Tag Archives: Acting

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?

 

If you are an actor then check out my book How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur. It is available in print and in all eBook formats on both Smashwords and Amazon.

 

 

 

 

 

WHY I TRADED IN A HIGH-FLYING CAREER IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY TO PURSUE MY ACTING DREAMS, AND HOW I DID IT

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By Peter Meyer, author of The Boy from the Wild

Most of us dream about quitting the 9-5 (or is that the 8-7) rat race, but few ever do.  The author Peter Meyer is proof that following a dream can be more than just a daydream. He hung up his suit and left a highly-paid job in the hospitality industry to embark on a career as an actor – and was soon rubbing shoulders with Brad Pitt.

I grew up in the hospitality industry, quite literally. I was born and raised on a game reserve in South Africa that my father created. It had a safari park, a five-star hotel and a conference centre. It was once known as Safari World and its pioneering fusion of Disney-style theme park and nature reserve  made it akin to a real-world Jurassic Park

When I was older, I graduated from Les Roches Hospitality University in Switzerland and went on to work all around the world in places including the UK, Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur.  I worked in different director roles in sales, marketing and business development for groups like Hilton, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, JA Resorts & Hotels and then YTL Hotels.  At one point I was even one of Hilton’s youngest directors at 26 years old.  I had it all going for me – the experience, the qualifications, the connections, the lifestyle and so much more…. but then it all changed.

In 2014, I dropped everything to spend time with my father after hearing he had a very rare form of terminal cancer.  My father was my life and an incredibly special person, so I was going to be by his side.  After I lost him I lost a part of myself and realised that you are vulnerable – and that life is governed by time that we take for granted.  I tried to get back into hotels and got a huge position in Kuala Lumpur but was ultimately in a very bad mental state and lost my zest and desire for the industry.  I was missing my dad plain and simple.

By chance a short while later a family friend suggested that I try acting and modelling for fun, and at least until I’d planned my next move.  So, a short while later, I signed onto a website that was a portal for jobs in that industry.  Within the space of a few days I was contacted by a production company, which asked me to do a TV commercial for Ford.

I did the shoot and was told I was a “natural” and was advised to do more! Two weeks later I got a call from a director making an independent British film and I got a tiny part as a news anchor with some lines.  It was then that I realised how much I loved acting and it woke me up out of semi-depressed state for my father.  I decided to see where it went.

Suddenly I was getting acting and modelling roles and even got my first lead in a short film within three months of starting.  My biggest came when I got a call to audition for Allied with Brad Pitt and got the smallest part to sing.  Sadly, the role was cut but I was still an extra and got picked to be near Brad Pitt and enjoyed getting to know him. I then got chosen to work as an extra next to Liam Neeson this time on The Commuter.  He partly inspired my book “The Boy from the Wild”.  In less than 18 months all this had happened.  I was also doing a lot of plus size modelling and was Tesco’s first plus size male model wearing Jacamo.  But I have also modelled internationally with groups such as El Corte Ingles wearing Hugo Boss, GANT, Ralph Lauren and more.  Who knows what’s next?

I’ve gone from surviving animal attacks and snake bites on a safari park to surviving the concrete jungles of Hollywood.  How, people ask?  Well, get headshots, get a showreel, get an agent, brand yourself to get your followers and have passion.  If you are determined and do what you love then you will achieve.  Sometimes you have to risk it to get the biscuit. A dream is yours and yours to fail, so don’t let it.

The Boy from the Wild by Peter Meyer is out now, priced £9.99 in paperback and £3.99 as an eBook. It is available for sale on Amazon UK. Visit  www.petermeyer.com

Chichester’s triple threat… Review: The Norman Conquests

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The Norman Conquests
Chichester Festival Theatre
Until 28 October
Box office: 01243 781312
www.cft.org.uk

Photo by Manuel Harlan

Three interconnecting plays, Alan Ayckbourn’s cleverly conceived trilogy gets the red carpet treatment in this excellent revival. While seeing all three provides the complete story, Ayckbourn wrote each play as a standalone, so you don’t lose out if you’re only in town for an evening. But there are several dates when the marathon triple bill can be seen and, if you possibly can, take your seat for the longer haul.

Fabulously staged (a first for Chichester is the addition of on-stage seating, thus creating a full in-the-round experience); the setting is a rambling country house and garden in Sussex where Annie (Jemima Rooper) lives and looks after her ailing mother. Desperate for some much-needed fun (in the absence of local nice-but-dim vet Tom putting the moves on her), she plans a dirty weekend away with her incorrigible brother-in-law, Norman (Trystan Gravelle). The arrival of her brother Reg (Jonathan Broadbent) and sister-in-law Sarah (Sarah Hadland), followed by eldest sister – Norman’s wife – Ruth (Hattie Ladbury) puts paid to Annie’s plans. The collective convergence also unleashes fall-outs, flirtations and some enthusiastic hurling of home truths.

Taking place over the course of a weekend, in the first play, ‘Table Manners,’ the action takes place in the dining room. In ‘Living Together’ we relocate to the sitting room to see what has been going on in the meantime. Finally we catch up on the outdoors action (and oh boy there’s plenty of it!) in the concluding ‘Round and Round the Garden.’

Making her Chichester debut, Blanche McIntyre directs. Written and set in 1973 (superb design and detail from Simon Higlett), while the period is evident, McIntyre injects a sense of newness; vintage Ayckbourn with a contemporary twist.

Without exception the performances are polished. Delivering beautifully played comedy while highlighting the foibles and struggles of their individual characters, there is a pleasing synchronisation between the actors that aids the flow of the entire trilogy.

Very funny, neatly done and with moments of sharp poignancy, this is a hugely satisfying three-course theatrical feast.

Review: The Stepmother

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The Stepmother
Minerva, Chichester Festival Theatre
Until September 9

www.cft.org.uk
01243 781312

Photo credit: Catherine Ashmore

The words ‘seldom performed’ in a marketing blurb can trigger alarm bells. In many cases there’s a damn good reason why directors don’t dust down certain plays. In this instance, however, it’s an absolute mystery why it has taken so long to revive Githa Sowerby’s beautifully observed drama, in the experienced hands here of former artistic director of the National Theatre Richard Eyre.

Written in 1924, money, equality – or the lack of – and career are core themes. The setting is the home of widower Eustace Gaydon (Will Keen). A financial chancer lacking in integrity, kindness and sincerity, when he discovers that shy young Lois Relph (Ophelia Lovibond) is set to inherit his sister’s estate he promptly marries her, thus providing a stepmother for his two young daughters and shoring himself up financially. Ten years on and the shy young woman he married has become a successful society dressmaker, but Eustace’s dodgy deals have turned on him.

Keen is superb as Eustace. Shifty, sly, domineering and full of self-justification, he is irredeemably unpleasant.

Lovibond also convinces as the young girl who, as she morphs into a confident businesswoman, gradually comes to realise just what a ghastly situation she has signed up to.

A strong supporting cast includes Eve Ponsonby as stepdaughter Monica. Desperate to marry but constantly blocked by her father’s refusal to make good with an allowance, her youthful passion and increasing desperation are beautifully portrayed.

Historically fascinating, this stylish production deserves a life beyond Chichester.