The Ambassador Theatre Group HOTLIST! English style icons North West escapes Young directors Mesmerising Mark Rylance Haunted House Ghost Stories at the Duke of York’s Fat suit and falsies Brian Conley in Hairspray King of Comedy Marcus Brigstocke AmbassadorTickets.com Summer 2010 Things to do, people to see
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AmbassadorTickets.comSummer 2010 Things to do, people to see
The Ambassador Theatre Group
HOTLIST!English style icons
North West escapesYoung directors
MesmerisingMark Rylance
Haunted HouseGhost Stories
at the Duke of York’s
Fat suit and falsies
Brian Conley in Hairspray
King of Comedy
MarcusBrigstocke
AmbassadorTickets.comSummer 2010 Things to do, people to see
ATG Magazine 29 2/6/10 13:47 Page 2
Liverpool’s Albert Dock
showcases the best of the city
in a World Heritage, waterfront
setting. Wonder at the world’s
finest contemporary art at the
Liverpool Tate and relive the
glory days of The Fab Four
at The Beatles Story.
albertdock.com
of the6best
▲
The Harbourmaster Hotel,
Aberaeron is the ultimate in
seaside chic- stunning views, stylish
rooms and amazing seafood - the
perfect summer getaway. For more
information call 01545 570 755 or
visit harbour-master.com
‘Lovingly ripped off‘
from the 1975 film
Monty Python and
the Holy Grail, ATG’s
new production of
Spamalot stars Jodie
Prenger, Marcus
Brigstocke and
Todd Carty. Book
at Ambassador
Tickets.com
Indulgent little
chocolate cakes
on sticks, which
are as scrummy
as they are cute!
popbakery.co.uk
A magical day out for all the
family, Puzzlewood is an
enchanting, meandering ancient
woodland of fantastic tree and
rock formations located in the
beautiful and historic Forest
of Dean. Call 01594 833187
for more information.
Expect a right carry
on when British icon
and national treasure Barbara
Windsor appears as Fairy
Bowbells in Dick Whittington
at the Bristol Hippodrome
this Christmas, her first panto
in fifteen years! Online booking
bristolhippodrome.org.uk
▲
▲▲
▲
▲
ATG Magazine 29 2/6/10 12:43 Page 3
The views expressed in this magazine are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Ambassador Theatre Group Ltd.
AMBASSADOR THEATRE GROUP REGIONAL THEATRESAylesbury Waterside Theatre 0844 8717 607 Theatre Royal Brighton 0844 8717 650 Churchill Theatre Bromley 0844 8717 620Kings Theatre Glasgow 0844 8717 648 Theatre Royal Glasgow 0844 8717 647 Milton Keynes Theatre 0844 8717 652Richmond Theatre 0844 8717 651 Regent Theatre & Victoria Hall Stoke-on-Trent 0844 8717 649New Wimbledon Theatre & New Wimbledon Studio 0844 8717 646 Ambassadors Cinemas Woking 0844 8717 643New Victoria Theatre & Rhoda McGaw Theatre Woking 0844 8717 645Online booking at AmbassadorTickets.com
Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham 0844 847 2293 Bristol Hippodrome 0844 847 2341 Edinburgh Playhouse 0844 847 1661Leas Cliff Hall Folkestone 0844 847 1776 Grimsby Auditorium 0844 847 2426 Empire Theatre Liverpool 0844 847 2525Palace Theatre & Opera House Manchester 0844 847 2484 New Theatre Oxford 0844 847 1588 Southport Theatre and Convention Centre 0844 847 2321 Sunderland Empire 0844 847 2499 Princess Theatre Torquay 0844 847 2315York Grand Opera House 0844 847 2322 Online booking at livenationtheatres.co.uk
Jessamy Hadley EditorPat Westwell, Jasper Rees, Al Senter, Mark Shenton, Becky Martin, David Bradbury, Mia Flodquist, Neena Dhillon,Ben Prudhoe, Barry Grant ContributorsShaun Webb Design Design and Art Direction John Good Print
The Ambassador Theatre Group Ltd 39 - 41 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H OAR
An Extraordinary Story 1The remarkable rise of theAmbassador Theatre Group
You’ve Got Grail 3A knight to remember with Marcus Brigstocke
A Mark Of Distinction 5Mark Rylance - the toast of the West End
What’s On in London 7
Competition 8In the pink- but is it legal?Legally Blonde
Fright Night 9Ghostly goings on at the Duke of York’s Theatre
Big is Beautiful 11Brian Conley goes up a dress size in Hairspray
One to Watch 13The UK’s newest theatre opens in Aylesbury
Seriously Talented 14Young directors rule in theDonmar Trafalgar season
English Summer 15Quirky Brit chic
Northern Delights 17Cosmopolitan, chic, surprising -visit Manchester and Liverpoolfor a very different day out
ATG Magazine 29 2/6/10 12:43 Page 4
1
is always the thing of course,
but if the audience get the sense
that the people behind the stage
are not that interested in it, then
it really takes the shine off the
evening. It does matter who
runs the show.
The HistoryThe resonance that this approach
has with audiences can be seen
as the Ambassador Theatre
Group takes on 15 additional
theatres across the UK, bringing
the Group’s network to a total of
38 (39 with the opening of the
new Aylesbury Waterside Theatre
in October). It includes historic
theatres in the West End like the
Apollo Victoria, Comedy, Duke
of York’s, Lyceum and Savoy, as
well as the landmark venues of
Britain’s touring circuit, including
the big auditoria in Edinburgh,
Bristol and Manchester, and
thriving theatres from Brighton
to Glasgow. These venues are
the cornerstones of Britain’s
theatregoing, and their coming
together marks the latest chapter
in ATG’s extraordinary story. Only
18 years ago, this great British
theatre group contained just
one theatre.
The driving forces behind
ATG are its co-founders, Howard
Panter and Rosemary Squire.
In 1992, the husband and wife
team, backed by a group of
friends and enthusiasts, bought
the Duke of York’s Theatre in
London’s West End. Panter and
Squire were soon involved in
the development of a new
entertainment centre in Woking
(which included the landmark
New Victoria Theatre), and
continued through the 1990s to
launch more regional theatres in
partnership with trusts and local
authorities. As the Millennium
began, ATG grew once more,
taking on seven West End
theatres and a number of
regional venues, and this was
the period where the ATG
philosophy, born in cramped
offices above the stage of the
Duke of York’s, began to
influence theatre on a national
scale. 2010 brings the story up
to date, with theatres previously
managed by the Live Nation
group passing to ATG.
The DifferenceAs new venues join the group,
audiences will have the chance
to experience theatre as ATG
believes it should be delivered.
From later this year that
experience could reach millions
An Extraordinary StoryExciting times for theatre lovers as the Ambassador Theatre Group expands across the UK
Feature
There are moments in theatre
when everything seems to come
together at the right time. A
thousand people in one place
hear and see something special,
together. You could describe it as
a magical experience: it’s hard to
think of a better description for
it. But like most magic, there is a
trick to it, and it’s a method that
has been learned by generation
after generation of theatre
managers.
Here’s the secret. It isn’t that
complicated. It’s a combination
of three ingredients: a good
show, attention to what the
audience needs, and a passion
for theatre.
That last ingredient is vital.
It has to be a labour of love. If
that passion is not there: well,
audiences can just tell. The play
Wicked
ATG Magazine 29 2/6/10 12:43 Page 5
of people across the UK, offering
great quality shows, more choice,
and a special attention to detail.
If you are part of one of these
audiences, you will notice the
difference: you can sense the
excitement ATG still feels about
putting on a show.
For an idea of what we might
be watching, look at some
recent productions. Guys and
Dolls started in the West End
with leads like Ewan McGregor,
Patrick Swayze, and Don
Johnson, before touring ATG
venues across the country. Big
shows like West Side Story, The
Rocky Horror Show and Matthew
Bourne’s Nutcracker! followed
a similar pattern. Disney’s Lion
King, the phenomenal Wicked,
Grease and Legally Blonde
currently play at ATG theatres
transformation in ATG,’ says
Squire ‘both companies had real
strengths but together we have
something very special indeed.’
ATG’s story has only been
possible because audiences enjoy
the Group’s approach. Great
shows, great theatres, and a little
bit of magic - this is still what we
want from theatregoing, and the
success of ATG is evidence that
theatre in Britain has a very
strong pulse indeed.
Legally Blonde
Images top l-r
Edinburgh Playhouse
Milton Keynes Theatre
Lyceum Theatre
Bristol Hippodrome
in London; Spamalot and We Will
Rock You are on tour or about to
take off. Meanwhile, the Donmar
Warehouse and Trafalgar Studios
provide brilliant settings for
a diverse range of theatre,
offering audiences inspiration
and challenging ideas. Sonia
Friedman Productions, as part
of ATG, has presented over 85
new productions since 1990,
including Boeing Boeing, Pinter’s
No Man’s Land with Michael
Gambon and David Walliams,
and Patrick Marber’s Dealer’s
Choice. Friedman is recognised
as a convention-breaking
producer in a West End where
risks are never easy to take.
Audiences in ChargeTheatre management is the
power behind the stage, but
every management company
knows that it is really the
audience who is in charge.
Audiences vote with their feet.
They want a theatre experience
that shows flair and attention
to detail, and when this is
supplied by a British company,
responding to an enormous
British audience, then we can
say that this is a very exciting
time for British theatre.
‘I’m delighted by the
A showstoppingperformance!Congratulations to the
Theatre Royal Brighton.
Part of the Ambassador
Theatre Group, it has
just been named
Most Welcoming Theatre
at the TMA Theatre
and Management Awards
for its exceptional levels
of customer service.
ATG Magazine 29 2/6/10 12:44 Page 6
3
Marcus Brigstocke in a musical?
You won’t have been the only
one wondering how this
happened. Brigstocke is the
closest we have these days to a
political satirist on the stand-up
circuit. But his government-
bashing on Radio 4’s The Now
Show and his environmentally
friendly comedy routines about
saving the planet are suspended
forthwith while he takes the
part of King Arthur in Spamalot.
Even Brigstocke was a bit
surprised when he heard the
producers were considering
him. ‘I actually ignored it
because I thought it was a rather
preposterous notion, and then
it came through the official
channels.’ But exactly how
preposterous is it? The role
has been filled before by
consummate actor/singers - Tim
Curry and Simon Russell Beale.
And here’s a man who really
knows his comedy. He can also
act: he got good reviews for his
ne’er-do-well Charles Surface in
the all-comedians production of
The School for Scandal at last
year’s Edinburgh Festival. But
not a lot of people know that
he has danced for money. ‘I was
a podium dancer for a couple
of years,’ he confesses. ‘I worked
as a dancer who would get up
during club night to get the
crowd going. It was a long, long
time ago in fairness. What can
I say? When I throw shapes
people watch. I wasn’t in a
thong,’ he adds.
He wasn’t in chainmail either.
Spamalot’s allure for any
comedian, of course, is the
hallowed aura of Monty Python.
‘This is really really cool for me,’
You’ve Got GrailMarcus Brigstocke on his SPAM-tastic new role as King Arthur
Interview
Interview by
Jasper Rees
Photography by
Eric Richmond
ATG Magazine 29 2/6/10 12:44 Page 7
he says. You wouldn’t think it to
listen to him inveighing against
Tony Blair and Jeremy Clarkson
(‘the man is not just an idiot but
he’s deliberately being an idiot’) -
but Brigstocke is a snug fit for
another reason. Thanks to the
shows his parents took him to
as a boy, he is a closet devotee
of musical theatre.
‘We were definitely up the
Lloyd Webber end rather than
the Sondheim end. When
Starlight Express opened I
couldn’t believe it. These people
were singing and on roller-
skates? I had ambitions for a very
long time to be Greaseball. Then
I saw Les Mis. Javert and Jean
Valjean are two of the best
characters I’ve seen onstage
in anything ever.’
So it’s in the blood. Before
he went to Bristol University
Brigstocke was even planning
to be an actor. On the grounds
that he was funny, a friend
booked him in to do a comedy
slot in a Kiss FM stand-up
competition. ‘The first half they
sat in pitying silence. I had a
rubber chicken concealed in my
suit. And I did props gags, all of
which were awful. Once I’d used
up all the props and started
talking, then people laughed. I
went, ‘You’re seriously telling me
people will just pay you for this?
I’m set. I’m done. That’s it. This is
all I want to do.’
He did huge amounts of
comedy at university and then
entered the profession. On the
club circuit he worked his way
up to a point where people were
refusing to follow him. ‘Other
comics would go, ‘F***ing hell,
I don’t want to go on after
Brigstocke.’ Which is where you
want to get to. You want to be
unfollowable, because you’re so
good. But I kept coming offstage
and couldn’t understand why I
felt empty. And then the build-
up to the Iraq war began to gain
momentum and I found that I
cared very very much about what
was happening. It was the first
time that something I felt so
passionately about just came
onstage with me anyway.’
4
‘ I was a podium dancerfor a couple of years...what can I say? WhenI throw shapes, peoplewatch. I wasn’t ina thong... ’
Birmingham Alexandra*7 December - 1 JanuaryBox Office 0844 847 2302
Aylesbury Waterside Theatre28 March - 2 April 2011Box Office 0844 871 7607
Full casting details and online booking atAmbassadorTickets.com
*Online booking atlivenationtheatres.co.uk
Jodie Prenger, Todd Carty
and Marcus Brigstocke
ATG Magazine 29 2/6/10 12:45 Page 8
5
It would be understandable if
actor Mark Rylance had chosen
to rest on his considerable laurels
for the remainder of 2010. He
has, after all, presented the
London theatre with two thick
slices of his mesmerising, award-
winning Johnny Byron in Jez
Butterworth’s Jerusalem, with
a season of Beckett’s Endgame
at the Duchess as the meat in
the sandwich. Not a bit of it...
At the time of writing he was
admittedly allowing himself a
few days R & R on a fishing
expedition with Butterworth.
‘Catch a brown trout?
I’m not too hopeful’ before
hunkering down to play yet
another monster part in the
eagerly-awaited revival of David
Hirson’s La Bête at the Comedy.
Set in Provence in 1654 and
written in rhyming couplets,
the play tracks down Elomire,
a thinly disguised Molière, as
he leads his troupe of strolling
players through the length
Interview
Interview by
Al Senter
Photography by
Shaun Webb and
courtesy of Rex features
A MarkofDistinctionThe La Bête star talks tribes, trout & turning 50
ATG Magazine 29 2/6/10 12:45 Page 9
and breadth of France. Into this
high-minded ambience flounces
Valere (Rylance), a vulgar
mountebank from the streets,
whose populist instincts and
unashamed showmanship
threaten to undermine both
Elomire’s aesthetic and his status
within the company.
‘I loved the boldness of the
writing and I’ve always been
interested in one of the main
themes of the play - the
relationship between popular
culture and sophisticated art’
explains Rylance. ‘Valere
represents the first tradition
while Elomire embodies the
second. What would I call
myself? A bit of both perhaps.’
Although he has just passed
his fiftieth birthday, there is still
something of the wiry boy about
Rylance, now passionate, now
bashful. Though born in Kent,
Rylance spent his formative years
in the American Mid-West where
his father had taken up a
teaching post, and this may have
reinforced the sense that he is
something of an outsider in the
clubby world of British theatre.
He is certainly not afraid to voice
unpopular or alternative
opinions and he had to battle
during the first few years of his
tenure as Artistic Director of
Shakespeare’s Globe against
establishment prejudice that
the venue was more theme park
than theatre. Rylance is a highly
individual thinker, attracted by
ideas and issues far beyond the
confines of the Stage Door. Is
he concerned about being
labelled an oddball or an
eccentric by a sceptical media?
‘I do care what the world
thinks. I’m not a missionary: I’m
a simple, sincere, honest person.’
says Rylance. ‘I’ve just been
appointed an ambassador for
Survival International, which
campaigns for the rights of tribal
people to maintain their own
way of life. I’ve always been
interested in tribal societies. As
a boy, I remember reading about
Sitting Bull and Geronimo and
being absolutely fascinated by
them. Indigenous people have
a number of abilities which it is
hard for us to find in our culture
yet so many of them are in grave
danger of extinction.’
In a career that has been
mainly devoted to the theatre,
Rylance has made periodic, much
praised appearances on screen,
as if their very rarity enhances
their worth in the eyes of the
critics. His playing of the ill-fated
Dr. David Kelly, tragically caught
up in the wheels of the Iraq
Enquiry, won him a BAFTA
Award. Yet he reveals that he
has just dispensed with the
services of his agents, reasoning
that they are geared to the more
lucrative opportunities in film
and television whereas Rylance’s
sights are set exclusively on the
theatre. Reaching his half-
century in January has had a
bearing on his decision.
‘Now that I’m fifty, I can look
ahead and hope that I might
have another twenty-five years
of work in me, provided I’m
lucky with my fitness and my
memory doesn’t go. So time is
precious. I came to England to
be a theatre actor and it would
be silly for me not to use what I
have to offer. When I’m working,
the question I ask myself day-to-
day and minute-by-minute is
simple. Am I enjoying myself? Of
course, I’m pleased to have made
some good films but film doesn’t
interest me ultimately and I
don’t find the process of making
a film satisfying. Doing a play,
on the other hand, creates a
sense of community, especially
when you’re in a long run. You
live together in a particular
place, you share in each other’s
lives and by doing the play every
night, you develop deep and
valuable relationships with your
fellow performers.’
Rylance may downplay his
angling skills but it seems likely,
for the next twenty-five years at
least, that he’ll continue to land
some of the most formidable
catches in the theatre and
audiences and critics alike will
eagerly take the bait. Not even
Moby Dick himself, you think,
could resist a lure from this
latter-day Captain Ahab. 6
Comedy Theatre, London
La BêteStarring Joanna Lumley,Mark Rylance and DavidHyde Pierce 26 June - 4 September 2010Box Office 0844 871 7622Online booking atAmbassadorTickets.com
‘I came to England to be a theatre actor and it would be silly for me not to use what I have to offer. When I’m working, the question I ask myself day-to-day and minute-by-minute is simple. Am I enjoyingmyself?’
Mark Rylance in Jez
Butterworth’s Jerusalem
David Hyde Pierce
Joanna Lumley
ATG Magazine 29 2/6/10 12:45 Page 10
What’s On
7 Book your tickets online at AmbassadorTickets.com
What’s On
APOLLO VICTORIA 0844 871 7615
WickedThe untold story of the Witches of OzWinner of Most Popular ShowLaurence Olivier Awards 2010
PHOENIX THEATRE 0844 871 7629Willy Russell’s
Blood Brothers‘Brings the audience to its feet androaring its approval’ Daily Mirror
COMEDY THEATRE 0844 871 7622
La BêteFrom 26 June10 week only pre-Broadway runStarring Mark Rylance, David HydePierce and Joanna Lumley
COMEDY THEATRE 0844 871 7622
BirdsongFrom 18 SeptemberRachel Wagstaff’s adaptation ofSebastien Faulk’s modern classic.Directed by Trevor Nunn
DONMAR WAREHOUSE 0844 871 7624Heinrich von Kleist’s
The Prince of HomburgStarring Charlie Cox and IanMcDiarmid
DUKE OF YORK’S THEATRE 0844 871 7623
Ghost StoriesDirect from the sell-out run at theLyric Hammersmith‘Brilliant and deeply unsettling’Daily Telegraph
FORTUNE THEATRE 0844 871 7626
The Woman in BlackFrom the novel by Susan Hill‘A truly nerve-shreddingexperience’ Daily Mail
LYCEUM THEATRE 0844 871 7615Disney’s
The Lion KingThe award winning musical‘For once a mega-musical lives upto the hype; this is a dazzling show’ Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph
★★★★‘A pant-wetter of a night. It’s terrifying’Daily Mail
★★★★‘I had to sleep with the lights on.A top night out’Metro
ATG Magazine 29 2/6/10 12:47 Page 14
11
They always say that you can’t
teach an old dog new tricks, but
it seems that it’s never too late
to learn new skills if you’re one
of Britain’s most popular stage
and television entertainers. The
perennially youthful and ever-
jovial Brian Conley is facing a
new and welcome challenge:
‘I’d never played an 18-stone
woman from Baltimore before!’,
he says, until he inherited the
role of Edna Turnblad from
Michael Ball in the original West
End production of Hairspray.
Both Michael and Brian are
now sharing the role on the new
national tour of the show with
Michael Starke, and Brian says of
his West End predecessor: ‘They
are great shoes to fill - but he’s
been very charming, and given
me advice’. It’s not the first time
he’s followed where Ball has led:
he also inherited the role of
Caractacus Potts in the stage
version of Chitty Chitty Bang
Bang at the London Palladium.
‘Whatever Michael does, I tend
to follow him,’ he quips. ‘But
he never took over from me in
Jolson!’ That was the title part
that Conley originated in the
West End in 1995, and
subsequently took to Toronto,
and he says, ‘That show turned
it all around for me, without
a doubt. Up until then, I was
always zany comedian Brian
Conley; but once I did that,
perceptions changed. One review
said, I came to wince and I stayed
to cheer; that pretty much
summed it up.’
For Conley, a star of TV light
entertainment who started his
career as warm-up man for the
likes of Terry Wogan, Noel
Big is BeautifulBrian Conley goes large in Hairspray
Interview
Interview by
Mark Shenton
Photography by
Hugo Glendinning &
Tristram Kenton
ATG Magazine 29 2/6/10 12:47 Page 15
Edmonds and Kenny Everett,
the label has been hard to shake
off, especially in terms of being
taken more seriously. ‘I’ve been
in the game a long time. My
initial shot to fame was in my
early 20s and people still
remember that; they’re afraid
that the Butlin’s Blue Coat is
always going to come out. I
always tell them, ‘yes, I was
a Blue Coat, but it was thirty
years ago, and I only did it for
3 months’ - and I’ve moved on!’
But not in every way: he’s
particularly pleased to be back
onstage singing for a living,
which is how he began his career
in nightclubs. ‘I always say I was
born to sing - everything else I
learnt. The comedy came later,
when I was about 18 or 19.’
He’s proud of the fact that he’s
recorded three albums now -
‘they’ve always gone cardboard,’
he quips, and adds, ‘the next
one I’m going to call the Beatles
Greatest Hits - I think that might
do well. But unfortunately I
am in my box, which is comedy.
People are always surprised
when they come to see me
live, and say I had no idea
you could sing’.
It has equipped him well
though, for a career in West
End musicals. He did his first
one in 1992 when he took
over in Me and My Girl,
playing a cockney barrow
boy - ‘so it wasn’t much of a
push, really’, he points out.
‘They said I was born to play it;
but then everything I have done
since they’ve said the same
thing about, too. So it has been
interesting to see whether they
think that of Edna!’
On the one hand, it’s a role
that, as a family man, he readily
identifies with. It was in fact as
a family treat last Christmas
that he first saw the show. ‘My
kids - Lucy and Amy - are huge
fans of it, so I came with them.
I sat there and just loved it. But
I never thought in my wildest
dreams that I would be taking
over from Michael.’
But then his career never has
been minutely mapped out. ‘I
don’t think it can be. Things
just come about; I put it down
to fate. I was doing a show
called The Best of Brian
Conley, a live theatre
show in which we
played some of the
classic moments from my
35 years in the business, and it
worked a treat. Then suddenly
the phone call came to see if I’d
like to audition for this, and then
there I was, kissing Nigel Planer
onstage!’ (Planer played Edna’s
husband Wilbur, reuniting the
two from a TV series, The
Grimleys, they once starred
in together).
The hardest part of the job
isn’t the fat suit that he has to
wear to bring him up to size -
‘I’m coping with that, but the
one thing that doesn’t sit right is
the false eyelashes! It’s a bit like
having a couple of boxing gloves
above your eyes. But I’m sure I’ll
get used to it eventually.’ But
one place he is more than used
to is being onstage: ‘I love it
there. I remember Jim Davidson
saying to me once, ‘you’ll always
work, Brian, because everyone
knows you’re good live’. I love
taking the audience somewhere
and blowing them away.’ He
never gives less than his all:
‘Every performance is 110% - I
have to! It’s just my job, it’s what
I do - I could never short change
the audience. It’s an obligation.’
12
‘ He’s proud of the fact that he’s recorded three albumsnow - ‘they’ve always gone cardboard,’ he quips, andadds, ‘the next one I’m going to call the BeatlesGreatest Hits - I think that might do well.
Brian Conley
’
Brian Conley
and Nigel Planer
HairsprayManchester Opera House*13 - 31 JulyBox Office 0844 847 2484
Liverpool Empire Theatre*17 August - 4 SeptemberBox Office 0844 847 2525