Tag Archives: Acting

Review: Flowers For Mrs Harris at Chichester Festival Theatre

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Photo: Johan Persson

Until 29 September

Box Office: 01243 781312

cft.org.uk

You might not go home humming the tunes, but what Flowers for Mrs Harris lacks in catchy songs is more than made up for in warmth and charm.

An elegant retelling of one of Paul Gallico’s much-loved series of books, there’s not a great deal of colour to in Ada’s life. Set in the post-war 1940s, a gossip over a cuppa with her friend and fellow charlady Violet Butterfield and a bottle of milk stout once a week is about as bright as things get.

‘Doing’ for he clients by day, always giving them added value in kindness, wisdom and good old fashioned common sense, by night she conjures up the company of her late husband at the kitchen table of their rented Battersea home. Falling in love with a Christian Dior gown while cleaning for a well-to-do lady (“a dress to make you feel”), she vows to work for as long as it takes to save for such a frock of her own. Helped by Violet, the next two years are filled with purposeful drudgery. Sustained by the mental image of her fairy tale dress, she toils day and night, cleaning, mending and reassuring.

It is a story that could easily become saccharine-sweet and mawkish, but director Daniel Evans (who directed the production as his swansong at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre – and where it won three UK Theatre Awards – before taking up the reigns at Chichester), gets the balance absolutely right.

The characters may be larger than life, but they are rooted firmly in truth, imbuing the narrative with credibility and humour. If the first half drags its feet somewhat then the second flies, which is apt given that post-interval is when we see Ada taking the second step toward her dream and reaching France.

 

Photo: Johan Persson

Clare Burt reprises her role as Mrs Harris. It is easy to see why she won ‘Best Performance in a Musical’ on her previous outing. With a perfect blend of dignity, empathy, wit and sweetness, she shines like a basking sunflower.

The cast cleverly doubles for the action on both sides of the channel. Accomplished performances throughout, Gary Wilmot is especially memorable and versatile in a number of guises and Claire Machin is a hoot as both Violet and her French counterpart.

An elegantly told and beautifully staged story of hope, aspiration and simple kindness, Flowers for Mrs Harris will lift your spirits and leave you feeling blooming marvellous.

 

Review: Copenhagen, Minerva Theatre, Chichester

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Box Office: 01243 781312 www.cft.org.uk
Until 22 September

Photo credit: Conrad Blakemore

What was the purpose of the visit made by German Werner Heisenberg (Charles Edwards) to his friend Danish physicist Niels Bohr (Paul Jesson) as the Second World War raged? The answer is by no means swift in coming, but it is a compelling journey. Which is just as well; this is not a play that allows for wandering concentration.

The ghosts of Heisenberg, Bohr and his wife Margrethe return to the night of Heisenberg’s visit in 1941 to scrutinise the intent and rationale behind the house call. Eminently bright and highly respected, the younger man’s nation has occupied his elder’s country, thus thorough examination of several theories is necessary.

With a shared passion for scientific certainty the coals are raked over with forensic-like attention to detail, stirring human nature into technical hypotheses. Tempered by Margrethe’s perceptiveness and calm, blistering disagreement between the two men is revealing, but while such convulsions are fascinating it is the historical element that gives the play ominous depth: the creation of the atom bomb and its monstrous impact.

Director Michael Blakemore succeeds in maintaining a fluidity that is almost balletic. With a small cast and a stark set the focus on the trio is as intense as the play itself, but they impress throughout.

Patricia Hodge as Margrethe is breathtakingly good; elegant, circumspect and sharp. Charles Edwards as Heisenberg and Paul Jesson as Bohr are equally excellent, both absolutely convincing as boffins who, despite their scientific and mathematical prowess, are nevertheless vulnerable to human frailty.

Michael Frayn’s play is as much about morals as it is the quest for knowledge and you are likely to come away as many questions as answers. Oddly, this is strangely satisfying.

Review: Me and My Girl, Chichester Festival Theatre

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Me and My Girl
Chichester Festival Theatre (until 25 August)
Tickets: 01243 781312; cft.org.uk

Credit: Johan Persson

Chichester Festival Theatre director Daniel Evans (also at the helm of the show) earned groans of disappointment in response to his on-stage announcement that Matt Lucas was under Doctor’s orders to rest his voice and would not be appearing. But all was not lost, he quickly reassured us. With just two hours’ rehearsal the understudy had gamely agreed to step into the role.
Ryan Pidgen can surely now step into any role he pleases. In a totally self-assured, flawless performance, had we not known that Lucas was the intended leading man then we would have been none the wiser. On note, in step and word perfect, not for a nanosecond were we even remotely short-changed.
Playing the South London cheeky chappie Bill Snibson who suddenly needs to ‘posh up’ in order to take up his birth right as the unlikely heir of Hareford, Pidgen was not merely competent. Giving Bill warmth, exuberance and sweetness, he bounced around the stage like an adorable scamp of a puppy and, as the kids say, performed like a boss.
The plot may be lightweight, but elsewhere performances are also rock-solid. Clive Rowe as Sir John twinkles in tweed, later revealing a shy and long-nurtured love for Caroline Quentin’s splendidly redoubtable Duchess. A feisty old matriarch with a good heart, by golly she can’t half hoof, too!
Alex Young as Bill’s ‘girl’ Sally is in sweetly soaring voice and balances cockney chirpiness with a touching vulnerability.
When it comes to musical numbers it is fair to say that the majority (give or take The Lambeth Walk and The Sun Has Got His Hat On) are not especially memorable, but the dazzling choreography (nice work, Alistair David) and superb singing (and you, Gareth Valentine, Doug Besterman and Mark Cumberland) make the very best of the raw material.
Lez Brotherston’s stunning set manages to be both traditional and fairy tale – Downton meets Hogwarts, interspersed with the London skyline and beautifully lit by Tim Mitchell.
The night, however, belonged to the heroic Mr Pidgen. As an understudy who endured several ‘thrust-into-the-limelight’ moments (albeit without anything like such professionalism and sheer talent) I absolutely salute you, sir.
The perfect shot-in-the-arm antidote to all things Brexit and Trump, Me and My Girl teems with Pearly kings and queens and exudes triple espresso energy. An unashamedly frothy and feel-good extravaganza, cor blimey you’ll miss out if you don’t nab a Wilson Pickett!

Review: Present Laughter, Chichester Festival Theatre

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Present Laughter
By Noël Coward

Chichester Festival Theatre
Tickets: 01243 781312 www.cft.org.uk

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Actor Garry Essendine’s clique is a tightly-knitted motley crew. From the wife he has never got around to divorcing to his feisty PA, also in the mix is a brace of  philandering producers, an eccentric hobbling housekeeper and a valet with a penchant for strippers. Enter a love-struck ingenue, a bored wife hell-bent on seduction and an intense young writer and the stage is set for chaos.

Incapable of so much as breathing without turning it into a full-on performance, Garry is played by Rufus Hound. An exhausting role that makes light and shade a tall order, all credit to Hound for stamina and for (mostly) achieving the gear changes.

The cast meld with easy fluidity and the physical comedy is especially well choreographed and executed.Tracy-Ann Oberman as the long-suffering assistant Monica is excellent – a one-woman masterclass in comic timing – and Katherine Kingsley as not-quite-ex-wife Liz is also superb. Exuding elegance and as sharp as a whip, she stage manages proceedings with an air of being thoroughly entertained by the  ensuing drama and nonsense.

But while there are plenty of examples of Coward’s wit and his brilliance for turning a phrase, the humour is too often laboured and repetitive – self-indulgent, even. There is a lack of sophistication and Sean Foley’s production would benefit from dialing down the panto slapstick in favour of greater subtlety.

That said, for undemanding entertainment and sheer glamour (Alice Power’s gorgeous set is a scene-stealer in its own right) Present Laughter slips down as easily as an iced G&T, complete with the bonus of a musical finale.

Until 12 May

Vicky Edwards

Thandie Newton: ‘Lost Work For Revealing Hollywood Sexual Abuse’

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thandie-newton-reveals-hollywood-sexual-abuseBrave and stunning actress Thandie Newton has spoken out about sexual abuse in Hollywood. The actress revealed in July that she was abused by a director when he put a camera between her legs during an audition, she even found out later that he had been playing the tape at private parties. She was also told by a director he would film above her bare breasts, but he didn’t. She says she also suffered “serious sexual abuse” from an ex-lover.

The 43-year-old claims Hollywood covers these incidents up. She told The Guardian:“Here’s the thing. I am so grateful for all that: ‘Zip it, Thandie! Zip it! Zip it!’ Because it made me more angry, made me want to talk more,”

She says that she won’t take the director to court at the moment. “You know, maybe that will happen. But he’s one person. I’m out for the whole f**king industry. I go for big. I’m not small. I’m vast.”

She refuses to be quiet about the experience “and sometimes it p**ses people off and they disinvite me from their lives. But I would rather lose friends for that one seed of doubt that might be in their minds.” She has also lost work because she spoke out about it. She said “there’s more infrastructure to cover up than there is to protect.” Thandie said she was recently diagnosed with endometriosis “And I really do think it was (down to) fury.”

What do you think?

Chris Pratt “My Son Thinks Acting is Stupid”

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Chris prattIt can be hard to impress your kids. Parents are often thought of as uncool and poor Chris Pratt has found that even being a famous Hollywood actor does not help. Chris’s four-year-old son Jack thinks that acting is “stupid”.

The truth came out when the 37-year-old was doing a Reddit Ask Me Anything segment where someone asked if his kid thought he was a firefighter. “”He knows I’m an actor, but he thinks it’s kind of stupid. haha! I suppose he’s right!!!”

He also said his wife Anna Faris was his favourite actress and that he would love to work with her one day.

He also told Entertainment Tonight that his son was a natural behind the camera.

“Jack has been on set to visit me on every movie I’ve done since he’s been alive, he’s getting really comfortable with the idea of sitting behind the monitors. He’s like a little director! There was a moment when he was behind the monitors where the director and the producer sit, watching what’s happening on camera. He had his cans (headphones) on and he was looking through his little glasses at the monitor, and he just said, ‘Can I get a coconut water? And he wasn’t like talking to anyone necessarily, which is totally terrible behaviour that we do all the time, where you just like throw a random request into the ether and expect someone to deliver it cause we’re totally spoiled brat baby actors.”

 

Mads Mikkelsen: ‘The Snobbery in The Acting Business is Enormous’

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snobbery in acting industry, snobbery, acting, Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen has told Rolling Stones Magazine that a lot of actors are snobby towards actors who do blockbusters. The actor has done a mix of indie and big budget films.

“The snobbery in my business is enormous. I did not grow up on deep Czechoslovakian dramas or French art films, I grew up with pop culture. So I would be a hypocrite saying I don’t love James Bond, and that I don’t love flying kung fu – ’cause I f**king love it.”

“I don’t think I would want to fly around on wires eight films in a row, but I love doing it, and I’ll do it again, at a certain point, though, you want to go the other way: ‘Please give me The Hunt again.’ Something small…, but if I do eight of those films, then I’ll go, ‘Please let me fly around with a sword again!'”

Their is a downside though, Mikkelsen said his audition for the Fantastic Four was embarrassing. He was asked in the casting office to pretend to extend his arms like a rubber man, he was so embarrassed that he thought, “I can’t do this anymore.”

Luckily he now says he does not have to audition anymore and generally books his job through simple phone calls.

 

 

Hugh Grant Saved a Fortune By Being His Own Acting Agent

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acting, acting advice, acting tips, own acting agent, hugh grant, acting agentsHugh Grant has had a career most actors would envy, and he didn’t get there by being stupid. He revealed that for four years he created a fake acting agent called James Howe Ealy, who was actually Hugh himself. He just used a fake email address. The actor said that he “saved myself an absolute fortune.” He also said: “He didn’t exist. It was me on a different email account,” He has an acting agent now and said that he had to stop because people asked to meet James in person and that he would accidentally sign off “Hugh” when he was drunk. Acting agents tend to take between 10-20% in commission so it would have added up to a pretty good sum.

The actor also said during an interview with Howard Stern’s SiriusXM show that he believes having affairs is the key to a good marriage. The father-of-four has two children with current girlfriend Anna Eberstein and two with ex-girlfriend Tinglan Hong. Hugh said that the did not think humans were built for  “40-year-long monogamous, faithful” relationships.

“I always admire the French and the Italians who are very devoted to their marriages, They take them extremely seriously, but it is understood that there might be other visitors at 5 o’clock in the afternoon. You just never boast about. They never say anything, but that’s what keeps marriages together.” Hugh said.

What do you think?

 

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