Costume - historical to hysterical

Today they had a costume sale at the Theatre Royal. I can’t resist these, even though I know nothing much will fit me. It’s the chance to pick up a piece of theatre memorabilia, and much if it has special memories for me, as I worked in costume hire for nearly 3 years, when I was at Uni.

I got there about 11, and given it had only started at 10, an awful lot of stuff had already been sold. As a producing house, each new production brings more costumes into the hire department until the rails are packed. The big attractions at the sales are Berwick Kaler’s ‘Dame’ dresses from panto. They are huge, and take up so much storage space, every couple of years there has to be a bit of a clear out.

But in many ways for me it was the other things that brought back the memories – a maid’s dress from John Doyle’s production of Twelfth Night, two outfits from Charley’s Aunt that look like they are made of curtain material, and which we once persuaded someone to wear to ‘Sing-a-long-a Sound of Music’, courtesan costumes from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, fake chain mail from the Wars of the Roses, David Leonard’s leggings* from panto.

I eventually bought a black skirt from a production of ‘Way of the World’. I didn’t actually see this production, but it’s costumes were always some of my favourites – totally off the wall, and bizarre in style, they rarely hired out, but were my favourites for dressing up in. The skirt I bought is one I wore once to a costume convention, so it has personal memories for me.

The sale took place on the stage, so for a few moments I stood there, and looked out into the auditorium. It always amazes me how intimate that theatre feels. It has about 850 seats, and yet no one feels far away from you when you are on the stage. It has a sense of warmth and of history, and, yes, that little bit of magic. Are you getting the impression that I really need to do some theatre again?

*‘I’m very taken with David’s legs, but I don’t know what I’d do with them’
‘You could frame them’

What's in a name?

Quite a lot it seems. I've been having computer trauma all day, and anyone who knows me knows that that IS NOT GOOD!

Just at the point when I have loads that I have to finish over the next few days, my email account decided to become unobtainable on my computer. It's accessible from elsewhere, oh yes, but here, no, it doesn't feel like opening! So, to try and clear it, I deleted all my internet files and cookies (still not sure what biscuits have to do with computers, but there you go) as that worked last time. Only, this time it didn't, and I found myself having to go round to a friend's to get onto my email. The only good point of this was that as it was Friday lunchtime, we did what you should do on Friday lunchtime, and went to the pub.

Anyway, all this meant that Blogger didn't remember me when I tried to log on. Could I remember what my user name was? You wouldn't think that there were that many permutaions of a name, but it seems that there are, and I went through most of them before I got back. In the process I discovered that they'll send you an email to help you get back on line - which didn't actually help, as it's gone to the unaccessible email address - and that some time ago I set up another Blogger account that I've never used.

The upshot of all this is that I've lost most of the day, and turned down an invitiation to go to see a play tonight - which is never good.

Audience Participation

Tonight I went to see The Reduced Shakespeare Company performing 'Completely Hollywood (abridged)' - well, it's better than avoiding the football on the tv! It was a pretty mad decision which involved me coming home via Harrogate (long story, fairly boring) and dashing into the house to get ready, and out again in the space of 15 minutes to get to the theatre. Once I'd got over the sight of someone wearing hideous pink Croc shoes in the theatre bar, I settled into it.

I think I preferred it to their 'Complete Works of Shakespeare' which, funny as it is, treads on rather too many of my heroes for me to completely love it. This worked because it was Americans poking fun at America, particularly the craziness that is the movie industry - 'I'm not good enough to be a real actor, I'm only good enough to be ... a STAR', 'quick, fetch the Tom Cruise box'. It's frenetic, and the energy needed is incredible.

The audience are the extras in this movie extravagnza, and all through the first half we were promised that our time would come - sadly, this was only the case for the first couple of rows who they got up on stage - predictably, this was the funniest part of the show, and oh, how I wanted to be part of it. The prize for the most embarassed person in the audience must go to the sole woman on the front row whose phone went off at a crucial point, leading to them stopping the show, and waiting for her to deal with it, before starting again and, losing their place, getting the giggles. Well, it's one way to make her remember to check it next time!

Afterwards we sat in the theatre bar drinking wine and chatting about wanting to do more drama. And also about the photos on the back of the costume hire leaftet, which includes a shot of the 'ruby slippers' that I once hired - 'see, they probably still have some of my garden on them - I should have them really'.*

*I need ruby slippers for when we go and see 'Wicked'

Awards and memories

Earlier this year Corinne and I booked to see John Doyle's production of 'Sweeney Todd' on tour, when it came to York Grand Opera House. A few weeks later we were informed that the performances had been cancelled - not the tour, just the week in York - I'm still not sure why.

Corinne was therefore deprived of seeing Jason Donovan, and I missed the chance of seeing John's production, for which he has just won a Tony award for best direction of a musical.

(Okay, here comes the name dropping bit) John was artistic director of York Theatre Royal for a few years in the mid 90's, where his forte was (and clearly still is) actor/musician musicals. By this I mean that he works with a fairly small cast who play all the roles, but also provide all the music for the show, playing all the instruments. He certainly directed some memorable and innovative productions* - Moll Flanders, Cabaret, Tom Jones, although not a musical, probably one of the most beautiful productions of Twelfth Night that I've seen, Into the Woods and the 1996 York Cycle of Mystery Plays, which I was lucky enough to take part in**.

I learned a lot from John, mainly because of his sheer professionalism, whoever he was working with, and his ability to draw amazing performances from people. He instilled that sense of professionalism in his actors, even when it was around 50 amateur performers, and I suppose his standards remain my standards, and ones by which I judge other performances. It was about focus, and listening, and not just acting, but reacting, and learning the the greatest impact in a scene can be created by an actor who isn't speaking - and similarly, the greatest distraction can be caused by one who isn't focussed. This was the first time I'd been on the stage of a 'real' professional theatre, and it was thrilling. He stood for no nonsence - mess him about, and you'd soon know, and if a performance was s**t then you'd know from his notes - but his love of the theatre and of the effect that theatre can have, was infectious, and I think somewhere in that hot and rather magical June of 1996, we all fell a little bit in love with him.

I'm thrilled for him that he's won this award, and I really have to see another of his productions

*Many of them also had utterly fabulous costumes

**I was 3rd Daughter in Law of Noah, and had to help build the Ark - I wore deck shoes, which was allowable, as I was on the actual deck, of an actual boat (sort of) - and lead townsperson at the stoning of Mary Magdalene (I think the writer's bible stories went a bit wonky here, as I don't think Mary M was stoned!)

All the small things

It’s so hot at the moment, and I love it – why can’t summer be like this all the time? I love the sun on my back – it even makes me want to eat salad, but even more I want to sit by a river or better still, find a nice pub by the river…but instead, today, I went into town, and sat in one of the squares, at a pavement café, and drank peach tea, thinking that in just over two weeks time I’ll be in Italy. I also bought sun cream for my hols - as my hand hovered over the factor 4, I thought about being shouted at, by Cat, and by Corinne, and bought factor 15 (as well as 8). I will of course now have no tan at all!

I went shopping yesterday, just as the England game was on – I have never seen the shops so quiet on a Saturday afternoon – and this led to me buying two more new tops for my holidays – see, football has a lot to answer for!

I’ve finished ‘Order of the Phoenix’ and have moved on to ‘The Half Blood Prince’. I enjoyed OTP again, and had forgotten a lot of the story – I’d even forgotten about just how horrible Umbridge is, and how shockingly sudden Sirius’s demise is. It now seems a long time till the next book!

Dr Who – I haven’t blogged about it for a few weeks, but this series is just fabulous. This last two-parter raised lots of questions, but didn’t provide many answers, but in many ways was a celebration of being ‘human’. I think my favourite so far though is still ‘Girl in the Fireplace’. Once again, on ‘Confidential’, we were given hints that there’s going to be a very big finish to this series. It was good to hear ‘Torchwood’ getting a mention as well. It was also good to see Shaun Parkes, who plays Aaron in the Globe ‘Titus’, as the captain.

Marry Freddy? Not bloody likely!

It seems like I’m having a bit of a George Bernard Shaw fest this year, what with My Fair Lady a few weeks ago, the premiere of Pam Gems Mrs Pat, earlier in the year, and now Pygmalion at YTR, which I wanted to see as a companion piece to the other productions.

Now, I like Shaw, although his popularity has waned a lot, apart from the musical hybrid. I like his ‘wordiness’. His characters talk (and boy, do some of them talk), I like The Devil’s Disciple, Heartbreak House, and I’m fond of early plays such as You Never Can Tell.

When I saw MFL the other week, my main disappointment was the actor playing Higgins, who I felt lacked charisma. Well, in the current production of Pygmalion at YTR, Higgins is played by David Leonard*, and he has charisma in spades. He also has exactly the right sort of clipped tones for the part.

It was fascinating to compare the productions - one a big budget lavish West End transfer with elaborate sets and a large cast, the other a rep production, with a small cast, doubling, and a minimalist set.

What I liked about this production was that it made absolutely no attempt to emulate the musical, indeed I felt some roles were intentionally underplayed to set them apart from the familiar images and intonations. If I’d found Amy Nuttall’s Eliza to be an uncanny impersonation of Audrey Hepburn in Act 2, then Sarah Quintrell’s Eliza was a million miles away from that, but she made the part her own. Somehow, without the songs, the characters seemed more human. Higgins was certainly more childlike, and Eliza an emerging modern woman.

The set was very effective with columns stage right and a huge double door stage left, which could be used for interior and exterior, and one of the most severe rakes I’ve ever seen on that stage with a darkly mirrored floor, reflected in a window that appeared to be suspended overhead. The production also used back projection, both to set the play in a framework of Shaw’s 5 Act structure, with title cards, and for images of particular scenes – particularly effective was a sequence of eyes watching Eliza at the ball.

Because the musical is so familiar, you forget that the play doesn’t have any of ‘the rain in Spain’ and the vocal teaching hardly features – and they never go to Ascot. But this Eliza and Higgins seemed more of a match for each other, in age and in temprament. The production stuck with Shaw’s original ending, which concludes with Eliza having left the stage, after telling Higgins that she is going to marry Freddy, and Higgins laughing at the very idea – ‘Marry Freddy!!’ It wasn’t popular, and Shaw rewrote it for the 1938 film, but it is nicely ambiguous. In my head, the play remains simply a scene short, and we just don’t get to see ‘Eliza…where the devil are my slippers?’

*York’s pantomime baddie, and one of the reasons I go back year after year. Very tall, very skinny, very gorgeous!

World Cup fever

Today I came home from work to see a large England flag had been put up in my neighbours front window. Now, let me make it plain, I have absolutely no interest in football, and will be going out of my way to avoid watching any of it. The first match? sounds like a good time to go shopping to me. But, you simply can't avoid it, and it seems, to the cynicist in me, to be just an opportunity to sell alot of tat with the cross of St George on to the British public. Better shift it quick, before we get knocked out!

What does appall me is the fact that ACAS have also pubished guidelines for employers of what to do to encourage people to attend work, and still be able to watch the football - it's that assumption that everyone is interested, and also that people will otherwise throw a 'sickie' so that they can watch, so they recommend making breaks flexible, providing tv sets in restrooms, and in some instances allowing people to start and finish earlier or later. Some employers are even providing tvs in the workplace. If we ever win it again it will probably be a national holiday - it's a sporting event for God's sake, and it happens every 4 years (and then we get stuck with the Euro tournament two years between) - it's not a one off occasion.

I guess the last time I watched the world cup was Italia 90, when I was in Italy for part of the tournament, and indeed in Verona the day a match was on - I believe we may even have tried to get tickets, but I've no idea who was playing, or indeed, who won that year. What I vividly recall is the ban on serving alcohol in the restaurants, unless you smiled sweetly, and then they served it to you in a water bottle - certainly the best aqua minerale I've ever drunk!

Not just for children

Yes, it's time for the Harry Potter blog*, in honour of us finally discovering Platform 9 and three quarters at Kings Cross**, and my finally getting my copy of 'Order of the Phoenix' back from my friend who borrowed it over two years ago. It's therefore the only one of the books that I've only read once, and there's lots of it I don't remember, so I'm hoping that by reading it now, it will have faded a bit by the time the next film comes out.

I have to admit I came a little late to the party with Harry, as I didn't read any of the books until I was at Uni, and discovered that the youth theatre that I was doing a placement with were going to be spending a week improvising pieces around an HP theme. So, I read the first three books in a weekend, waited until book 4 was out in paperback, but have been unable to resist the new hardback editions of the last two - mainly I think because I don't want anyone to tell me what happens before I've read it. 'Askaban' is still my favourite though, because of the twist at the end.

I have to admit to being a Sirius fan, so this isn't a good book for me. I'm afraid my love for Snape didn't exist until he was played by Alan Rickman - I think you're either Siruis or Snape, not both. I do love the way the 'back story' has gradually developed from book to book, so that some things aren't quite what you think they are. And, of course, it's all building up now for the big finish. I hope JK doesn't let us down.

*If it wasn't HP, it would be work, as that's really all I've done for the last week, and that's not what this is about.
**Cat actually spotted it (and took the pic). The trolley is embedded in the wall, as though halfway to the platform.