Which is, of course, the title of a great work by a poet mentioned a few blog-entries ago, who was….? Do try and keep up…
It came to me last midnight, as I huddled over my meagre fire and the frost stalked the silent marshes, and I worked steadily through my recordings of all the TV shows I’ve missed during the assembling of “Appetite”. I know it must get a bit irritating the way I witter on about grads from my time at RADA, but over a decade of helping steer the Gower St training gave my small bunch of dedicated colleagues and me a uniquely privileged perspective, and it’s a joy to see our ex-students cropping up all the time on the screen, on the stage and on the radio doing cracking work in great roles.
Sunday night clashes mean the Skybox has to be put to good use. On the BBC Matthew MacFadyen and David Dawson grapple with unspeakable villainy – and sometimes almost unspeakable lines – in the hairy-chested Victorian cop-drama “Ripper Street”, with the streets of Old Dublin pretending, not always entirely convincingly, to be the streets of Old London. But Matthew – a terrific MacHeath in my production of “The Beggar’s Opera” at the old Vanbrugh Theatre – is always so watchable, and endows Inspector Edmund Reid with such presence. The good inspector’s intense devotion to his virtuous wife is entirely understandable, finely played as she is by Amanda Hale, who was in our “A Chorus of Disapproval” playing one half of a slightly dotty elderly couple alongside Mr Tom Hiddleston.
Matthew and Amanda with Jerome Flynn in “Ripper Street”.
And over on ITV, there in “Mr Selfridge” is my Maggie from “Hobson’s Choice”, Kate Kelly – having gripped the nation’s attention for several years as the turbulent Becky in “Coronation St”, and held the stage superbly at the National Theatre – now positively shimmering with upper-class sexual chemistry as the edgy Lady Mae. And the handsome young waiter causing such a stir amongst the posh ladies is one of our boyos, an emerging star from Llanelli – Trystan Gravelle.
But to come back to my former colleagues at the Academy – hurray for Patricia Myers!! As Registrar, Pat has kept the place going through all kinds of organisational and financial trauma – and through it all has remained a level-headed, good-humoured, forward-looking bastion of optimism for all her colleagues – and most importantly for generations of uniquely talented, and often uniquely vulnerable, students. So the OBE in the New Year’s Honours is long overdue, and utterly deserving.
To come back to “Appetite”. The presentation of this intriguing new play went brilliantly well, and was attended by an audience of professionals, most of whom stayed behind afterwards to drink wine and eat specially baked slices of dobas torta, an Eastern European Jewish cake delicacy, the recipe for which haunts the play. The conversation at the reception was lively and intense – it’s not every play-reading where such a high-octane cast presents a new script so throughly, with well-crafted staging, lights and sound.
Oona Chaplin as young Hana, with Miriam Margolyes as Malka
There were brilliant, insightful portrayals of the central characters by Tamsin, Miriam, Jason, Jemma, Oona and Charlie, with equally fine supporting work from Sue Sheridan, Ursula Mohan, Jemma Churchill, Mary Duddy and Lexi Sekuless, plus a remarkable performance from Julianna Zinkel, whom the sponsors had flown over specially from Philadelphia.
The event – directed by Andrew Visnevski – has stimulated a continuing buzz of interest. Watch this space.
