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Was there anything that stood out for you?
There were all sorts of things that stood out. I was fascinated to see costumes
and I love that they have a little are where you can go and try costumes on.
I think that’s a brilliant idea.
Did you try anything on tonight?
I didn’t try anything on. But I was stood next to Kevin Spacey who nearly got into a Tweedle Dum outfit.
Tell us a little bit about what you had in mind.
Well we wanted something that would do the whole process
from inspiration through to performance and also something that was dynamic
and kind of paid its dues to the people who do the work but also captured that excitement
of being a member of the audience and being a fan.
The show business game is my absolute favourite,
I think it encapsulates the whole process of the gallery. But the fact that it is so of its time it says things like
‘Father forbids theatrical career, go back to the village choir’
It’s the show biz equivalent of Snakes and ladders.
What are the highlights for you?
Well I suppose it’s the way ones memory is jogged,
suddenly seeing one of the Eqqus horses from Peter Shaffers play, the one we did at the Old Vic.
And that was a happy kind of school boy memory suddenly and then seeing Olivier’s costume from Oedipus
which was 1945 I think, which I saw as a school boy.
Really
I think my card would be pretty good about what I’ve seen
and I can only recommend to the public to come and see because it so varies,
so rich, so funny a lot of it.
Have you spotted some highlights?
Well I’m half way around… You know what when you walk in and see that rhinocerous…
she’s just gorgeous isn’t she?
And you know you can get in there and work her ears? Which I’m actually planning to do,
when everyone has gone obviously.
Im incredibly impressed and I think its fantastic the things
that were worn by actors or designed by incredible designers or sets..
that you’ve got some scenic designs back there with models.
Its so important that this stuff be preserved and I cant think of a better place than the V&A.
This stuff is precious. We’ve got a first folio
right there and apparently in the margins, it might be King lear
or the Scottish play but there’s obviously somebody had it on there knee writing during the performance.
The man himself possibly?
Possibly
So any other highlights for you?
There’s an incredible portrait of Richard Burton as Henry V at the Old Vic in the 1950s,
a very special regal painting and just harkens back to a certain style.
Have you spotted anything here that has taken your fancy?
I’m not one for theatricals… anymore (laughs) I did enough of that.
Over there is Goerge Fornby’s ukulele…
I met him, he came to my fathers mess during the war.
Really?
I just told my wife I met him and remember him well.
Was he funny?
Well he was very lively and entertaining and I mean I was very young but I remember the visit.
I’ve just discovered that there’s a poster
of a production my father was in about 25 years ago playing Falstaff in Henry IV Part 1&2
so he’ll be very pleased. Its obviously a brilliant collection (laughs). It’s over there.
In the poster collection.
Yes
so are you in…
well I came to the opening of a theatrical exhibition in a Victorian museum
so I thought I ought to wear a frock coat and a false moustache, it just seemed like the right thing to do.
It doesn’t look false.
Ahh well there you are.
What for you makes performing in the theatre special.
The great thing about theatre from the moment that it started, from the time stories were first told around the first campfire,
is that the act of telling the story brings everyone in the room together.
And that’s what a great theatre experience should do.
When theatre doesn’t work it can be very boring, but when it does work it’s the best thing in the world.
Do you think you can get a good insight into the kind of magic of performance and the theatre in this exhibition?
Yes I think you definitely get a good insight into the things that you wouldn’t know as an audience member.
There’s a brilliant wall they’ve put up where they have theatre slang
and they have things like what ‘ Business’ means when an actor says ‘business’
and it really made me giggle that they defined what stage left meant but not stage right,
which I though was curious, as if there’s no such thing as stage right.
You’ve lost me already…Is stage right, right or left?
Stage left would be right if your looking at it.
And what is the ‘business’?00:05:11.00, ‘Business’ is…it really made me laugh that they put that up there…
business is something you say like, like if you in rehearsal…it’s s daft expression…
If you’re in rehearsal and you sort of go
‘this is a bit of an eggy bit. I’m half way though a speech and I don’t really know what to do with my hands,
can you give me a bit of business with a tea cup?’