Tag Archives: fringe theatre

The Fringe Report Awards 2012

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John Park has run the Fringe Report for ten years, and I am as unhappy as the other 400 odd people who turned up to the Fringe Report Awards that The Fringe Report is ending this year. John has run the Fringe Report without profit and has connected everything and everyone on the fringe of London, and indeed, the UK.

James Aylett, James Yardley and Lynn Howes.

The Fringe Report Awards took place at Monday 6 February 2012 at The Leicester Square Theatre. The Leicester Square Theatre was packed with the great and good of Britain’s theatre and acting talent. [Disclaimer: I am an editor, writer and photographer for the Fringe Report].

Jack Bowman and Catherine Balavage

The awards were as fun as ever and the list of winners is below. Goodbye to the Fringe Report. The fringe now weeps at your loss.

Elliot Grove – Outstanding Achievement Award – Film
Steve Forster – Best PR – Theatre
Flavia Fraser-Cannon – Best Creative – Producer, Photographer, Publicist
Paul L Martin – Best Producer – Cabaret
Sibyl Madrigal – Best Music Curator (for Boat-Ting)
Performers Without Borders – Best Encouragers of Talent
Steve Henwood & Wendy Matthews – Best Festival Directors
Guy Chapman – Outstanding Achievement Award – PR
Kiki Kendrick – Best Creative – Actor and Writer
Becky Talbot – Best Presenter – Radio
Kevin Sampson – Outstanding Achievement Award – Literature & Film
Vocal Motions Elastic Theatre – Best Theatre Company
Sasha Regan – Best Venue Director
Adam Morley – Best Director – Theatre & Film
Ricky Dukes – Best Artistic Director (Lazarus Theatre Company)
James Hyland – Best Performer – Solo Show (for A Christmas Carol / Jacob Marley)
Paul Sayers & Simon Bolton – Best Shakespeare Producers (Rooftop Theatre)
Paul Levy – Best Publisher
Tactful Cactus – Best Short Film (for Starcrossed)
Alison Wright – Best PR – Arts
Stuart Price – Best Creative – Director & Writer
Laura Pitt-Pulford – Best Performer – Musical (for Parade at Southwark Playhouse)
Alexander Parsonage – Best Artistic Director (Finger In The Pie)
Andy McQuade – Best Director – Theatre
Catherine Brogan – Best Poet

Parade – Theatre Review

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I have wanted to see the musical ‘Parade’ for a long time. Sitting across the road from the Southwark Playhouse before the show, I overheard a man say to a woman: “Cheer up, you’re about to see the saddest musical every written!” And so I waited eagerly in anticipation.

Set in the 1910s in Georgia, we follow the tragic story of a Jewish factory owner, Leo Frank, as he is accused of abusing and murdering Mary Phagan (Jessica Bastick-Vines), a young girl who worked for him.

A drunken reporter, played by David Haydn, sobers up to return as a master of spin. He and Hugh Dorsey (Mark Inscoe), prosecution lawyer, rally up public support, and convince members of the community to bend the truth, and more often than not, to lie about their experiences of Mr Frank.

His only hope of rescue from a public hanging is his loving wife, Lucille (Laura Pitt-Pilford), who tugs at the heart strings of Governor Slaton (also David Haydn). He agrees to stand up for Leo, a man that he believes is an innocent outcast. Are these efforts enough to save him from the fury of the masses who need to see justice done, quickly?

Suffice to say, each and every singing voice was capable of setting the heart racing. The discordant harmonies of the chorus were touching, unsettling and emotive, and though I am not a trained singer, it was rare to hear an unsupported, pushed note from this experienced and talented cast.

Before we fully meet the protagonists, a distraught and dazed Frankie Epps (Samuel J Weir) recalls how young Mary’s ‘smile was like a glass of lemonade’. The song was delivered with a beautiful subtlety. The lyrics are so highly personal, that the performer needs a deep internal understanding of the character and his position in order to deliver them with complete truthfulness, which Weir was on the verge of.

Alastair Brookshaw (as Leo Frank) gave an equally strong vocal performance. I was touched on several occasions by the honesty of his performance, in particular when he sang to his wife, finding the confidence to simply say (possibly for the first time after years of marriage), ‘I love you’. However, the honesty was not consistent. The choice to listen intently to what the text tells us about his character’s nervous mannerisms was commendable. However, in times of extreme hardship, even the most agitated of people might break from their habitual mannerisms, look people in the eye, and show some humanity.

Both Laura Pitt-Pulford as Lucille Frank, and Terry Doe, in various roles, stood out as giving full commitment to the finer details of their performances. When Lucille begged for the Governor’s help, and when Riley (Doe) hit the deck, when singing about the injustice of a juridical system that prioritises murder of white victims in the courts, there was no rest from the illusion that they had created.

I have not commented on every performance, but that is no negative reflection on the others. A strong cast, fantastic set, and sharp direction by Thom Southerland and co. left us with something to think about. I wanted to be moved more, but I blame it on that man I overheard before the show, preparing me for floods of tears.

Fate on the London Fringe

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‘As Fate Would Have It’, produced by LittleBerry Productions, is the debut play of up and coming playwright Phoebe Hunt. It follows the two possible lives of a couple, Damien and Grace, who agree to toss a coin to decide whether they stay together or break up. The story unfolds with episodic scenes following both strands of possibility. In one strand, the couple stay together, continuing the increasingly unhealthy habit of making decisions by the flip of the coin. In the other strand, they break up, setting Grace free, while Damien continues to allow the coin to decide his fate.

As Grace, Phoebe Hunt made the most of the challenging transitions between depression (when with Damien) and glee (when set free from his ever increasing evil clutches). Her bright-eyed smile allowed the audience some breathing room, giving us a break from the relentless tension, and the pathos of her alternate situation. Jamie Hutchins, playing Damien, gave a very specific performance, in both vocal quality and physicality. The way he tossed a coin to make a decision for the very first time, uncertain and tentative, said a lot about his journey when contrasted with his eventual habitual attachment to the ten pence piece. Dinarte Gouveia (Michael) delivered his frequent comic lines from the heart, without force, and Jamila Jennings-Grant (Agatha) gave the audience a voice of reason, with her powerful portrayal of the best friend a girl in a bad relationship could have.

The entire play was accompanied by the composition and live performance of Matt Gaydon on the guitar. Whilst the music added a lot to the moments of heightened emotion, I personally found it occasionally contrasted the feelings expressed by the actors, and needed more variation in melody. Saying that, it served an important purpose when signifying to the audience that we were now changing episode from one strand of reality to its alternate, and back.

The script is cleverly written, though sometimes merging style between naturalism and poeticism, occasionally making believable delivery difficult. Though I admired the unrushed scene changes upstage, the activity downstage could have been more engaging in order to distract us from the movement of furniture. Otherwise, Cat Robey’s direction encouraged high stakes, and a gradual build towards a thoroughly gripping climax.

“As Fate Would Have It’ plays at The Space, Isle of Dogs on the 10th and 11th August, and at The Lion and Unicorn on 14th and 15th August. It is definitely worth a watch, but if you can’t make it, keep an eye out for future productions by LittleBerry Productions.

Jonathan Hansler on Goodbye: The Afterlife of Cook & Moore. {Acting}

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Tell me about GOODBYE: THE AFTERLIFE OF COOK & MOORE

Goodbye: The Afterlife of Cook & Moore started off life at the Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh, and was on Mervyn Stutters’ Pick of the Fringe. A couple of years later in 2009, it gained rave reviews at the Leicester Square Theatre.

In the original play, Dudley Moore dies and finds himself in a bar in a comedians’ limbo run by his old sparring partner Peter Cook They need to resolve their differences, and are up for judgment for blasphemy for Derek & Clive. It features a cast of eight. Peter Cook & Dudley Moore leading Peter Sellers, Tony Hancock, Leonard Rossiter, Frankie Howerd, Kenneth Williams & Charles Hawtrey (all six played by one actor, Clive)

In the movie there is a cast of 50-odd, but apart from five leads, these are mainly small cameos, and we are looking for names for a lot of these. We have a lot of people we know and can call on as does the Director, Martin Gooch, who knows the world.

Clive will play Leonard Rossiter and I will play Peter Cook. The play is much enlarged in the film and there are The Great Programmer, Angels, Demons, Mary Whitehouse, Bill Hicks, Lenny Bruce, John Belushi, Princess Persephone, Queen of Hades and many more. Basically, Alice in Wonderland meets Bedazzled – with the tagline: “You cant escape your comedic fate.”

How did you two meet?

Clive and I met many moons ago, probably doing murder mysteries.

How do you collaborate?

Clive sits at the laptop, I make tea and pace around the room. We tend to have a good creative crossover as writers.

How did you get into acting?

Wandering round the garden at three years old dressed in a towel thinking I was Julius Caesar may have been a clue. It was all I was good at. I was crap academically.  I went to a drama school which when I was there was very good, but due to two deaths a year later closed. Maybe I should have retrained.

What advice would you give to actors who are not as established as you?

Unless you are serious about this business and would kill a relative to do it, get out. It is tough. On the lower rungs, it can be full of the biggest egotistical, untalented two-faced people. It gets a lot better as you get higher up. People are good at what they do and are generally nicer.

It is an industry that is not well policed, although generally we have a good union. If you are serious and have just murdered your uncle, network, meet people, go to festivals like Cannes, and blag it. Find a good agent, ask people about theirs, be versatile – although that may be a curse. Being excellent, and versatile at what you do, scares people off sometimes.

How do you think the industry has changed?

It’s changed because films are made so incredibly cheaply today.. Fifteen years ago, hundreds of people were queuing up to do one student film, for no money. It would cost a minimum of £250 an hour to edit a movie. Showreels were hugely costly. With the advent of technology and tiny broadcast quality cameras today, people can make a movie cheaply and quickly.. There were of course no Casting Call Pro’s or any other online services. There were just casting directors and answerphones.

If you did a show you would mail 10 x 8 photos with CV, SAE and flyer in a hard backed envelope. I did 97 fringe shows and spent 20 years before getting my first TV break via a play I blagged the auditions for (they wanted names) playing Peter Cook, so you can imagine what that cost me. Nowadays there are many ways of attracting attention via the internet.

What’s next?

Well, we want to push Cook & Moore the movie and the play, and are probably going to do a reading of the film in front of an invited audience, including mates in the film industry. I have a couple of leads in features screening soon, and am shooting a feature a mate is directing in Jan as well as another in Malta in April/May.  I am currently in Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh playing Dr Fagan, an eccentric headmaster, at the Old Red Lion with Sylvester McCoy til 29th Jan.

Thank you Jonathan.

If you are interested in investing in the film. Jonathan Hansler would love to hear from you. Get in touch via Frost.