innocent Mistress.

Dominic was Young Lion in The Lion , the Witch and the Wardrobe and Spendall in

The Innocent Mistress.

They were both in Romeo and Juliet, the show that transferred to the Edinburgh

Fringe, Millie as Emily and Dominic as Mercutio..

We review their Theatre School careers and look forward to what their futures may hold.

This event is free to all.

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Bristol Old Vic: the next few weeks.

MAYFEST From intimate encounters in small rooms to large-scale adventures in public spaces, Mayfest 2014 has cabaret, live art, ballet, circus, music, dance, installation, storytelling and all manner of uncategorisables in between. It is produced by Bristol Old Vic Associate Company MAYK in association with Bristol Old Vic and organisations across the city. On-going Mayfest includes Lulu: A Murder Ballad and The Roof.

LULU: A MURDER BALLAD Prostitute, mistress, murderer. The brilliantly twisted Tiger Lillies take on one of theatres most seductive and intoxicating creations, Lulu. With 20 new songs and innumerable dark tales from the underbelly of the city, the Lillies combine cabaret, opera, video and delicious imagery to seduce, delight and terrify. Journey with her from Berlin to Paris and finally to the dark London streets of Jack The Ripper. The Tiger Lillies genre-defying brand of other-worldly vocals and unnerving performance style has carved them a niche in the music theatre scene. *The Tiger Lillies in Lulu: A Murder Ballad , presented by Opera North, West Yorkshire Playhouse and Warwick Arts Centre, can be seen in the Theatre Royal on Tuesday and Wednesday, 20th and 21st May.

THE ROOF Commissioned by LIFT and presented in association with the National Theatre The Roof is a 360 panoramic performance under the night sky. A door opens and an immaculate figure steps out onto a roof. Knives are sharpened and the game begins. . . Set within the suspended reality of a brutal and unforgiving game, this breathless mix of intimate three-dimensional sound and the hair-trigger movement of free running will transport you into the body of a reluctant hero, desperate to stay alive. The Roof is a truly unique experience taking place in a purpose built arena. *Fuel presents REQUARDT&ROSENBERGS The Roof , commissioned by LIFT and presented in association with the National Theatre, from Thursday 22nd to Sunday, 25th May in Millennium Square, Bristol. THE LIBERTINE Ladies, an announcement: I am up for it, all the time London in the 1670s - Charles II is on the throne, Nell Gwynn is in his bed and the theatre and sexual promiscuity are flourishing. The Libertine is the true story of John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester - a hedonistic poet, playwright and rake whose appetite for women and wine has made him a notorious figure. He is a man who does not feel alive unless he exceeds every limit. Hes not easy to like, much less to love. Yet this most charismatic of sinners is forced to reconsider everything he thinks and feels when a chance encounter at the Playhouse sends him reeling. With all the wit, flair and bawdiness of a Restoration Comedy, this brilliant play is both historical romp and incisive critique of an age of excess. *Citizens Theatre presents The Libertine by Stephen Jeffreys, directed by Dominic Hill in the Theatre Royal from Wednesday 28 th to Saturday, 31 st May.

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Bristol Old Vic surrenders to

football fever

Bristol Old Vic today launched its summer show for all the family with a celebration of Englands footballing icons. World Cup Final 1966 follows Bobby Moore, Nobby Stiles and the Charlton Brothers: the team of legendary heroes and ordinary men that won a 12" golden statuette and a permanent place in the hearts of a nation. 1966: A year when Cassius Clay defeats Henry Cooper, Harold Wilson sweeps to victory, mini-skirts hit new heights and the Beatles are more popular than Jesus. But nothing can eclipse Englands greatest sporting moment. World Cup Final 1966 is a funny, affectionate look at this epic moment in footballing history, bringing it to life for a new generation of children and creating a nostalgic walk down memory lane for their grandparents. Last seen on tour in 2005 following a run at Londons Battersea Arts Centre and especially re-written for Bristol, this acclaimed production follows the path to glory of the players and manager of the 1966 team and culminates in a full-scale re-enactment of the 1966 World Cup final on stage in celebration of the 2014 World Cup Tournament which starts on the 12th June in Brazil, with the Final on 13th July.. Tickets priced to encourage families, three generations, football teams and five-a-siders *World Cup Final 1966 , written and directed by Carl Heap and Tom Morris, plays in the Theatre Royal from Thursday, 12 th June to Saturday, 12 th July.

Tickets for all shows

Box Office: 0117 987 7877

Email: tickets@bristololdvic.org.uk

www.bristololdvic.org.uk

Saturday, 14th June from 10.30 a.m.

at

Bristol Old Vic and at 11 a.m.

with

PAUL RUMMER

BOV Theatre School has enjoyed a particularly successful two years. As well as landmark productions

of The Last Days of Mankind in 2014 to this years London Road via a sell-

out Christmas show and a brilliant Directors Cuts season at the Brewery there has been the inclusion of the

former Friends programme into that of BOV Theatre Club.

Principal Paul Rummer makes a welcome visit to celebrate the artistic

output of the School, assess its current position

and tell us how it is coping when funding is being squeezed.

Theatre Club members and under-16s free. Guests: 5

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We catch up on some very special In Conversation events. Before Sally Cooksons production of Jane Eyre fades too much from our memories, Ray Price reports on a morning with Madeleine Worrall.

Feisty lady

adeleine Worrall has all the guts and gusto of the character she has been playing at Bristol Old Vic.

She is petite but shares the feistiness, courage and determination of Charlotte Brontes heroine. Like Jane she presents as intelligent, assertive and dignified. A Theatre Club In Conversation guest, she had been storming the stage in the spectacularly well reviewed Jane Eyre, directed by Sally Cookson. A little later that day she had matinee and evening commitments: two performances to breast with their intense spiritual and physical demands. Madeleine was born in Edinburgh and no, there was no theatrical background. The stage is still a mystery to my mum, she said archly. She took a degree in History of Art at Cambridge and became a singer professionally, played piano and oboe, and published some poetry. Talented, then but shy. Seeds were sewn by an enthusiastic teacher who directed musicals and it was through her singing that Madeleine discovered the stage. Somehow being in musicals was deemed not worthy and at Cambridge she plunged into the world of the straight play. She was noticed and taken on by an agent. She had what she described as brilliant training with the RSC at the Barbican for six months. During which time she played 21 minor roles. She took a post-grad course at LAMDA. After a while, said Madeleine, I found the conventional interpretation of classical play quite boring. Years ago I realised the need to steer myself towards the work Im

doing now and communicating that preference to directors. The work shes doing now is a piece devised by a company. For Madeleine, directors like Sally Cookson have the ideal approach. There was no script at the beginning. Nothing except what was in Sallys extraordinary head. The approach was - Lets read a bit. Lets talk. Lets make a scene. And youd spend a long time making a scene, all the time thinking it was fantastic and then realising it was not. Often an actor would come up with a suggestion and say, Its a crap idea, and the response would be, Lets try it. There is a risk that you may seem stupid and you frequently make an idiot of yourself but in this method of working actors realise they are making a genuine contribution to the staging of the piece. The cast first met up back in September together with designer Michael Vale (Peter Pan, Great Expectations, Theatre Club In Conversation) for a period of R&D (Research and Development). Michael has a great intuition. We all played around discussing themes and talking about what drives the characters. We explored the physical language and a look that would work for the show. In a memorable image, Madeleine described the process as like wrestling a python to the ground It was both exhausting and exhilarating. The key was finding the impulse for Jane Eyre. What is it that drives her? I said at the time that I thought Jane wants to climb and we sought a way to express that in tangible form. Somebody suggested a tree. There wont be a tree on my stage, said Sally emphatically. And so Michael came up with ladders, and particularly the latter of death. Smilingly, Madeleine waved towards the downstage ladder, a vertical installation via which characters could ascend to the main platform. A mock-up of the set was constructed in the rehearsal room (though minus some key elements) on which actors could practice their moves: a complex pattern of moves with

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Storming the stage. Madeleine Worrall In Conversation.

Photo: Arthur Turner.

precisely timed entrances and exits to tell an epic tale. Working at the pace we had to and remembering everything was a challenge. There were moments in dress rehearsals when, running around the stage Id sometimes stop and feel like shouting Where am I? What do I do now? Help me. I feared I would never get to know the show but it comes and you do it. These were not the only elements the production had to wrestle with. Jane is both protagonist and narrator and the development of her character is central to the novel. A lot of the book goes on inside Janes head. A way had to be found of articulating her thoughts. Eventually this was achieved in various ways: through the words of another character, a chorus of voices, music and even choreography. In adapting such a novel there are time-honoured questions about what should be included and what left out. Sally was clear,

said Madeleine, that the main characters childhood should be depicted. It is not an irrelevance. It shows that Jane has had an existence. She has struggled. The St John Rivers episodes are also included. They give a much richer, fuller story of her life. The inclusion of so much material germane to the back stories and development of characters in itself proved time-consuming and risky. It took a long time to get ready, explained Madeleine. We had four weeks to rehearse and make each part. The National would get twelve. Our technical rehearsal was only a day or two before the Previews and we were still writing scenes at that time. We were working right up to the wire. Inevitably there was a question on how she had prepared for the role. Had she researched? Madeleine had first read the book when she was 11 years old. Her biggest challenge was to engage with some of the action that was outside normal experience. I had to imagine things emotionally; the way children of the time were treated in certain institutions, for example. A performance has to come from you, of course, in the light of your own experience, but you have to be true to the character also. She also knew how demanding the performance was going to be physically. When she played Wendy in BOVs Peter Pan (also directed by Sally) and had to use a harness to fly, she had joined a gym and worked out regularly. As Jane, Madeleine was on stage almost continuously - the exception being the thirty seconds or so of the scene of Rochesters attempted seduction of Blanche and there was a lot of running. And climbing the Ladder of Death. Jane Eyre does not have the physical demands of Peter Pan and I hoped that a level of fitness had stayed with me. Theres a strain on the voice of course. I am helped a little by the use of radio microphones. We have to have those in any case because of the music. We would never be heard otherwise. A questioner asked if she preferred performing the two parts of Jane Eyre on the same day.

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Doing both parts in one day is much more satisfying. It is exhausting, of course, but as you finish part one, everything in you is lurching forward and wanting to continue the story. It is tiring but rewarding. Readying herself or each demanding performance was vital for Madeleine. There are those actors who can laugh and joke right up to the moment of stepping on to stage. I have to get my head down a good two hours beforehand. I start to tune out the daily world and begin to engage with the play. I have to gear myself up to an arduous emotional and spiritual journey whilst at the same time slightly protecting myself from it.

Pauline Peck, who liaises with the Young Company, enjoyed listening to Lisa Gregan and was amused to see an impromptu YC warm-up.

Royal family

ur In Conversation guest on 5th April was Lisa Gregan, Deputy Director of the Young Company. She was joined

on stage by three cast members of The Tinderbox: Beth Collins (who played the Queen), Lorenzo Niyongabo (King) and Jack Orozco Morrison (Prince) Lisa started by telling us about her background in theatre in Scotland and how she came to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and obtained her Masters degree in Directing last year. She then joined the Young Company and worked with Miranda Cromwell (its Director) on Talon. It was a great opportunity for her as she loves working with young people as they are less inhibited and full of ideas. She chose The Tinderbox as her first production for the Young Company for several reasons. She felt that although the original Hans Christian Andersen story was only seven pages long, it raised many questions which were left unanswered. She saw it as more than a fairy story.

It seemed, as the morning wore briskly on, that Madeleine was gearing up before our eyes. Her messages were becoming more urgent, her manner increasingly emphatic, her stage persona was encroaching. The pain, the beauty the sadness and joy of Jane Eyre bleeds into me a little bit and separating the emotional state of me and my character is sometimes difficult to manage. The matinee was now not too far off and it was time to bring our conversation to an end. Madeleine Worrall, passionate and independent, took her applause and scurried off for two demanding performances.

RP

It was a good base from which to develop those issues which are very relevant to todays world the brutality of war, post traumatic stress and attitudes to women.

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Thinking outside the box. Lisa Gregan In Conversation.

Photo: Arthur Turner.

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Ray Price talks to Lisa Gregan and YC members (from left to right) Beth, Lorenzo and Jack. Photo: Arthur Turner

In the original story, the Princess does not have a voice so Lisa was determined she would be a strong character in the Young Companys production. Working with the YC members, the play was devised and the material was then crafted and written by Silva Semerciyan. Lisa was proud that the production had a very strong female team. Beth, Lorenzo and Jack told us a little about themselves and their roles in The Tinderbox. Beth had particularly enjoyed being involved in creating a piece of theatre. She loved discussing the various issues raised and working with Silva in developing some of the script. It had been a long process but great fun. Lorenzo (aged 17), who had joined the Young Company when he was 11 years old, said that Lisa had kept things very raw. She had wanted people to think outside the box. He felt that he had benefitted from the freedom of being able to make mistakes and consequently had become more confident.

Jack had joined the Young Company about two years ago. He said he was encouraged to make suggestions and loved the feeling of no failure. He enjoyed doing research work with Lorenzo on the role of dictators. On a more practical side, he found improvising with sticks and chairs as simple props used as weapons, doors and trees to be very creative. The cast members talked about their exhausting warm up before each session and gave us an entertaining impromptu demonstration, which included some beat boxing. They found the whole process of collaboration with other members of the Young Company very rewarding. Lisa said how lucky the Young Company had been to be able to use dog puppets made for them by the Hand Spring Puppet Company. She thanked the Theatre Club for its generous donation which had helped the Young Company to buy costumes and other items for the production and for its all-round support. PP

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m The Tinderbox

Directed by Lisa Gregan.

Designer Rosanna Vize

Images above by Paul Blakemore Image right by Patrick Graham

The Tinderbox

Bristol Old Vic Theatre Club was proud to donated 1000 to fund costumes for this Young Company production

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Jack Holden: one-man show coming up. In Conversation.

Photo: Arthur Turner

John Luckes was present when actor Jack Holden met the Theatre Club.

In the wars

ack had just finished the afternoon performance, the second of the day, of Minotaur, a BOV production directed by

Toby Hulse. He reminisced about his schooldays at Tonbridge when he was inspired by a teacher to try professional theatre. In 2008 he applied to several drama schools and was offered firstly a place at the Guildhall in London and then the BOV Theatre School. He was sensible enough to choose the latter and as a consequence we have since had the benefit of his decision. He didnt know Bristol but was glad that he came here. He spoke of the wonderful location of the old building opposite the Downs much healthier than being in the centre of London. He was also geographically closer to where his mother lives in Devon. BOV Theatre School had provided him with wonderful, sometimes challenging training. He had made many good friends. No other Theatre School undertakes touring and Jack thought the experience of having to transport the set, props and costumes (for the West Country tour production of David Copperfield, for instance) with his fellow students hard work but rewarding. He even went so far as to describe the experience as blissful. After graduating, War Horse was his first job, a National Theatre production at the New London Theatre. In his modest way Jack agreed that he had been amazed at being offered the role of Albert so early in his professional career. He told us that at this audition and other auditions since, he always fully learns his lines beforehand and never simply reads from a script as some do. Asked about embarrassing moments Jack described one attempt at jumping onto the back of Joey, the horse, during rehearsal. A little too much impetus found him flying over the horses back and crashing on the other

side. Fortunately he was uninjured. Not so fortunate was an episode when a split appeared in his pants during a performance. Jack (left) reprised his role in an extract at the National Theatres 50th Anniversary celebration, in such august company as Michael Gambon and Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. He described the occasion and the experience as epic. In the production of Minotaur, which had toured to Sedgemoor schools but had come home to BOVs Studio, Jacks main role was that of the Prince Theseus, the long lost son of King Aegeus of Athens. He also enjoyed being the Minotaur itself, moving and making noises that Minotaurs make! An amusing moment that afternoon had occurred when the children sitting around the set were asked if any of them wanted to be a human sacrifice. Only one little girl put her hand up. When asked who wanted their friend to be a human sacrifice all hands went up!

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Jack is currently rehearsing an adaptation of Dalton Trumbos iconic novel Johnny Got His Gun which is about to open at the Southwark Playhouse (21st May - 14th June). In jacks own words: Its a one-man show about an American soldier who wakes up in a hospital bed at the end of World War One to find himself horrifically wounded and his life changed forever. Im the one man. He has one week of research and four weeks of rehearsal. He finds such research and development rewarding. This play is about honour and justice and liberty. Its deeply anti-war and completely pro-life. Its not about the masses and the numbers and the vast scale of the Great War. Its about one man and all that he lost. We enjoyed meeting Jack who is an easy-going, amiable young man. Yet another great communicator; yet another generous person willing to give his time and to whom we must be (dare we say it) beholden.

JL

Save the Date!

ollowing Toby Hulses In Conversation with us (report next month) we felt that there might be sufficient interest to

organise a special InHouse Day for the forthcoming production of his play War Game which will run in BOVs Studio from 11th to 22nd November. InHouse days consist of an In Conversation in the morning, a buffet lunch and a ticket for the show with an additional event as part of the package. Toby has kindly agreed to help us design a multi-generational event to bring together people of all ages those who have direct experience or memories of war through to young people for whom war is something on the TV screen. This is work-in-progress at present; meanwhile please hold Saturday 15th November 2014 when we will have an event including attendance at one of the performances of War Game on that day. More details in the June edition of our Newsletter.

Saturday, 21st June

2. 30 p.m. performance.

by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman Directed by Caroline Leslie

Keen to boost his flagging career, fading Hollywood hero Jefferson Steele arrives in England to play King Lear in

Stratford, only to find that this Stratford is a sleepy Suffolk village and the cast are a

bunch of amateurs. His monstrous ego, vanity and insecurity are tested by the enthusiastic thespians who are

not averse to a spot of ego themselves. As acting worlds collide, Jefferson discovers

some truths about himself and his relationships with others . . . along with his

inner Lear.

We will break our journey for lunch at Newbury before proceeding to The Mill with time to wander by the river. From Bristol Hotel, Prince Street at 9 a.m. arriving back at 8 p.m. approx.

Price, which includes theatre ticket, coach travel and drivers remuneration:- Members 29 Guests 34

Call Isabel on 0117 963 9689.

Then send cheque, payable to BOV Theatre Club, together with a stamped, self-addressed envelope (please include your phone number) to: Trips Organiser, Bristol Old Vic Theatre Club, Theatre Royal, King Street, BRISTOL BS1 4ED.

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Bristol Old Vic Theatre School

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Look at it this way: a Directors and Designers perspective

nce more there was a Full House for the recent Directors / Designers Preview talk that took place at BOV

Theatre School and if you havent ever attended one of these then it is robustly recommended that you do. They shed a soft but revealing light on the way theatre is made and are a must for any serious play-goer. The director of Blue Stockings Donnacadh OBriain was introduced together with its designers (set; Florence Pettit, costume; Alex Berry) The play is set at Girton College, Cambridge in 1896, an austere time when women were tolerated to study and research but barred from leaving with degrees. Such pursuit was deemed detrimental to the physical systems of women who should properly be preparing for future motherhood. The climate prevailed that women were outcasts to academia, particularly in the world of science, lest the species be endangered. It was to be another fifty years before they would be allowed to graduate. Blue Stockings is an exciting piece, even if it still has the capacity to ruffle feathers. It is full of interesting characters, all with a passion for education, but focuses on four new Girton girls who are particularly outspoken. They fight against prejudice and shockingly in doing so meet hostility from many male graduates. The story is told in twenty-three scenes. The space has to accommodate swift changes in location and here was the model box to suggest how this would be achieved. Pitched in a world of education a place of ideas - the set is predominantly black with walls a little like blackboards. Wall bars, however, are at odds with this scenario and these move and can be climbed upon. They add a heavy-handed theatrical element, said Donnacadh, and are a hyper-masculine device. We gaze at an Edwardian gym where women, wearing their long dresses, are disadvantaged and feel out of context.

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In a scene in a library the wall bars become bookcases and wood panelling provides the environment of a place of study. Gauze blackboards are panels through which scenes and locations appear. The expanse of wall behind is hidden for most of the show but eventually becomes a cosmos upon which constellations can be drawn. The girls protest for the right to graduate and the climax comes with a violent invasion by a group of males and the destruction of the set, the battleground for the fight for equal rights.

Another challenging piece is London Road. We had begun the evening, as so often happens, with a song. Several students, accompanied by, and under the directorship of Pam Rudge, had performed an opening number of the forthcoming musical. Not so much a song, actually, but a complicated woven pattern of musical phrases which underscored the reading out of the minutes of a Neighbourhood Watch meeting. The Neighbourhood Watch group of London Road. Rehearsals had only begun that day but already the standard was breath-taking. Because there is about to be a film, the School is currently the only theatre company allowed a licence to perform this unusual play. There are twenty-eight graduating students, Jenny Stephens informed us, and the search for a production that will give all of them an equal chance to show their abilities is always an urgent one. London Road fills the bill. Set in Ipswich between 2006 and 2008, the central act is the murder of several prostitutes. The play isnt about them or the murders. It takes as its themes the effects of those murders on all the local residents and how they grappled with the impact that an invasion of the media had and the image portrayed in newspapers and on television of their area. When serial killer Steve Wright, who had lived at no 79 for only ten weeks, was arrested, charged and convicted, London Road was depicted as a notorious red light district. As far as shocked house-holders were concerned, it was an ordinary, otherwise law-abiding residential street.

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London Road is verbatim theatre. To write this drama, author Alecky Blythe interviewed all the residents over a period of two years and recorded what they said. The transcripts were edited and used to create a narrative with a sung element. In this drama-documentary approach, actors in the original production at the National Theatre were urged to capture the voices of interviewees, to say their lines in a way that people spoke their words with hesitations, repetitions and mispronunciations and so repeat the speech rhythms and musicality of accents Plays usually depict interactions between characters; this piece shows characters reacting to questions put to them, though the questions remain unheard. Integral to the production is a breaking down of the usual arrangements of theatre-going where actors are in light and the audience sit in darkness. This play uses a shared space that challenges the conventions of the physical relationship of actors and audience. The audience is fenced in with curtains and only once sees beyond them. Sixty-four characters are played by 12 actors, some having only a few lines to say, in a kaleidoscope of locals portrayed in quick succession. With a set designed by Max Johns and costumes by Hannah Wolfe, London Road is a fast-paced show during which all costume changes happen in full view. The play deals with the ripples that spread out within a community. It is, said Jenny, an extraordinary and mesmeric piece of theatre which is ultimately uplifting. At the end the curtains of London Road move back to signify the start of a new era

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A sad tales best for winter. From the classical canon, Shakespeares The Winters Tale is this years choice for students on the International Course, The Winters Tale, generally classed a Shakes-peare comedy or one of his late romances, is a play about the seasons and time and bringing things back to fruition. It is also sometimes referred to as a problem play. The first half is intense the Court and dangerous domestic politics, psychological drama and is tragic and wintry in tone. It is set in Sicily where Polixenes, the King of Bohemia has been the guest of Leontes, King of Sicilia, for just over nine months. They have been close friends since childhood but in a fit of inexplicable and sudden rage, Leontes accuses his wife Hermione of being unfaithful to him. The father of their new-born babe, he asserts, is Polixenes. Wife and child are both banished. The second half, sunny, funny and exuberant - pastoral and peopled with shepherds and shepherdesses - takes place in Bohemia. It features one of Shakespeares most delightful rogues, Autolycus a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles. Between first and second halves lies a span of sixteen years a period bridged briefly in a speech by the character Time. The play includes, its director Kim Durham reminded us, probably the most famous stage direction of all. Exit pursued by a bear is an incident that occurs as Antigonus, a courtier, fulfils his orders to carry Hermiones infant to a barren spot and leave it to a cruel fate. The child grows up to be Perdita, one of Shakepeares most beautiful heroines. Full of grace and purity she is successfully wooed by Florizel whom Perdita believes to be a country swain. Forbidden to marry they flee to Sicily for a dnouement of surprises that stretches credulity to the limit.

There are ten international students of which four are women and all of them must have enough to do. There is a lot of doubling of parts. The action is set in the 1950s and the production is vaguely eastern European in look.

RP

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Chris Harris A personal view by Ray Price.

When you know somebody well, when you are a friend, you often lose sight of how much they are celebrated, how highly they are regarded, how far-reaching is their influence and authority. I hadnt lost sight completely of those qualities in Chris Harris; I had probably taken them a

little bit for granted. The surge of feeling following his death aged 71, the fulsome tributes in newspapers and on television have reminded me of how much he was respected and the extent to which he was acknowledged to be the master of his craft. and how he had touched peoples lives. Chris was beloved of many Theatre Club members, past and present, even though he has not been seen in a Bristol Old Vic show for many years. His last appearance on the stage of the Theatre Royal was in September 2012 when he was part of the entertainment for the BOV re-opening Gala. He performed a party piece as Old Vic Queen Victoria dressed in character. He had a ukulele and supposedly tuned it up, intoning My dogs got fleas as he plucked the strings. Within seconds he had captured his audience with an assured comic business that seemed extemporised. Chris was very generous to the Theatre Club. Many years ago it must have been after 1972 he gave a presentation in the New Vic Studio (as it was known then). He needed an assistant for one of his sketches and roped me in. The show proved him to be a master of clowning and mime. Chris had passions which often generated scripts for entire shows entertainments like Beemaster, for example. Through his interest in music hall, Chris researched the career of one of its doyens, Randolph Sutton, who was born in Bristol. On Mother Kellys Doorstep, from the title of a song later made famous by Danny La Rue, was the result and Chris performed it for us, again in the Studio theatre. It was also televised. Chris toured extensively and from 1976 took his popular one-man shows around the world. They demonstrated his flair for creativity, invention, comic timing; and were object lessons in how to establish rapport with an audience. They were full of extraordinary energy. In one of his

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final emails to me he recalled some of this work, prefacing, typically, with a compliment: Excellent Newsletter as ever. So glad you enjoyed Turkey and the Aegean. I had some great visits to Turkey working for the State theatre in Istanbul directing and performing my own shows. My production of Noises Off ran for 2 years!! They even flew me to Diyarbakir up on the Iraq border to perform Kemps Jig. He was, of course, a director and a writer and was also at one time a member of the RSC. He devised and developed television and radio entertainments. He performed at BOV in nine consecutive pantomimes until 2000 and was vexed by the Companys decision to axe them before he completed ten. He re-located to Bath Theatre Royal. Despite directing the shows and returning annually by popular demand, he had limited say over the choice of cast. Headlining celebrities were important for ticket sales though not all of them were up to scratch. Every year for fifteen years I gladly waited at the stage door in a cold, windswept alley among (usually) a lively crowd of autograph hunters for a brief hello, to offer congratulations, enjoy a quick conversation and accept the usual thank you for coming before we went our separate ways. Much has been said about Chris as being a kind and generous man. He had time for people and was empathetic and sensitive. He was calm, composed and measured outwardly but he was inwardly dynamic, a very hard worker. He was a thoughtful, intelligent speaker too. He attended a public meeting shortly before the closure of Bristol Old Vic in 2007 and, comments having been invited from the floor, he addressed an audience with a well structured, eloquent speech; an impressive call to arms. Along with others on his contacts list he never failed to send me cards at Christmas and only once missed my birthday. He was in France with his wife Vicky, enjoying a well-deserved rest at their cottage upon which they had spent a lot of time and loving attention. A few days later a postcard arrived with a picture of a shady-looking man in a bowler hat sitting in a bar. I still have it and the message makes me smile even now: Tous va bien! Excusez moi, Ray. Je missed ton birthday. Jespere tous est OK. As ever, Chris. Did I mention he was funny? To receive a phone call from Chris was always a pleasure. He was one of a very few people who could reduce me to hysterical laughter within the first few sentences of a conversation. He had an extraordinary gift.

It is not over-dramatic to say that Chris had cheated death a few years ago. A serious heart problem was kept a firm secret. Working in the garden of that charming French cottage, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. It subsided, but on his return to Bristol he visited his GP who, having put him through tests, announced that an immediate operation was needed. Pantomime season was approaching but he was whisked off and had a quadruple heart by-pass within a matter of days. I visited him at his lovely home in Portishead; he was a little frail and in some pain whenever he coughed. His recuperation period was shorter than it should have been but he decided he was ready for rehearsals in the nick of time. Chris and I were in regular email contact. He would often get in touch with a light-hearted observation, a joke or a slightly risqu story. The problem with emails is that you dont sense a tone. You dont hear a voice. A message on the screen tends to be scanned with the eye or read too quickly. When on 11th April he told me he had prostate cancer, I made light of it in my response, knowing that the condition is treatable and curable. Two weeks later his message read that he was having chemotherapy. He asked if we could meet up. Gladly. But it didnt happen. News came shortly after that Chris had passed away even as he was having his treatment, of a heart attack. Looking at those emails again now I detect an anguish that would have been plain to hear had I been alert to what appeared to be a sub text. An edited version of his final communication shrieks. Update. he wrote on 25th April. Sadly things arent good . Last week... on the Monday..., following CT scans, I was informed that the prostate cancer had taken a turn for the worse and headed for the liver. Not feeling brilliant at the moment Ray. Love to you. Jon Monie, Chris side-kick in his pantomimes, described him as the beating heart of all those shows. He was a legend. Professional to the core. Warm, caring, encouraging and always there. His death is a shock and is a huge loss to theatres and audiences around the West Country and beyond. Farewell, you Tinker.

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