Tag Archives: Acting

Spandau Baddie: Martin Kemp Meets Vicky Edwards

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Martin Kemp tells Vicky Edwards why his musical theatre debut is going with a bang-bang…

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Photo credit: Alastair Muir

From gangster Reggie Kray to evil control freak Steve Owen in EastEnders, Martin Kemp is extremely good at being bad. Currently on tour in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang playing the Childcatcher, arguably one of the most iconic villains of all time, Martin is drawing on his previous roles for inspiration, but admits that there’s unchartered territory to explore when it comes to the character that regularly tops the polls of movie monsters.
“The Childcatcher is an exaggerated version of everything I have ever done before, but it comes from a completely different angle,” explained Martin. “He’s a step away from reality; all the characters are really, especially in the second half when we go to Vulgaria.
“In the first half I play a character called the Junk Man, but in the second half that kind of Alice in Wonderland thing happens and the Junk Man becomes the Childcatcher. Robert Helpmann did an amazing job [in the film], but my physicality is not the same as his; I don’t have his ballet background, so instead I try to bring a bit more horror to the role.”
Judging from the booing that fills the theatre before he has even set foot on the stage, he’s clearly doing that very effectively.
“Kids are scared of the name: Childcatcher. When the Baron says “Call for the Childcatcher!” I can feel the tension in the theatre and then I hear the boos,” he laughed, adding, “But that’s part of the whole experience. If you haven’t laughed, cried and been scared then you haven’t seen a good show. You need to be taken to all those places.”
And with cheers at the curtain call almost taking the roof off the theatre, it seems that it’s a journey that audiences of all ages are delighted to undertake. A co-production between Music & Lyrics Limited and West Yorkshire Playhouse, this brand spanking new reimagining of the much-loved Sherman Brothers musical is winning critical acclaim as well as standing ovations.
“Ten years ago I saw the show in London and the main thing I remembered about it afterwards was the car,” said Martin. “But now it’s very much about the story. It amazes me, but every night I walk out of stage door and people are there saying how much they loved the whole show. From old people who saw the movie on their first date to kids meeting Chitty for the very first time, the demographic is extraordinary. Yes, it’s changed from the book, and then again from the film and again from the original stage musical, but it really works. We’re sending people home with big smiles on their faces.”
As for his fellow cast members, mention them and it is Martin with a big smile on his face. “It’s a great cast,” he enthused. “I’ve worked with Michelle [Collins] before and it’s lovely to work with her again, but they are all brilliant performers.” And so they are. Funny men Jason Manford as Caractacus Potts and Phill Jupitus as Lord Scrumptious and Baron Bomburst are joined by Martin and Michelle, as well as Andy Hockley of Phantom of the Opera fame as Grandpa Potts, and West End leading lady Amy Griffiths as Truly Scrumptious. Add to that a world class company of singers and dancers and you have a show that is dazzling, star-studded and that absolutely lives up to the ‘fantasmagorical’ praise.
But while the story of Chitty might have been knocking around for a good while, musical theatre is a new challenge for Martin.
“One reason I am here is that I have never done a musical before and I thought this might be a nice way to dip my toe in. I love trying new things and I love working with new people.”
That happy-go-lucky, have-a-go attitude wasn’t always there, however. In fact, as a child he confesses that he struggled with crippling shyness.
“I’ve been doing this a while now but at the age of eight I was incredibly shy, so my mum sent me to Anna Scher’s drama workshops,” said Martin, who knows first-hand what an advantage drama classes can be to children.
“What drama clubs give you is a small amount of this magic dust called charisma. I always say that I owe everything to Anna Scher because she formed my personality as a kid.”
Pointing out that whether you become an actor or join a band or you just use that acquired confidence to get through interviews when you’re 16, Martin is certain that drama clubs are a fantastic way of developing both character and life skills.
As for children watching live theatre, absorbing stories close up rather than on a screen, Martin loves the way they get totally involved.
“Adults watch, but kids believe and become part of the world they see unfolding; they just dive in,” he nodded.
“For Chitty we recently did what is called a ‘Relaxed Performance’ for children with disabilities and conditions like Autism. The show was adapted around the audience’s needs and it was a wonderful thing to be part of.”
A member of one of the most popular bands of all time, star of movies, TV and now a musical, Martin certainly can’t complain of always doing the same old same old.
“I have always changed it up a bit and I like never knowing what’s around the corner,” he laughed, although actually this time he does know what is coming next.
“I have just finished a year on tour with Spandau which was wonderful, but it’s this great big machine that needs five artic trucks and a 100-strong crew. When you play huge arenas the size of Wembley you know that to people at the back you’re just a speck of dust in the distance and that you’ll never get to meet those people. So in May I am doing the sort of antidote to not meeting people with a show that’s going to tour called An Audience with Martin Kemp. I’ll be travelling around England chatting about my life and career and taking questions from the audience. Yeah, it’s going to be different and fun,” he grinned.
With such a busy professional life, relaxation, he says, comes in the form of painting.“That’s my down time. Sometimes it shuts me off from the world and I lose myself completely.” Asked what he paints and the smile that stole my sixteen-year-old heart lights up his face again. “I paint rock ‘n’ roll,” he says with a chuckle.
Super-talented, funny, warm and with rock ‘n’ roll artistic flair to boot, however brilliantly nasty he is as the Childcatcher, in real life Martin Kemp is a total sweetie.
Vicky Edwards

 

A gentleman and a scholar: Vicky Edwards Meets Stephen Boxer

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About to play the great author C.S. Lewis, Stephen Boxer takes a break from rehearsals to talk to Vicky Edwards about touring, making an ass of himself and his own connection with Narnia’s creator
Having played everything from soap opera to Shakespeare, as well as appearing in movies such as The Iron Lady, Stephen Boxer is packing his suitcase and hitting the road with a new national tour of Shadowlands. Arguably one of the best plays ever written, Stephen plays Narnia creator C.S. Lewis and, he reckons, the story’s central themes of grief, belief and love will resonate with audiences.
“It’s a beautifully structured play and it’s very poignant, so we can Stephen Boxerall relate to it. But it is also very entertaining; very witty with some real belly laughs,” he said.
Having cleaned up on the awards circuit (the subsequent film version also collected gongs) William Nicholson’s play charts the developing relationship between Lewis, an Oxford don and author of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters, and feisty American poet Joy Davidman. Finding his peaceful life with his brother Warnie disrupted by the outspoken Davidman, whose uninhibited behaviour is at complete odds with the atmosphere and rigid sensibilities of the male-dominated university, Lewis and Joy show each other new ways of viewing the world. But when Joy is diagnosed with cancer Lewis’s long-held Christian faith becomes perilously fragile.
But, Stephen pointed out, Lewis’s struggle with his faith resulted in the beautiful book A Grief Observed, an extraordinary collection of the author’s reflections about bereavement.
“It is a kind of bible for both religious and non-religious people,” said Stephen. “It rises above religion and belief and talks about how we deal with loss and how a theory of life is tested by reality.”
As for the relationship between Lewis and Davidman, Stephen explained that while there were some fundamental differences between their characters and life experiences, there was also a definite meeting of minds.
“Their intellectual acuity was an absolute meeting place for them both – they could both spar in the same intellectual boxing ring and they enjoyed that; they enjoyed the cut and thrust of intellectual debate. That’s how their relationship started,” said Stephen, adding:
“He was a classically repressed quite conservative thinking Englishman who lived a classic ivory tower life. Part of his emotional repression, I think, was that he was sort of cushioned by the Oxford life you could live as a don. She was an ex-communist Jewish American who told it how it was and shot from the hip. Yes, they were very different, but mentally they were perfectly matched.”
As for his own connection to C.S. Lewis, as a direct result of being an ex Oxford choir scholar and school boy (“I wasn’t an undergraduate but it was my academic home for eight years from 1960 – 1968”) he is in the position of knowing exactly where he was the night that the World lost two great men.
“I was at Magdalen college school, the school that was related to C.S. Lewis’s college. It was the evening of the twenty-second of November 1963 and I was walking back from chapel, in my gown and mortar board, having sung a service. An undergraduate stopped me, which in itself was quite unusual. He told me that President Kennedy had just been killed. It was the same night that less than a mile away C.S. Lewis died, so not only do I know where I was when President Kennedy was shot, but I also know where I was when C.S. Lewis died because I was right on his doorstep.”
Admitting that the insight into Oxford life has proved useful in preparing for the role, what appealed most to Stephen about the play?
“Firstly it’s a whacking great part – I’m never off the stage. In rehearsal I’m finding that a bit daunting,” he laughed.
“At the moment I’m at that stage of running before I can walk and falling over a lot, metaphorically, but that’s a necessary part of the process. Making an ass of yourself and feeling like a fool in rehearsals is a prerequisite.
“Another reason I wanted to do it was that I’ve just done a year of television. I’ve done some lovely stuff which I really enjoyed, but there’s no real rehearsal culture in television and I was dying to get back into the rehearsal room and that organic way of creating on the shop floor.”
Thoughtfully, he added: “And getting to know people, too. You develop very warm relationships in theatre and after a year I missed that.”
With the tour of Shadowlands he is certainly going to have plenty of time to bond with his fellow cast members. Not that life on the road bothers Stephen one jot.
“It’s a great way to catch up with friends, but touring is also a great way to see the country. I visit the galleries and museums and do the walks and whatever else there is to do or see. It’s part of the fun and I’ve seen the world that way. I love working and travelling at the same time.”
Playing opposite him is Amanda Ryan (The Forsyte Saga, Shameless) as Joy. “She was made to play the part,” said Stephen, who doesn’t look too far into the future when it comes to his own career.
“I don’t really plan and the things that come along always surprise me. I wasn’t expecting to play Titus Andronicus at the RSC for instance. It was a play I didn’t know but I loved doing it; it was intriguing, absorbing, and demanding. I think I’d like to play Lear when I’m about seventy,” he mused, before laughing and saying: “Not that long to go then!”
But for now this charming gentleman and scholar is delighting in Shadowlands. Go to see it and you will too.
Official website: www.shadowlandstour.com
Twitter: @shadowlandstour
Facebook: shadowlandsthetour

 

Jolly good show, chaps! Vicky Edwards meets actor Graham Seed

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Vicky Edwards meets actor Graham Seed to talk about Rattigan, romance and how wearing a uniform might give his wife ideas…
With the tractors and traumas of Ambridge well and truly behind him (he played Nigel Pargetter in the radio soap The Archers for an incredible 27 years), award-winning actor and broadcaster Graham Seed continues to work extensively. Just starting out on a national tour, Graham plays Squadron Leader Swanson in Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path, directed by Justin Audibert.
“It’s going very well and we have a terrificGraham Seed as Squadron Leader Swanson and Daniel Fraser as Teddy Graham in the 2016 National tour of Flare Path credit Jack Ladenburg cast,” beamed Graham, a self-confessed Rattigan fan.
“As an actor I am really enjoying it because Rattigan writes such good characters; he just didn’t write bad parts. One of his best plays is The Deep Blue Sea and this has early elements of that. It’s rather delightful and I like the play enormously.”
Based on Rattigan’s own experiences as a tail gunner during World War II, the play is rooted in wartime Britain, where the life-and-death existence of the RAF bomber crews, and their wives and sweethearts who were on tenterhooks awaiting their return, created a permanent state of high anxiety. The story tells of former actress Patricia, the wife of RAF pilot Teddy. When Patricia’s ex‐lover and Hollywood idol Peter arrives out of the blue her emotions are thrown into turmoil and the survival of her marriage to Teddy becomes uncertain. As the conflict rages in the skies above, on terra firma feelings simmer, threatening to become every bit as explosive.
A romance with shades of Brief Encounter then? Graham nodded. “She has to decide what she’s going to do, but it does have humour, too. It’s a very evocative and powerful play.
“My character is quite funny and rather charming. He’s a frightfully good chap; full of that stiff upper lip phlegm.”
But in pitching his performance Graham has had to take care not to stray into parody. “If you did it wrong you’d be into Black Adder or Monty Python territory, which you don’t want at all.”
But it’s not just the good of the play that Graham is mindful about; he clearly has great respect for the real life pilots who carried out such dangerous missions.
“These boys were incredibly brave and they understated the danger always. The play is set against the backdrop of planes taking off and not coming back and at one point my character says: ‘we do owe these boys something.’ You can see why Churchill loved it. The Great War was so ghastly that it became romantic, but in the Second World War far more civilians were bombed.”
Mixing history with an intriguing story gives it broad appeal and the cast are delighted that Flare Path is attracting audiences of all ages.
“It’s definitely a play that is suitable for all the family and I do hope that lots of young people will come to see it,” said Graham, who admitted that these days he isn’t feeling as sprightly as he once was.
“I am suddenly feeling my age,” he confided. For years you’re the youngest in the company and now I’m suddenly the oldest – I’m about twenty years older than everyone else!”
But there’s something about this particular production that has had a rejuvenating effect on Graham. Botox? A bit of a nip-and-tuck? As it transpires nothing so drastic.
“I know it sounds slightly immature for a sixty-five-year-old man to say it, but it’s quite nice to put on an air force uniform. I look pretty chipper,” he teased, agreeing that any fella in a military uniform looks instantly dapper, even if they look like a bag of spanners. Not that Graham does, I hastily reassured him. Laughing off the unintended insult he said:
“It’s like evening dress – if you’re a woman and you suddenly look at your old man in evening dress you say ‘goodness he polishes up well!’ When my wife sees me in my RAF uniform I hope she thinks that there’s life in the old dog yet!”
Certainly on the work front he continues to have offers lined up and, although he is best remembered for The Archers, his CV is crammed with credible theatre, film and TV credits. “That’s because I’m so old,” he twinkled. “I’ve ducked and dived; I’m what they call a jobbing actor.”
As for life on tour, Graham doesn’t mind living out of a suitcase in the least.
“It’s rather romantic and like being with a family. For me, as an older member of the company, there’s a responsibility to make sure that everyone’s happy. But it’s a lovely way to see friends in other parts of the country and to visit wonderful theatres.”
With all the schlepping about he does for work, how does Graham relax?
“I find it very hard to relax,” he confessed. “I do What the Papers Say every other Sunday, so don’t get many Sunday’s off. You always worry about your next job and even at sixty-five I’m always worried that I’ll be found out. But I’m actually pretty content. Getting older makes you less ambitious; there are more important things, like your health. So now I am absolutely thrilled to play good supporting roles and to really enjoy them.”
Anxious that he doesn’t come across as “worthy” (he doesn’t), Graham believes that there is a duty to tour good plays around the country, especially to unsubsidised theatres.
Speaking of which, it was time for him to head off to transform himself into a fine young man in uniform for the evening performance.
“I’m revving up for chocks away,” he grinned, before adding: “It’s not a bad life.”
Indeed. And he’s a jolly good egg. A jolly good egg in a jolly good show. Go and see for yourself.
Official website: www.flarepaththetour.com
Twitter: @flarepathtour
Facebook: flarepaththetour

Chris Pratt To Struggling Actors: ‘Don’t give up. It will break before you do’

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Chris prattParks and Recreation actor Chris Pratt has said he always knew he was going to be successful. Pratt has achieved leading man status in films Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World.

Chris posted teasers of the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel on his Instagram page. He posted a picture of his commute and wrote: “It’s 3:20am. I got picked up for work at 6:45am yesterday. I’m not good with math, especially after being up for approximately 61 hours but I think I’ve been up for over 77 hours. I did a table read for Guardians of the Galaxy 2 this morning and then shot all day on Passengers and just now wrapped some 144 hours later. Weirdly both films, which I’ll be shooting back to back, are being shot in Atlanta at Pinewood studios. We have the best crew. Total rock stars busting their asses. And the stuff we’re shooting. My God. I can’t wait for you to see it. I go back in in about 8 hours to do more.”

It’s 3:20am. I got picked up for work at 6:45am yesterday. I’m not good with math, especially after being up for approximately 61 hours but I think I’ve been up for over 77 hours. I did a table read for Guardians of the Galaxy 2 this morning and then shot all day on Passengers and just now wrapped some 144 hours later. Weirdly both films, which iI’l be shooting back to back, are being shot in Atlanta at Pinewood studios. We have the best crew. Total rock stars busting their asses. And the stuff we’re shooting. My God. I can’t wait for you to see it. I go back in in about 8 hours to do more. I am doing what I love. It doesn’t feel like work. Even though it is. I’m having fun. I’m overcome with joy and gratitude. I felt like posting this to say to anyone out there chasing your dream… Fifteen years ago I felt the same passion I feel today, but I had very little opportunity. I had to hustle hard and go hungry. I had to eat sardines and figure out how to get gas money. And I never had a plan B. I never stopped believing. Ever. Don’t give up. Apply constant pressure for as long as it takes. It will break before you do. Go get it.

A photo posted by chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) on

He then went on to tell fans to never give up on their dreams by saying:

“I am doing what I love. It doesn’t feel like work. Even though it is. I’m having fun. I’m overcome with joy and gratitude. I felt like posting this to say to anyone out there chasing your dream… Fifteen years ago I felt the same passion I feel today, but I had very little opportunity. I had to hustle hard and go hungry. I had to eat sardines and figure out how to get gas money. And I never had a plan B. I never stopped believing. Ever. Don’t give up. Apply constant pressure for as long as it takes. It will break before you do. Go get it.”

 

If you are an actor then check out my book, How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur.  It tells you everything you need to know about how to become a successful actor.

 

 

Amy Schumer Says Her Stomach Is Why She Has To Write Her Own Stuff

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Always one to bring the party, Amy Schumer was the centre of the Critics Choice awards, making everyone laugh when she accepted the award for MVP.

“Thank you for this trophy, covering the reason I have to write my own [stuff], If you’re an actress and you have this area right here, [points to her stomach] you have to write your own stuff if you want to get it made.”

Then she made fun of how patronising the word “brave” can be.

“This is where I get really ‘brave’ as everyone said after my Annie Leibovitz photo. That’s what you want everyone to say when a naked photo of you goes viral. You want them to say, ‘What a brave photo.’ You’re like, ‘Thanks, wow, thank you,” .

Photo credit: wikipedia. Mario Santoro

Photo credit: wikipedia. Mario Santoro

She then thanked “the managers I fired.” Finishing with “This is so boring, I am so sorry you guys. Nobody cares,”

 

For more actors who make their own work read this article. You can also check out my new book, How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur, out now.  It tells you all about how to become a successful actor.

Film Extra Caught Out Pretending To Be Stormtrooper In Star Wars Film by Lucasfilm

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Film Extra Caught Out Pretending To Be Stormtrooper In Star Wars Film by Lucasfilmtwitter
An aspiring actor and film extra got caught out lying about being a stormtrooper in the new Star Wars film…by Lucasfilm. Alex Rolt had a lot of positive feedback when he told his local paper that he played the stormtrooper who says the line “Traitor!” in the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens film. The drama school graduate told the paper he had been chosen because of his fencing experience to fight against Boyega. He told the journalist: ‘They got me in the stormtrooper outfit but the prop didn’t have a clip or anything on the uniform, so I had to hold it in a certain way then deliver the line: “Traitor!” ‘ The interview then went viral.

The interview came to the attention of Star Wars production company LucasFilm who revealed the role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens was played by veteran stuntman Liang Yang.

Film Extra Caught Out Pretending To Be Stormtrooper In Star Wars Film by Lucasfilm2

Rolt made a public apology and admitted he only had a small extra role in the production. He said on Twitter: “Sorry for doing this to all the fans. Was a joke that got out of hand. My career is tarnished.”

Acting is a very hard career and actors do embellish their careers sometimes. Unfortunately, Rolt did not simply embellish, but took the credit for another actors part. It probably was a joke that got out of hand. It remains to be seen if he can redeem his reputation in the industry but it could be possible. He has already publicly apologised and that is the first step.

What do you think? Should Alex Rolt be forgiven? How wrong was what he did?

Catherine Balavage has been an actor for over ten years. Her book on acting, How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur, has gotten numerous five star reviews and has been called the ‘best advice available’ by numerous sources.

 

 

The Mousetrap at Chichester Festival Theatre: Review

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The Mousetrap on Tour
Chichester Festival Theatre
Until 28 November
www.cft.org.uk

Photograph by Liza Maria Dawson

TheMousetrap_SPThe cast of The Mousetrap in the 60th Anniversary Tour of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap. Credit Liza Maria Dawson (27)

It is almost inconceivable that after 63 years there is anyone who hasn’t seen the world’s longest running play, and yet the Festival Theatre was full of wannabe sleuths last night.

Opening with an eerie whistling of the nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice, the killer doesn’t faff about – the first murder of the night takes place almost before the house lights have gone out.

Cut to Monkswell Manor, a guest house being run by a young couple whose enthusiasm is offset by their complete inexperience of running such a business.

As the snow falls and guests arrive at Monkswell, swiftly becoming stranded there by the wintery deluge, it becomes clear that among their number is someone with murder in mind – but who?

The mistress of suspense, Christie’s script certainly cranks up the tension beautifully. Everyone could be linked to the murderer and could therefore be a target. Menace and anticipation transcend the stage and the audience, as a man, quivers with anticipation.

There are a few laughs to relieve the apprehension, mainly born of Christie’s superb observations of character and human nature, but in the main the evening is more inclined to baited breath than belly laughs.

A bit more ham than cheese in places (some of the cast are guilty as charged when it comes to occasional overacting), the intrigue and enticement to find out who the killer is makes forgiveness of such over-the-top moments easy to grant.

Particularly strong performances come from Anne Kavanagh as the magnificent battle-axe Mrs Boyle, and also Luke Jenkins as a suitably authoritative Sgt. Trotter. Edward Elgood also convinces as the immature and borderline-bonkers Christopher Wren, who could just as easily wield a machete as he could a feather duster.

Is The Mousetrap dated? Truthfully, yes. But it is also a British classic; a splendid piece of ripe Stilton that should be embraced and enjoyed absolutely in its original form.

As to whodunit…

Ah, but that would be telling!

Elf the Musical – Review

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Elf the Musical
The Dominion Theatre, until 2 January
Box office: 0845 200 7982
www.elfthemusical.co.uk

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Photo credit: Alastair Muir

Even strolling beneath the over-sized illuminated baubles of Oxford Street, on a mild November evening it still felt far too soon to embrace Christmas. Fast-forward three hours and I was positively exuding seasonal cheer – this is a show that would transform even Scrooge from selfish to elfish.

Based on the 2003 film starring Will Ferrell, the plot is fairy tale daft. A baby crawls into Santa’s sack one Christmas Eve and is raised by Elves in the North Pole. Being a fairy tale nobody mentions the fact that Buddy can place the star on top of the Christmas tree without the aid of a cherry picker, but eventually Santa ‘fesses up: Buddy is actually human and has a father in New York. As it turns out, a father who isn’t too keen on welcoming an oversized elf to the family.

At the risk of spoiling the story for those who haven’t seen the movie, suffice to say that chaos, comedy, romance and high drama follow, each element taking the narrative towards Happily Ever After as smoothly as champion skier heading down a nursery slope.

Ben Forster as Buddy is a joy. Bouncing around like a particularly nimble and enthusiastic Labrador, he has a terrific rapport with the audience and manages to be both charming and sweetly innocent. He also sings like a dream (Forster was the winner of the TV search for Jesus Christ Superstar), and makes an exceptionally good fist of songs that, while entertaining in the moment, aren’t especially memorable.

Kimberley Walsh as Jovie, the object of Buddy’s affections, is also in fabulous voice, while Joe McGann as Buddy’s dad Walter convinces as the tetchy publisher of children’s books who has been putting work ahead of family for too long.

Offering up plenty of warm and fuzzy feelings from the off, excellent teamwork sees a supporting cast singing, dancing and acting their Christmas socks off, while the design team’s clever set (‘wow’ factors come thick and fast) deserves a curtain call of its own.

Directed and choreographed by Morgan Young, if panto isn’t your cup of eggnog then there are plenty of seasonal sensations to be had here, without all the ‘behind you’ capers. And if you don’t leave the theatre wanting to spread tidings of comfort and joy, frankly you’re a lost cause.