New Liberal

I attended the AGM of the local Libdem party last night and now find myself on the Executive Committee. I am also helping out in the Libdem charity shop on Thursday.

I am also accompanying the local British Heart Foundation Organiser to a local group meeting on Wednesday evening to see if joining a fund raising group is for me or whether I am better off signing up as a one off stand alone fund raiser. I think it is probably the latter if I want to fit in Libdem and Bench activities.

I notice that my full length photo is showing on the film extra agency website where the other male artistes have their head and shoulders portraits showing. Could this be the reason for a dearth of employment as a film extra?

I am going to visit my Auntie Doris in Blackpool tomorrow. She is the sole survivor of my Mum's family and therefore living history of the Frosts.

We are planning a winter sun break to avoid clashing with "Attempts on her life" and a early summer break to avoid clashing with a possible production of "Hamlet". Both will avoid school holidays it goes without saying of course.

That's my news for now. I am hoping to be more organised and write a blog entry once a week perhaps on a Sunday morning. This posting will be instead of this Sunday so regular posting will begin on the 9th December.

A Liberal

I had a delivery of four books from Amazon today: "What's Left? How the Left Lost its Way" by Nick Cohen, "Thatcher and Sons; A Revolution in Three Acts" by Simon Jenkins, "An Oak Tree" by Tim Crouch and "The Theatre Audition Book: 144 Monologues" by Gerald Lee Ratliff.

As you can see, the first two are political books and the second two are theatrical. Tim Crouch is a playwright and his play is remarkable in that it is for two actors, one of whom is played by a different actor - male or female- at each performance. They walk on stage having neither seen nor read a word of the play they're in...until they're in it. You can guess why I fascinated by the idea. The monologues are to help with the memory idea mentioned in a previous post and perhaps also to help the Best Beloved's Green Room group if they run out of plays to perform.

I would like to think about politics for the moment. Since I became conscious of politics in my teens, I would have described myself as a socialist. On my mother's side I come from miners - my great grandfather dug the first sod of grass when they were sinking a new mine pit at Wombwell colliery. My grandmother was a socialist and voted Labour. She was the first person to influence my political thinking.

I remember going to bed on the eve of the Neil Kinnock general election thinking we would awaken to a new Labour government in the morning. How disappointed I was to find the Tories had retained power. Most of my adult life had been ruled by a Conservative government. I cannot tell you how vehemently I was upset by the Thatcherite years and philosophy. I moved here and found a Tory stronghold. I like my constituency MP even though he is a Tory bigwig. I always felt my vote was wasted. When New Labour got in I was pleased as anything both as a voter and as a teacher. However Nick Cohen's scorching polemic examines the "quagmire of mashed-up values and watered-down principles" of the old Left.

I became a Liberal: "economic efficiency, social justice and individual liberty." I am a practising Christian, and when those who know me well sometimes question this (the old roue and the young ladies of the theatre, for example), I reinforce the word "practising". I am not very good at it but I am trying to get better - that's the Christianity not the young ladies of the theatre! The same applies to my liberalism.

I have joined the Liberal Democrat party and voted for one of the two candidates for the leadership. I must say I am sorry at the departure of Sir Ming Campbell. I think the two younger candidates are clones out of the Blair/Cameron mould. Sir Ming was a staunch Liberal with a dignity and a principled history/background. The fact that he was older than the other party leaders was stupidly held against him and makes me worry about the direction of the party. It seems to be both Labour and Conservative now occupy the same centre ground of politics rather than left or right wings. Their policies are carbon copies, if indeed not pinched from the other side and claimed as their own. Once upon a time the Libdems occupied that middle ground but this has been usurped. There is not a scrap of political conviction to separate Labour or Conservative governments, either actual or in waiting. The Libdems need a rethink and for me Sir Ming would have proved a better leader for that revision of what Liberals stand for than either of the two young men. My vote went to the man I thought was the better Liberal rather than the best Libdem leader to take on Brown or Cameron. I also sweat a little when I hear Democrats wish they weren't lumbered with the Liberal label. More of my infantile political ramblings are bound to follow.

I am now expecting a delivery from the National Theatre bookshop of the first folio Hamlet, a book about tackling hamlet and a third book showing how three distinguished directors tackled Hamlet. The Danish prince is a project I may be offering as a Bench production in 2008.

Wild Duck Lands

It was great on Saturday night as the performance of "The Wild Duck" was one of trhe best we gave. It all seemed somehow to come together. One of the factors was the audience, who seemed so alert and so responsive to the detail of plot and character.

It was no surprise afterwards to find Barbara and John Spiegelhalter had been in the audience. These two are such good company and always make me feel good about myself. They are also two of the most politically aware people that I know and are supportive of my embryonic political ambitions and awakening. In an earlier post I covered the fact that I didn't stand for nomination in my local ward because of the operation an dits aftermath. I am beginning to become more involved and more interested in the local Liberal Democrats. I have voted for my choice for the new national leader (more on that later in the week) and I am attending the local party AGM on Thursday night.

Also at the last night performance was Trevor Hare and his daughter. Trevor used to be a Bench member about thirty years ago. He has indicated an interest in taking the dress rehearsal photos for "Attempts on her Life" in February 2008. We have had a number of people doing this for the last few productions but it would be good to find someone to approach rather than havuing to cast around at the last minute. The photos provide a valuable record and become a resource for the Bench archives. Trevor also has very strong feelings about the political scene as well and has rationalised some of the points over which I still have a very hazy understanding. I like bouncing ideas off of him and seeing what shape they come back in.

Yesterday started as Stage Manager for the next Bench production of "Attempts on her Life" by Martin Crimp. If you follow the link to the left to Nathan Chapman's blog, you will find anothe link there for his production blog on "Attempts on her Life" as he is directing the same in February 2008.

I also had a very interesting chat with Robin, who is the producer. She mentioned going to see "St Nicholas", a Conor McPherson monologue in Guildford. I have put in an order for this play as it was one of those projects designed to help me stretch my memory cells. I shall watch her blog with interest (even more so than usual) to see how her ideas about "St Nicholas" pan out.

I have started work on my "Hamlet" pitch or presentation for the July 2008 slot. This has to be ready by January 10th so I can present it to the Artistic Panel prior to getting the go ahead to present it to the company as part of the play selection process at the end of January and beginning of February.

I am also toying with the idea of putting in a submission for the one week slot in September 2008. I know there are lots of reasons why I shouldn't but I thought I would let the Artistic Panel or the company dissuade me rather than do so myself. I have a number of modern plays in mind at the moment but a chance conversation as brought "The Pillowman" by Martin McDonagh to the fore.

I am meeting the British Heart Foundation lady tomorrow to discuss how I might support the BHF locally.

I am also researching stage armoury and movement directing so I can offer Clun Nights and do a better job on "Bronte" in particular, where I have been taken on as Movement Director again. Auditions are coming up soon for that so I need to get my act together.

Busy blissful days!

Havant Arts Centre - The Future?

The following article is taken verbatim from the Nineveh Newsletter (Nov/Dec 2007). Nineveh Exhibits can be found at 11 The Pallant Havant PO9 1 BE. The Best Beloved works there on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
I have reproduced the article because it raises the interesting idea that the Arts Centre might be moved from its current site.
I am interested in finding rehearsal space separate from the Arts Centre because of the increased demand on space there. I would envisage the Arts Centre as being our performance base for as long as it exists either at its current site or if it moves elsewhere in the borough.

With money from the Heritage
Lottery Fund, Havant Borough Council has engaged ABL Cultural
Consulting to “develop an audience development project” for the
East Street Arts Centre and Museum.

They are also working with
the Portsmouth based Creative Industries Business Advisory
Service to consider how the facilities could be improved if
external funding were available in the future. Options might
include removing the facility from the current site. As part
of the process, ABL will produce a consultation questionnaire
which will be available from 10 December for anyone who would
like to take part – copies will be available at Havant Arts
Centre box office.

For more information please contact the
Council's Cultural Services Team Leader, Elaine Clarke, at
elaine.clarke@havant.gov.uk.

Wild Duck Comment

Alan, one of my pals on the Cradiac Rehab Pahse 4 exercise, brought his wife to see the second Thursday performance. he made the comment about Nathan, "Either he is a real actor or a natural buffoon". I think you have proved the former, Nathan, and earned a real compliment from someone not in the business.

Projects

I was impressed to see John Scadding, a fellow member of "The Wild Duck" company, last night in the dressing room committing to memory the story of Sykes' murder of Nancy from Dickens. It was his "project" to learn it by Christmas. The Kitten was present at a recent recounting from memory of "Goodbye Mr Chips" by John and was both impressed and moved by the experience. I am in awe of the self discipline required to commit huge amounts of text to memory and then the storytelling skills required to perform the text in front of an audience.

I want to do something similar, just to keep my memory cells oiled and working at capacity. I have sent off for a book of theatrical monologues as a step in this direction. I also remember a performance of an American short story, "The Janitor" I think, by Alan Jenkins. So I am on the lookout for similar material to learn and perform. I did also think of rejoining the Folk Club in Chichester, where I was given the opportunity to recite poetry as my contribution to the evening of folk music. If I could learn the poems by heart, it would exercise some of those skills I wish to cultivate.

Wild Duck in Flight

It is now into the second week of performances for "The Wild Duck", Kitten's production for the Bench Theatre at Havant Arts Centre. We have just completed the Tuesday performance after the Sunday/Monday break from the first week. This is traditionally a quiet night for audience numbers and a slow night as the cast and crew get back into their stride. I am delighted to say last night's performance was none of these things. The audience was bigger than expected and quite vocal. When I reappeared in uniform for my final entrance in Act 5, I distinctly heard a man's voice say, "There he is". At first, my actor's vanity (of which I have an enormous, nay, infinite supply) thought it was a fan, who had been waiting with bated breath for my re-appearance since the end of Act 3. However, upon cooler rationalisation, I realise it was a plot comment - the Ekdahls were under the mistaken impression that the grandfather is up in the loft shooting rabbits - and the gentleman from the audience was just putting them right on that score.

The performances were slick and certainly the tempo has been picked up since the first night, which doubtless affected the review. Nathan's performance is now capturing the comedy and the gamut of emotions. Hjalmar is funny and exasperating in equal measure and Nathan is now delivering all the nuances. The play is slow to get going and I think if we could rework Act 1 in the light of what we have learned in performance I think we could lighten the load that exposition places upon the play. Nathan has grown in stature as a physical actor and could be giving one of his best performances. Megan was another who never seemed to get going in rehearsal but who seems to arrived at a characterisation in performance. Her Gina is well rounded and quite rightly attracts the audience to her, even though she is a woman with a "shady" past. Charley as Hedvig is beautiful and uses her natural beauty to illuminate the part. She plays a fourteen year old perfectly and her range of emotions is modulated and moving. The Ekdahl family is a convincing and beautifully acted unit. It is a shame they were unseen or at least unmentioned by the reviewer. They have certainly been noticed and commented upon by the audiences.

My character is the one who produces the dead skinned rabbit onstage. I bought them at a local farm meat shop and though they do create an audible reaction they haven't yet fulfilled W.C.Fields dire warning about "never appearing with children or animals".

I have also persuaded a fellow cardiac rehab exerciser to bring his wife to the Thursday performance, thereby fulfilling Robin's exhortation in the recent Benchpress to introduce someone new to the Bench. I was impressed that Paul Millington delayed his business trip to Worcester till today so that he could do front of house last night.

Our cardiac rehab classes are getting a website - www.cardiacrehabphase4.co.uk - (not yet active) and I am hoping to sign on as a stand alone speaker for the British Heart Foundation and to join my local fundraising group for the four main events of the year. So please don't ignore me if you find me stood outside Asda hypermarket one day with a collecting tin in 2008. I am hoping that my job as speaker will enable me to boost numbers for Debbie's cardiac rehab classes. The NHS run Phase 3 but getting the cross over into Phase 4 can be hard work.

Wild Duck Reviewed

The review by James George appeared in today's copy of "The News": "This offering needs heating up to allow for dramatic burst of energy". Alice took all the criticism personally but I reminded her that for her first piece of solo directing this wasn't a bad crit. She was annoyed that a critic who doesn't like Ibsen (as he says himself in the review) should have been given the job over one who does like Ibsen. James George also finds David Eldridge's adaptation as stolid as its predecessors.

He does say (and here the old tart in me surfaces): "But there is some good work from Bench regulars David Penrose and Peter Corrigan, particularly Corrigan as the shambling, drink-ridden father-figure."

He praises Damon Wakelin as Relling. These three parts are the impact roles in the play, which is a full five acter. He pays Martin McBride a backhanded compliment. However there is no mention for the three female actors in the piece. The "News" Reviews do seem a bit male-centred recently. Admittedly he saw it on the first night and Ingrid the best Beloved who saw it then and again last night said there was an observable lift in performances.

He concludes by saying it was a "worthy and welcome attempt at bringing an under-produced writer's work to the area, though" so well done there Alice.

At the moment I am working on becoming the Stage Armourer for the Bench Theatre so that I have an official role in helping provide offstage gun shots and responsibility for onstage armaments and helping to organise stage fighting.

I am also intrigued by the "tempting outdoor site" at Staunton Park, which could provide a summer venue for the Bench season. I intend to explore this more.

I am tempted to offer myself as Stage Manager for "Attempts on Her Life". I am already committed to "Bronte" as Movement Director. I am interested in submitting a production for either the July or September slots in 2008. I need to have a pitch up and running by January 10th for initial submission to the Artistic Panel.

Wild Duck First Night

This isn't a review of the show. I leave that to Mr James George who reviewed it for the News.

I spent yesterday preparing to deliver "The forest you see..the forest...the forest (he drinks) is the forest." If I say so myself I was pretty damn successful and it certainly established a character who could deliver "The forest takes its revenge" twice in Act 5. These had to be delivered sotto voce as directed specifically by the Kitten. I had been too loud and abrupt apparently in rehearsals.

Unfortunately I missed the line about not needing anyone's permisison to wear my cap indoors. I had practised/rehearsed at home yesterday the twirling of my cap in Act 1 in front of Mr Werle senior so I could mirror /echo the same effect in front of Mr werle junior in Act 2. I got the twirling almost spot on but was so busy congratulating myself that i forgot to say the line so the twirling was all for nought as the audience would understand the significance. Oh well another seven performances to get both significant lines about forest and cap into the scene together!

It was a better performance for me as a character as I began to feel genuinely moved in Act 5 during Hedvig's descent and even felt the prickling of tears. The final exit of my character still seems pointless but perhaps that is the point being made by the playwright - still pretty much of a bum deal for the actor though!

The show seems to be working better technically except the two starting pistols I have loaned the stage crew seem to fire ok before the show and in the interval but not when required in the play itself. Will try for a third starting pistol today unless one needs a licence these days. The sound system collapsed backstage so we were still struggling on cues and some bugger was playing loud music outside in the foyer. This made me very fraught waiting for my first entrance and I don't like fraughtness.

Wild Duck goes into performance

Last night was the final dress rehearsal of "The Wild Duck", which begins a run of eight performances at the Arts Centre tonight. Kitten the director expressed herself satisfied with the end result and was looking forward to seeing the audience reaction to it. She was certainly more upbeat than she had been at the end of the Tuesday dress rehearsal, which had technically been a slog through cold porridge and the acting reflected it. Tuesday was one of those moments as a director when you look at the result of months of preparation and rehearsal and think "Have I been wasting my time?" Hopefully these moments are swiftly followed by dress rehearsal like last night when you think all this show needs now is an audience.

Last night I dried on my line "The forest... the forest you see... the forest (He drinks)...is the forest." As you can see it is not a line that has much semantic meaning as written on the page but is one of those lines that should resound in performance and is the key to Old Ekdahl, the character I am playing. The fact that I dried and forgot it, is not a surprise because it is a line I have found difficult to memorise. In fact this sequence of three or four pages has always been a problem area for line learning. There is another line about wearing my cap. I knew the line like I do the forest line above but they arrive from nowhere like non-sequiters. The trouble is they are seminal and essential lines for the characterisation. Kitten has worked hard at eliminating some of my over used mannerisms on stage and it is probably time someone did. However I have lost some of the devices whereby I find a character through investigation, sometimes disappearing down cul de sacs, and sometimes by over-acting. What I haven't discovered is Old Ekdahl's fear of the forest and the sense of shame and humiliation he has out in public. Both these deep feelings are assuaged by the wonderland created in the loft. Both Ekdahl and his son Hjalamar are dreamers hiding from real life, which unfortunately for them as a nasty habit of creeping up on you and biting you in the arse.

I have produced a highly technical and adept performance which will get me through the play and probably service the plot very well. As an actor however I feel a little cheated of the depth of feeling that could be found in the character. One of the reasons for this state of affairs has been the strange hybrid role as Movement Director. This has been something of an adventure into the unknown - I have some thoughts about the role and the impact it should have - I am not sure I possess the necessary qualifications and skills to help the actors as much as I should. I know that instinctively and intuitively I have the skills as a director to create stage pictures, and am very interested in actors' body language on stage and in character. I am sure I can do the former but am worried that it crosses into the territory of the director. I am very interested in body language and can tell when it is wrong but am unsure how best to help. I think this production was a tough one to start with as some of the actors seemed to start from a low opinion of themselves as physical beings able to interpret characterisation through their bodies. The old adage about Bench actors being good from the neck up is not entirely without a basis of truth.

What being Movement Director, whilst playing a part, did for me was to make me more aware objectively of what was going on around me, whereas I am a subjective sort of actor who only cares about others as they impact upon the character. I describe myself as a non team player but in reality I tend to specialise in a role and leave the wider vision to others. In football analogy, I am the striker who thinks "Ball....kick....back of net...goal" and wheels away in triumph.

I think the production has opened up my eyes to a number of theatrical quandrums that I need to think through more carefully both as an actor and as a Movement Director and as a director.

I saw "Stockholm" by Frantic Assembly at Chichester Minerva Theatre yesterday afternoon (not perhaps best preparation for a dress rehearsal in the evening). It is on till the 17th so if you live in the vicinity I would recommend you get over there and see the show. It is a terrific 70 minutes of high powered physical theatre examining a relationship through text (brilliant script by Byony Lavery), dance and movement. The production ideas are ingenious and some of the theatrical solutions are mind boggling. I hop eto write a more considerd review in my next posting. However for now I am going back to look at the part of Old Ekdahl in "The Wild Duck" and consider how to achieve the performance without upsetting the dynamics and the other actors - a loving surprise for them rather than a rude shock might be the better approach.

Remembrance Sunday

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month is Remembrance. One of the very few things I was proud of as teacher was the insistence that we gathered as a school on the playground at this time annually and observed a two minute silence. We did not fill the children's heads with ideas of war but rather the duty of a citizen to remember those who had gone before and to participate in a simple but powerful ceremony happening throughout the land. I once attended Britten's War requiem and was accosted by anti war protesters outside. I asked them whether they knew the content of the piece against which they were obviously demonstrating as they can be very few pieces of music as anti war as that of Britten. We do sometimes suffer from knee jerk reactions rather than sufficient consideration - again the death of common sense! This is one of the Americanisms I detest as it threatens the admittedly stodgy British response or restraint, but which I much prefer to over dramatic emotionalisation.

Twenty nine years ago, we baptised our Firstborn on Remembrance Sunday at Hulbert Road Methodist Church. Now our Firstborn wasn't the best baby for sleeping especially in those first few months. The number of times we had to put her in the pram and walk the streets with her or if that didn't work put her in the car and go for a drive - somehow the motion of travel would do the trick! Anyway she looked beautiful wrapped up in her baptismal outfit and shawl. She was also blissfully asleep throughout the entire service and only stirred gently as we approached the font. She beamed at the minister and gazed around in rapt attention. The baptism went off wonderfully and then of course the service ended with the Boys Brigade buglers playing "The Last Post". All I can say is that the Firstborn virtually drowned out the buglers and certainly hit those top notes along with them. She certainly took some considerable time to calm down, I can tell you.

I find the commemoration at the Cenotaph moving and so dignified. "They shall not be forgotten..."

New outlet

I attend the Cardiac Rehab Phase 4 exercise classes run by Debbie Hobbs at Langstone Hotel and the Mountbatten Centre on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. These provide my three minimum exercise requirement for the week so that any other form of exercise I do under my own steam is on top of this basic. I found that I needed this disciplined approach provided by Debbie and her groups. I had intended walks to be the main form of exercise but lacked the self discipline necessary to make them happen regularly enough to fulfil health requirements. I do walk into Havant during the daytime rather than use the car, but evening rehearsals see me fall back on the car as means of transport for me and the director.

Liz, who attends the same classes at the Mountbatten Centre, runs the group newsletter. Debbie has been putting pressure on the group to provide material for the newsletter and as I have used the group to publicise theatrical endeavours she said I should write them up for the newsletter.

As per usual I shall use the blog as a draft means of expression and then transfer the material to Liz for inclusion in the newsletter. I might also self publicise my blog and thereby gain more readers.

I was politely but firmly harangued by Alan, another member of Debbie's group, because I had let the performances of "Measure for Measure" slip past him and he had been looking forward to seeing the Shakespeare. Oh the responsibility of being the oracle in this way!

Another member, Martin, surprised me this week by saying I had potential as a salesman. He trains people as salesman so speaks with some authority. I had always considered myself as being naff at selling anything but he started my brain working.

Still I love writing and am looking for some way to express myself in other literary forms such as fiction and poetry (so watch out blog readers).

The British Heart Foundation is looking for co-ordinators, speakers, memoriam secretaries and fund raisers locally. Co-ordinators visit schools and oversee fund-raising activities as well as promoting the foundation's heart health messages to children and teachers. Speakers are needed to thank supporters who have raised funds and tell them how their money will help. In memoriam secretaries liaise with funeral directors to encourage their support for the charity. Fund-raisers assist in promoting and organising events as well as encouraging other individuals and businesses to organise their own events. I could do any or all of those roles for the BHF and will telephone the local organiser this week to offer my services or visit bhf.org.uk/volunteer.

Railways

I am very grateful to Trevor Hare for his comment on "Winter is upon us", a previous posting. He writes or, as he puts it, "rants" at length about my suggestion of rail renationalisation. The points he makes, however, are really good ones and certainly made me rethink my own woolly ideas.

I don't wish to return to bad old ways of British Rail but do feel the present system of free market rail transport has not given us much of an improvement. I endorse Trevor's idea of a 51 percent national stake in a railway company. Being a Francophile I approve the idea of allying closely with a European rail operator for management expertise. Now does anyone know how I can go about getting some action on this idea? I could try the e-petitions at the Downing Street website or try putting pressure on the prospective leadership candidates for the Liberal Democrat party.

I read Matt Grimshaw's excellent article in a recent Guardian, "The Liberal Democrats are at risk of obliteration", and this re-awakened some of the political zeal I have lost over the years. Readers of my previous postings will know I was considered as a possible Liberal Democrat councillor candidate earlier this year. I backed out on ill health but the County LibDem councillor won the borough seat, which was a "good thing" all around.

Anyway I would describe myself as a Socialist Democrat or a democratic socialist or whatever influenced by ideas of John Stuart Mills. Once upon a time I might have described myself as a Labour supporter in honour of my coal working ancestors on my mother's side of the family. However New Labour are vying with the Tories to "steal each other's policies, principles and voters" (Matt Grimshaw). Matt Grimshaw advocates leaving the middle ground to the two parties already there and to use the Ross Perot tactic of 1992 to attack the "Self interest of the ....political elite." Grimshaw goes on to say the LibDems should forget the 5% of voters lost to Cameron but concentrate instead on the 40% of voters who no longer bother to vote. "They must articulate a new vision of liberal democracy that creates new dividing lines in British politics". He agrees with my own thoughts that the best man for the job currently was Ming Campbell, whereas in Huhne and Clegg, the new contenders, we have more of the Cameron/Blair effect. Gordon Brown had the chance of moving away from the same effect but seems to be muffing his opportunity. Don't they see that voters are put off by "the prevailing political wind" and need something of substance rather than style from their democratic leaders?

Politically I felt and still feel a hatred towards Thatcherite policy and the free market approach to national institutions. How are we ever going to get a green transport policy when we are in the hands of freebooters and entrepreneurs? I live near Portsmouth, a city drowning in traffic. It is ideally built on an island and could find solutions to many of its problems, but not if it has to rely upon private enterprise for public transport. Buses should revert to some form of public ownership and we should be exploring other means of large scale transit systems. I cannot believe that a LRT system would not be suited to Portsmouth and bridges/tunnels built as means of access. How would I pay for such schemes? Come in, Trevor, more help needed on this one!

As You Like It

We have reached 1977 in these personal reminiscences of the Bench Theatre history. I need to reiterate that these "Notes from the Green Room" are written entirely from personal memory and may include factual errors and highly subjective viewpoints.

By 1977 the Best Beloved and I had been married two years, I was giving up smoking and I was chairman of the Bench Theatre. These three facts may have contributed to the somewhat stressful three years I was chairman, but also the fact that our time at the Old Magistrates' Court and Police station was coming to an end. The Bench would need to find a new home.

In February 1977, the Best Beloved mounted only the second Shakespeare staged by the Bench, "As You Like It". The first Shakespeare play had been my production of "Richard III", which I described in detail in previous Notes from the Green Room (Ingrid and I were married off by the News in a publicity article and so we decided this was an indication from a higher authority and made it a fact). This was a major production and therefore as usual in these circumstances the Bench company had to expand in order to be able to mount the play. We do this at quite regular intervals, such as for "His dark Materials" in 2006, but always seem surprised by the need to so do. This expansion usually has great benefits for the company and it certainly was so in 1977.

I was cast in the contrasting roles of Charles the Wrestler (more believable now in my present bulky state but I was quite willowy in 1977) and Jacques. The latter is one of the great parts in Shakespeare, possessed of a hopelessly melancholy disposition, Jacques stands on the sidelines of life watching and judging the actions of others. He delivers the soliloquy, "The seven ages of Man". Later, after our performances at the Bench Theatre, we were invited to do a performance at the Nuffield Theatre as part of a Showcase of Hampshire Theatre (the Bench was considered one of the leading exponents in the county). I still have very strong and good memories standing on the Nuffield Stage delivering that speech (Much later, I was also dragged onstage by Granville Saxton for the Nuffield Panto based on Robin Hood but that is another story entirely!)

Rosalind was Jill Sawyer, a member of Tim Mahoney's Langstone Children's Theatre. Tim himself played Touchstone, the comedian, and Audrey, a simpleminded goatherd who agrees to marry Touchstone, despite the fact that she understands very little of what he says, was played by Janet Simpson (a Bench doyenne of beloved memory). Janet's performance was enhanced by her eating a raw onion onstage, by which the rest of us were mightily impressed in every sense.

Spokey Wheeler and Jenny Jones played Silvius and Phoebe, the shepherd and shepherdess. who are the love sub plot in "As You Like It". Again they were recruits found by Tim and who became stalwarts of the company; Spokey became chairman of both the Bench and later the Arts Centre.

The problem role was Orlando, the handsome young lord, the hero of the piece who proves himself a fitting mate for Rosalind. Charles the wrestler, my secondary role (see above) does not want to injure the young man and thereby lose favor among the nobles who support him. Charles's concern for Orlando proves unwarranted when Orlando beats him senseless. Please note that last bit! Orlando beats Charles senseless! How times have not changed - I was the Polar Bear King beaten in combat in "His Dark Materials" and had my heart eaten onstage by my victorious opponent!

In my previous piece I explained how Tim had laboured long and hard to get the Havant College drama lecturer on board in both the Langstone Children's Theatre and possibly with the Bench. His wish was about to be granted. Mike had been replaced as drama lecturer at Havant College by a sallow youth called David Penrose. Yes this was the Bench debut of David Penrose as Orlando! Later as Tim faded out as the unappointed Artistic Director of the Bench Theatre through age and ill health (and a wish for a slightly quieter life perhaps), it was David who became the unappointed Artistic Director of the Bench Theatre - Tim must have known something more than the rest of us.

Anyway "As You Like It" was a great success and occasioned an almost annual Shakespeare production in the early 1980s.

1977 also saw the debut of Jacquie Penrose in "Tonight at 8.30" in June of that year. Later that same year we saw the final Bench production in the Old Magistrates' Court, "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg" starring one David Penrose in October. And in November, having rehearsed simultaneously, we saw the Bench open the new Havant Arts Centre with "Habeas Corpus" directed by yours truly.

The next Notes from the Green Room will look at Autumn 1977, when the Bench left its old home and moved to its new. Yours truly was Chairman and director of the first production ever at the Arts Centre - there was no Jacques like standing on the side lines but I think I may have wished for a solitary and contemplative life in a monastery by Christmas 1977!

Stuart Matthew Price

Yesterday five of us went to see "Parade" at the Donmar in London. Four of us are retired and the fifth was Kitten, who took a day off work. "Parade" is a musical by Jason Robert Brown, who I rate quite highly as his work is in the Spielberg mode of controversial subject matter allied with intelligent music. I bought the CD years ago in "Dress Circle" in Monmouth Street and therefore leaped at the chance to see and hear the musical at my favourite London theatre.

The musical is based on a true factual story. On Confederate Memorial Day, 1913, a 13 year old child labourer named Mary Phagan was strangled to death in the Atlanta, Georgia, pencil factory where she worked. The chief suspect was Leo Frank, a Yankee Jew, who worked as the plant superintendent. Alfred Uhry, who wrote the book for the musical, is a native Atlantan.

The District Attorney, with political ambitions to replace the state governor, decides against charging a black suspect and decides top stage a showcase trial against the Jewish Yankee.

Bertie Carvel playing Leo Frank presents us with a cold and unfeeling character, who deliberately keeps our sympathies at bay. In the showcase trial he is beset by the state's star witness, Jim Conley (powerfully sung by Shaun Escoffery), who avoids suspicion falling upon himself by helping the district attorney build up a case against the Jewish outsider. We never learn who killed Mary Phagan and it indeed could have been Leo Frank. However the trial is so obviously biased and based on circumstantial evidence that our sympathy is won over to the defendant, not because we like him any more but because we can see how stacked how the dice being rolled against him. The memorable moment of the first half is "It's Hard to Speak My Heart", which is Leo Frank's closing testimony to the jury (In Georgian state law the defendant is not cross-examined but can make a closing testimony if so wished). He sings it primarily to his Georgian born wife, Lucille Frank, and is a wonderfully moving solo delivered impeccably by Bertie Carvel. Leo Frank is extremely nervous, aloof from Atlantan society, and externally cold and unfeeling. The song lets us inside this carapace but without ever selling out the characterisation. The trial ends with a death sentence and a triumphant barn dance as the citizens of Atlanta celebrate the decision. We ate our interval ice creams in muted silence pondering the fate of Leo Frank.

In the second half we see the relationship between Leo and Lucille grow to full fruition and she becomes a major campaigner in the battle to get the sentence commuted to life imprisonment rather than death. She is backed by the chief rabbi of the Atlantan synagogue, who travels to New York to enlist Yankee help in fighting the Frank case. Lara Pulver (who we last saw in Jason Robert Brown's "The Last Five Years" at the Menier last year) and Bertie Carvel sing the love duet, "All the Wasted Time", which is a bitter sweet reminiscence of the missed opportunities in their marriage and lives up to that point. The heart strings are tugged and Leo Frank has become someone with whom the audience have a greater understanding. The sentence becomes life imprisonment and the campaign moves on to the next phase of trying to secure his release. However dark forces are at work in Atlanta led by bible thumping minister Tom Watson (Norman Bowman, last seen as Billie Bigelow in "Carousel" at Chichester last year) and the musical ends in a gut wrenching finale.

We were surprised that the first person we saw and heard on stage was Stuart Matthew Price, a good looking blonde slender high tenor with a great voice and look. Our surprise was that we knew Stuart from Bedhampton and his parents Bill and Shelley were Methodists at the Hulbert Road Church when I was senior steward there. Ingrid had taught Stuart at Bidbury Junior as his talent shone from an early age in school musicals. Alice knew him from Sunday School. We knew he had been with the Musical Youth Theatre and had chosen to make the stage his profession. He was a knockout in "Parade" and it was a real delight to talk with him after the show in the Donmar foyer. Young Stuart also writes musicals and won the Stoll Moss Theatres Award for Most Promising Under 18s Musical Writer. I think Stuart will do well as both performer and as a writer in the profession he has chosen.

The standards at the Donmar are excellent and "Parade" joins the pantheon of outstanding productions seen there. I can't wait now for Natty Chap's thirtieth birthday, when we are all going to see "Othello" at the Donmar, with another young and up and coming actor playing Iago, one Ewan McGregor.

Winter is upon us

Just realised that my last blog was the first of October and that we are now in November. I am not sure what caused the loss of communication there. Just finished three performances of "Measure for Measure" with Bare Bards. I enjoyed the experience enormously although seem to have needed naps to keep going. Bare Bards refers to the fact that it was a Shakespeare relying almost totally upon the text - no reference to nude actors whatsoever. Learning Shakespeare is not as difficult as it might appear - the old lad had a way with words - and does seem to have written his scripts to make it easy for actors to assimilate. Some modern playwrights could do with paying attention to some of the techniques used. A notable exception being Bryony Lavery, whom the Best Beloved assures me was a joy to learn.
We are now into the final fortnight of runthroughs of "The Wild Duck" being directed by the Kitten. I am enjoying myself playing a doddery grandfather. Working with so many of the Bare Bards company who are also in "The Wild Duck" has been a little surreal at times but it is a joy working with Martin and Charley.
I did begin a draft blog reviewing the Supernova process, which was also intended as a Benchpress article. However I ran out of time and the deadline arrived before I was ready. I suspect the opportunity has now come and gone for this particular article but will get stuck into the next episode of the personal reminiscences of the Bench Theatre history in good time for the next edition of Benchpress.
I like the writing lark and I am also getting the directing bug back so perhaps we can explore both avenues more thoroughly in 2008.
The new Pompey stadium looks like it may be built on Horsea Island. I would refer you back to a much earlier blog of mine extolling the views of a stranger entering Portsmouth with the new stadium and Portchester Castle in the same shot of Portsmouth Harbour on the right going in.
I have also picked up a bit of politics. I am very interested in the concept of "civic autonomy", rail renationalisation and a new role for the third political party when the two main parties seem to be carbon copies of each other vying for the same middle ground. I feel a series of expounding blogs coming on. Thanks for your patience, gentle reader, and it will be repaid in bucketloads. I was hoping for a Shakespearian couplet there but it is harder than it looks, chucks.