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James from London
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<blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 245882" data-attributes="member: 22"><p>Well, it's important to have hope, especially now with the aliens coming, so I won't take that away from you.</p><p></p><p>You very much may! You're very good with the questions, Angela. It takes me about a fortnight to come up with just one.</p><p></p><p>Hmmm ... the first person that springs to mind is Mart Crowley, who wrote the play <em>The Boys in the Band</em> that we did a revival of a few years ago. He came over from New York for the opening at the Park Theatre and then again when it moved to the Vaudeville. He died at the beginning of this year, soon after finally winning a Tony, for the Broadway version of <em>Boys</em>, and just before the pandemic, which was pretty good timing. He was lovely -, so funny and kind and supportive and full of stories of starting out as a writer in New York and then moving to Hollywood. Famously, he and Natalie Wood were best mates, and I think she and Robert Wagner helped finance the original production of Boys which was a total game-changer in theatre.</p><p></p><p>After he went back to New York while we were still touring the show, he would send each of the cast these amazing, incredibly long stream-of-consciousness emails about our characters and who they were based on in his life and the actors who had played them originally -- nearly all of whom had since died -- fiction and reality and showbiz all sort of bleeding into one another. His writing was as funny and moving and eccentric as he was. I have one vivid memory of being in Leeds on tour when the cast decided to have an outing to Howarth, which is where the Bronte sisters famously grew up and did their thing. I got a ride with one of the actors, Ben, and on the way there and on the way back, I read one of Mart's incredibly long emails aloud to him. It was snowing so it really felt like we were in the middle of Wuthering Heights yet Mart's email painted such a vivid picture of early 60s New York and LA. It was such a weird juxtaposition but it worked!</p><p></p><p>Interesting question! I was mulling this over while being pummelled by my trainer this morning. The best acting experiences are often the ones that push you out of your comfort zone -- parts you never saw yourself playing under conditions you never imagined - but if I could choose, I would love to do a play at the Bush in London, cos it's my favourite theatre. It would be a new piece written by Jack Thorne (probably most famous for the Harry Potter play and Skins, but he's done loads of dark and interesting stuff for both TV and theatre), directed by Mark Gatiss (cos he's so clever but also really laid-back and nice) and the other actors would be Lindsey Coulson, Tameka Empson, Johann Myers, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Jonathan Wrather. Ideally, it would be set in a pub (cos I love plays that are set in pubs) and we'd all be on stage the whole time. And maybe there'd be a bit where someone would put 'Ain't No Doubt' by Jimmy Naill on the jukebox and we'd drunkenly sing along but then a fight would break out halfway through. And it would be hilariously funny and devastatingly sad and vaguely life-affirming by the end.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="James from London, post: 245882, member: 22"] Well, it's important to have hope, especially now with the aliens coming, so I won't take that away from you. You very much may! You're very good with the questions, Angela. It takes me about a fortnight to come up with just one. Hmmm ... the first person that springs to mind is Mart Crowley, who wrote the play [I]The Boys in the Band[/I] that we did a revival of a few years ago. He came over from New York for the opening at the Park Theatre and then again when it moved to the Vaudeville. He died at the beginning of this year, soon after finally winning a Tony, for the Broadway version of [I]Boys[/I], and just before the pandemic, which was pretty good timing. He was lovely -, so funny and kind and supportive and full of stories of starting out as a writer in New York and then moving to Hollywood. Famously, he and Natalie Wood were best mates, and I think she and Robert Wagner helped finance the original production of Boys which was a total game-changer in theatre. After he went back to New York while we were still touring the show, he would send each of the cast these amazing, incredibly long stream-of-consciousness emails about our characters and who they were based on in his life and the actors who had played them originally -- nearly all of whom had since died -- fiction and reality and showbiz all sort of bleeding into one another. His writing was as funny and moving and eccentric as he was. I have one vivid memory of being in Leeds on tour when the cast decided to have an outing to Howarth, which is where the Bronte sisters famously grew up and did their thing. I got a ride with one of the actors, Ben, and on the way there and on the way back, I read one of Mart's incredibly long emails aloud to him. It was snowing so it really felt like we were in the middle of Wuthering Heights yet Mart's email painted such a vivid picture of early 60s New York and LA. It was such a weird juxtaposition but it worked! Interesting question! I was mulling this over while being pummelled by my trainer this morning. The best acting experiences are often the ones that push you out of your comfort zone -- parts you never saw yourself playing under conditions you never imagined - but if I could choose, I would love to do a play at the Bush in London, cos it's my favourite theatre. It would be a new piece written by Jack Thorne (probably most famous for the Harry Potter play and Skins, but he's done loads of dark and interesting stuff for both TV and theatre), directed by Mark Gatiss (cos he's so clever but also really laid-back and nice) and the other actors would be Lindsey Coulson, Tameka Empson, Johann Myers, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Jonathan Wrather. Ideally, it would be set in a pub (cos I love plays that are set in pubs) and we'd all be on stage the whole time. And maybe there'd be a bit where someone would put 'Ain't No Doubt' by Jimmy Naill on the jukebox and we'd drunkenly sing along but then a fight would break out halfway through. And it would be hilariously funny and devastatingly sad and vaguely life-affirming by the end. [/QUOTE]
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