Welcome to my blog : Archive
Here is an archive of all my past blogs, just incase you missed any! To view my latest blog please click here
Othello Holy Mackerel
Posted Monday, October 06, 2008
Yesterday was a trip!
We did a press launch for Othello at this chi chi media club in Covent Garden -you know the type of place - lots of young people scurrying around trying to get a signal on their mobile - several people having meetings in the foyeur , in the lift, on the stairs, in the broom cupboard.. it was intense.
Othello is a Northern Broadsides production in conjunction with the West Yorkshire Playhouse- So Ian Brown (from the WYP ,not from the Stone Roses -how wierd would that have been) was there and so was Barrie Rutter , the founder member of Northern Broadsides. There were loads of press people scurrying around ,making sure everything was copacetic and then -after two cups of capucinno and some water , a trip to the loo ,and then another capucinno ,one final trip to the loo and then some hiccups - we took the photos. I always worry about doing those pictures where they make you go outside for a scrum of photographers ...it always feels like 'Feeding Time At The Zoo'
...They're snapping away and saying things like 'Lights no good out here' 'Could you move over there Len?' 'Just Len on his own ,we'll do him and-is it Garry? Barry -sorry mate - Yeah -we'll do Len ,Barrie and Ian later..' All very surreal -because the usual M.O at these things is to grin many grins and then split. But we're doing Othello aren't we?
So it demanded a different hat
...a more reflective , thoughtful , not quite so grin-ny hat...Ah well , I got the hang of it eventually - I had to repeat over and over in my mind 'My dog is dead...My dog is dead....my dog is dead' to get the right face on...
Then the actual press conference - this was cool , Barry , Ian and myself sat in front of the assembled press (it was quite a good turn out ,actually) who all wanted to know whether it was 'Celebrity'
casting , whether I was going to be doing the Moor with a Dudley Accent, and how much I was getting paid. Most of these questions were avoided by just all of us enthusing about the play and Barrie's directorial skills and Northern Broadside's reputation for producing classic theatre.
Afterwards , I was interviewed by a BBC reporter who usually interviews me for Comic relief -and it was a bit awkward. He rather naughily asked me if I'd 'memorised anything yet?" Friggin' hell mate ,we don't start til January!
Barrie is also a big fan of NOT learning it too soon , he wants us to get a feel for the text but not commit ANYTHING to memory til the rehearsal period - and he' s right , I think. If we all start learning it now , we might become set ; set attitudes, inflections and so on -and that wouldn't do...
The train up to Leeds was very civilised -we all had a meal ,used our computers and I got into a text war with my daughter. I think I won but I can't be sure because my phone blew up after the 14th exchange.
On arrival at West Yorkshire Playhouse, we did another Feeding Time At the Zoo with
some really nice photographers , who were incredibly enthusiastic. One guy practically imploded before coming over and saying 'TISWAS was the best programme ever!' He was bright red in the face ,with ginger-y hair..Nice man.
They were doing that thing that photogs do sometimes where they asked me to stand on some steps and they were shooting in an upward direction. How is that a good shot? All I'm thinking is DOUBLE CHIN -NOSTRIL-DOUBLE CHIN- FAT FACE! FAT FACE! FAT FACE! It can't be right.
Then another gathering of press ,which went well too -although one guy seemed to want to do a lengthy academic discussion about the play's themes ,characters and storyline in the 2 minutes we had left before I had to go off and do photo's for the brochure.
Barrie then whisked me off to meet our costume designer - a great bloke , I think his name was Steve. He had a lot of Ink, very colourful , and a few peircings. We got on well though - and his costume designs looked spiffy, as Barrie waxed lyrical about the set designs , natural light, flaming torches and the like.
Then I had my picture taken in a studio environment -this was for the poster and various brochures and press pics. The photographer was very experienced a nd new that we were'nt looking for anything wacky and zany (W & Z) -he had lit the set in a very dark and moody way ,and we went to work.
For quite a lot of the shots I rocked a black shirt ,but after doing quite a few like this -he said ,'Do you fancy taking your shirt off?' .
Normally I would have said , 'What, no dinner and movie first?' but I could see he wasn't messing around.
It's tough asking a man in his 50's to divest himself of shirtage ,because when he does , you're going to see just how he's spent the last 5 or so years. Either religiously running up and down hills with weights attached ,eating cabbage, moss and air for all meals and drinking water throughout the day - or living on a diet of lard pie and lager.
This is what I was thinking as I took my shirt off and stood there bare chested (with belly poking out) as he took his shots.
The thing is though, after only a couple of rolls of films , he told me that he'd got what he wanted.
We all gathered round the computer , that had somehow received every single shot we'd done in that session.
And ,granted ,there were some that felt over lit , wacky , me trying too hard to be serious etc...but once the lighting had been fiddled with and the shirt dismissed - suddenly a weird thing happened. I think I stopped worrying about what the picture was going to look like , stopped panicking about my20gut ,and just allowed myself to stand there and ...do nothing.
POW! These shots looked great - like Blue Note album covers; all dark and moody ,but without the clarinet ...
Then back on the train and home. What a day - I'm going to be in Othello man! Can you believe it?
I can't.
Peace
Lenx
Len
Funny bits:LAUGHS
About:ME
Contact:ME
