Every month Nikki offers her musings, opinions and anecdotes.
Emlyn Williams wrote wonderful dialogue – “The few English people I had encountered said what they wished to say with limp decorum, moving the lips as if they were egg-shells; this one, while not sounding in the least Welsh, hit every vowel fair and square between the eyes like a boxer smacking a punchball, every consonant was wrestled with and left gasping.”
This piece is from his early autobiography. So it was with enthusiasm that I recently attended a matinee of his wonderful play The Corn is Green at the National Theatre. Well, dear readers, I was a tad disappointed because, to bring it ‘up to date’, the powers that be at this pillar of the Establishment, had introduced the author himself as a sort of Narrator, who indicated when characters entered and left the acting area, accompanied by loud ‘clunks’ as imaginary doors were closed behind them, leaving the said actors sitting on the edges of the acting area with their backs to the audience. All this while playing Emlyn Williams himself, directing his play and interacting with the actors!
Now I am not a fan of the Director Rufus Norris and I’ve seen some really pretentious rubbish in my years visiting these theatres, but this time he and the director Dominic Cooke had, in my humble opinion, really messed about with a perfectly good story that needed no such embellishments. I was in the minority and other friends of my age loved it, but I remembered when I performed in my 20s in Emlyn Williams’ play, Trespass and how satisfying it was to speak such good dialogue. The fact that one night I shattered an old 78 record over the back of the sofa, instead of just breaking it in half, hasn’t dimmed my memory of such a good play. So my feeling is that trying something ‘different’ to plays written in another era, can take away from the actors’ abilities to recreate the feeling and the emotions of the time. Surely a theatre’s job is to bring history to life, not kill it off with gimmicks?!
Right, that’s enough ranting for one article, though I should mention that I heard an interesting interview with Juliet Stevenson on Women’s’ Hour, as one does while doing the ironing. Ms Stevenson had signed a letter bemoaning the lack of parts for older women. A lady called Nicky Clarke started a movement called “Acting your Age” four years ago and has been trying to get the issue taken seriously ever since. Apparently there is the feeling, amongst men no doubt, that ‘men campaign and women complain’! The problem is improving, with gender parity in those up to age 45 okay, but after that women’s stories aren’t deemed to be important, and over half of women over 40 are not seeing themselves on a TV screen.
Things are better in film perhaps, as witnessed by the new Downton Abbey film with the likes of Dame Maggie Smith as wonderful as ever. We all know of programmes showing older men having affairs with much younger women and it all looks rather silly. Ms Stevenson said that she had loads of amazing roles in her 30s and 40s, but then women’s parts just drop away. I remember Jane Lapotaire doing a TV programme on her experiences years ago. Keely Hawes is another actor who’s added her signature, as has David Tennant. It’s good to know some men are on our side ladies.
In the theatrical world, I believe there is the same problem, but I acknowledge that we need to give the young women and men good, meaty parts too. However, what is more important than bringing the generations together? Quite often older women turn to directing because acting roles have dried up and in other art forms like Ballet, they take up teaching. I would argue that directing certainly has a teaching component, because you are trying to pass on your experience built up over many years. This can be very satisfying, but it isn’t the same as building a scene with someone playing your offspring or your grandson or granddaughter. I loved being Gran in My Mother said I never should because it was such a good intergenerational play, with wonderful parts for women of all ages. Oh that there were more plays like that available!
Thinking of non-professional theatre, I must mention the jobs that older people of both genders may not have the physical strength or the stamina to take on and which are just as important as acting. I’ve said it many times, but as I am currently directing the first production for nearly 3 years in the Bar at Bromley Little Theatre, I’ve experienced it first-hand. My usual Stage Manager cum Lighting Designer and Lighting and Sound Operator, had to bow out for personal reasons, and others have given up precious time to work on my wonderful two-hander, A Walk in the Woods, for which I will be eternally grateful. It has highlighted the dedicated few who are having to ensure that every show is as good as it can be, and I know Theatre 62 is struggling too. Actors do well to remember that, when they are young enough to climb up ladders, paint and decorate sets, find props, heave costumes off rails and even do some sewing, washing and ironing, theatres need them to take their turn performing those roles.
The Front of House also need the young to help generate funds by working behind the bar and serving teas, coffees and ice creams, working in the box office and selling raffle tickets. I do acknowledge that the young are pretty good at operating lights and sound, keeping the Website and the social media feeds up to date, because they know a thing or two about this digital age. We now have card machines behind the bar and the box office and soon cash will be a thing of the past, so there really is no excuse for getting off the stage and being part of the wider theatre community. You will certainly receive wonderful reviews every time!
The Corn is Green had more non-actors working on it than actors – I’ve checked the programme, and it’s also worth noting that several local non-professional theatres have given up because they could no longer rely on the ‘golden oldies’ designing and building the sets and doing all the other jobs that contribute to putting on a play. As a Vintage person myself, about to embark on another directing journey, this time The God of Carnage at Theatre 62, I would welcome with open arms anyone under about 35 to share the journey by being part of the offstage team that all directors couldn’t function without.
Theatre 62 (Wickham Theatre Centre) 