NEWSLETTER
JUNE 2004
| The Compton Players'
NEWSLETTER JUNE 2004 |
|
That's all folks
AGM
How far can a director go?
Rock Bottom - the musical
Young people today, they don't know they're born
Theatre links on the Internet
Darling, you were wonderful
Out and about
Onwards!
Next newsletter
CP Calendar
Compton Players AGM minutes
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After just two years and eleven editions of the newsletter, I've thrown in
the towel. The security guards have escorted me off the premises, and the mantle
of editor returns to the capable shoulders of Rob. In fact, we now have a staff
of three, as Phil has volunteered to help with the newsletter, and I will still
do the typesetting and publishing.
Rob has provided another in his series of biographical articles, this one about
Tyrone Guthrie. There are the minutes of the AGM - always a gripping read - and
some odds and ends that I have culled from the newspapers.
There was a good attendance at the AGM, and CP is in a healthy state in terms of both membership and finance. We're using some of the surplus cash to make some improvements to the village hall - building a new proscenium, lengthening the stage curtain (which has been cleaned and shrunk), and doing some changes to the equipment and wiring for the sound room above the kitchen; the benefits of this will include a better TV picture and sound backstage in the Welstead room. We need you to come and help with the work; see the CP Calendar below for details.
I don't even like the theatre very much. Acting, on a stage, isn't acting at all. It's shouting. No, really. How can you possibly be tender or moving when you have to be heard by people at the back? You could put the death scene from Love Story on stage and it would come out looking like Jack and the Beanstalk. Theatre is always dangerously close to panto.
Furthermore, in a theatre it is impossible to blow up a skyscraper or shoot down a helicopter with a heat-seeking missile. Think about it. Chekhov takes three hours to say nothing. In Crimson Tide, it took 90 minutes to set up the characters, start a war, have a mutiny on board a nuclear submarine, raise a difficult ethical dilemma and get you into the nearest pizza restaurant.
Jeremy Clarkson, Sunday Times, 13/04/2003.
Samuel Beckett gave detailed and meticulous stage directions in his plays, and he expected them to be carried out to the letter. Here's a speech by Pozzo in Waiting for Godot:
Don't let him go! (Vladimir and Estragon totter.) Don't move! (Pozzo fetches bag and basket and brings them towards Lucky.) Hold him tight! (He puts the bag in Lucky's hand. Lucky drops it immediately.) Don't let him go! (He puts back the bag in Lucky's hand. Gradually, at the feel of the bag, Lucky recovers his senses and his fingers finally close round the handle.) Hold him tight! (As before with basket.) Now! You can let him go. (Vladimir and Estragon move away from Lucky who totters, reels, sags, but succeeds in remaining on his feet, bag and basket in his hands. Pozzo steps back, cracks his whip.) Forward! (Lucky totters forward.) Back! (Lucky totters back.) Turn! (Lucky turns.) Done it! He can walk. (Turning to Vladimir and Estragon.) Thank you, gentlemen, and let me . . . (he fumbles in his pockets) . . . let me wish you . . . (fumbles) . . . wish you . . . (fumbles) . . . what have I done with my watch? (Fumbles.) A genuine half-hunter, gentlemen, with deadbeat escapement! (Sobbing.) Twas my granpa gave it to me! (He searches on the ground, Vladimir and Estragon likewise. Pozzo turns over with his foot the remains of Lucky's hat.) Well now isn't that just-
And these instructions are from Play:
Spot off M. Blackout. Five seconds. Faint spots simultaneously on three faces. Three seconds. Voices faint largely unintelligible.
When Billie Whitelaw was rehearsing Play, which she spent stuck in a funeral urn from which only her mud-encrusted head protruded, the author called her over and asked her to look at page two, speech two of the text. "Will you make those three dots two dots?" he earnestly asked her and she duly obeyed, reducing a dramatic pause by maybe half a second. The great Irishman was satisfied.
Peter Hall, who made Beckett's name when he staged Waiting for Godot in 1954, has called him "gentle, arrogant, not wanting to discuss but to assert". He was aghast to hear that the dramatist "wrote out the entire production, move by move, gesture by gesture with many little diagrams" when he staged Godot in Berlin in the 1970s. Yet the result was reportedly triumphant. "Genius makes its own rules," Sir Peter concluded. Actors may not like being treated as works of sculpture, but that's sometimes what his work demands.
And don't forget the contributions actors can make. A New York audience, confidently awaiting Hedda Gabler's renowned suicide off-stage, was thrown into great excitement when the actress one night shot herself in full view. The effect was not premeditated; it was merely that the portieres of the inner room would not close. All she could do was to draw one of the curtains half around her, fire the pistol, and fall full length across the opening leading to the inner room. The coup de théâtre was so successful that it was occasionally repeated during the run.
To do them justice, dramatists are not always above accepting help from their interpreters, even when it is given involuntarily. Most of the lines that drop in during rehearsals or a long run are, or should be, ruthlessly eliminated. But when Bernard Shaw heard Dame Sybil Thorndike, who was rehearsing the Epilogue of St Joan, follow the line, "I might almost as well have been a man" with "Pity I wasn't" he insisted on keeping the addendum, which is duly perpetuated in the published text.
Adapted from articles in The Times
'I didn't know you had a Scottish accent in real life.'
Liz Hurley to Sean Connery.
H doesn't go in for minimalist sets, so it was no surprise when Rock Bottom turned out to contain a piano. The first problem was finding one, but H managed to locate a redundant piano in Harwell village hall and we transported it in Phil's van to the Scout Hut. Although the standard of playing required is rudimentary, and well within the capabilities of me and Mike, the idea of shifting a complete piano about didn't appeal, so we decided to rip the guts out. Phil and I spent a few hours with wire cutters, crowbars and hammers and we've ended up with the lite version (although it still takes two people to move it).
When we dismantled it, we found some bits of card which had been used as padding when the piano was made. These bits of card turned out to be concert tickets from the Jubilee Series of international celebrity subscription concerts in Brighton in 1928-29. The celebs included Paderewski, John McCormack, Fritz Kreisler and Pablo Casals. The tickets for all five concerts cost £1-19s-0d (£1.95), including 4/- (20p) tax.
'Shouting in the evenings.'
Patrick Troughton, best known as Dr Who, but who was also an accomplished and versatile actor elsewhere, describes acting.
Most young men, in every age, are probably much alike. They turn the world, as far as they can, to their own account, in order to become old men as painlessly as possible. Mr Osborne, however, is dealing with that inconvenient phenomenon, the clever young man. It is he who sets his stamp upon a generation, he who sets the level at which the men of his own age will be remembered by posterity. Are we, then, to think that those who are now in their late twenties are likely to be known above all for their touchiness and their rages?
It does not look so to an older set. The young, in general, seem through the eyes of their parents to have become almost as pleasant to deal with as octogenarians. Men and women of fifty are constantly failing in small matters of good manners. They forget to write essential letters, they are determinedly unpunctual, they show evident signs of boredom on the least pretext. Not so the twenty-year-olds. For these the humblest party evokes a written expression of thanks, the most lumbering story gets at least the ghost of a smile. Not only that, but under young eyes the fabric of life itself appears in terms much closer to reality.
Indeed, the young sometimes put on almost too serious a face. Where the
prodigies celebrated by Mr Evelyn Waugh in 1930 or thereabouts organized parties
in ballrooms and swimming baths, the youth of today visits prisons and reads
Kierkegaard.
'Actors ought to be larger than life. You come across quite enough ordinary, nondescript people in daily life and I don't see why you should be subjected to them on the stage too.'
Donald Sinden, Observer 12/02/1989.
Doollee
www.doollee.com
An excellent first port of call drama specialists in need of a play. The site is
essentially a database listing over 30,000 works, which can be searched by title
or author. A useful function is the character search: select the number of male
and female parts you require, and the site will suggest plays to fit the bill.
Further information on the author and the first production is provided, along
with a synopsis.
Stagework
www.stagework.org.uk
Still in its early stages, this site, sponsored by the National Theatre in
London, promises to become an invaluable resource. Beautifully designed pages
invite the user to explore every aspect of current and recent NT productions,
from costume design to casting, rehearsal to stage fighting. With a combination
of interviews, picture galleries and video clips, you can find out about the
effort and expertise that goes into modern theatre.
The Museum of Costume
www.museumofcostume.co.uk
An interesting collection of pages for research on costume design. Divided
according to historical period, the site contains photos of costumes on display
at this museum in Bath. The earliest costumes are from the 16th century.
[Marguerite and I went there a few months ago – very interesting. Ed]
Society of British Theatre Designers
www.theatredesign.org.uk
Head straight for the gallery to access a wealth of images from professional
productions (listed by title). Short write-ups about the images explain
designers' choice of materials and objects. Costume and lighting designs are
also available and cover a wide and eclectic range of productions.
The Costume Page
http://users.aol.com/nebula5/costume.html
This site is not the prettiest on the web. It cannot be faulted, however, for
its content (sections on the history of costume and ethnic dress are amongst the
most useful). Whether you're looking for pictures of traditional Scandinavian
folk dress or advice on togas, chances are this site will point you in the right
direction.
The genteel world of the opera may never be the same again now that new employees at the English National Opera have been banned from using the word "darling" when addressing their colleagues.
The edict comes in a re-education document enforcing government guidelines on
sexual discrimination at work. It bans "suggestive remarks or lewd conduct that
denigrates or ridicules or is intimidatory or physically abusive of an employee
because of their sex, which is derogatory, or insults which are gender related".
It continues: "The use of affectionate names such as 'darling' will also
constitute sexual harassment."
New staff who breach the guidelines can expect to be disciplined. "The policy is there to protect employees and provides guidelines as to what constitutes appropriate behaviour within the workplace," a spokesman said.
The policy document covers unwelcome sexual advances, propositions, pressure for sexual activity or over-zealous flirtation. It also lists what it regards as unacceptable in terms of physical contact, including unnecessary touching, patting or brushing against another employee's body.
The spokesman added: "Existing staff who call each other 'darling' can continue to do so but, if someone started here on Monday, they could not."
We certainly hope you'll want to support our production of H's Rock Bottom. This is at the Corn Exchange, Wallingford on Monday 14th June at 7:30. If you can't make it then (or even if you can), you'll want to come and see the only other performance of the play which is at the Coronation Hall, Compton on Saturday 12th June at 7:30. This performance is effectively our final dress rehearsal, and all your friends and relations will be welcome too - the more the better. There is no charge for this production.
A group of CP went to see Mike Long in Shadowlands by Sinodun Players
in March, and we were very impressed with the high quality of the production.
Now there's another chance to see a moonlighting player. This time it's Rob Bell
in Under Milk Wood (sounds familiar? He's not Captain Cat this time but
the Reverend Eli Jenkins). This is a Domino Players production, as part of the
Wantage Summer Festival, at Lains Barn, Wantage from 7th to 9th July at 7:30.
I'm sure a lot of us will want to see this, and I'm organising a CP group for
Friday 9th July. If you'd like to go on that day, let me know how many
tickets you want as soon as possible - Paul Shave on 01635 866800 or
Ian is hoping to organise a trip to see CADS - the group which did 'Allo 'Allo
before us and helped us out with props and costumes - perform Sex, Drugs &
Rick 'n Noel at The Electric Theatre, Guildford. It's on from 23rd to 26th
June, so get in touch with Ian on 01635 578435 or
'I don't feel I've arrived. I glory that I'm one of the few people who's been allowed to do what they want in an unbroken way... Now actors have such a desperate desire to be noticed they employ publicists, and it's weird what ordinary people will do to get on television. It's bound to end in tears. I don't like being interviewed, but you'd have to be a dullard not to realise you put yourself into the public arena as an actor. I don't have difficulty with that. I have a very nice class of fan.'
John Hurt, Radio Times, 7-13 April, 2001.
William
Tyrone Guthrie - the William was soon dropped, and all his friends called him
Tony anyway - seemed, on the face of it, to be an unlikely man to become one of
the world's most eminent theatre directors. He was born in Tunbridge Wells in
1900 to one of those Anglo-Irish and Scottish Protestant landowning families who
had dominated Irish politics and society since the seventeenth century and the
family still owned estates in County Monaghan. Guthrie numbered a Moderator of
the Church of Scotland and a British Army general amongst his more recent
ancestors and, indeed, in photographs of him in later life, tweed-clad and very
tall, he looked more like a retired colonel from one of the posher regiments
than the highly innovative and creative director that he was.
But there was also a more exotic strain in Guthrie's ancestry. One of his
great-grandfathers had been the early nineteenth century actor-manager Tyrone
Power, famous in his day on both sides of the Atlantic and founder of an
American acting dynasty. The American actor Tyrone Power, a familiar face in
Hollywood films of the forties and fifties was a member of that same family and
thus, slightly surprisingly, a distant cousin of Guthrie's.
When Guthrie went to Oxford he soon became involved in student drama and
acknowledged that his liking for the theatre might well have stemmed from his
great-grandfather. He seems to have realised fairly early on, however, that his
talent lay in organising other actors on the stage rather than being an actor
himself and to have decided fairly quickly that his vocation lay in that
direction.
Leaving Oxford, he worked briefly for the newly-formed BBC, firstly as an
announcer in Belfast and later as a writer, writing some of the first plays ever
written solely for radio. He also directed a season of the Scottish National
Theatre and then, later, was director of the Cambridge Festival Theatre for a
year, steadily making a name for himself until, in 1931, he became assistant to
Lilian Baylis at the Old Vic.
The Old Vic was where he came into his own; by 1934 he had become the youngest
Director in its history. In that position he directed all the rising young
actors of the period: Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Flora Robson, Alec
Guinness and many others. He became famous for his productions of Shakespeare
and also for his ability to organise and control swirling crowd scenes on stage
- something which he virtually introduced into the theatre and still held by
many to be one of the truest tests of a director's skill. He believed that
rehearsals should be enjoyable; he once said that the function of the director
was 'to make each rehearsal so amusing that the actors will look forward to the
next one'.
At rehearsals his tall, lanky figure moved constantly around the auditorium,
cupping his hands behind his ears as a sign to the actors that he couldn't hear
them, clapping his hands when he wanted their attention, crying 'Onwards!', one
of his favourite instructions, when he wanted more pace, or 'Rise above!' when
some mishap interrupted the flow of action on stage.
Guthrie always encouraged his actors. To one actress who had a bad rehearsal he
said at the end of the day, 'Come back, dear, and astonish us in the morning.'
Many felt that they owed a debt to him for bringing out the best in them.
Olivier said that Guthrie once gave him 'the most priceless advice I've ever had
from anybody.' Olivier had complained about the role of Sergius in George
Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man, finding him too tediously conventional.
Guthrie reproved him with the words, 'Well, of course, if you can't love Sergius
you'll never be any good in him, will you?' Although it was the same director
who said on another occasion, 'Of course, you can't direct anything by Shaw. All
you can do is stand the characters on the stage in a semi-circle and let them
talk at each other.'
By the time Guthrie left the Old Vic in 1947 his reputation was international.
During World War Two he had run both the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells while
continuing to direct plays and, occasionally, opera. He went on to direct plays
and drama festivals around the world but became associated particularly with the
annual Shakespeare Festival in Canada at Stratford, Ontario, and it was there
that he introduced his most notable innovation.
Guthrie had always been a director, eager to try out new ideas if he thought
they would make for effective theatre and at some point in his career he had
conceived the idea of the thrust stage, also known as the open stage. As readers
will know, the thrust stage is a stage which projects into the auditorium so
that the audience surrounds the stage on three sides and thus allows much more
interaction between audience and performers. Nothing very surprising about that
nowadays but when Guthrie introduced it, it was thought to be revolutionary,
although in fact it was very similar to the type of stage used in the
Elizabethan and Restoration theatres. For the previous two and a half centuries,
however, the picture-book stage, framed by the proscenium arch, had prevailed.
Alec Guinness believed privately that Guthrie's enthusiasm for the thrust stage
dated back to an episode in Denmark when an outdoor gala performance of
Hamlet, which Guthrie was directing, had to be transferred to a near-by
banqueting hall, or similar building, after a day's torrential rain. In the
building there was no proper stage, only one suitable for a small band or
orchestra. Guthrie sized up the situation and in the space of half an hour
reorganized the production so that the actors approached the stage through the
audience, some of them though doors and french-windows from the night outside,
and the action took place on the floor of the hall as well as on the small
stage. In spite of the difficulties the performance was a great success and
according to Guinness, who was one of the performers, often strikingly dramatic.
Whatever the origin of Guthrie's belief in the thrust stage his enthusiasm for
it continued unabated. At Stratford he designed a new theatre in partnership
with Tanya Moiseiwitsch which incorporated a permanent thrust stage and he took
the idea with him when he departed Stratford for Minneapolis in 1957. There he
designed the Minneapolis Theatre which also had a thrust stage.
Tyrone Guthrie was knighted for his services to the theatre in 1961. The
Minneapolis Theatre opened in 1963 and Guthrie worked there as director until
his death in 1971. He died on his family estate in County Monaghan. After his
death the Minneapolis Theatre was renamed the Guthrie Theatre in his honour: a
fitting tribute to a man who had contributed so much.
_______________________
Two publications by Tyrone Guthrie were Theatre Prospect, in 1932, and
A Life in the Theatre, an autobiography published in 1960.
Another biography is by James Forsyth, published in 1976 and entitled simply
Tyrone Guthrie. A further publication is Astonish Us in the Morning:
Tyrone Guthrie remembered by Albert Rossi, 1977. It consists of tributes
from actors and actresses whom Guthrie had directed.
When Guthrie died he left the house on his estate in Ireland to be used as a
retreat for artists. Recently I found myself reading a book by the man who
became the first warden at the retreat; it was his portrayal of Guthrie which
first aroused my interest. The book is In the High Pyrenees: a new life in a
mountain village by Bernard Loughlin, published by Penguin Ireland, 2003.
All offerings to Rob Bell, 4 Howard Avenue, Grove, Wantage, OX12 7PS, 01235 763469. By 20th August please.
Clicking on the link brings up the Newbury Theatre web site page with more details.
| 12 June | Rock Bottom | Village Hall | 7:30 |
| 14 - 18 June | Wallingford Festival (CP on 14th) | Corn Exchange | 7:30 |
| 11, 18, 25 July, 1 August | Village Hall improvements | Village Hall | All day |
| 10 - 13 November | Autumn production: Veronica's Room | Village Hall | 7:30 |
These are in a separate PDF file here.
'I love acting. It is so much more real than life.'
Oscar Wilde.