London Pub Theatres Archive

Read ARCHIVE  here. Current REVIEWS can now be found on the magazine www.londonpubtheatres.com

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CRITIC CHOICE OF BEST SHOWS 2018

Our most experienced reviewers choose their favourite shows of 2018 Heather Jeffery Top of my tree this year is the premiere of Margaret Cavendish’s THE UNNATURAL TRAGEDY at WHITE BEAR, 350 years after it was written. At a time when women were banned from the theatre profession, the Aristocratic Cavendish had much to say on behalf of women. It’s perfect #metoo material, so nothing changes! This cleverly written, and bitingly satirical play was superbly directed by Graham Watts. Bravo White Bear for championing older theatre makers and new writers. I would also like to mention JACK STUDIO THEATRE, who had such an excellent year with many productions gaining outstanding critical acclaim and some shows selling out their entire run. I was fortunate to see two shows this year, their in-house Christmas show CINDERELLA and a re-imagining of Bram Stoker’s DRACULA adapted by Ross McGregor for ARROWS AND TRAPS. Whenever I’m at the Jack I am always impressed with their technical capabilities and the number of creatives involved in the success of their shows. It really is the complete theatrical experience. Siân Rowland Without doubt my favourite Pub Theatre show this year was THE WHITE ROSE from ARROWS AND TRAPS at the always impressive JACK STUDIO, Brockley. The heart-breaking story of Sophie Scholl the young German resistance fighter who was executed at the hands of the Nazis in 1945 was written and directed by Ross McGregor and the story moved smoothly between Sophie’s interrogation and the story of how she became involved in the push back against creeping nazism. The script was deft and assured, acting superb and movement from Roman Berry was exquisite. A well-deserved five stars from me. The FINBROUGH has once again come up trumps with some brilliant revivals like CYRIL’S SUCCESS and JEANNIE as well as new and international writing like vibrant Welsh play Exodus by Rachael Boulton and A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE GYNECOLOGICLA ONGOLOGY UNIT at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of New York by Halley Feiffer. As always, the ambition and can-do attitude of London’s wide array of pub theatres is always inspiring and embodies the real spirit of theatre. Gynaecological Mike Swain I have seen some excellent shows this year. Louise Coulthard's COCKAMAMY at THE HOPE was a moving portrayal of the battle with dementia while AN HONOURABLE MAN, by Michael McManus at WHITE BEAR THEATRE was an important and powerful political play for our time. But the stand out show of the year for me was GRACIE at the FINBOROUGH, written by Joan McLeod. Carla Langley delivers a one-woman tour-de-force, as Gracie, a young girl living in a polygamous religious community on the Canadian border. With nothing but a staging block for support, Langley has the audience hanging on her every word in this fascinating and compellingly human drama. David Weir Three (and a half) shows stood out for me this year, with no particular linking theme or style, just strong stories beautifully told in ways that made me think about them for weeks after the shows. The year ended on a high-quality note with NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT at UPSTAIRS AT THE GATEHOUSE in Highgate, a perfectly realised and nicely disguised modern mash-up of some of George and Ira Gershwin’s greatest hits in a PG Wodehouse/Guy Bolton-inspired story of bootleggers, fake butlers and love eventually requited. Also hitting the right note, was the joyful musical of the 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE at the DRAYTON ARMS in Kensington, a tale of competitive, insecure schoolkids, from which I’d defy anyone to walk out at the end without a grin plastered all over their face. CRUMPLE ZONE at the KING’S HEAD in Islington brought pathos, laughter and real depth in a story about the labours and losses of love, which happened to be largely about gay men in an unfashionable part of New York City but achieved universality. And, sneakily, I’ll add one half of a not-entirely successful double bill at THE HOPE, also in Islington – EMPTY BEDS saw three sisters travel to the bedside of their sick brother and was the single most emotionally intense and fully achieved piece of work I saw on the fringe in 2018, beautifully written with real knowledge of how much three people who love each other can fray each other’s nerves and acted with remarkable conviction. Andy Curtis The best play I saw in 2018 was at the beginning of the year. The revival of Steven Berkoff’s EAST by ATTICIST Productions, at the KING’S HEAD THEATRE left a strong impression on me. Directed by Jessica Lazar, this battering ram of a play was astonishing in its verbal dexterity and physicality. A superb cast gave their all – the only option with a Berkoff script – and the production long stayed in the memory. Lazar was excellent at bringing out the contemporary resonances whilst staying faithful to the script. She repeated the trick with a revival of Mart Crowley’s FOR REASONS THAT REMAIN UNCLEAR later in the year, and will be back at the King’s Head directing a revival of David Grieg’s OUTLYING ISLANDS in the new year. Annie Power MEDICINE at The HOPE Theatre & WHO PUT BELLA IN THE WYCH ELM? at The OLD RED LION Much like Meryl Streep’s dilemma in ‘Sophie’s Choice’, I couldn’t decide between these two shows. Both were exceptional, gut-wrenching and memorable. All the elements were aligned perfectly: incisive and tautly written; beautifully acted and imaginatively staged. At frequent intervals I still mention WHO PUT BELLA IN THE WYCH ELM? in conversation, so powerful and chilling was its impact. While the rawness of emotion and biting humour of MEDICINE has led me to dwell on it many times. So, don’t make me choose, I can’t do it. Richard Braine Goodness, it’s been terribly hard choosing the best of 2018. The standard within London Pub Theatres has been incredibly high. Special mention should go to the FINBOROUGH’s remarkable revival of Irwin Shaw’s BURY THE DEAD. The director Rafaella Marcus gave us an urgent and impassioned production that will live long in the memory. But it is to two pieces, presented at the same venue, the BROCKLEY JACK, that most of the plaudits must go. Firstly, Ross McGregor’s remarkable staging of DRACULA by Bram Stoker. Some would regard yet another production of Dracula ‘as overkill’ (sic). Yet McGregor brought enormous vitality to the piece as well as humour and great insight. All round it was a pretty impressive piece of work. McGregor is a young man destined for a stellar career in the theatre. And secondly to the current Artistic director of the Brockley Jack, Kate Bannister, and her production of KES. This was simply a joy. Everything about the piece had been given enormous weight and sensitivity. The stagecraft, acting and production values were second to none. Amongst many wonderful things she gave us two actors who were able to conjure up an ‘imaginary’ bird that was totally convincing. The night I was in a young boy in front of me shouted at one of the actors: ‘Don’t kill Kes. Please don’t kill him. What’s he done to you?’ That to me is what great theatre should all be about.

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THE HOUSE OF YES by Wendy MacLeod Directed by Matthew Parker The Hope Theatre 8 – 26 October 2019 Interview with Matthew Parker by Heather Jeffery Matthew Parker has had 5 Best Director Offie nominations covering productions from 2015 to 2018. He’s constantly challenging himself and coming out on top. “I don’t take anything for granted. All I do is work as hard as I can and some of them fly and some of them don’t. I never go into room thinking I’m going to smash this; I go into a room terrified.” Becoming Artistic Director of The Hope Theatre in 2015 is what got him noticed. He’d been at The Hope for less than 6 months, when LOVESONG OF THE ELECTRIC BEAR, a play about Alan Turing, won three Off West End Award nominations as well as best director. He is leaving The Hope at the end of this year which will allow him the possibility of working on larger stages. It will be a fresh challenge for him after getting so comfortable with the space at The Hope. At this point in time, Parker has just started rehearsals for THE HOUSE OF YES, but he already has ideas about staging and how to best use his beloved space at The Hope Theatre. THE HOUSE OF YES is about a family living in the shadow of the Kennedy clan but none of the Kennedy’s actually make an appearance in the play. It’s set in 1983, 20 years after the assignation of JFK. The character Jackie O in the play has an obsession with the Kennedy’s along with her whole family. Parker puts it in a nutshell. “They live opposite the Kennedy’s and they are absolutely loaded. It’s a big white house, golden toilets ridiculously rich. They’ve only ever had or will only have people say yes to them. No one has ever said no to anything.” Parker’s been looking at the politics of the time. “There’s a surge of capitalism and loss of society. The rich looking after the rich … Wall Street” he says with relish. “The world changed in the 80s … coming out of 60s 70s people could make themselves. Those 80s films like Trading places, Working Girl, getting rich quickly - that business and money happened in this country too, with Maggie Thatcher and the yuppies.” Matthew runs a course at DRAMA STUDIO LONDON on Stagecraft which explores the idea of ‘significant events’ in Western history and how they change things. So, he’s concentrated on finding the milieu of the family, a mother and her three children, two of whom are twins (male and female). The twins were children when JFK was assassinated. “It’s an obsession with lots of Americans” Matthew explains. “Everything across the world that happens in America changes things. The text gets changed; people talk about 9/11 – normally we’d say 11.9. Something like JFK creates art, creates films. It changes the world and rocks the world making people feel unsafe.” “We had two Princess Diana’s – Before she died, she was a woman vilified in the press but when she died, she became the people’s princess” says Matthew. “The newspapers completely changed text on her” says Parker “and I find that fascinating. There’s a connection between JFK’s assignation and this family in THE HOUSE OF YES because they live opposite, they feel personally affected. Americans feel it, the whole world feels it.” For Parker it’s all part of his stage craft, not just digging into the text but looking at the other things surrounding it, it isn’t just about character, it’s the world of the play. And what a world it is! It’s comedy but it’s also described as a ‘twisted play’ and it isn’t the first of such plays that Parker has chosen to direct. So, what’s in it for him? “I like things that look at the dark underbelly of society” he says, “that look at the dark side of our psyche.” He doesn’t have any personal reasons for feeling that way, but he really likes to get an audible reaction from his audiences. “I really like it, when one member of the audience finds something that’s really funny and another finds it really horrendous. I like to affect the audience’s breath, and I love to get a vocal reaction, a gasp or a laugh.” “Look at the programme THE THICK OF IT or VEEP; these are people in power who are horrendously awful to each other, but we find it tremendously funny. This is black humour, dark comedy.” For Parker there’s also the element of a challenge. In the past he’s directed musicals, farce and an absurdist play. THE HOUSE OF YES is also tricky to pull off as Parker explains. “Tonally it’s the same challenge I faced with THRILL ME; to get the tone right because some of the behaviour that these characters display is despicable. As a director with a team, we’re not shying away from it but at the same time, we’re not being exploitative.” The set is also proving a tricky proposition. “This play is very short at approximately 70minutes straight through but it moves between two rooms and it keeps moving. I’ve never done that before. It’s a mansion”, he pauses for effect. “We can’t do two ginormous mansion rooms in The Hope. It’s a big white pillars, white wedding cake house, flitting between rooms - don’t know how I’m going to do it yet, but I think the scenes will bleed into each other. As one finishes, the next scene starts around it.” He’s thinking maybe a big chaise, that can be both a sofa and a bed in the bedroom. “I love a scene change, making something out of a scene change, choreograph it with a shift of light for each different space” says Parker, the relish clear in his face. Curiously enough, this piece wasn’t Parker first choice for his final show at The Hope. He’s had a couple of shows in mind, but he didn’t get the performing rights. Two of them are so popular, running number one tours which means that the big theatre companies buy the rights in perpetuity and no one else can get them. He’s been trying for ten years for these two titles but to no avail. Then his sound designer Simon told him about this play; that he really should read because it had all the things he likes. Its female led, it has dark areas of psyche and elements of horror. “It’s a very fast, intense read” says Parker. “I’d not even finished the first scene and I went …” Parker bangs the table with the flat of his hand for emphasis “… I want to do this. It’s quite unlike anything I’ve read before. the dialogue is so distilled, nobodies trying to obfuscate, people say what they mean. No chaff, just wheat.” He hasn’t yet met the writer, but he knows that she regards the play as “Noel Coward comedy of manners meets Pinter”. It has a fascinating psyche underneath it. “It’s scalpel and knives, pointed, sharp, clean and clear” says Parker. “It will make you laugh, make you gasp, and it will make you recoil in terror”. His way into the drama is the fifth cast member, the outsider Lesly (girlfriend to the male twin). “She has no idea how horrendous they are” says Parker, “because on one ever told them no, so when normal people step in …” He lets this stand in the air. “She’s a working-class woman and she stands up to them.” With almost 1,000 applicants for the roles, Parker had a job whittling them down. He’d already cast the mum. Gill King works with Parker at Drama Studio London and he’d wanted to work with her for many years. It will be a “challenge” for both of them says Parker as they’ve never worked together as director and actor, but whenever he comes across someone he wants to work with, whether it takes 10 years, he won’t forget. “I will you get you in next time I can”, he says. There were plenty of people he’d dearly love to work with, but when he’s reading the play, he never thinks about casting. “The first time you read a play is the only time you’re going to be getting nearest to the first impression that the audience will see” he says. “I try to think what my first impression is of this story, write loads of notes, go back to it during the rehearsal process. Otherwise it’s not being able to see the wood for the trees. So many things come out in rehearsal and so many things at the first preview, when an audience first watches.” > Bart Lambert as Anthony Colette Eaton as Jackie O Gill King as Mrs Pascal Kaya Bucholc as Lesley Parker is no stranger to comedy, and he knows how it works. “In rehearsal with a comedy like THARK, which Parker directed at the Drayton Arms in 2017, we’re dealing with high farce, it’s a vocal word gag, say it in a certain way and you can get a ‘tshh’ cymbal noise at the end of it. There’s a physical laugh button and you’ve got to know where the button is. Not everybody will laugh in the same places all the time but often there is a rhythm one can tap into which means that most of the time it will elicit a laugh” Parker is attracted to audience who will react as they want to, and he has a very dark sense of humour. He also likes clowning. “There’s a danger when something funny lands in rehearsals and everyone laughs. You’ve got to keep doing that every time. After a few rehearsals the actor may think it’s no longer working because it’s no longer getting a laugh. If something works, we’ve got to remember that in three weeks time, because that did land.” “We have no way of knowing how people are going to react. We’re constantly looking at - what is the story here? Laughs have to come out of that. Even when an audience is deathly silent it doesn’t mean something hasn’t worked/” Parker is also aware that some audience are following others’ leads, so he keeps as silent as possible when watching his own shows. “No one wants to hear the Director laughing at their own work! Cringe! It’s the audience members that matter” he says. “So long as they don’t hurt anybody, they can do whatever they want. They can react to the story as they want. Some people miss that and think the most important person in the room is the director, actor or writer. Its’s not! It’s who you do it for - the audience - and it’s our collective job to give them a good time. I cannot guarantee it, but I do everything I can to try to.” Matthew Parker was interview by Heather Jeffery, Editor of London Pub Theatres Magazine Photographer credit is lhphotoshots @September 2019 London Pub Theatres Magazine All Rights Reserved THIS SHOW HAS ENDED THE HOUSE OF YES by WENDY MACLEOD Directed by MATTHEW PARKER At The Hope Theatre, Islington, N1 1RL, 8 – 26 October 2019 Box Office: 0333 666 3366 http://www.thehopetheatre.com/productions/the-house-of-yes/ Just what happens when you grow up in a house that only says “yes”? Meet the Pascals. A family living in the shadow of the Kennedy clan. Outside their Washington D.C. home a hurricane is raging. Inside, at the eye of the storm, a series of twisted and dangerous events have been set in motion that can only have one destination. It’s Thanksgiving, 1983. Jackie-O is beyond excited to have her twin brother Marty home. He’s excited too, but for different reasons. He’s bringing home his fiancée to meet the family. Younger brother Anthony is impressed, perhaps worryingly so, and mother Pascal is too zoned out on pills to be paying much attention to anything. The scene is set for an evening of twisted machinations and mind-games that will leave the players with scars that will never ever heal. The multi award winning Hope Theatre presents a rare revival of Wendy MacLeod’s deliciously dark comic drama given cult status by the 90’s film starring Parker Posey. By arrangement with Josef Weinberger Limited, London Press on THE HOUSE OF YES: “Wickedly funny, disturbing and vividly written” San Francisco Chronicle “Gripping, funny and worth its reputation” Time Out London Press on Matthew Parker’s previous shows at The Hope Theatre: ★★★★★ “Juxtaposes the absurd, the horrific and the comic” Act Drop ★★★★★ “Beautiful, unsettling, dark & gripping” London Theatre Reviews ★★★★★ “Taut, sinister and ultimately disturbing” The Review Chap ★★★★★ “Another stunner from The Hope” IThankyou Theatre ★★★★★ Dark and disturbing” London Theatre1 ★★★★★ “Uniquely brilliant” Views From The Gods Twitter: @TheHopeTheatre @TheHouseOfYesH1

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ONE GIANT LEAP Brockley Jack Theatre 2 – 27 July 2019 “That’s one small step for man…” Neil Armstrong INTERVIEW WITH WRITER & DIRECTOR OF ARROWS AND TRAPS THEATRE, ROSS MCGREGOR LPT: Hello Ross, We’re rather pleased to have another chat with you about your company, the award nominated Arrows & Traps but also wanted to grill you a little bit on your new writing, ONE GIANT LEAP. How long did it take you to write it? Hi there, how lovely to be asked. I have a somewhat unusual process in that I pitch the idea to the Jack, book the slot, design the artwork / poster, get the show on sale, start selling tickets and only then start writing the script. This is partly due to the quick turnaround of shows and my lack of time between, and also that we have to book these things quite far in advance as the Jack is a popular and sought-after space, but also because I have an issue with self-discipline, and so if I didn’t have a concrete deadline, I think I’d still be tinkering with Frankenstein, a show I wrote and produced in 2017. One Giant Leap is the first completely original piece that I’ve written without a source material, and it took me about two weeks to get onto paper. ONE GIANT LEAP is celebrating the fiftieth Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing but it seems you have got your own spin on it. Could you tell us the story in nutshell? Yes absolutely. It’s a comic take on the greatest conspiracy in history. It centres on Edward Price, a producer of a failing 60’s sci-fi show called Moonsaber – which is basically a poor man’s Star Trek. Edward’s life has fallen into a rut, his wife has left him, he’s lost his house to the IRS, and Moonsaber has just been cancelled in its first season. All looks grim, until a representative to President Nixon comes to his door with a suitcase of money and a proposition. The Apollo 11 Moon Landing is four days away, but due to the moon being about a hundred degrees too hot for photographic film; they can get there, they just can’t film it. And what is a massive propaganda exercise without proof that you actually did it? So they ask Edward to fake the footage by any means possible, if he can do it, he can bring Moonsaber back to life for another season, if he fails – he loses everything. Where does the comedy come from? Mainly from the people that Edward employs in Moonsaber. They’re a ragtag bunch of actors, stage managers and technicians, and due to the show being cancelled – they’re falling apart at the seams – it’s down to Edward to keep it all together, to pull off the greatest lie in history, whilst trying to save his marriage, salvage his career, and keep the lies he’s telling intact. It’s a study of the creative industry, a satirical and loving homage to theatre. We’re not trying to say anything serious about whether the moon landing was or wasn’t real, but more provide a raucous night out at the theatre, and keep you laughing about it on the Overground home. Why is it important to offer a lighter comedy in theatre right now? I think, at times, theatre can take itself too seriously, and become too myopic about tackling the dark and dreadful issues that are affecting society – I’ve lost count of how many shows there are about Brexit playing right now – and whilst that’s great, and admirable - speaking for myself, after the last year I’m sick of the darkness, I’m bored by the constant stream of depressive updates about the rise of the Right, I can’t engage with it, the European elections gave a victory to nationalists, we gave a state visit to a racist, homelessness is at an all-time high, and we’re literally cooking the planet to death. There are sometimes when I just want a great night out and forget how scary the world seems right now – laughter is the best medicine – not as a retreat, but a reminder of the good in us, of the joy, of the light. As the company is repertory, you’ll be working with some actors you know very well. Did you have any of them in mind when you were writing the script? I certainly wrote two of the eight roles with long time company members Will Pinchin and Lucy Loannou in mind. And whilst yes, the roles are tailored to suit both of them - I did write the roles of Howard and Alchamy to stretch and challenge Will and Lucy, because I’d never seen them play characters like that. Will is nothing like Howard, and Lucy isn’t at all like Alchamy, but in way, they’re made for those roles, and for me, they’re perfect choices. I do like working with the same actors repeatedly, it is true, because you build up a short hand of technique and approach, but also you build up a trust. The actors in the company come in on day one, sort of knowing what to bring me, and what kind of vision I’ll probably have, since my style is something of a constant, but also I’m able to, as their director, cast them in roles that perhaps play against type, or test their flexibility and skillsets. I’m not an actor, but if I were, I’d hate to play the same roles every time, to only get the “intense one” or the “dopey one” or the “awkward one” – I’d want to think I could play anything that was thrown at me, and I think our rep system allows for experimentation and exploration. What has been the hardest part of the whole process to date? We’re only in the first week of rehearsal, so nothing too taxing thus far. Hands down, the hardest part of a comedy is when you’ve rehearsed it so much you no longer find it funny, at which point we need an audience. One Giant Leap hasn’t hit that point yet, obviously, but I think most comic work benefits from the response and energy an audience gives. Theatre can be electric when you have that to play off, but in terms of where we are – One Giant Leap’s greatest challenge is the analysing of why something is funny, and making sure it’s that way every time. It’s all about timing. For many years I laboured under the misapprehension that stand up comedy was just a funny person being funny with a microphone, that was until I saw Dylan Moran do the same set twice in the space of three weeks. He has a very casual, off the cuff, almost improvised way of performing, and I assumed that it was just his natural charisma and quick wit, until I saw the set the second time, only to find it was identical to the first. All the pauses, the stresses, the tangents, the quips, all of which was honed, polished and a work of precision. It was funny because he’d worked out the best way to get the laugh, every time, and that’s beyond art, it’s science, it’s music. Traditionally Arrows and Traps have produced a selection of brilliantly adapted classics, including Dracula, Frankenstein, Crime & Punishment and Anna Karenina. Have you got a soft spot for one of them? I loved the breathlessness and breadth of Anna Karenina, the precision and murk of Crime & Punishment, the thrill and gothicism of Dracula, and the humanity and pang of loss in Frankenstein. I think my favourite adaptation, if I had to pick one, is probably Frankenstein – but that’s purely subjective, and there was something about the biography of Mary Shelley, which we incorporated into the show, that really spoke to me – in the sense of a creator and a creation, a parent and child, a sinner and the terrible revenge. You’ve also got THE STRANGE CASE OF JEKYLL & HYDE coming up at Jack Studio in September. Your adaptations of the classics have been Arrows and Traps main focus, so does ONE GIANT LEAP herald a shift away from this? No, in fact because I know the next season of shows, One Giant Leap is perhaps the anomaly. Our work normally has a dark bent, we favour drama with funny lines as opposed to an out-and-out comedy. We’ve only ever done one full comedy before, The Gospel According To Philip back in 2016, so this is something of a return to that. I knew that the company was changing, and wanted to make a swansong to the current phase of work, I had originally planned for it to be TARO but that story ended so sadly, I wanted the last one to be lighter, more celebratory – there’s something inherently amusing about the various tropes you usually get in the theatre world, and so I thought a comedy would be a fitting homage to where we’ve come from, and a clean break to where we want to go next. The company has been going from strength to strength, what are the things of which you are most proud? Mainly, that we’re still going. Most theatre companies on the fringe don’t make it to their third show, we’re on our seventeenth. Part of that is sheer stubbornness, there have been points where any rational person would have thrown in the towel, but there was always something in me that would never bend, never break, never give up. It’s part ambition, part not wanting to fail, part wanting to make my father proud of me, part bloody-mindedness, part theatre-addiction. I think production-wise I’m most proud of The White Rose, to what that achieved, all the five star reviews and the Best Production Offie-nom, but of course I’m also very proud of the other twelve times we’ve been nominated for Off West End Awards, the relationship we’ve built with the Jack, the bond I have with my creative team and my casts, and just the fact that people seem to like the work. It’s still always funny to me when a reviewer calls us “critically-acclaimed” or “renowned rep company” – to me it’s just me, telling the stories I want to tell, with people I want to work with, you don’t always think about how it looks from the outside. I’m just producing the theatre I’d like to go and see. It was rumoured that you would be leaving fringe theatre for other careers, partly because of problems with funding. Was there are truth in that? Absolutely! And in a sense, this is still completely true. I am indeed done with fringe. I think I got to The White Rose in 2018 – where we got the Offie-Nom for Production, we had eight 5-star reviews, four 4 star reviews, we’d completely sold out, and done it the cheapest way possible, and we still didn’t break even. Which was very hard to take, and forced me to face the truth – you cannot hope to attain best practice ITC rates for your casts / creatives / yourself if you only do 15 shows in a 50 seater and you don’t have subsidising support from an arts grant scheme. It just isn’t possible. So I made the decision to stop producing work. Now obviously, with the shows being booked so far in advance, there were still three productions upcoming in the diary that I had to honour. But knowing I was quitting, and that this was the end for me, was too hard to bear - ultimately I had to face the fact that theatre is my life, and I could never leave it – so I had to find a way to make it work financially, not just for myself but for everyone else in the company, particularly the actors who are so often completely screwed over in fringe, and often end up working for nothing. Which is where the idea to change the model came from. Shrink the casts and sets to a more tourable model – 14 people down to 4 – and engage a tour booker to take the productions out of London to larger spaces that could widen the potential revenue. The Jack is our home, and we will always premiere all our shows there, but then we will take them into the provinces. The vision is still the same, adaptations of literary work, and biopics of iconic figures of history, but the remit and scale of the endeavour has changed. I don’t see it as an ending, just a moving from one phase into another. But yes, absolutely, the 8-10 handers, movement-heavy, ensemble, big music, huge shows – this stage in our trajectory is ending with One Giant Leap, and whilst I see why it has to end, a part of me is sad to see it go, because there was something so wonderful about doing a massive 15-hander like Three Sisters. Are you one of those people who is meticulously planning the future? Yes indeed, because really we have to plan ahead in order to book the shows with the venues. We’re doing One Giant Leap next month, and then move to Jeykll & Hyde in September, both at the Jack – and then Hyde goes on tour for about six months, with an opening of our next biopic Chaplin coming about halfway through the run in February. Because I’m overseeing contracts, and touring plans, and writing the scripts as well as casting each show and most likely directing each one, I need to know where we’ll be and when we’re doing it – I’m trying to build a book of shows, a repertoire that is constantly touring, moving forward, and ever-evolving – reaching more audiences, and engaging with new communities. In the meantime, we can’t wait to see ONE GIANT LEAP. Could you give us a little flavour of what’s to come? In terms of shows after One Giant Leap, we have Jekyll & Hyde - a dark, political thriller set in a post-Trump America – a gritty examination of the corruption of power, then Chaplin – which tells the story of the 20th Century’s most famous clown, documenting his path to becoming the iconic Little Tramp – and his meteoric rise from Victorian poverty to Hollywood fame. After that, we’re bringing back one of our most successful productions of 2017, Frankenstein, revisited and rewritten for a more tourable model, and then a biopic of Marilyn Monroe, called Making Marilyn, which covers the Norma Jean origin portion of the star’s life. After that – who knows? I’ve always wanted to tackle Madame Bovary – and I’d like to bring back TARO as it was one that I was particularly proud of in terms of its style and poetry. Finally, your shows at Brockley Jack are becoming legendary, it’s a great partnership. What are the things you’ve learnt about theatre whilst working at Brockley Jack? So much. The Jack has been a great place to develop my approach to stagecraft, and how to tell stories as clearly and engagingly as possible. Since we joined the Jack, we’ve built a vision of the style we want to have, and how we approach each difficulty, or tricky moment to stage, how our work with movement and text interconnect, and what we look for in our ensemble for each show. And, I guess, ultimately, I’ve being able to return to my training as a writer, and I’ve been so lucky to have so many opportunities to experiment with my writing, and get to think about how to tell a story and how to build each character. Playwriting is not something I’ve tried before, and I’ve loved delving into each of the worlds that the Jack has opened the door to. But I think most of all, I’ve been honoured by the patronage and support of Kate and Karl – and they’ve shown me the power of hard work, diligence, and care – if I ended up with anything like the talent and acumen they have, I’d be very happy. @June 2019 London Pub Theatres Magazine Ltd All Rights Reserved THIS SHOW HAS ENDED ONE GIANT LEAP Brockley Jack Theatre 2 – 27 July 2019 directed by Ross McGregor produced by Arrows & Traps Theatre Productions Box Office > Below: Rehearsals at Brockley Jack Studio "We’re not trying to say anything serious about whether the moon landing was or wasn’t real, but more provide a raucous night out at the theatre, and keep you laughing about it on the Overground home." "... speaking for myself, after the last year I’m sick of the darkness, I’m bored by the constant stream of depressive updates about the rise of the Right, I can’t engage with it, the European elections gave a victory to nationalists, we gave a state visit to a racist, homelessness is at an all-time high, and we’re literally cooking the planet to death." "Most theatre companies on the fringe don’t make it to their third show, we’re on our seventeenth. Part of that is sheer stubbornness, there have been points where any rational person would have thrown in the towel, but there was always something in me that would never bend, never break, never give up. It’s part ambition, part not wanting to fail, part wanting to make my father proud of me, part bloody-mindedness, part theatre-addiction." "... knowing I was quitting, and that this was the end for me, was too hard to bear - ultimately I had to face the fact that theatre is my life, and I could never leave it – so I had to find a way to make it work financially, not just for myself but for everyone else in the company, particularly the actors who are so often completely screwed over in fringe, and often end up working for nothing. Which is where the idea to change the model came from." " ... most of all, I’ve been honoured by the patronage and support of Kate and Karl (Jack Studio Theatre) – and they’ve shown me the power of hard work, diligence, and care – if I ended up with anything like the talent and acumen they have, I’d be very happy." In celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, Arrows & Traps Theatre bring their critically-acclaimed approach to a brand-new comedy set in the back streets of a Hollywood lot. One Giant Leap is about the power of having an impossible dream, realising it’s impossible, and then trying your hardest to fake it and hope no one notices.

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Image: Sophie Treadwell GARRY by Sophie Treadwell White Bear Theatre, Kennington, 4th – 22nd June 2019 Interview with director GRAHAM WATTS Graham Watts is directing and producing the world premiere of Sophie Treadwell’s play GARRY. Sophie Treadwell wrote more plays than Shakespeare. Her play Machinal is looked upon as one of the great plays of the 20th century. “Everybody’s done it, from Broadway to the Almeida”, says Watts, “her other plays are there, they’re just ignored.” Like a man on a mission, Watts is determined to raise the profile of brilliant female writers’ who have been overlooked. Last year he premiered THE UNNATURAL TRAGEDY at The White Bear, 350 years after it was written by Margaret Cavendish. It received five-star reviews and an OFFIE nomination for Best Direction. Yet when he tried to get THE UNNATURAL TRAGEDY published, nobody would do it. It’s a clever restoration comedy, with 14 characters. Watts points out that it’s ideal for “universities, amateur groups could do it, students could study it, so many things you could do with it, but they just won’t publish”. It’s a problem which appears to be endemic. Timberlake Wertenbaker wrote 41 plus, operas, radio plays and screenplay. “You’ll see OUR COUNTRY’S GOOD And if you’re lucky you might see THREE BIRDS, ALIGHTING ON A FIELD”, says Watts. “If you’re telling me that’s not gender discrimination, it’s a bit suspicious, particularly when you’re comparing with productions for male writers.” “We need to enrich the repertoire. If we don’t produce plays written by women then we reduce it by 51% It’s not about a condescending concern for the “Little Ladies.” These are fantastic plays that have been neglected for years. Nobody does them. If I do them it will encourage other people to put them on, otherwise no one knows they exist. They’ll just keep doing the same productions like TOP GIRLS. If someone told you Carol Churchill only wrote TOP GIRLS you’re going to believe it.” Naturally, taking a play which has never been produced before does have challenges of its own. GARRY is a hard-hitting modern play. “It’s very 21st century, it’s the Weisberg situation except with a twist.” Set in 50s New York. Garry, an unemployed man is lured from a bar to a hotel room with the promise of a job. Watts explains: “It’s that prominent rich guy situation. When Garry comes back to the hotel room in the Waldorf, he’s sexually assaulted by the guy with repercussions for him and his new wife Wilma in particular – a reporter turns up looking for a scoop and events build to a shattering conclusion. She’s a small town girl from Oklahoma, believing in the American dream but life’s a bit more complex than that. The big thing she learns is that people are all a little bit different.” “It’s not showing graphic subject matter” says Watts, “it’s not gross, we’re talking 1954 in certain parts of America where homosexuality isn’t accepted, now there’s an attempted rape, and the changing role of women - It’s anti the American dream. The character’s feel chocked, they can’t breathe, they can’t express themselves”. The play is actually about Wilma, she’s on stage from the very first gong, and never leaves the stage for two hours. All four character’s in the play are aged 18 – 22, so Watts’ cast is very young. Two of them have worked with him before. “It has to be a stepping stone for people to move on. They won’t do something like this for the rest of their careers. An American giant of a playwright in a pub in south London … you can never take that away from them.” Phebe Alys is playing the role of Wilma. Phebe was last seen at the White Bear in The Unnatural Tragedy as Amor. She is currently filming Harlots for Sky TV. Also, in The Unnatural Tragedy was Alice Welby. In this production she takes on the part of Peggy, a tough New York prostitute and Garry’s sister. She was also Juliet in Graham Watts’ Romeo & Juliet. “Why not give them a break?” says Watts. “Particularly for Phebe - Wilma is a hell of a challenge, she’s carrying the play. These actors leave drama school with high expectations and then nothing … if people have done a good job before, I stay loyal to them”. Watts doesn’t believe in imposing a style on the play, the script is a gift. “It just comes because it’s the right thing to say, if you listen to the other actor, the response is already in your head” Watts’ explains. “Rather than grammatical sentences she splits it up into thoughts and of course New Yorkers are quick thinkers, quick speakers.” The fact that the play has never had an audience does raise a few difficulties and is disconcerting for Watts’. “I’m never sure whether it’s going to be safe. For example, will an audience understand it? Will they be offended, confused? We might know the play well but there’s no Ouija board in rehearsals for Sophie Treadwell to help us through.” At the same time Watts concedes that “the script always gets the story and language across, so she’s there holding my hand in rehearsals.” Although the Treadwell estate allows no changes to be made to the script, it is possible to slightly rearrange, and cut material, so there are some choices to make. However, Watts is always keen to honour the authors intensions. “I hate productions when you see the director on stage. Ivo Van Hove is like that his work is full of gimmicks, for me its gimmickry. With UNNATURAL TRAGEDY I used a recognised modern Shakespeare approach, keeping it fluid, not out of keeping with the RSC. GARRY is a psychological play, it’s 50s method acting, that’s what I’m driving for, that intensity that Marlon Brando had.” Watts describes himself as one of the ‘one in ten directors’ who are from a working class background’. “To be honest with you, I was ignored, that’s why I went to work abroad. I worked a lot in America. They see me for who I am and what I’ve achieved and here they don’t do that. The White Bear is different, they are so supportive, one hundred percent behind the project.” Artistic Director of White Bear, Michael Kingsbury welcomed the play. “He cares about the plays that are put on and all the new writing he’s putting on” says Watts. Watts also praises the pub, and its atmosphere. “It’s nice to sit here. Really friendly. You don’t have to try and get served, and it’s not a tenner for a drink and a fiver for a programme”. Sophie Treadwell “GARRY deserves to be seen. I want audiences to have a new respect for Sophie Treadwell, she’s not a one act wonder. She’s another female author who wrote great plays being ignored. We can’t let it go on, we’ve got to change the system”. Graham Watts in rehearsal He also praises Sophie Treadwell’s humanitarianism. “She wasn’t religious but she left the Rights to her plays with the Roman Catholic Church (Diocese of Tucson, Arizona) with specific instructions. Her estate was to be used to care for migrant children from Mexico and Latin America who come across the Border, where they are split up from their parents”. After negotiating with the church and Sophie Treadwell’s estate, Royalty payments are based on a percentage of gross box office. “Any rights and any future rights of this particular production will go to helping their kids” says Watts. Whilst Treadwell was sixty-eight when she wrote the play, Watts believes “she knows what she’s doing, at a certain age people suddenly think writers don’t know what you’re doing, the opposite is true. She’s an experienced author, let her speak.” As a director Watts has certain methods which are anecdotal but its not really about making jokes, its sharing and only if relevant to the play. “It sounds like it’s just faffing about and wasting time, it’s not, it relaxes the atmosphere. You’re not saying ‘I want it now’. Trevor Nunn is like that, I’ve worked with Trevor and that’s what he does. He’ll take about football and they’d do the best hour of rehearsal you’ve ever seen. He’s so on the money.” Watts best advice to actors is to forget about the money and think about the play. “If you want to do that play don’t let your agent stop you from doing it. So often actors go away from their passion play to work on … ‘Father Brown’. Too often with young actor’s agents will actively stop them from doing theatre, Hold on, what have you being doing for the last year? Nothing! You could have been here working.” Watts concedes that the route into directing has changed. “When I started from university, I became ASM, watched other directors work, watched lunch-time shows, then did some fringe. That was the pathway, people are denied that now.” His advice would be to “run box office, lighting, costume, don’t get a degree from Cambridge, do basic stage craft. Get your hands dirty.” It’s all about believing in the work you are doing. “GARRY deserves to be seen” says Watts. He’s looking forward to sharing it with an audience. “I want them to have a new respect for Sophie Treadwell, she’s not a one act wonder. She’s another female author who wrote great plays being ignored. We can’t let it go on, we’ve got to change the system”. THIS SHOW HAS ENDED GARRY White Bear Theatre, Kennington 4th – 22nd June 2019 1954. New York. An unemployed man is lured from a bar to the hotel room of a “prominent citizen” with the promise of a job. A sexual assault is attempted which has devastating consequences for newlyweds Wilma and Garry. When a reporter turns up looking for a scoop, events build to a shattering conclusion.

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ARCHIVE INTERVIEW WITH PAUL CLAYTON THE RUFFIAN ON THE STAIR by JOE ORTON The Hope Theatre, Islington, 29 Jan – 16 Feb 2019 Paul Clayton is an RSC actor to the core. He has immense presence, a rich timbre to his powerful voice and his knowledge of theatre goes right to the bone. Most recently Clayton has been appearing in Holby City and The Split on BBC1. He is in the new Alan Partridge series with Steve Coogan and has filmed a guest lead in the new series of Shakespeare and Hathaway for release in 2019. With such a busy schedule it’s surprising that he’s fitting in directing Joe Orton’s THE RUFFIAN ON THE STAIR at The Hope Theatre January 2019. It is fitting that Clayton who is patron of The Hope Theatre, should be directing a play from the short body of work written by Orton. Orton lived and breathed in Islington, where his main haunts were along Upper Street. Halliwell, murdered Orton (aged 34) before committing suicide (in 1967). Whilst the Hope theatre isn’t particularly a gay venue, Clayton says frankly that “we know from the diaries of Orton’s sexual exploits which would have included areas not far from The Hope”. This is not the first time Clayton has directed an Orton play. Clayton (61) has an extensive career in television, film and theatre. Clayton made his first stage appearance for 10 years in BRIMSTONE AND TREACLE atThe Hope Theatre for which he was nominated for an Off-West End award for Best Actor. Now, he is re-emerging as stage director. “The whole thing about directing has changed. Theatres used to ring you up and ask what you are doing next season” says Clayton. “You could cherry pick what you would like to do and who you would like to do it with. Who are the names?” During the 90s and noughties Clayton was doing a lot of corporate. In 2007 he joined PEEP SHOW and the acting took off again. “Suddenly people wanted to get you in the room. I was Rather lucky to do five series over ten years”. Meanwhile, he continues to work in the corporate event world, most recently, four in a row for McDonalds. “Thanks to a wonderful team, at the end of business meeting, 3,000 people got to their feet and applauded; that’s a show for business, to be able to turn it into something emotional” recounts Clayton with a measure of understandable pride. It’s this work which enables him to do something like RUFFIAN. Fringe theatre is notoriously strapped for cash. Fringe theatre is very important to Clayton. “We all did it, because it was there. Now it’s a key part of your career plan and it enables actors with creating a project they’re passionate about.” Therefore, when AD Matthew Parker invited him to be patron of The Hope Theatre, he was keen to support and help. “It’s really vital that places like The Hope are there to let young people find a space for their ideas and that’s what I love about it.” At The Hope there are the Sunday and Monday slots when people cannot commit to a full 3 week run. Sitting in this elegant restaurant chosen by Clayton, he fits in rather well. He looks dressed by Saville Row, with Italian grooming and the staff know him by name. His presence could easily be that of a lawyer in court, confident and assured. So, in one of those theatrical reversals, it’s fun to know that, he is the one who coaches lawyers, in one of his corporate role play jobs on how to pitch. This is not so far from the rehearsal room where Clayton’s job is to make suggestions. “The actor takes that suggestion and makes it his own. You don’t tell people what to do but you open up possibilities for them and they are surprised by what they’ve achieved. That’s when it works at its best” The thing he most enjoys about directing is “being in room with actors but not doing the acting myself.” He loves “creating an environment”. One of his favourite directing jobs was on COMEDY OF ERRORS at Nottingham playhouse in 1994. “In a room for 4 weeks with 12 actors, and a 400-year-old play that had the audience rolling about. After four weeks of rehearsals it gets to be hard work but when the whole theatre roars with laughter, I think Oh! My god it works, it works.” “I’ve been lucky enough to play comedy. The sugar lump of the laugh.” Clayton read Orton before he saw any productions. “Primarily the things I love about Orton, is that he’s naughty and funny. There is that sense of wanting to shock and yet at the same time an understanding of being an outsider and loneliness in all of the plays. There are facets of him in them. The young men in Loot, the title character in Entertaining Mr Sloane, and even the bell hop in What The Butler Saw In the mid 70s The Royal Court did a season of three Orton plays, at least one directed by Lindsay Anderson. Clayton remembers queuing for tickets. Clayton has a clear understanding of Orton’s language and is a stickler for getting it right. He explains how important it is to be true to the writing. In his final year at drama school he had to do a bad play. Lord Arthur Savile's Crime by Constance Cox based on an Oscar Wilde short story. “Our director knew all about stage business, double takes, slow burns … picking up a glass” but in this play Clayton had to put business in to make the dialogue interesting. Clayton demonstrates the line “I was walking to the church at half past two and I saw Mrs Yates”. He explains that if he breaks after the words ‘half past two’, what follows seems much weightier. Clayton’s face takes on an ironical smile - “It’s sometimes naughty and I’d do it in Shakespeare”, he says under his breath. But Clayton insists this cannot be done in Orton. “You cannot put naturalistic pauses and para linguistics into an Oscar Wilde script and Orton is the same. You have to honour the script, it’s the gift of epigrammatic language. If a young actor can handle this dialogue, he can forget the acting and make it work, and make it funnier, just by the delivery of it.” The language is not necessarily naturalistic. “Wilde gave everyone an archness” explains Clayton. “Orton relishes and uses that”. He gives an example: Fay : Have you known him long? Hal: We shared the same cradle. Fay: Was that economy or malpractice? Whilst Clayton jokes that he might find his inner Ivo van Hove or Robert Icke, both taking theatre in radically different directions, he will be bringing the weight of all his experience as an actor. He has been very cautious with casting, two of the actors he has worked with before and he prefers to trust in the casting director and see only the most likely candidates. (Just aware that I want to make the point that this is done to improve the casting not to shut people out) He uses an analogy: “I don’t like a menu that has 30 choices because it gets in the way of me eating. I like a really nice restaurant with 3 or 4 entrées rather than a café with 30 choices … and everything with chips”. He prefers to spend a bit more time working with the actors. He has an idea of what he’s looking for and where to find it, but he keeps an open mind because he’s sometimes surprised. THE RUFFIAN ON THE STAIR is a play that is not done very often. It’s an early piece written originally for radio and adapted for the stage by Orton. “It’s a microcosm of what he then goes on to use as a prototype for what becomes ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE” says Clayton. Clayton thinks that he’s clearly influenced by Pinter. “It’s similar to Pinter’s THE ROOM. It’s really a Comedy of menace. Things are not always what they seem to be. There’s also a resemblance to Pinter’s pauses, although …” Clayton adds “there’s a bit in Orton’s diary when he says actors shouldn’t pause”. Clayton is enjoying the journey of the piece. “What you think you see at the beginning is not what you see at all. What you saw and what is committed are two different things. The story peels back. We think we’re watching a woman being terrorised by a man when her partner/husband is away and possibly that’s not what we’re seeing”. Clayton is clearly impressed with the script and its secrets. His assistant director has arrived at the restaurant, auditions are tomorrow and rehearsals start soon. The excitement is palpable. Paul Clayton [email protected]

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ARCHIVE INTERVIEW WITH PLAYWRIGHT AMY ROSENTHAL HENNA NIGHT by Amy Rosenthal White Bear Theatre, Kennington, 16th - 20th October 2018 Playwright Amy Rosenthal has been writing for stage and radio since 1998. Theatre work includes SITTING PRETTY, HENNA NIGHT and ON THE ROCKS, shortlisted for the international Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for female dramatists. She is currently working on two new plays and two musicals. Hello Amy, delighted to have a chat with you about your brilliant career up till now, and your play HENNA NIGHT which is being produced by Fabricate Theatre at White Bear in Kennington. Hello! Good to talk to you. I see we have something in common having both taken the MPhil in Playwriting at Birmingham University. I learnt that I respond really well to pressure, writing better and faster, because I’m an excitement junky. What did you learn about yourself? Ah wow, lucky us! I hope you enjoyed the Birmingham course as much as I did. It was actually an MA when I did it, back in 1998 – and I learned a LOT about myself that year! In playwriting terms, I learned an unexpected appreciation of craft, structure and form – that the architecture of a play can be thrilling rather than intimidating – and that I like writing late at night with a glass of red wine and early in the morning (without). In terms of life, I learned I have a scary tolerance for red wine. HENNA NIGHT was your debut play in 1999 and it won the Sunday Times Drama Award (1999), did you know you were onto a winner whilst writing it? In fact HENNA NIGHT was my second play; the first was SITTING PRETTY, which was written on the MA and performed for the first time in 2001. I don’t think I ever really have a sense that I’m on to a winner – I wish I did – but with HENNA NIGHT I did have a passionate need to articulate something, and I’ve been happily surprised ever since by how it resonates with people. It came about because some talented Drama graduate friends were looking for a two-hander for two women, and I had a conversation in my head that felt pertinent, so I wrote it for them. I discovered a lifelong love of writing for specific actors, crafting it to their strengths and writing with their voices in mind. You come from an extremely talented family, with dad being the screenwriter Jack Rosenthal and mum being Maureen Lipman (It’s an ‘ology – that still makes me laugh). I just wondered what your home life was like, was it laugh a minute? I wouldn’t say a laugh a minute – we had all the usual conflicts and dramas (especially during the teenage years) – but we did have a lot of fun. It was, on the whole, a happy childhood in a warm, creative home; I was aware that we were lucky and I look back nostalgically. My dad was an incredibly kind man as well as a brilliant one, and because he worked from home, his presence filled the house. My mum was – and is - my heroine and they were a great double-act. Maybe the most quietly talented and funniest is my brother Adam (also a writer). So okay, maybe a laugh an hour. Did either of them drive you on to writing plays? I wanted to act, having spent years sitting in my mum’s dressing room, testing her on her lines and watching from the wings, but I was a terrible actress and neither of them seemed to dispute that. But they were both hugely encouraging about my writing. My dad was puzzled when I had problems with writers’ block and I wish he’d lived to see me push through it. I think, like most parents, they mainly wanted me to be secure and happy, so my mum is always pleased when I’m teaching and mentoring as well as writing – the writing life can be uncertain and lonely at any stage. Having been raised in the Jewish faith, is this something that you’ve found helps in writing plays, or surfaces in your plays without you noticing maybe? It’s definitely a key part of my identity. I think there’s an unconscious framework to my thinking and rhythm to my dialogue that’s essentially Jewish. My world-view is tragicomic and that’s part of my cultural legacy – the belief that comedy and tragedy are one and the same. I always want to make people laugh with my work, it matters to me more than anything. I trust that any pain or pathos will come through, but if a funny line doesn’t get a laugh, it feels like a punch in the nose. I think the need to be funny is in my DNA. Also what I think of as anxious optimism – fear mixed with hope. What’s the hardest part of writing a play, have any of them been a particular struggle? Why? The hardest part for me is the beginning. Once I’ve got scene one, I’m sort of okay. But the journey to scene one can be hellish. I’ve struggled with almost everything I’ve written. My play ON THE ROCKS took 17 years – from having the idea to seeing it staged at Hampstead Theatre in 2008 (I did do other things in the meantime). It’s usually a crisis of confidence or an ability to make key choices; and for me personally, if I can’t identify my central protagonist, I can’t see the shape of the story. Having had such an early success with HENNA NIGHT, did it help you to find your style and how would you describe it? I’m not sure! I try to make the plays different but I always hear my own voice in them. I suppose what unites them is that tragicomic element, the desire to make people laugh as well as touch them. My friend Nick says my plays are driven by urgency and regret – probably true. But my tone is light. Out of your very many published and performed plays, which is the one/s of which you’re most proud (apart from Henna Night)? And why? I’m most proud of ON THE ROCKS, because it was such a long, painful process, like (I imagine) giving birth to a horse. It’s about the writers D.H.Lawrence and Katherine Mansfield, but it’s really about friendship and love. I’m also – maybe prematurely - proud of the play I’m working on now, about the Mitford sisters. And I’m proud of my developing work in musical theatre, a whole new adventure. If you’re involved with the rehearsals of your HENNA NIGHT, could you tell me whether there have been any changes to the script, or whether anything has particularly struck you about the actors or directing? I haven’t been involved with this production, but I’ve approved some small changes to the text to update my antique references. The play was written twenty years ago, and so much has changed in terms of technology – when I wrote it, no one I knew had a mobile phone, or email, or social media. THIS SHOW HAS ENDED When HENNA NIGHT opens, what are you particularly looking forward to seeing? It’s always intriguing to see what new productions do with the work, how different actors and directors interpret it. I’ve heard great stuff about Fabricate Theatre and look forward to seeing their take on it. And with this play in particular, how it translates to a younger audience. It’s odd to look back at your life through the lens of someone else’s vision. I’m 44 now and I feel quite divorced from the Amy who wrote it. So I always watch it with a mixture of affection, embarrassment and curiosity! Amy, thanks very much indeed for your time Amy Rosenthal was interviewed by Heather Jeffery HENNA NIGHT by Amy Rosenthal White Bear Theatre, 138 Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4DJ, 16th - 20th October 2018, Tuesday - Saturday 7pm, Saturday matinée 3pm @September 2018 London Pub Theatres Magazine Ltd All Rights Reserved

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OPINION Peter Taylor asks "is it a good idea that you should direct and write a play?" There has been this myth that writers shouldn’t direct their own work. But what if you are a director who wants to write your own story? Nothing that hasn’t been done before, but others had told me that if you wanted to be taken as a professional, you had to do one or the other to start with. This notion really scared me, that people would judge me, that I was trying to do two things and one of them was being something I hadn’t really done that much of. Three years ago, whilst I was studying the MA directing course at Mountview, I started to dabble in writing. Whether it was changing the title seven times or finding the endless spelling mistakes in Word, it was never good enough and it dawned over me that this writing was a lot harder than anticipated. I thought, “maybe I should just focus on directing instead, rather than try to be something I’m not.” After printing off my latest draft, I read it, thought it was rubbish and then buried it away in a drawer. Nine months ago in 2018, I had created my own theatre company and we wanted to put on our first production. After a few talks, I tentatively forwarded draft number seven of my play to the other members, but also decided to read it myself. Some of it was odd and cringey to read back, but then something clicked: I needed to write about my fear of having and then potentially losing a child. After a bit more research, this was something incredibly relevant not only to my life, but to other young couples looking to start a family; a fear of fertility and loss. It was the aftermath that I decided to focus on; how do people deal with the complexity of overcoming grief and what do we do as a defence mechanism to protect ourselves from that pain? Throughout the course of writing RIVER IN THE SKY, I could visualise myself on how I would direct the play. It was like I had two mind sets trying to help each other out, rather than fighting one another. This surprised me as I thought it was going to be a Jekyll and Hyde type scenario. I expected conflicting ideas and the piece looking really jumbled, but actually it was the opposite. For example if a particular scene needed to have a cathartic moment, as a writer I knew what needed to be said by one character, whilst the director brain was going haywire in potential ideas in staging that moment. It was also incredibly useful in rehearsals, as I could see what was jarring with the overall show. I like to think of myself not overtly precious about the words - I mean, it still hurts a bit when a line needed to go - but it was more in the sense of what I written, didn’t need to be said out loud. It was actually more helpful for me as a director to understand the characters motive and what their incentive was in the scene. There were also other elements that I still hadn’t finished as a writer (oops) including the dreaded character names. I realised why I had been struggling with this concept: my directing brain was thinking that those characters could be anyone – it could then solely depend on the actor for that particular staging of the production. So when I asked the actors (Howard and Lindsey) what their characters names were, they said Jack and Ellie. It had solved a problem which had caused me such agony over the last couple of years and made the actors more involved in the process. My experience as a director helped me to create this play. This is not to say though that you need to be both a director and writer to create a play or that you should direct every play you write. Not at all! This is more to say that whatever your creative experience, actor, stage manager, lighting designer, costume department, it can all be helpful in telling a story, and it may be more advantageous then you think. Peter Taylor "I needed to write about my fear of having and then potentially losing a child." Peter Taylor THIS SHOW HAS ENDED RIVER IN THE SKY by Peter Taylor The Hope Theatre 6 – 24 August 2019 Box Office “This mindful play is told in the form of onstage, act-out narration, which draws from the verbal storytelling of two often conflicting and self-preserving viewpoints … it is as though we are given an additional piece in solving its ongoing literary puzzle. Praise must be given to Taylor for such a solid composition.” (London Pub Theatres) @July 2019 London Pub Theatres Magazine All rights reserved Share by:

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OPINION TODAY PRIVACY IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE says David Hendon Oliver Sipple – the American hero nobody knows By David Hendon, playwright Oliver Sipple is a name not known to many, either in his native America or further afield. This is one of the reasons I decided to write a play about him. The other is that though the key incident in his life happened four decades ago, the issues surrounding it resonate more than ever today. Oliver was in many ways a classic American hero. As a marine he fought in the Vietnam war before his injuries forced him to come home. He settled in San Francisco where, one day in 1975, he happened to be on the spot as Sara Jane Moore tried to fire a gun at President Gerald Ford, who was leaving a public building. Oliver grabbed her arm and prevented the assassination. So far, so much the John Wayne/Clint Eastwood archetype of the heroic male, springing to action when his country calls. There was just one problem, though: Oliver’s sexuality. He was gay and therefore did not fit the traditional mould. The further complication was a very public outing, not by a homophobic media but by the gay press, specifically by Harvey Milk, the celebrated LGBT activist and politician who wanted his friend to be acknowledged far and wide for his actions, not just as an American hero but as a gay hero. Oliver had little choice in this. He was suddenly a public figure. It is this moral can of worms that The Last Song of Oliver Sipple examines. If there is a question at the heart of the play it is ‘Whose life is it anyway?’ Milk is rightly remembered as a brave, campaigning politician committed to advancing the cause of LGBT rights but in this case his grandstanding actions, however well intentioned, had consequences. The publicity surrounding the story took a heavy toll on Oliver, who continually insisted that his sexuality was his own affair and had no bearing on his actions. He attempted, without success, to sue various media outlets who had invaded his privacy and entered a steady decline. He died at the age of 47. His story will strike a chord with many today. In accepting a Golden Globe in recognition of her long career in Hollywood in 2013, Jodie Foster said we would look back at a “beautiful time” when privacy was valued. Today, privacy is almost impossible. Even if you aren’t daily curating your life – or the version of your life you’d like people to believe – on Instagram, someone you know will be taking photos with you in, revealing how you spend your time. You’ll even be in photos taken by people you don’t know. Recently someone tweeted an image of a woman on the tube drinking pink gin from a wine glass. There were more than 1,000 comments underneath it, mainly of the ‘She’s my spirit animal!’ type. Scrolling through, I couldn’t find one questioning the ethics of taking a photo of a complete stranger in a public setting and putting it on the internet to be commented on and judged. Where once this would have been considered an invasion of privacy – not to mention creepy – it is now normalised behaviour. Two decades ago, the paparazzi were roundly condemned for chasing Princess Diana to her death on the streets of Paris. Today, there would be hundreds of members of the public filming, or even live-streaming, the tragedy on their phones and very little backlash. It’s just what we expect now. We are consciously sacrificing every facet of our lives on a digital altar. Every tweet you like, every person you follow throws a trail of breadcrumbs as to the sort of person you are: your interests, your opinions and, yes, your sexuality. Milk was a gregarious character who believed in being open. But not everyone runs towards the spotlight. Not everyone wants to bare their soul. We like to think we have evolved into a more accepting society but tell that to the two lesbian women beaten up on a bus earlier this month, or the two actors from the play Rotterdam attacked in the street while embracing. Would Oliver Sipple feel he could come out publicly today in Donald Trump’s America, where politics is marked by toxic divisions? In some ways, because of how the nature of media has changed, he might find the scrutiny even more unbearable four decades on. These issues – of identity, of sexuality, of privacy, of the right to be the person you want to be – are all discussed in The Last Song of Oliver Sipple. The clue is in the title of our play. Oliver wanted to sing his own song. He was not afforded that right. He was not able to be the author of his own story but we hope that, in telling it 30 years after his death, we have done him proud. David Hendon OFFIE and Kenneth Branagh award nominated writer (Banana Crabtree Simon, Eyes to the Wind) Author of THE LAST SONG OF OLIVER SIPPLE at King's Head Theatre 13 - 14 July 2019 THIS SHOW HAS ENDED The Last Song of Oliver Sipple He saved the life of the President… Then his country turned against him. This is the true story of Oliver Sipple, a US marine decorated for his service in Vietnam, who in 1975 intervened as a would-be assassin pulled a gun on President Gerald Ford. He was hailed as a hero and invited to the White House but, after he was outed as gay in the press, the invitation was revoked. Oliver had never come out to his family but was now a public figure, hounded by the media and his private life was no longer his own. 30 years after his death, The Last Song of Oliver Sipple tells the story of an American hero tortured by prejudice, media intrusion and the rift created within his own family. Share by:

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VULVARINE on tour Presented by Fat Rascal Theatre Company King's Head Theatre June 11 - 6 July 2019 Interview with Robyn Grant, artistic director of Fat Rascal Theatre and performer in Vulvarine ‘Ripping apart comic book Superhero clichés and gender stereotypes … with songs that stand out for their ingenuity, wit and catchiness’ ★★★★★ London Pub Theatres review LPTmagazine: Hi Robyn, The VULVARINE tour is well under way now but we’re delighted that you’re coming back to King’s Head Theatre, with your anarchic musical. As Artistic Director of Fat Rascals are you the genie behind it all? Robyn Grant: We’re thrilled to be returning to the Kings Head! As one of their associate companies it really feels like our London home and we can’t wait for the London audiences to get their teeth into it. As for being the genie I wouldn’t say that at all haha, I have the most fantastic team around me here at Fat Rascal. Our brilliant producer Laura Elmes who is a total power house, my genius co-lyricist Daniel Foxx, our wonderful associate director Siobhan CannonBrownlie and of course our amazing cast and crew. They’re such a joy to work with and make my job very easy indeed. LPT: We imagine the first rehearsals were laugh a minute, but perhaps it had a much more serious intent? RG: We came into the show knowing exactly what we wanted to say. We had a few research days looking at the marvel universe and its lack of female characters, at the tampon tax and everyday sexism, at the pharmaceutical industry, hormonal treatments frequently used on women and the risks they pose. With all of that in our backpacks we dived into the adventure of creating the comedy, the pace and the feel of the show. All of our political elements are an undercurrent, fuel for the fire and made to seep into the audience’s subconscious. From rehearsals forwards its really our job to make people laugh! We all get on so well more often than not rehearsals just feel like playtime and it’s up to poor Siobhan to come and reign us in, tell us to get off each others backs, put the wigs down and do some bloody work. LPT: Allie Munro is electric in her role as the hopeless Bryony Buckle thrust into a Spiderman-esque scenario as Vulvarine, complete with nuclear sea urchins. In the story it’s the result of hormone therapy gone wrong and a well-timed bolt of lightning. What was the hardest part of putting all these elements together? RG: Figuring out the story for this show and creating a sensical and satisfying arc was the hardest part for me. As you say there’s so many elements but we want our work to be fun, fast and accessible. No-one should feel left behind. Allie is a total gift of an actor because whatever you throw at her she’ll take it and make it her own, and also almost translate it for the audience. She’s so relatable, likeable and god damn funny I almost think there’s nothing that girl couldn’t sell. Saviour of womankind? Easy mate. LPT: You’re also acting in the show, playing multiple roles. Could you tell us a bit more about your role as the wittily named Mansplainer? RG: The Mansplainer is Vulvarine’s arch nemesis. He’s a 55 year old evil marine biologist called Keith Herlit who harbours a love of The Greatest Showman and a hatred of womankind. It sounds completely nuts I’m well aware but he is SO much fun to play and one of my favourite parts to date. LPT: There’s no doubt the show has heart, but what’s the break-through scene for you? RG: I love the romantic duet at the show’s climax, ‘The Office Boy and Vulvarine’. It’s a total celebration and pastiche of musical theatre cheese and 80’s rock ballads. There’s a disco ball, there’s dancing fish and there’s some tasty AF harmonies. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted to make and the audience always bloody love it, it’s so silly and satisfying. LPT: With the larger than life characters and the catchiness of the songs, have any of your audiences got carried away? RG: Yes they get rowdy and we love it! With our shows we always want the audience to know that they’re welcome to laugh, cheer and whoop. This isn’t a night at the theatre to sit and be silent. It should feel like a party, a celebration; everyone should feel totally empowered and badass at the end. The ladies in Bristol who brought in a bottle of prosecco each and sang along with the finale, we salute you. Equally the gang who were all dressed up as the Mansplainer in Sheffield, fantastic work. LPT: The show is certainly a master class in multi-roling, with a caste of five playing a multiude of roles. What’s the secret to your success? RG: We have a firm (and probably unwarranted) belief that anything can be done and that if it seems impossible, it’s probably a gift. Crowd scenes, flying and manic fast changes; Things can go wrong at any time, the audience are totally in on the joke and that creates an electric atmosphere. We just need them to be on our side, they are very much the other actor in the room and if they’re willing to buy it and laugh, anything can be done! LPT: Have you got a favourite stand out moment in the show yourself? RG: I love the reprise of the title song ‘Vulvarine’, sang by Sonya, the Mansplainer’s wife (Played by Steffan Rizzi). It’s such a great empowering moment of girl power, we’re careering towards the end and DANG, boy can SANG. LPT: This isn’t your first addition to the musical theatre genre, you took TOM AND BUNNY SAVE THE WORLD to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2017. That was an equally hilarious take on the Zombie Apocalypse trope so we wondered what else you might have up your sleeve? RG: Well well well, not a white rabbit but an Octowoman! We’re currently working on our new musical ‘Unfortunate’, the untold story of plus-size icon Ursula the Sea Witch. It’s a parody based around Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ and hoo boy are we excited about it. Think sass, sex and suckers. We’ll be taking the show to the Edinburgh fringe festival this summer alongside Vulvarine. LPT: Finally, what do you think is the best thing about bringing the show to King’s Head theatre on this leg of your tour? RG: Fabulous London audiences including Rascal fans old and new, a brilliant space to bring the show to life in and a delightful pub for a summers eve G&T, what more could we want!? THIS SHOW HAS ENDED VULVARINE Presented by Fat Rascal Theatre Company on tour: Komedia Brighton, May 27th – 29th King's Head Theatre June 11 - 6 July 2019 Cast Doncaster, July 10th The Lowry Salford, July 11th – 12th King’s Head box office Bryony Buckle is astoundingly average. Her days are filled with mind numbing office work, thinking about lunch and lusting after Orson Bloom from IT. But following a dose of hormone therapy gone wrong and a well-timed bolt of lightning, Bryony gains superhero abilities and a brand-new persona: Vulvarine, saviour of womankind. Where is all the tampon tax going? Who is The Mansplainer, and what is his evil plan? Grab your tights, your spanx and your most supportive sports bra. It’s hero time. "We came into the show knowing exactly what we wanted to say. We had a few research days looking at the marvel universe and its lack of female characters, at the tampon tax and everyday sexism, at the pharmaceutical industry, hormonal treatments frequently used on women and the risks they pose. With all of that in our backpacks we dived into the adventure of creating the comedy." "Allie is a total gift of an actor because whatever you throw at her she’ll take it and make it her own, and also almost translate it for the audience. She’s so relatable, likeable and god damn funny I almost think there’s nothing that girl couldn’t sell. Saviour of womankind? Easy mate." "This isn’t a night at the theatre to sit and be silent. It should feel like a party, a celebration; everyone should feel totally empowered and badass at the end. The ladies in Bristol who brought in a bottle of prosecco each and sang along with the finale, we salute you. Equally the gang who were all dressed up as the Mansplainer in Sheffield, fantastic work." "We have a firm (and probably unwarranted) belief that anything can be done and that if it seems impossible, it’s probably a gift. Crowd scenes, flying and manic fast changes; Things can go wrong at any time, the audience are totally in on the joke and that creates an electric atmosphere." Share by:

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OPINION Blow Fish Theatre's Laurence Peacock debates the quandaries of making satirical theatre When I sat down to write a piece about satirical theatre on Thursday morning, I knew there was a danger of it being out of date by the time it went live. I didn’t think I’d only have to wait till the afternoon. “BBC: Boris Johnson confirms leadership bid!” As the makers of Boris the Musical 2: Brexit Harder this was big but not entirely unexpected news. We’ve made two whole musicals now based on the comic tension between Boris’ titanic ambitions and his, well, Titanic capabilities. So, the fact that he’s having another pop at the leadership nicely brings into focus the quandary of making satirical theatre: Great! More Content! Wait… When Are We Going To Rehearse!?! We usually justify our strange theatre choice by explaining that it was basically an accident. A joke, really. The chancers now known as Blowfish Theatre first got together in the summer of 2016 to make a musical about Boris Johnson and Brexit. We didn’t think it would last the summer, nor was it really meant to. We just thought it would be fun to do, and it was. A lot. What we hadn’t anticipated was that other people would agree with us. There was such a great energy in the room on that opening night. It felt like everyone’s pent up frustration and dismay at both the referendum campaign and, for some at least, the result had temporarily found somewhere to go. So, we kept at it, adding stuff to ‘Boris 1’ as we went, including a whole new General Election Section in 2017. Do you remember when everyone thought Theresa May was going to win big, including the woman herself? Yeah, well, so did we. It’s a strange way to work, with your next shows a week away but absolutely no guarantee the Government still be standing at the end of the day. With our second show, Trump the Musical, we gave ourselves a bit more breathing space by setting it in THE FUTURE. Well, 2020. But even then, the ups and downs of the Trump presidency has kept us on our toes. We gambled big on Kim Jong Un and, to be fair to the guy, he has not let us down. Mueller proved a bit trickier but happily the Donald himself has provided a constant stream of notable moments which we lovingly find gaps for. Mushrooms and umbrellas, anyone? Boris the Musical 2 is still a biography, but it does end in a future post-Brexit Britain, which gives us an alternative method of future proofing the show. There’s been such a lot of talk about a People’s Vote that we thought we’d GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT and have one to end the show. Or rather, decide how we end the show. And like all recent referenda, we definitely respect the result. But it’s not only that new stuff that keeps happening. We’ve found that even past events need keeping fresh. It sounds obvious but it isn’t something we really noticed until we started to make satire. Our understanding of yesterday’s politics changes with today’s developments. Audiences either forget things or they remember them differently. Like how Theresa May used to be considered a bold political genius. Or how Boris used to be, relatively speaking, really quite popular. No, really. There was an indulgence for him that in 2019 has largely evaporated. Ok, fine, maybe you’ll just have to trust us on that one. So, spare a thought for the poor satirist amid the non-stop horror fest that is contemporary politics. Sure, you’ve got problems, but at least you don’t have to perform a show about it tonight. Laurence Peacock is co-director, writer and performer at Blow Fish Theatre. THIS SHOW HAS ENDED Boris the Musical 2: Brexit Harder and Trump the Musical are running at the King’s Head Theatre, Islington 28th May – 8th June, 21:15 - 22.45pm, £18/£15 Box Office: 0207 226 8561 [email protected] Trump tickets here Boris tickets here Photo credit Photo Credit: Heather Isobel “ … We just thought it would be fun to do, and it was. A lot. What we hadn’t anticipated was that other people would agree with us.”

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OPINION Playwright Rachel Tookey wants to get people talking about mental health and suicide "More than anything, I wanted the play to get people talking about mental health and suicide." Five years ago, I glanced down at my phone and saw seven missed calls from my sister. There’s only one type of event that can cause that. Engagements and births? 3-4 missed calls. Death and grief? 6+. The question isn’t what, it’s who. I called her back and found out my uncle David had taken his own life. He was 49. The news left my family reeling: 20 years previously, David’s older sister Jean had also taken her life. At first, it seemed impossible that it could have happened again - like a law of physics that said this much awfulness wasn’t allowed to happen twice, not to the same family, not in the same way. But having done more research into the subject, I found out you are 4-6 times more likely to take your own life, if a close family member has done so (University of Pittsburg). In the majority of plays I had seen that tackled suicide, they focused entirely on the individual, and never really looked at the long-term impact on the wider family. I started writing Bromley Bedlam Bethlehem to change that. I wanted to explore suicide in the context of a whole family. In the play, we begin with the death of the grandfather and follow the story to the death of the grandson - it’s not a question of what’s going to happen, but why. Growing up, I was never told the real cause of my aunt’s death. Coming from an Irish Catholic family, suicide was a cause of shame. You were told your loved one was going to hell. What had happened with Jean became this black pit we tiptoed around but never talked about. But when I started writing the play, my mum opened up to me about her sister and for the first time in my life, we found ourselves having an open conversation about our own mental health. More than anything, I wanted the play to get people talking about mental health and suicide. So many people feel unable to talk to others about these issues, particularly if they’re feeling suicidal. When I ask my mum why she never told me Jean’s true cause of death, she said ‘I didn’t want to give you ideas’. There’s a stereotype that if you ask someone if they’re thinking of hurting themselves, you put thoughts into their head. Research by Rethink has shown this is not true - and asking someone directly can allow them to open up about what is still a taboo subject and save lives. THIS SHOW HAS ENDED BROMLEY BEDLAM BETHLEHAM Old Red Lion Theatre, Islington, 3 - 25 May 2019 Box Office “I loved the bones of yeh then and I love them now.” Christmas Eve. 1948. Deep in the heart of Galway, Eamonn, the fattest baby you’ve ever seen, is found abandoned in a manger. 70 years later, after struggling to make amends with his estranged daughter Sarah and grandson Ben, one final and fateful action leaves the next two generations of his family reeling. Bromley Bedlam Bethlehem at Old Red Lion Theatre until 25 May Photo credit: Ali Wright RACHEL TOOKEY Rachel Tookey is an award winning writer of BCanon Chasublecurrently showing at Old Red Lion Theatre to co-incide with Mental Health Awareness Week (May 13th to 19th). The play was the winner of the prestigious Methuen Drama/Marlowe Society ‘Other Prize’, previously won by Jack Thorne. Tim Cribb, who has run the prize since its inception, has said he believes Bromley to be the best winner since Jack Thorne’s 2003 play. Rachel Tookey’s work has been presented in venues, including Southwark Playhouse, the Lyric Hammersmith, the Etcetera Theatre, and New York's Kraine Theater. Her first play JUDGE JUDY'S BUZZ WORLD won the Footlights’ Harry Porter Prize before transferring to the Camden Fringe, where it received critical acclaim. She studied at Cambridge University, where she became the first ever writer to win both major playwriting prizes, and was published in the prestigious Mays Anthology. Share by:

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TESTAMENT by Sam Edmunds The Hope Theatre 14 May - 1 June 2019 INTERVIEW WITH WRITER SAM EDMUNDS In the beginning God created the heavens and earth and… Max! Max is in a car crash with his brother and his girlfriend Tess, who dies in the accident. Following the loss of his girlfriend, he tries to commit suicide and fails, but when he wakes up, he believes she is still alive. Driven by an electronic soundscape, biblical apparitions and haunting physical sequences, we follow Max in his search for the truth. Hello Sam, We’re pleased to see Testament is being remounted at The Hope theatre after runs at Bread and Roses and Edinburgh fringe. Has it been a bit of a rollercoaster? Hi Heather! It certainly has been quite the rollercoaster. I started writing the play as part of my studies at East 15 Acting School to be staged at their Debut Festival back in January 2018 under mentorship from Charlotte Josephine, Jesse Briton and Uri Roodner before deciding to further develop the play for 24 shows at Edinburgh Fringe. Taking on the Fringe came with needing to raise over £8000 before even thinking about getting bums on seats. We were delighted with the response the show received and even more pleased to transfer to London with shows at The Bread and Roses and Four sell out shows at The Hope Theatre. Now we are fortunate to have gone from a shoe string budget to be funded by Arts Council to produce our first full London run at The Hope Theatre, following such a lovely run their last year. After this year we will have performed the show over 50 times, with many bumps, twists and turns and are thrilled to be doing so. If it’s not too personal could you tell us what was your inspiration for the show? My inspiration to write Testament came through anger towards the way we treat male mental health issues. I have always been infuriated with society’s approach to male mental health and mental health in general and in particular with Toxic Masculinity or even the term Masculinity and the jaded and institutionalised expectations or labels that come with being ‘a man’. It’s a fact that suicide is the biggest killer of men under the age of 45 and it’s vital that we create theatre that discusses this, raises awareness and tries to tackle it. When researching further into this I noticed in studies a correlation between suicide and grievance and started to become more aware of our suppression of grief in a Western society. It’s an expectation of people but men in particular for us to remain strong and emotionless when faced with loss and any sign of emotion is deemed to be a sign of weakness. Having experienced loss as a young man with these pressures placed on me, I could start to see how overwhelming these expectations can be on vulnerable young men. I think it’s incredibly important that we make theatre that addresses this in an open discussion that helps those struggling to overcome it and know that it’s ok to be upset. I was inspired to write a play with the aim to help make that change. Exploring suicide, loss and guilt is heavy stuff so it’s rather impressive that Testament has won so much critical acclaim, but what’s it been like for audiences? We’ve had wonderful audience responses and many people find the show very entertaining. A lot of the show is very light and uplifting and therefore elements of comedy are found throughout, and I don’t think audience members expect this upon first impressions when reading about the play online. Lots of audience members have shed a tear but on each occasion, we find that people take many different things from away from the show. People tend to comment on the spectacle of the play, from our use of physical theatre to electronic sound design and find all of these elements to be gripping and sometimes surprising. A lot of audience members comment on how relatable the show is, be that any age or gender even if it is a heavy subject matter and I think there has always been something in the show for everyone to enjoy or reflect on. Was there any aspect of the show that was difficult to bring to the stage? There are many enactments of car crashes throughout the play. Of course, you cannot physically have a car crash on stage, so when tackling this we had to be innovative. One of the main idea’s that I want to achieve with Testament is using the set pieces in Max’s hospital room to create everything in the show. Therefore, we tend to merge reality and fantasy a lot, turning the hospital bed into a car and even a coffin. I think the hardest part about bringing this show to life on stage, is portraying the horror of Max’s situation in a visually compelling way, whilst hardly ever-changing location. The story contains biblical characters, and we wondered whether there’s a religious message in the work? To me there is more a spiritual message than a biblical message as so much of the show is a discussion on the importance of life and the acceptance of death. I use biblical characters within the play to symbolise the saint and sinner, whats right and whats wrong, how do you forgive and can you forget. It’s less of a message and more a question. It’s the proposal of ideas and morals when in the face of grievance. When writing the play did you have an end sight in mind? I think with a subject matter this personal and heavy you can’t really give an opinion on things or cast a judgement but what I do believe is that it’s important we discuss it openly and support those struggling with it. Everyone deals with this differently and in a way that helps them to overcome it and within Testament that’s what we capture – the ability to ‘overcome it’ and that’s the message I want to send out. Do you think you’ve learnt something as a writer through the whole process? Hear your text out loud as much as you can because things sound so differently off the page. Also wondered whether you’ve you got some more new writing up your sleeve which you’ll be developing in the future or is there something else you’re keen to work on? As a company we are currently developing a new play called ‘Acknowledgements’ and will be undergoing an R&D for this in late July. I am also writing a new play alongside this, which has a focus on the history of my home town, Luton. Finally, there must have been a lot of memorable moments in the making of Testament. Could you tell us about anything that really stands out for you? I think our first performance at the Edinburgh Fringe I will never forget. The nervous energy, the excitement and seeing something you have spent months and months working on being performed on stage to a paying audience. I will never forget that moment and the pure joy backstage when it finished. It was a special moment shared with a wonderful cast. THIS SHOW HAD ENDED TESTAMENT writer/director: SAM EDMUNDS Presented by: Chalk Line Theatre The Hope Theatre 14 May - 1 Jun 2019 7:45pm Tickets: http://www.thehopetheatre.com/productions/testament-2/ TESTAMENT is an award-winning play exploring suicide, loss and guilt. In the beginning God created the heavens and earth and… Max! Max is in a car crash with his brother and his girlfriend Tess, who dies in the accident. Following the loss of his girlfriend, he tries to commit suicide and fails, but when he wakes up, he believes she is still alive. Driven by an electronic soundscape, biblical apparitions and haunting physical sequences, we follow Max in his search for the truth. @April 2019 London Pub Theatres Magazine Ltd All Rights Reserved

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Archive Interview with Jessica Lazar, Atticist Theatre company OUTLYING ISLANDS by David Greig The King’s Head Theatre 9 January - 2nd February 2019 Interview with director JESSICA LAZAR on her company Atticist and bringing Outlying Islands to King’s Head Theatre It isn’t often you get a text saying, ‘I’m in the café, wearing a gold jumper and soaking wet’. Wouldn’t a button hole flower have sufficed? It turned out the fire alarm had recently gone off, leaving everyone standing in the torrential rain. The gamin Jessica Lazar looked more fragile than ever but the dark energy she exuded was burning hot. While she steamed nicely, we had our interview. We kicked off by discussing the future of theatre. It’s difficult to pin her down on this because for Lazar it’s more about the journey and experimentation. “Barriers are coming down for audiences as well as for smaller companies” says Lazar, citing gig theatre which bridges the gap between theatre and gig. “More generally, we expect smaller companies to explore different styles of storytelling. Is it right for the piece? Even if you don’t have experience of it to date.” Personally, she’s drawn to story, and that can come from any source. Lazar is a founder member of independent production company, Atticist, which was set up in 2015 purely as a vehicle for LIFE ACCORDING TO SAKI. It went on to win the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Fringe Award 2016 and transferred to New York in 2017. She’s best known on the pub theatre circuit for her direction of Steven Berkoff’s EAST at King’s Head Theatre which won five OFFIE nominations and a raft of four and five stars from the critics. Off the back of this, King’s Head Theatre announced Atticist as one of their associate companies and over the summer engaged Lazar in some freelance work. She was invited to direct Mart Crowley’s FOR REASONS THAT REMAIN UNCLEAR (2018). Something of a curved ball for Lazar who knew it was going to be challenging. She is not spooked easily. “It was a divisive play, and everybody was prepared for that” explains Lazar. “Frankly I think it’s really exciting when something divides people. When it makes people really angry … what else are we doing?” Atticist is less interested in realism in theatre; but they do love well placed revivals when they get the opportunity. At the heart of everything they do is collaboration, on stage and in all aspects of the company. “We all pull together, I just help to steer it. I’m the cox and everybody else is making the strokes”, says Lazar. “We enjoy bringing that ensemble storytelling style to pieces that are not necessarily traditionally ensemble plays” she adds. “We tend to be drawn to things that are quite dark, witty, maybe magical realism with potential for something really physical within that, even if every choice we make is rooted in text.” “Outlying Islands was a case of loving the play and being lost to the world while reading it” says Lazar. She thought “we’ve simply got to put this on, it’s so beautiful and it’s so weird.” It has a powerful storyline which looks at Individualism versus socialisation. “It has interesting resonances for Britain in early 2019” says Lazar. “There are questions about identity in a very wide sense of the word, about loyalty to country versus loyalty to self. Also, expectations and realities of sexuality and sexual identity.” She is impressed with the breadth of its themes. “These weave together with the fascinating role of wildness and nature in a modern industrialised world. Competing value systems are incredibly important.” One of the actors was also in Life According to Saki which gives the production an immediate link to this past success. During the audition process Lazar recalled three actors who “just worked”. She clicks her fingers to emphasise the point before explaining that she knew immediately that there was a spark between them. “The audience, everybody will recognise it. There’s a game, some fun held between actors, it’s more than rapport. You can build it but sometimes people just have it and when they do have it, it’s really exciting”. It has the Atticist stamp as Lazar explains: “It can be profound and witty in almost in the same breath. David Greig is a masterful playwright; he manages that extraordinary balance.” It hasn’t been on in London for almost 20 years but was a huge success at the Royal Court. Perhaps the reason it hasn’t been performed regularly is the tricky nature of the stage directions. When Lazar spoke to the playwright for the first time, he immediately apologised about the door. Jessica calls it “door slapstick” but that’s not the end of it. There’s an “exploding stove, someone dies and gets used as a puppet, and the door repeatedly falls out of its frame”. Working in the round, with audience on all sides, it’s crucial that the door falls in the right place. “That is the biggest challenge so far”, says Lazar. They certainly don’t shy away from challenges. They stipulate that they want to work in spaces where there is wheelchair access. “It’s the right thing to do”, she says. “My father’s in a wheelchair (he has multiple sclerosis). I’m lucky in that although I don’t come from an industry family my parents have always loved theatre. They took me to theatre at a very young age.” Whilst many theatres are wonderfully supportive, she acknowledges that it “won’t always be possible at fringe theatre because of money, but we all try and do our best”. Atticist haven’t yet done a captioned performance but they are working towards it. King’s Head have lots of experience with stage text. Atticist is a company that wants to do more frequent shows. “For better or worse, we always pay people as much as we can” says Lazar. “We want to give a decent budget for things like design and these costs severely limits the amount of work we can do”. To offset these costs, Lazar is still free-lancing and hopes she always gets freelance work as she really enjoys working for other people outside of the company. “It would just be amazing also to be able to do more with Atticist too” she adds. This is a company that’s keen to expand, to take work abroad and continue to push the boundaries. With Lazar at the helm, it is easy to believe the possibilities for them are stellar. Jessica Lazar was chatting with Heather Jeffery, Editor of London Pub Theatres Magazine Outlying Islands by David Greig is at The King’s Head Theatre 9 January - 2nd February 2019 Box Office: http://www.kingsheadtheatre.com/ Transporting audiences to a wild and insular world, Outlying Islands is inspired by real events and is set the evening before the outbreak of World War II as tensions run high in a society shadowed by imminent and immense change. Atticist: [email protected]. @December 2018 London Pub Theatres Magazine Ltd. All Right Reserved CAST: Rose Wardlaw (Eyam and The Winter’s Tale, Globe Theatre; Jubilee, Royal Exchange Theatre and Lyric Hammersmith; Call The Midwife), Ken Drury (King Lear and The Crucible, National Theatre; The Woman in Black, West End; Black Mirror), Jack McMillan (The Hard Man, Finborough Theatre; Vieux Carre, King’s Head Theatre; Blue Boy, Northern Stage) and Tom Machell (Life According To Saki, Atticist Off-Broadway at New York’s 4th Street Theatre; zazU, Soho Theatre; Every Blank Ever, Comedy Central).

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Sian Rowland on dealing with rejection It’s not you, it’s me- dealing with rejection by Sian Rowland Rejection is a part of life but in the writing world there are lots of opportunities for rejection. Putting yourself or your work out there in the world means that people can choose to accept or reject it. For every email beginning ‘unfortunately on this occasion…’ I have to remember that someone somewhere is getting an ‘I’m delighted to tell you…’ and be happy for a fellow creative. After far too many of the former at the tail end of 2015, I was thrilled to receive an email telling me that my play ‘Spurn The Dust’ had been longlisted for the new Red Women’s Theatre awards. Meanwhile, back at my laptop writing away and steeling myself for the next round of rejections. 1. It’s not you, it’s me. The hardest part of rejection is not taking it personally, after all, someone is saying, ‘yeah, thanks but no thanks.’ It can often seem unfair but you have to trust that the person handing out the rejection has considered the options fairly and made a balanced decision. If they haven’t and have picked their mates instead, well perhaps it wasn’t the opportunity for you. 2. Have a wallow. Rejection in whatever form does hurt and can feel personal sometimes so it’s good to acknowledge the feeling, wallow in it, have a weep and hide under the duvet for a day or two. It’s how we bounce back that counts. Or maybe not so much bounce back as stumble red-eyed and snotty back. But back all the same. 3. Don’t give up. I’ve come close to giving up on so many occasions, but I try and remember why I write in the first place. I write because I enjoy it, because I get a real sense of achievement and because it’s my therapy in times of stress. If I gave up my writing because of someone’s personal opinion (even if they’re an expert in their field) I’d be punishing myself and then probably taking up an unsuitable hobby to take the place of writing. The world of flower-arranging and basket-weaving are not ready for me yet. 4. Don’t compare yourself to others. I constantly torture myself with people who have gone further, done better and are more talented than me. My Twitter timeline is full of success stories and incredible achievements and it’s easy to get sucked into feeling that you’ll never be as good. Perhaps not but there might be people starting their creative journey who are further behind you. Which leads me to… 5. Remind yourself how good you are. This is a bit count-your-blessings but it helps if I remind myself how far I’ve come, professionally and personally. Many people want to write books or scripts but haven’t yet started. Not only have I started, I’ve finished several and had plays produced in a variety of theatres. Little by little I work and improve and one day that will pay off. One day. A few days after writing this, another email arrived saying I had been selected as one of four finalists. I kept checking my inbox for the follow up that would say, ‘only joking!’ but it never came. So I’m thrilled to announce that my little play will be performed at the final as a rehearsed reading at Greenwich Theatre on Sunday 6th March (Link: http://www.greenwichtheatre.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1872:red-womens-theatre-award&catid=7:playingnow&Itemid=1_ Next time the rejections arrive, I’ll be ready! How do you deal with rejection? Any top tips? Siân Rowland is an education consultant, trainer and writer. She is also a playwright and has had pieces produced at venues including The Cockpit, Southwark Playhouse, The Etcetera and Wimbledon Theatre Studio. She also finds time to review shows in London pub theatres for @pubtheatres1 @Sian_Rowland @2017

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JESSICA INNES ON MULTI-ROLING IN ‘Trainspotting’ Jessica Innes portrays Gail Houston (Renton's Girlfriend), Laura McEwan (Tommy's Girlfriend), June (Begbie's Girlfriend), Cathy Renton (Renton's Mother) and more in Trainspotting. Q. How do you make the changes of character in Trainspotting? In 75 minutes, playing 7 different people, you can only do so much to change your characterisation – I focus a lot on my voice. I get recognised, a lot, for my distinctive husky tones. I use this as much as I can in shows - heightening my voice for young Gail, but taking full advantage of my deeper tones for the sultry, sexy Laura and for the tired and desperate Cathy Renton (Renton’s Mother). Sometimes I have to quickly use Emotional Recall – an acting method where we think of a similar situation we have been in to that of the character we are playing. We draw from our feelings at the time to give a more realistic representation. The characters I play range from comedy, to tragedy, to powerful, and weak, and that also helps when I give myself intentions as an actor. Giving myself different intentions (or goals) with each character also helps me change character. Q Have you ever had difficult moments? I would not say I have had any difficult moments, but the challenge is very different from the other actors. Looking at the characters, especially of Renton (Gavin Ross) and Tommy (Greg Esplin), they have to create one in-depth journey for the audience to believe in 75 minutes. I have to build seven different emotional journeys that last under 10 minutes each, but have to be equally believable so that the audience can feel something for my characters too. That is my challenge – my favourite challenge – and I wouldn’t describe it as difficult, but if it were easy then it would not be theatre! Q Do you use costume and make-up to help to change characterisations? Yes – Adam Spreadbury-Maher, the Artistic Director of the King’s Head and director (alongside Greg Esplin) spoke to me about costume specifically for the characters of Gail Houston in the innocent white, Laura McEwan in the fiery red and June – Begbie’s pregnant girlfriend – in dark blue, etc. These colours were to highlight the emotional status of each character. It was then up to me to design the costume, as I have to be able to get in and out of them as quickly as possible – maybe a skill better left off of the CV! Make-up stays the same because I have absolutely no time to change it! I do a lot more with my hair though – I got an undercut so I can change it to differentiate between characters. Q. What’s your favourite character and why? My favourite character is Cathy Renton – she is the only woman in the play who does not cry, swear, or is beaten up. She is the strongest woman in the play as she is the one who saves Renton’s life after his overdose. She is powerful enough to convince him to come off heroin. My favourite comment I ever heard from an audience member about Cathy Renton was a man giggling at the end of my scene and whispering to his friend “that is exactly like my mum!” I was over the moon that I had managed to capture a character - over twice my age - which someone could completely relate to. I also receive a lot of comments from audience members who say they too love Renton’s Mother – which is incredibly sweet! I also love the character of Laura McEwan. She has challenged me as an actor so much, as I have to strut about on stage in a bra and thong. I laughed with the other cast members a lot saying “it’s great if you’re sexy by accident, but I have to BE sexy!” Scary times! She is a brilliant character though because she is so independent and strong. I have the incredibly fun task of grabbing a man in the audience and shouting at him “no f**king guy ever hurts me!” … she’s brilliant! Q Is it important to put something of yourself into your characterisations and what do you bring? I don’t think you can act without putting a part of yourself into a character. You have to be believable and relatable in some sense so that the audience travels with you through the scene or the play – that’s my favourite part of theatre. The audience comes with you through your emotional journey during the play instead of just observing a live story. This is especially why I use emotional recall. I am 22 so, to portray Renton’s Mother, I think about my younger sister and remind myself of situations where I have wanted to help her, to get across the maternal instincts needed for the scene. Sometimes it can also be a way to vent yourself through the words of the character – like Laura McEwan, who dominates men and does not tolerate being hurt or treated badly. The same goes for June, who is submissive to her boyfriend and tries to excuse every fault. We have all been both of those girls!! Q The range of your performing credits are unusual, including playing an elderly woman, falling in love with half eagle/half man, the taxi driver with a split personality, an Aristocratic Lady in a ballet, and my personal favourite a parrot puppet? Just how challenging were these roles? Haha – that has to be one of the strangest questions I have ever been asked. I suppose the most challenging (but fun) piece, was when I did a physical theatre piece with puppetry – the parrot puppet! The story was based off of Flaubert’s Parrot – a very strange but excellent story indeed, written by Julian Barnes. It was difficult as I had to make everyone believe in a beautifully handmade parrot head that was attached to my hand – especially when the parrot died in our story, it was wonderful to hear the audience “aww” at the tragedy. The taxi driver with the split personality was equally wonderful to play, because she literally changed on every sentence – sometimes even half way through a sentence. The audience’s reaction was amazing, and I used a lot of my voice in that character using ominous dark tones for this comical character. A fantastic question I repeatedly got asked after the show was “how do you do that with your voice?” … I wish I knew the answer. Q In your CV I see that you have other skills including Burlesque and ballet. Useful? I did not go to drama school after college. I took a leap and luckily landed into In Your Face Theatre and started touring shows. I use a lot of workshops and short courses to build my skills, including Dance. Burlesque has a lot of acting in it as well so I thought that would be perfect to get some skills in – this definitely helped with Laura McEwan and finding the confidence to be in underwear. Ballet is great for every actor to control posture which helps with breathing. I love spending my time doing workshops because I meet a lot of people - it’s great for networking, confidence building, skill developing and it’s fun. Trainspotting is now on tour after a sold out run at The King's Head Theatre, Islington, London - 2-27th February 2017 Cu Jessica Innes is represented by Van Rensburg Artist Management

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Freelance publicist, Chris Hislop, on all you need to know about Theatre PR “What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself”: Lifting the Veil on Fringe Theatre PR Yes, the title of this article is click-bait. It’s designed to draw you in with a quirky quote, and it sounds like it’s going to reveal secrets or unknown truths, making you feel like you’ll understand better than everyone else or be more “in the know” after having read it. It also lets me write this first paragraph and appear particularly smart for knowing all of this, which you’ll probably either perceive as arrogant or brilliant. Well, certainly not the latter after I’ve explained it like this, which you probably find a little condescending – but hopefully, you’re starting to see what I’m doing here. This how a publicist’s mind works. It’s about trying to make people think in a certain way, to understand how to tap into people’s thought processes and get them interested, excited and engaged – in my case, with theatre. At least, that’s how my mind works – and by stating it so categorically, part of me is trying to get a rise out of people who disagree – make them bristle, want to disagree and want to comment. You can see why people use the phrase “the dark arts” to describe it. But in actually it’s quite a simple job: you’re trying to get your client coverage in the press. Effectively, you’re trying to secure free advertising – and a lot of press outlets are interested in providing that service because it will interest their readers, and it’s the publicist’s job to contact those outlets and try and secure it by making their project appealing to the outlet's audience. You could leave it there – at the most basic level, that’s all a publicist is doing. But then we get to “the dark arts” – how do you get press outlets to provide that service to you over someone else? It’s their choice what they promote – why should they pick you? At this point, a lot of it is down to knowing how individual journalists and press people operate. Some like to be treated very professionally, others like a more personal touch. Some like to have exclusives - the chance to be the first to cover a certain story. Some are only interested in certain kinds of project. Some only cover in a certain geographical area. Some like the sociability of meeting up with other reviewers on a busy press night, others don't want to engage outside of the show itself. Some like pictures, others like text. Some can't stand publicists and want to talk to artists - or vice versa. Some want to be charmed and flirted with, others find that distasteful. Or one or a combination of hundreds of other little touches that make you appeal over another. However, I do have a secret. There is a “dark art” I’ve discovered. A universal constant that everyone wants: respect. It's something we all crave, especially in theatre, and I believe it is something where journalists are often given the shortest shrift. Regardless of whether they're one of the few who get paid for their work or a blogger who works off their own back, theatremakers expect a lot from them - and then often get very huffy when the journalist doesn't say what they want them to. And then lash out - grumpy social media posts, emails decrying bloggers as hacks and paid-up critics as bitter. Or any one of the other things artists like to say when someone doesn't understand their art. There's a fundamental disconnect between what theatremakers want from journalists and what journalists do - which is where the publicist comes in. And where giving them the respect they deserve for their work, regardless of star rating, is so important. Well, it’s important to me - but that's the nice thing about publicity: like so many other jobs, different people work in different ways. It's certainly one of the tenets I try and keep to, alongside keeping my prices low and offering publicity to fringe productions that couldn't usually afford it and not hiring assistants or the like to assure clients that when they hire me, they get me. But now we're erring into the realm of self-promotion - which, let's be under no illusions, this whole article is in aid of, but I don't like to trumpet too loudly. Chris Hislop is a freelance theatre publicist. He has also worked as a theatre writer and critic, editor, development consultant and theatre director. As a freelance theatre publicist, he has over 10 years experience in arts journalism and PR, and specialises in Off West End/fringe theatre in London. He is the press manager for Theatre N16 and Sutton Theatres. @chrishislop @2017

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Interview with Calum Douglas Barbour on multi-roling in Trainspotting

MULTI-ROLING

Calum Douglas Barbour

 Q   Which roles do you play in Trainspotting?

I joined Trainspotting in 2014, when I was initially cast as Johnny Swan (Mother Superior) and a few other characters, but the play has changed and adapted so much since then, that I now have 7 different parts within the performance. My roles are: Gail Houston’s dad, “The specky gadge”, Gabriel Mackay (the interviewer), a man reading on the train, a general narrator, a guy who hits his girlfriend and The Mother Superior. They are so varied and I love playing every single one.

 Q.  What’s your favourite character and why?

It has to be Mother Superior. Unlike many roles before, he is a complete contrast to anything I have ever played. When I first heard I had the part, I relished the challenge to make him a truly despicable person, who only really cares about drugs. He is a character that I can justly call “mine”.

 Q   I hear you are quite musical; does this help with characterisations?

If you look at film, musical scores are arranged deliberately to enhance what you feel about what you see onscreen. Music is definitely a powerful tool to get into a certain emotional state to help with any performance. I am more used to performing in comedies so, if I was to perform in a sad scene, I would listen to a certain song and it would help me get into the right mind-set.

With this show though, and because of the fact I’m playing so many different characters, the rave we have before the performance is so important, not just to me, but to all the actors. The play in itself is essentially a drug – you have a massive high before you crash – so we use this music to hype ourselves up and get into character.

 Q.  How do you make the changes of character in Trainspotting?

Very quickly! I wish I could say I use all these acting techniques to help me change my character, but the truth is that sometimes I have less than a minute to change costume before I’m back on stage as another role. The costumes themselves do help with characterisation though, and it helps that we have done Trainspotting over 200 times now so we have it all planned out before the next scene.

 Q   Have you ever had difficult moments?

At the beginning of the year, I was told I was in a scene with the amazing Erin Marshall, in which I had to convincingly stage punch her, then proceed to beat her up. I was terrified. I had never done any proper stage combat and Erin is so dear to me that I wanted her to trust me that I would not get anything wrong. We practised it a lot, but mistakes were being made and we just lost complete confidence with it. Eventually The King’s Head got a fight coordinator in who was fantastic! He completely restored our faith and the scene has been brilliant since.

 Q   Do you use costume and make-up to help to change characterisations?

All my characters are very different from one another so costume changes and make-up are extremely important to me. As I said before, I do not have a lot of time to get into the absolute mind-set of a role, but when I dawn a costume and step onstage I lose myself in the part somewhat. With regards to Mother Superior, I meticulously dab my lower torso with bruise make-up to convey how downtrodden and ill this man actually is. I continuously find myself holding my bruises as if they were real - It is strange how something so small can add such impact on you and your character.

  Q.  Your role as The Mother Superior is outstanding.  How do you own a role?

As said before, we have to look at the play as a drug. We regard The Mother Superior scene as that moment you crash before everything goes wrong. I always have that in the back of my mind before I go onstage dressed up in my kimono and bruises, and I believe that reflects upon the audience. You just have to have the confidence in yourself.

 Q   Is it important to put something of yourself into your characterisations and what do you bring?

No actor can completely lose themselves within a role. It is our own personality that brings soul to the character and makes them more genuine. I think one of the biggest challenges about playing someone like Mother Superior, or indeed anyone in Trainspotting, is admitting that sometimes we can relate to that role, we are just afraid to do so. These characters can seem so monstrous at times, that is hard for an actor to be able to really justify themselves being able to do certain things eg. Beating up a girl in a bar. That is when actors try too hard to remove themselves from the part and the performance often ends up being unrealistic and stale.

 Q   You’ve been in some of my favourite shows including Louis in "A View from the Bridge", Young Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol", and Guildenstern in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead".  Which accents did you use and how did you become these characters?

All actors have different approaches to becoming a character – there is no right or wrong way. I like to the think about the physical movement of the person before actually learning the lines as I feel that often affects the way I say something. Then I look at the script in-depth and analyse the intentions behind my lines, which again affects the way I speak. It is all about trying new things and seeing how things contrast – what works for you and what does not.

I had an RP accent for both Young Scrooge and Guildenstern and I loved playing around with the way words sounded when I added physical actions. They are both young and quite lively so the movement was light and eloquent. With regards to Louis, I had New York accent, but with him, he works down at the docks a lot so I put a big drawl in his accent to match his heavy walking.

 Q That’s a fabulous range of accents you have on your CV including Irish, Cockney, three different American accents, ‘posh’ and your native Scottish.   Is it possible to use more than a couple of these in one single show?

If you are lucky to be cast as a multi-role in a production, then definitely! In Trainspotting, I am fortunate enough to use my native Edinburgh tongue, an RP accent as Mother Superior, and a slightly broader Scots accent. It really just depends on the production.

 Q   Do actors get jealous of the ones who have got the most lines?   What’s your advice and experience of this?

To quote the great Konstantin Stanislavski, “there are no small parts, only small actors.” I do not think we really appreciate how true this statement is until we get older. Just because you have a small role, does not make it unimportant. Actors need to understand that whatever part they act, they are necessary to drive a scene forward and continue the play. If a playwright did not think it essential for a character to be there, they would not have been written in in the first place.

And even the smallest roles can have the biggest impact: I remember seeing a theatre production of a Scottish comedy called Paras Over the Barras a few years ago. The performances were great, but there was one particular scene where a walk-on completely stood out from the rest of the cast. The actor only had about 5 lines in the whole production but the audience were roaring with laughter at every one. To this day, I can still recall that scene because of her.

  Trainspotting is now on tour after a sold out run at The King's Head Theatre, Islington, London - 2-27th February 2015