The Blog

And, dear readers, so I have. 

Two consecutive theatre visits so far this week, and ’tis but Thursday. With my doughty team of American theatre-hounds on Tuesday to the Bush, to see MONEY- THE GAME SHOW, and on Wednesday to Hammersmith Lyric for METAMORPHOSIS. The first is a co-production with Unlimited Theatre, the innovative company based in Leeds at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Lyn Gardner in The Guardian calls it “thoughtful and riotously entertaining”. It does what it’s clearly meant to do – it makes you think. Think about the thoughtless, mad gambling that lies at the heart of capitalist economics – how modern currencies, none of them tied to anything tangible like gold, or even to real trade in real products – leave all of us at the mercy of dangerous, often unhinged, gambling addicts, calling themselves “hedge fund managers”.  For my money (if you’ll forgive the expression) the show goes on maybe 15 minutes too long, and lapses into slightly preachy indulgence. I had a sudden sense of deja-vu, of shows I used to watch aeons ago at the old Edinburgh Traverse, directed by Max Stafford-Clark, written by angry and then still emerging writers like Howard Barker.  We raged against the instability of capital then,  and at least thank God we still have angry young writers to shout about it now! This play is  well worth seeing – the new Bush is one of the more welcoming of London’s fringe venues – good bar – sensible prices, tasty food.

                     
 The two performers in this show, Lucy Ellison and Brian Ferguson – directed by writer Clare Duffy – are skilled and beguiling. All together a good, inexpensive night out.





METAMORPHOSIS is strong stuff – Kafka staged by David Farr with the Icelandic company Vestuport. A production already enjoying international acclaim, delivered with Complicité -like physical panache and conviction. Last night at the Lyric there were lots of parties of sixth-formers,  whose predictable whooping and cheering as the lights went down were soon stilled into intense listening and watching, irrupting again joyfully at the end of the show. It’s a great and disturbing tale, finely told.

I have been rejoicing in a wonderful present from my daughter Cressida. If you have an admirer, you might drop a hint or two as Valentine’s Day approaches. If like me you love history, and especially history laced with theatrical scandal, then a recently-published book by the historian and actor Ian Kelly is an absolute must-have. 

It tells the story of one of the great – and hitherto quite neglected – heroes of British comic theatre, Samuel Foote:

  I couldn’t put it down. If you don’t have a generous admirer for Feb 14th, nor do you have a birthday imminent, then splash out, treat yourself – I promise you won’t regret it. Apart from anything else, it has what surely will go down as one of the best titles of the year! 

Oh dear I shall so miss “Borgen”.

No argument: Sidse Babette Knudsen as the Prime Minister in this series gives the best performance ever seen on TV.

Fact, inarguable. Not up for discussion.


Not even the amazing tutors at www.ellisjonescoach.co.uk can actually turn you into that good an actor! However we can set you on the way – and if you have the faintest interest in the craft and you haven’t seen this utterly compelling Danish series, then buy borrow or steal a box-set, and watch this woman go to work.

  

    Now, the press night isn’t till Monday, and I know I’ve had a go at the critics in these pages before, but it would be unfair of me to write a “crit” on the strength of a preview…HOWEVER, last night I went to the National Theatre with the latest lovely cohort of bright, sharp students from New York to see “The Captain of Kopernick“, starring Anthony Sher, directed by Adrian Noble, on the Olivier stage, with settings by Anthony Ward. 

Suffice to say we all found it a remarkable event, and pace a great central performance by Sir Anthony, I’m just going to slip in special mentions for two of the finest character actors at work in London today, Alan David and Anthony O’Donnell. I’ll be surprised if the critics don’t pick up on their performances, but just in case…

Alan David         Anthony O’Donnell

Which is, of course, the title of a great work by a poet mentioned a few blog-entries ago, who was….? Do try and keep up…

It came to me last midnight, as I huddled over my meagre fire and the frost stalked the silent marshes, and I worked steadily through my recordings of all the TV shows I’ve missed during the assembling of “Appetite”. I know it must get a bit irritating the way I witter on about grads from my time at RADA, but over a decade of helping steer the Gower St training gave my small bunch of dedicated colleagues and me a uniquely privileged perspective, and it’s a joy to see our ex-students cropping up all the time on the screen, on the stage and on the radio doing cracking work in great roles.

Sunday night clashes mean the Skybox has to be put to good use. On the BBC Matthew MacFadyen and David Dawson grapple with unspeakable villainy – and sometimes almost unspeakable lines – in the hairy-chested Victorian cop-drama “Ripper Street”, with the streets of Old Dublin pretending, not always entirely convincingly, to be the streets of Old London. But Matthew – a terrific MacHeath in my production of “The Beggar’s Opera” at the old Vanbrugh Theatre – is always so watchable, and endows Inspector Edmund Reid with such presence. The good inspector’s intense devotion to his virtuous wife is entirely understandable, finely played as she is by Amanda Hale, who was in our “A Chorus of Disapproval” playing one half of a slightly dotty elderly couple alongside Mr Tom Hiddleston.


Matthew and Amanda with Jerome Flynn in “Ripper Street”.

And over on ITV, there in “Mr Selfridge” is my Maggie from “Hobson’s Choice”, Kate Kelly – having gripped the nation’s attention for several years as the turbulent Becky in “Coronation St”, and held the stage superbly at the National Theatre – now positively shimmering with upper-class sexual chemistry as the edgy Lady Mae. And the handsome young waiter causing such a stir amongst the posh ladies is one of our boyos, an emerging star from Llanelli – Trystan Gravelle.

But to come back to my former colleagues at the Academy – hurray for Patricia Myers!!  As Registrar, Pat has kept the place going through all kinds of organisational and financial trauma – and through it all has remained a level-headed, good-humoured, forward-looking bastion of optimism for all her colleagues – and most importantly for generations of uniquely talented, and often uniquely vulnerable, students. So the OBE in the New Year’s Honours is long overdue, and utterly deserving.

To come back to “Appetite”. The presentation of this intriguing new play went brilliantly well, and was attended by an audience of professionals, most of whom stayed behind afterwards to drink wine and eat specially baked slices of dobas torta, an Eastern European Jewish cake delicacy, the recipe for which haunts the play. The conversation at the reception was lively and intense – it’s not every play-reading where such a high-octane cast presents a new script so throughly, with well-crafted staging, lights and sound.



Oona Chaplin as young Hana, with Miriam Margolyes as Malka

There were brilliant, insightful portrayals of the central characters by Tamsin, Miriam, Jason, Jemma, Oona and Charlie, with equally fine supporting work from Sue Sheridan, Ursula Mohan, Jemma Churchill, Mary Duddy and Lexi Sekuless, plus a remarkable performance from Julianna Zinkel, whom the sponsors had flown over specially from Philadelphia.

The event – directed by Andrew Visnevski – has stimulated a continuing buzz of interest. Watch this space.

So sorry to those of you who got in touch about the play presentation today and were disappointed not to get tickets. The venue is TINY – 80 seats – and we simply can’t fit any more in, because of fire regulations.

There’s a lot of “industry” interest in this play, so there’s a decent chance it will have a life beyond tomorrow, and be seen again in a more developed state – so watch this space! But please don’t come down to RADA if you don’t have a confirmed invite, because we just won’t be allowed to let you in!

A Very Happy 2013 to everyone!

Right now it’s eyes down to get everything sorted for Andrew Visnevski’s rehearsed presentation at 7 p.m. at the GBS Theatre on Thursday January 10th of



PLEASE NOTE EVERYONE: Admission to this is by invitation only – see below.

(If you scroll down a couple of entries there’s more about this)

Somehow, notwithstanding the festive holidays, we have assembled a remarkable cast. 

Two of the RADA graduates from my time, CHARLES AITKEN and OONA CHAPLIN will now be taking part, joining a distinguished company including TAMSIN GRIEG, MIRIAM MARGOLYES, JEMMA REDGRAVE and JASON ISAACS.

Tickets for this event are going to be very limited, and priority will be given to “industry” contacts who may be interested in further production opportunities for the play – which is of course the object of the exercise! Please email me here via ellis@ellisjonescoach.co.uk if you would like to come, and we’ll try to find you a seat – but be warned, there is already considerable interest and it’s a very small theatre. It’s a really intriguing play, with some cracking parts for women.