Watching TV Drama

As you may have realized if you read my posts on here regularly, I am somewhat passionate about good drama, literature and storytelling in general. I think it was born out of watching television adaptations of such writers as Charles Dickens in the 1960s. BBC television was always doing these multi-episode adaptations of his novels, which were shown at teatime on a Sunday. I remember being scared witless by the opening scenes of a teatime version of 'Great Expectations' when Pip encounters the escaped convict Magwitch on the Kent marshes. I suppose I would have been the same age as the character Pip, where I was far more scared than he was. But it just goes to show how effective a television, or, come to that, a film version of a novel can be. In those far-gone days, we had a wide range of television drama output, including the 'Wednesday Play' which later became, 'Play For Today', which had plays written by an amazing list of writers such as Alan Plater, Dennis Potter, Mike Leigh, Jeremy Sandford and Colin Welland. These were one-off productions, usually about social problems, probably the best known being 'Kathy Come Home,' about a couple who have to cope with homelessness and which had such an effect that it was responsible for the setting up of the charity 'Shelter.' Other plays which have a life away from the television screen would be 'Abigails Party' by Mike Leigh and starring his then wife, Alison Steadman.  The John Mortimer play 'A Voyage Round My Father,' which I worked on as an A.S.M. at Greenwich Theatre in the early 1970s, started life as a 'Wednesday Play', and with the same director and some of the actors in it.

We seem to have lost a lot in the mad dash to have a multichannel landscape in the digital age in which we live. You can have 24-hour television viewing, with channels specializing in virtually any subject, from DIY, antiques, cookery, natural history, sport and more subjects than you can possibly think of. But what I am attempting to get at is that the content is watered down. In the sixties and seventies we only had three television channels here in Britain, BBC 1, BBC 2 and ITV. Channel 4 came on the air in 1982 and it wasn't until cable came along in possibly the 1990s and then Sky in the 1980s that things began to go somewhat crazy.

It was what drew me towards a possible career in television production. 

August Bank Holiday

 I  often wonder, do banks really DESERVE to have a holiday? Considering the mess many of them got into in 2008 (I may have got the year wrong.) when the government bailed them out with taxpayer's money, THEY should be paying US!

Sunday. 11.35 a.m. We haven't had a proper church service for a few weeks now, because it's August, and the thinking is that, as most people will be away on holiday, there's really no sense in full service. Last week we had a community picnic and this week we have the famous church barbecue. I have made up a salad and done a few baked potatoes, which I put in the oven at around 6.30 this morning. I had gone to Sainsbury's yesterday after another of our prayer triplet sessions at a friend's home in Conniburrow. I then realized, when I got home, that I should have got something to drink to take with me. I drove to the Tesco Express store in Oldbrook Boulevard. Because of social distancing, you are supposed to follow a one-way system around the store. I picked up what I wanted and then made my way to the check-out, going to a manned till because there was someone using the self-service tills. I arrived at the back of a reasonably long queue and for some reason wasn't sure who was queuing. Then a young man let rip at me, accusing me of pushing in. Untrue, but he was adamant that I had. He continued to rant at me, using bad language which I won't repeat here. I thought he was going to end up hitting me, so I stood back. Then he hurled a packet of sweets or chocolates at me and then stormed off out of the store, continuing to rant and rave. It left me feeling somewhat shocked, and I think the same could be said of the rest of the customers who were queuing ahead of me. I have a feeling he was probably from a residential home nearby, probably with a severe type of learning disability or another mental health issue. Which made me wonder why he was allowed out on his own.

Monday. 11.00 a.m. So, Bank Holiday Monday! It's not exactly a baking hot day. Drizzling when I took out Alfie earlier. I'm not doing a lot, just pottering around. His Nibs is asleep on the sofa as I write this.

I had another odd dream last night. I know, most dreams are odd. I have mentioned before in these blog posts my time working in stage management and on one particular play I was A.S.M. on at Greenwich Theatre some fifty years ago, 'A Voyage Round My Father', written by John Mortimer. In the dream, I had a visit from his wife (not sure of her name.) She wanted to give me a copy of a book John Mortimer had written (I have no idea of its title.) and I told her about working on the play. She signed the book, and that was all. Strange, particularly as I haven't been thinking of that play or anything to do with it recently. Mortimer also wrote the Rumpole stories and television series, which I love.

Tuesday. 4.10 p.m. I am currently working on a sort of subplot for my writing project. I wouldn't call it a fantasy as such, but as my main character is a writer it's a sort of spoof of a genre of writing very much inspired by 'The 39 Steps' by John Buchan. I have always loved the Hitchcock version, which veers off course from the original story to a large extent. I watched the BBC television version which seems to stick to the original to some extent then uses some of Hitchcock's ideas and then changes the ending, what exactly are the titular 39 Steps? It seems as if each version has different suggestions, but it's one of those films and stories which is the blueprint of many later espionage thrillers.

The World's Your Oyster

Saturday. 6.40 a.m.Why, you may well ask, did I choose THAT as the title for this blog post? The simple fact is, I don't know. It just came to me, so I decided to use it. Crazy, but true.

It's a sunny and bright morning, and Alfie and I went out as usual. As we got to the crossing onto Oldbrook Green, I saw a group of men playing what I thought was football on the grass. Well, not much of a game, but more of an old-fashioned kick-about. I think from their voices, which were quite loud, that they were probably Russian or at least what you'd call East European. Well, they appeared to be enjoying themselves, but from the raised voices, I don't think the neighbors would have been too pleased, especially not on a Saturday morning, to be woken by a noise like that. But at least it was good-natured.

I have now got my FitBit working properly at long last, as I think I mentioned in my last post. As a result, I can use it to count steps when I am out walking with Alfie. So I was determined to do a circuit of Oldbrook Green. But unfortunately, Alfie has other ideas. He kept attempting to pull me back home to the flat. He can be very strong-willed when he wants to. An extremely determined little person at the best of times and considering his size, quite strong in the sense that it takes quite a lot of effort to prevent him from taking us both home. I had to really struggle to get him to walk all around the circuit, but we did eventually. I'm really determined to do my 10,000 steps (or, hopefully, far more.) each day.

We got back to the crossing point over Oldbrook Boulevard and it was as we were walking along the path I saw this large, very fluffy cat slinking along and making for the main path into Fishermead. When it saw Alfie, it decided to turn round and make for the other side of Strudwick Drive, near The Cricketers pub. Fortunately, Alfie didn't see it, otherwise, things might have been very different.

I've been watching a documentary which was on the television channel 'Talking Pictures', but which I had recorded on my Freeview box. I had forgotten all about it until I was short of something to watch and I had a look and it came up. It was about the film and theatre director, Lindsay Anderson. I am always interested in discovering more about the creative process someone goes through to produce a film a novel or any sort of artistic creation. There are a great many similar documentaries on YouTube which I have seen and as a result learned things I wouldn't have done otherwise. Anderson directed a film in the late 1960s called 'If . . . .' which was about a revolution in a public school. I remember seeing it when I was a student A.S.M. in Cheltenham. It was filmed in large part at Cheltenham College. It's strange how some things become a sort of intersection of several areas of my life. That one, obviously, Cheltenham. One of the actors was David Wood, who went on to play the part of The Son in the play 'A Voyage Round My Father' by John Mortimer when I went on to be an A.S.M. at Greenwich Theatre in 1970. David Wood mentioned that he had been an actor in rep at the Swan Theatre in Worcester at the time he was cast in 'If . . . .' which is where my daughter Chloe went to university there and now lives. The film had a very powerful effect on me. It was not only interesting at the time I first saw it to see Cheltenham portrayed when I was living there, but the fact that it was about rebellion and radical. My other favourite film is by Terry Gilliam, one of the 'Monty Python' team who created the brilliant animations which were used in the television series and then went on to direct several groundbreaking films. The film that really interested me was 'Brazil' which stars Jonathan Pryce. Set in a dystopian Britain and very similar to Orwell's '1984.' A comedy with a very black sense of humour and draws very heavily on Gilliam's illustration and design style. Not a comedy that's for the faint-hearted but with a clear message, similar to the Lindsay Anderson film. A great many Hollywood films are just like chewing gum for the eyes. Just fodder for the masses.  Chew on it and the flavour is gone, so you either spit it out or put it in a bin (or you should do.) Mindless pap. Just made to make money and that's about all. You come out and it's forgotten ten minutes later. But these two films make you think. I think it's that which makes them so brilliant. Blockbusters are not really my sort of thing. 

A Very Happy Lockdown New Year To You!

 So, that's 2020 done and dusted. Let's just hope that 2021 is better. Well, it certainly can't be any worse than in 2020. Around nine months of being isolated, not being able to meet those we love and cherish. No theatre, going to Camphill and working on various things with the guys there. Can't say I'm sorry that 2020 is over and done with.

(Sunday) Another mild morning. I thought it was going to be frosty, but it wasn't. 

I've been watching too much television. From 'The Crown' on Netflix, to 'His Dark Materials' on BBC1 and on Talking Pictures' TV. I had never heard of this channel until they did an item about it on BBC Breakfast one morning. Their ratings had gone through the roof during the pandemic, so I found it on Freeview and had a look at their schedule. They show almost all programmes from the 1950s through to the 1980s, including things such as Catweazel, Upstairs and Downstairs, Rumpole of The Bailey, and much more. 'Rumpole' was one of my favourite drama series from the 1970s. It was written by John Mortimer. I have a connection to it. I worked as an A.S.M. at Greenwich Theatre in the early 1970s and we did a play written by John Mortimer called 'A Voyage Round My Father. It had started life I believe on Radio Four and then it was adapted for BBC Television and eventually as a stage play, which was directed by Claude Watham, who had directed the BBC television version. It was later remade by Thames Television with Laurence Oliver in the part of the Father. There are some similarities with 'Rumpole' in that it began as a Play For Today on BBC1 and later developed as a series by Thames Television.

A further connection I have, if somewhat vaguely, is when I was again working at Century Theatre in Keswick in, I think it would have been 1973, as D.S.M. There was a film crew working around the area, most notably the lake, Derwentwater. They were making a film of the Arthur Ransome book 'Swallows and Amazons.' When we were scouring the town for props (beg, steal or borrow) for the plays we were producing, we often got asked if we were connected with the unit, which of course we weren't. The director of that film was Claude Watham and the screenplay was written by David Wood who was the Son in 'A Voyage Round My Father.'

(Monday) It sounds as though we might be going back into a national lockdown. It would appear that the virus is spreading and with the new variant, a mutant version of the coronavirus, is more dangerous and likely to be a risk to younger people. All I can say is that I hope we don't go into another lockdown because being isolated as I have been since March, it's effecting my mental health and I imagine I won't be the only person to be so effected.

BBC Breakfast this morning reporting from the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, where the roll-out of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine has begun. I'm wondering when I will be given the vaccine. As I'm over 65, presumably I fall into the 'vulnerable' category.

I have ordered a professional-standard microphone from Amazon so I can do some recording, possibly voice-over work, record a podcast or whatever. It should work with my MacBook air and then I should be able to upload to Soundcloud and other sites. It was ordered on Saturday and should be delivered today before 8p.m.

Watching Film of 'Swallows and Amazons' on television

On Sunday on BBC1 we watched the newest film based on the Arthur Ransome book 'Swallows and Amazons.' I read all of these books when I was a child and loved them. There are about six more in the series, some of them featuring the original children from the first book. In 1973 I worked as D.S.M. (Deputy Stage Manager) at Century Theatre in Keswick and the original film with Virginia McKenna as the mother was being made at the same time. By coincidence, it was adapted for the screen by David Wood who was the son in 'A Voyage Round My Father' which I worked on as an A.S.M. when it was premiered at Greenwich in 1971 and had the same director, Claude Watham. I didn't see any of the filming, but when we went out looking for props for the plays in the Century Theatre season we were often asked if we were from the film unit. As always on any of the repertory productions I worked on, we had to 'beg, steal or borrow' items to be used as props in those plays. Looking back more than 40 years, it's a wonder that any of the local businesses lent us so much, from quite expensive tea sets to such things as samovars, which I had to find for a production when I started out in 1969 as a rather raw student A.S.M. at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham.

I didn't see the film unit for 'Swallows and Amazons', most likely because I was far too busy working on rehearsals and productions at Century, which was a theatre constructed of H.G.V. lorries that had originally toured around towns mostly in the north of England in the years after the Second World War and eventually ended up more or less permanently in Keswick, in a carpark near the bus station. I think the film unit would most likely have been down on Windermere, at the other end of the town, which would explain why I never saw it.

I'm digressing, but does it really matter? I think I might have mentioned some of this in an earlier blog post.

The new film is good and has all the elements of the original book, except that Captain Flint, who lives on a narrow boat on the lake, isn't linked in any way with Russian spies in the book as he is in the film, but no doubt this storyline was put in to give some more depth to the plot.

Appearing On Stage

I was never employed to be an actor when I worked in theatre. I was first a Student A.S.M. (Assistant Stage Manager), and then a fully-fledged A.S.M., and then moved up to become D.S.M. (Deputy Stage Manager). There were times when a production required a few more bodies on stage, not necessarily speaking parts (a bit like 'Walk-On's in television or Supporting Artistes.) usually to fill up the stage, to flesh out things in a similar way. I think the second play I worked on was a production of Shakespeare's "Winter's Tale" and myself and other members of stage management were expected to don costumes and become 'Gentlemen' and 'Ladies' of the court as well as 'Rustics' in the country scenes, meaning we had to wear tights. No, don't laugh. O.K. if you must. Classically, actors are always talked of as becoming 'Spear-Carriers,' generally in the background of Shakespeare productions, usually the first appearance they make on stage. As such you have to stand very till so as not to up-stage the actors who are acting 'down-stage.' You have to make sure you don't distract in any way. Towards the end of my time at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham they also did a farce called "They Don't Grow On Trees," which was about a family seeking to employ a nanny for their children, and one actress (Vivienne Ross in this case) playing a range of weird and wonderful characters throughout the course of the play. One of these women was supposed to have escaped from some sort of institution, I don't know, a mental unit or something, and she was chased by men in white suits (myself and another member of stage management.) We were supposed to rush in and attempt to catch this woman, and I think I even had a couple of lines (a rarity.) and we were supposed to chase this woman through a window. Unfortunately, the audience laughed so much during this scene that my lines were completely drowned out! Perhaps if I'd had more experience of timing I might have got a laugh myself, but never mind.

Generally in stage management when I was working in theatre, there were various levels of stage management. I was employed as what was termed a Technical A.S.M., meaning my job was doing things like the book (described in detail in earlier posts.), looking after props, sourcing them and setting them and generally making sure they were set correctly, operating sound (recorded or 'spot' sound effects, such as off-stage things like door slams or breaking glass.) Some members of stage management were termed 'Acting A.S.M's' meaning they were expected to do some stage management duties, but were often cast in minor roles, such as maids, gents, in small speaking parts, as a sort of first step into acting, possibly those who had left stage school and were breaking into the profession.

Later in the season at the Everyman Theatre they did a production of 'Romeo and Juliet' and myself and another member of stage management were used during the opening scene where we were involved in a stave fight, supposedly part of the feud between the Montegues and the Capulets (I don't honestly think it was very convincing) but yet another instance where we had to fill out the stage to make the scene more convincing than it might otherwise have been.

In an earlier post I talk about my time at Colchester Rep. I was involved in a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" which was a very budget-conscious production and consequently some characters, for example, the fairies, weren't cast as humans, but were created using torches which made 'spots' of light which stage management had to operate from the side of the stage. The voices were done by some of the cast speaking off-stage into microphones and the voices conveyed on stage via loudspeakers. I know, I wasn't  actually acting or performing but I was still part of the play. Two of us were in the 'Pyramus and Thisbe' 'play-within-a-play' at the end, as courtiers and guests. Definitely making an appearance, even though we didn't have lines.

I'm forgetting that I also appeared on stage during the performance of "Voyage Round My Father"  at Greenwich Theatre I when had to push on stage a large judge's chair. Although, saying that, as stage management, you were often seen pushing either chairs on stage, setting props, changing bits of scenery, or whatever. In this case I can categorically say I have been on stage when Royalty has be in the audience, and in this case it was Princess Margaret and Lord Snowden who were in the audience for one special performance. Stage management weren't supposed to be 'seen' as such, so we were often dressed in black. You went on, placed whatever item it was, a piece of furniture or a prop, and then disappear quickly. Also, during performances of the music hall which was staged at Greenwich when I had to set a stool by the piano for the incomparable Max Wall, and on one occasion I came on from the opposite side to which he was expecting and got a round of applause and some laughter! Also, during the pantomime at Greenwich, myself and another A.S.M. had to open and close the large doors which made up the set, and had to join in with the opening number. No use just standing stock still with your mouth shut. Also, performing a sequence which was done in U.V. light, when Dick Whittington and his cat get cast adrift on a raft at sea and we had to operate the model raft with puppet cat and Dick Whittington in it.

More Politically In-Correct Books and Films

Continuing on the theme begun in my last blog post, what about all those other works of literature, usually aimed at children, as well as films? Just think of a series of books that I read avidly as a child, beginning with "Swallows and Amazons" which were written by Arthur Ransome. They were about a group of children who seem to spend their lives perpetually on holiday in either the Lake District, Norfolk or Essex. The children are John, Susan, Titty and Roger Walker. I don't think, in all honesty, you could have a character called Titty in a book nowadays. Sorry, but the name just causes (sorry for the pun) a titter. You would have to re-name the character for a modern audience. I think it's the fact that they sail their boats on one of the Lake District lakes (I think it must be Windermere, but I'm not sure.) and there's no attempt to them wearing life jackets of any sort. When I was growing up, my father was an avid sailor, and had several yachts, some of which were sailed on the River Ouse near where we lived, mostly at Cardington Mill. We were never allowed in these boats unless we either wore a life jacket (generally a very bright orange or yellow) or we could swim proficiently (about the only decent thing I ever got from going to Rushmoor School was the fact that I learnt to swim). The stories of the Walker children continue in several other books, Pigeon Post, Swallowdale, Peter Duck, Winter Holiday, We Didn't Mean To Go To See. I think he later books might have been set in and around the Essex coast. As we used to go on holiday each year to Frinton-On-Sea, and the inlets in and around Walton-On-Naze, which was a little bit further up the coast from Frinton, this gave the stories a good deal more interest to me because I could picture the places in the books. But I think it's the fact that there's no hint of 'Health and Safety' and neither the fact that they wander around the Lakes and surrounding countryside free from any sort of adult interference. When you consider things like 'Child Protection' today, and the unfortunate stories that have come out recently about child abuse, it makes these stories, although written in the 1930's, even more intriguing. It's sad that today's children don't get the freedom to roam about as the children do in those books. Even when I was growing up in the 1960's there was no such thing as 'Health and Safety' or 'Child Protection.' Infact, when I consider the fact that living on a farm alone had many dangers and perils that would make the place a possible death-trap. We built hideouts in amongst the hay and straw bales, never once thinking that they might collapse on us and suffocate us or even catch fire. I used to make tree-houses, fairly high up in some oaks trees in the garden at Malting Farm. Thinking about it now, I could have easily fallen out of the tree and broken a leg, arm or whatever. You didn't think things like that were in the least bit dangerous in those days, but I suppose children never see the dangers in anything.

Returning to Swallows and Amazons. In the mid-1970's they made a cinema film of the book. It was, by coincidence, at the time I was an A.S.M., working at Century Theatre in Keswick. We did a series of four plays, running in repertoire, and changing every two days. Hard work, to say the least. When they began filming (no doubt on Derwent Water, on which Keswick is near). When we were out looking for props in the town for the plays we were staging, we often got asked whether we were from the film unit. It was also a coincidence that this film had a screenplay written by David Wood    who was in a play that I worked on at Greenwich Theatre called "A Voyage Round My Father" by John Mortimer. The director of the film was Claude Watham who also directed the Mortimer play, as he had done when it was originally done as a 'Play For Today' on BBC Television.

Back on books and films. Just think of Harry Potter. Why didn't the Dursleys, who had young Harry as a lodger (where they actually related? Were they really Harry's aunt and uncle?) Nevertheless, they had Harry under their care, so why did the poor boy end up living under the stairs? Why were they never prosecuted for child abuse? Expecting the child to live in such confined conditions is surely abuse of some sort? Why didn't the authorities intervene?

Then think of Oliver Twist, in particular the musical version, on stage and screen. What are they teaching children if they watch Oliver! That crime seems to pay, perhaps? Teaching youngsters to PICK POCKETS! Really terrible.

I seem to have veered off course about unsuitable or politically un-correct films for children, but never mind. I'll get back on the them in another blog post. It was good to reminisce on various things. The whole point of these blog posts I suppose.

Re-visiting Brideshead

I am currently watching the Granada Television series "Brideshead Revisited" which is currently being re-run on Sky Arts. I remember seeing it when it was originally shown in the early 1980's.  Couldn't help then being captivated by it then and the same can be said about it now. It seems to have stood the test of time remarkably well. It's amazing to think that Granada, in those days a single company within a 'federated' ITV would produce something as lavish as this series. It runs to 11 episodes and if I remember rightly the first and last episodes run for 90 minutes. So that's around 12 hours of running time! Seems amazing that you would even think of making a drama series that ran that long in the 1980's, but nothing would be made with such detail and with such a superb cast in the early part of the 21st century. I do have some sort of link to it, having worked as an A.S.M. at Greenwich Theatre in the early 1970's and was involved in a play written by John Mortimer called "A Voyage Round My Father"  (see earlier post where I give much more detail on this.) John Mortimer was credited with writing the screenplay, but, having just looked on I.M.D.B. I discover that his screenplay wasn't used although his name remained on the credits. I wonder why. Anthony Andrews portrayal of Sebastian is quite mesmerising. It's the sort of acting which has you hooked. It would have been easy to have gone 'over the top' and played him as just camp, but he seems to avoid this quite admirably. There's no acting that comes up to this sort of standard on television that I can think of at the moment, intact, there's nothing that equals this series on anywhere on television at the moment. I can't think of anything which keeps you so hooked, where you have to find out 'what happens next' and look forward to the next episode.

I can't say that I'm actually over-enthusiastic about it as a piece of television drama. I know I watched it way back when it was first broadcast in 1981 and I read the book, but I have to say the characters are so arrogant and hateful I can't say they exactly draw you in. They are all self-centred, don't exactly show any redeeming features and are not particularly likeable. The central character, Charles Ryder, the narrator and played by Jeremy Irons, is so totally boring that you can't latch on to him at all. He goes about being to ally miserable all the time. He's supposed to be a painter but he's not very convincing. Who would bother hiring him? Sebastian, the character played by Anthony Andrews, is an interesting character, but he doesn't have to work as he's got money, presumably from being a aristocrat. He drinks himself stupid. Who would employ him anyway? None of the characters have to work, which is one reason I can't possibly engage with any of them. I have to say that the filming, direction and settings are excellent, but I can't imagine this series being produced with such a lavish style in the early part of the 21st century. It has a very downbeat ending to it and not exactly leaving you with a feeling that any of the characters find happiness in any way shape or form.

There is another connection I have, although vaguely with 'Brideshead Revisited.' I mentioned earlier that I had worked on 'A Voyage Round My Father' at Greenwich. During the run of the play, there was much talk of it transferring to the West End. It did eventually make it to the West End, but I don't think it was the same production and if so it had a different cast. I know that Alec Guinness played the central character of the Father, and if memory serves he did come to see the Greenwich production which had Mark Dignam playing the Father. Laurence Olivier came to see it and came back-stage after the performance. He played Lord Marchmaine in 'Brideshead, although he doesn't actually have a major part and is only in two episodes, when Sebastian takes Charles to Venice and in the final episode when Lord Marchmaine returns to England and there he has a somewhat long and drawn-out death. I remember when I first saw the series in the 1980's this episode, which runs for 90 minutes did seem a little over-long. But I can at least say I have been in the same room with Laurence Olivier, although not to speak to! Much later on Thames Television did a new television version of 'A Voyage Round My Father' and Oliver was in that. Another actor from "Voyage" has a small part in "Brideshead Revisited," John Nettleton, who played the commanding officer at the beginning and the end of the series, from the time that Charles Ryder, played by Jeremy Irons, revisits Brideshead Castle when he is an army officer and billeted at the house at the beginning of the Second World War. And I did notice in the closing credits that an actor I worked with at  Ipswich Theatre in the 1970's, Stephen Mallatratt, had a minor role. He went on to adapt the Susan Hill book "The Woman In Black for the stage and which has become a huge hit in the West End and on tour. He wrote scripts for many television series including "Coronation Street."

Compared to current television dramas it's light years ahead of, say Downton Abbey. I have seen one episode and I can't see what all the fuss is about.  Not particularly engaging characters and the story lines don't convince. I think the big problem  Carol and I have is that there are far too many adverts on I.T.V. I think within an hour's running time you get three breaks which is every 20 minutes. It's actually better to record on Sky+ and then when the advertising breaks come up just fast-forward through the commercials. I realise that it's these commercials that pay for programming on I.T.V., but when it's for such things as car insurance and sofas, then it does get incredibly boring. And can someone explain why these sofa companies are always having sales? We watched something else the other evening and there were no less than three adverts all for sofa companies? 

Having been to Castle Howard in Yorkshire, which is used throughout as the location for Brideshead Castle, and thoroughly loving the place, and the fact that it was filmed in various other locations throughout England, together with an exceptional cast, this is one television series well worth seeing again. I  can recommend it highly.

Why is it that so much of television today gives me a headache? I don't mean the subject-matter so much as the fact that directors insist on using some really headache-inducing camera techniques,
 what they call 'whip-pans' and something which makes me feel positively sick, where you have a couple of actors standing still and the camera spins around them? What on earth is that all about? You get things chopped up in the editing suite so you get a lot of very brief 'clips' and it's hard to make out what it is. Another is when they insist on having the actors walking along and the camera follows them, but instead of it being a smooth 'dolly shot' where the camera runs along a specially-constructed track, you get a really horrible wobbly hand-held camera shot which makes you feel queasy. Not nice. Well, none of this seems to be used in the making of 'Brideshead Revisited.' I presume it was made when such techniques weren't used much.  Is it because these unpleasant filming techniques are a way to cut costs? No reason can I give except that it's 'trendy' or 'arty.' Actually means that I'm not going to endure the show and just turn off or find something else to watch.  it seems that producers treat their audience with a great deal of contempt because everything seems to be in short time spans, that is, scenes are short as if the audience can't concentrate on anything for no more than a couple of minutes at a time. This was true of things like 'EastEnders' (which, incidentally, I can't stand as it's full of such hateful characters who are always falling out with each other and always shouting. Not good for one's nerves. Just not enjoyable viewing.) where you have several concurrent story lines and they keep on switching between them and you never know exactly what is going on unless you watch regularly.  Then there's the drama series adapted from a novel or something and instead of adapting it in sufficient episodes to make it worthwhile watching it's done in perhaps two or there when perhaps six or even more episodes would be better. No doubt this is because of budgetary constraints. This was evident a few years ago when they did a series based on 'South Riding' which was done in three episodes and the plot line was telescoped so much into the timeframe it was incomprehensible. None of this occurs with 'Brideshead Revisited.' In some ways it's incredibly slow and there are whole episodes where virtually nothing happens, but at least there is some character development. I know there is a newer, film, adaptation of 'Brideshead' but it makes me wonder how on earth you can telescope so much story into a running time of about 90 minutes without it seeming rushed. Well, with the vast running time of the Granada version of the book there is definitely space for the story to develop along with the characters.

Creative Writing

My writing is going well at the moment. I'm not sure whether I mentioned on here that I'd done a one-day creative writing course at Milton Keynes Art Centre one Saturday at the beginning of November and as a result of that I have got a good deal more confident as regards sharing my work with other people. From that course I'm signed up for a further 10-week evening  creative writing course, again at Milton Keynes Art Centre, and again lead by Deborah Fielding. I'm really looking forward to this and I'm absolutely sure that it will inspire me to write new material and also help with my writing in general.

I've been watching the series 'Moving On' which is a BBC 1 early afternoon drama series which must by now be in it's fourth or fifth series. It's shown each day for a week. I remember the BBC doing what are termed 'single dramas' when I was growing up in the 1960's, series of plays such as 'The Wednesday Play' which eventually became  'Play For Today. ' This series is very much in the same mold, and the plays feature subject-matter which is far more socially-aware than a lot of current, prime-time television drama. Writers such as  Alan Bennett, Dennis Potter, John Mortimer and Mike Leigh and wrote plays for these drama 'slots'. Mention of John Mortimer reminds me that he wrote ' A Voyage Round My Father' which I worked on at Greenwich Theatre in the early 1970's and started life as a Play For Today. 'Moving On' is produced and developed by Jimmy McGovern, a writer whose work I very much admire. My own writing is an attempt to produce more current material,  and has, hopefully a sort of depth to it. My current 'multi-strand' project was inspired by 'EastEnders.' I'm not actually a lover of this 'soap' and I wanted to attempt to create my own project much in the style of a soap in that it's set in a single location. I used Bedford as the location so that I could tie the various elements of the stories together (although it isn't actually set there.)  Some of the characters are based on people I observed while I lived there, not necessarily their real stories, but from making observations and visiting various places which I was familiar with was able to develop some of the characters and stories. Much as in the style of a soap, but I hope I am able to get away from the somewhat stifling restrictions which the average television soap has, such as the same old recycled story lines and the fact that the stock characters only live within such a restricted setting (i.e. a street, square or village such as Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale.) Some of the stories over-lap and characters cross between the various story elements. I had intended to have a single day as the time-frame, but having got so far with the project it seems that this will be too restricting and it now seems to cover a far longer time frame. As it has developed I am really surprised how the characters individual stories have grown and extended far beyond what I had at first envisioned and I'm more than pleased by how it has gone.

Working In Theatre- Part 6

 I remember John Mortimer arriving at the rehearsal studio and some days bringing in completely new scenes he had only just written. It seems that when the play started rehearsals that it wasn't complete, hence the new scenes as well as some scenes being completely rewritten. It must have been quite stressful for the actors involved as it would have meant new lines to be learned.

I went with the designer of the show on a prop-buying expection in central London. We went to a variety of prop hire companies and even into Television Centre in Shepherd's Bush. It was quite an experience for a rather 'green' youngster at the time to be going into this famous building, and particularly into areas that you wouldn't probably get access if you didn't know a member of staff there, as he obviously was. We went into the B.B.C. club, the staff-only bar and restaurant and design department. All of this is now closed down as the B.B.C. vacated the building earlier this year. 

"A Voyage Round My Father" was due to start it's run with a Press Night, as most new plays do. It was a World Premier, so there would have been a lot of interest. We did a technical rehearsal, but the set would not work.  It took something like four nights for the show to be 'got in' to being something like ready for a technical rehearsal. I had been detailed for something  like two nights to look after the technicians from the company who supplied the equipment that worked the set to make them tea and generally keep them supplied with food, sandwiches etc, in a vain attempt to get the set working so that the show could proceed to it's Opening Night. But, after a great deal of effort it was decided during the Technical rehearsal, that the set wasn't going to work as planned and the scene changes would have to be done  another way without the 'forms' moving up and down stage and spinning round on their axes. We had to bring furniture and other pieces of scenery on in full view of the audience with the projections set to be projected onto the stationary 'forms.' The revolving section worked well enough to be used as planned.

During one of the performances the lighting was being re-designed as the show went along, not something that is usual in any show. One performance was extra special, as we had Royalty in the audience. Princess Margaret and Lord Snowden came to this particular performance and there was a great buzz around the theatre as at first it wasn't clear who the 'royal personage' was. Special arrangements were made to the restaurant in the theatre with a screened-off area for them to sit and have their meal. I believe that they came up the river from central London and came to the theatre from the river-side, but I can't be sure now. So, I can say that I have appeared on stage 'before royalty' even though I was only pushing a piece of scenery on stage!

I would imagine that "A Voyage Round My Father" was eventually going to transfer into the West End. It wasn't clear one way or the other, but it would have been great if it had and all those who had worked on it in Greenwich had gone with it,  including myself, but it didn't have a West End transfer. We were visited by several prominent actors who would have been cast as the central character of the father, such as Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave and Alex Guinness. I believe that Alex Guiness did eventually play the part in the West End and Laurence Olivier was in a brand new television version which was made by Thames Television. I do remember Olivier coming backstage having seen a performance. The play has since been revived more recently, with Derek Jacobi in the role of the father and staged at the Donmar Warehouse.

During this period there were many strikes, it was during the 'Winter of Discontent' of the 1970's, and at one point there were many different groups of workers on strike, particularly dustmen, and I recall seeing piles of rubbish along the side of streets in London due to this strike, rubbish which hadn't been collected due to these strikes. Also, power workers went on strike and there were a lot of power cuts. As a result, places such as theatres were not considered important enough to have electricity and some were closed early to preserve electricity. Also, lights in shops were turned off early in the evening. It was at this time that Greenwich Theatre installed a generator to provide power to light the stage lighting and emergency lighting and so allowing performances to continue uninterrupted. One performance was, though, underway, when there was a powercut.  This must have been before the generator was installed. The actors continued, presumably expecting the electricity to be restored, but it didn't come on, and the audience seemed to enjoy the performance, and it must have been rather like experiencing a live radio play. Quite amazing, and brilliant that the actors managed to continue in the dark!

During this time I had an interview at R.A.D.A. (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) to join their stage management course. I didn't get accepted. They said, as I was already working in theatre, there wasn't much they could teach me that I didn't already know. I don't know, on reflection, whether it would have made any difference to me, but as I had got around three years of experience behind me, I'm not sure whether I would have benefitted.

Working In Theatre- Part 5

I'm moving ahead somewhat in time to late 1970. I got a job as A.S.M. at Greenwich Theatre. I had kept the impetus going with work, even when one job came to an end and I was out of work. I wrote a lot of letters to various companies across the United Kingdom and I got the Greenwich job because a cousin on my father's side of the family had come to stay and mentioned Greenwich Theatre to me as she lived in that part of London, Eltham if my memory serves. I think Greenwich Theatre had only recently opened, but I'm not sure.  I wrote a letter to the theatre and lo and behold I got asked for an interview as they had a vacancy for an A.S.M. I went for an interview and was offered the job. I lived with my cousin Helen at her flat in Eltham, which was fortunate.

The show that was running, if I remember, when I went for my interview, was a play called "The Servants and The Snow" by Iris Murdoch (not related, as far as I know, but I suppose if you have the same surname as someone you are bound to have a common ancestor, the same way that Rupert Murdoch must be related to me somewhere along the line.) It might have been in rehearsal, as I think I saw them rehearsing on the stage when I went for my interview. Some of this is all a bit vague as my memory isn't too clear. Well, it was over forty years ago.

I started there working on a show called "Down The Arches" which was a sort of musical documentary about the building and opening of the London to Greenwich railway. It had Derek Griffiths in it, who is perhaps best know as one of the presenters on "Play School," the children's show that ran for years and was probably one of the first programmes on air when BBC2 opened in 1964. I remember he did an extremely good mime during this show. I was involved with the lighting, sitting in the control box at the rear of the auditorium and helping to set up the lighting cues on a very complex lighting board. Nowadays I expect this would be all computerised, you no doubt just press a few keys and the lighting changes are done automatically, fades and all, but in those days there were no such luxurys and it took about three of us to set these lighting cues up quickly enough before the next cue came from the prompt corner.

Then the next show in was "A Voyage Round My Father" by John Mortimer. This had started life as a BBC production, one of the Plays of Today single dramas on BBC 1. It may or may not have been done on radio, but I'm not sure of that. It had the same director as the original television production, Claude Watham, and the designer had worked on this, but I can't remember his name. It had David Wood, Mark Dignam and Trevor Bannister in it. He went on to play Mr Lucas in the BBC sitcom "Are You Being Served?"
The set for this show was rather complex. To allow for quick scene changes, part of the set was a revolve at one side of the stage. The remainder of the set consisted of several large multi-sided 'forms', for want of a better word, which were supposed to be winched up and down stage to make more 'scenes' and then projectors where used to project photographs onto the sides of these 'forms' so you could have a scene in a park or garden with projected flowers, trees etc or an interior of, say, a courtroom with wood panelling as you'd get in a courtroom or buildings for streets for an exterior. This might have seemed a really good way to stage the play ON PAPER, but once it had been constructed it wasn't going to work as expected. A false floor had been built over the actual stage floor, to allow special track to be laid, so the 'forms' could run along the false floor and cabling that pulled the shapes up and down stage with the added complication of motors inside these shapes so they could revolve at the same time as moving up or down stage. I hope all this makes sense. It might sound complex, but it is quite difficult to explain.