Two’s Company and Karl Sydow in association with Tilly Films present BODIES by James Saunders programme BODIES by James Saunders POEMS by Ernest Dowson Simpson, an important character in the play - though his name does Cast, in order of appearance: not appear on the cast list - is fascinated by the poets of the “Tragic Generation”. One such is Ernest Dowson, who died in 1900 at the age Anne Annabel Mullion of 32. Helen Alix Dunmore Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat incohare longam David Peter Prentice Mervyn Tim Welton They are not long, the weeping and the laughter, Love and desire and hate: I think they have no portion in us after The play takes place in Anne and Mervyn’s house in Ealing and in David and We pass the gate. Helen’s house in Esher, in 1978 They are not long, the days of wine and roses: Out of a misty dream Director Tricia Thorns Our path emerges for a while, then closes Set Designer Alex Marker Within a dream. Costume Designer Emily Stuart Lighting Designer Neill Brinkworth Extract from Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae Sound Designer Dominic Bilkey Stage Manager/Operator Remi Bruno Smith I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind, Stage Manager - Backstage Lauren Burns Flung roses, roses riotously with the throng, Dancing, to put thy pale, lost lilies out of mind; Assistant Costume Supervisor Eleanor Tipler But I was desolate and sick of an old passion, Production photography Philip Gammon Yea, all the time, because the dance was long: Press Anne Mayer (020 3659 8482) I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion. Marketing Beth Kitchen, Target Live I cried for madder music and for stronger wine, Poster & programme design Jon Bradfield But when the feast is finished and the lamps expire, Producer Graham Cowley Then falls thy shadow, Cynara! the night is thine; And I am desolate and sick of an old passion, Our grateful thanks to: Rosalind and Duncan Coombe for tables and continued support; Yea, hungry for the lips of my desire: Annabel Mullion for wallpaper; Sam Walters MBE; Abigail Thaw; Ian and Jane Jones for I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion. their upholstery skills; Guy Chapman for extra marketing help; Out of Joint for rehearsal space; Dawn Taylor, Faiza Mwangola and St Barnabas Church, Dulwich; Court Houston, Anjali Karadia, Fengfan Zhou for help with set building and painting; The Students of the Kingston College BTEC Extended Diploma in Production Arts; The Questors Theatre Particular thanks to those who have contributed to the costs of this production. Bodies is Ealing. generously supported by The Boris Karloff Charitable Foundation, the Foyle Foundation, the John S. Cohen Foundation, Ray Cooney Plays and the Royal Victoria Hall Foundation. Lighting and other equipment supplied by DCLX - www.dclx.co.uk BODIES was originally commissioned by the Richmond Fringe Theatre at the Orange Tree (London, England) who presented the world premiere on 28th April 1977. The THERAPY As now, many people in the 1970s were looking for another way of living, of escaping from the personal boundaries they found themselves hemmed in by. Today the vogue term is “mindfulness”. Throughout the 20th century there were many attempts to delve into the human psyche and find the meaning of life – from Freud and Jung to Reich and Laing, all referred to in the play. The 1960s and 1970s were decades during which there was a proliferation of social movements and new religions of various kinds for people who wished to look further than Buddhism or Christianity. There were New Age movements, quasi-religious therapies and corporations, a diverse array of intentional communities and a host of political movements. Among these, another way emerged in San Francisco – “EST”. Erhard Seminars Training was an organisation founded by Werner Erhard James SAUNDERS in 1971 that offered a two-weekend course aiming “to transform one’s James Saunders (1925-2004) was born in Islington. Educated at Wembley ability to experience living so that the situations one had been trying to County School and Southampton University, he became a chemistry change clear up just in the process of life itself”. tutor by day and a playwright by night, until devoting all his time to Training sessions lasted from 9:00 a.m. to midnight, with one meal break. writing. He received an Arts Council playwright's bursary for The Ark Participants had to hand over wristwatches and were not allowed to take in 1960, and became a full-time playwright in 1964. His early plays led notes, or to speak unless called upon, or to leave the room, even for a him to be considered one of the main British exponents of the Theatre bathroom break. of the Absurd. Later works continued to explore the limits of traditional theatre. He wrote over 70 plays in all, for theatre, radio and television. The training itself proved emotionally painful for many, involving being publicly insulted and shouted at by the trainers, in front of some 200 Next Time I'll Sing To You ran at the Criterion Theatre 1962-63, winning others, though many participants experienced powerful results: some for him an Evening Standard award for Most Promising Playwright (1963) found their relationships with families and their work, as well as how they since when his plays enjoyed success both in the West End and with viewed themselves, dramatically transformed. It also provoked a great theatre clubs in the UK and abroad. A Scent Of Flowers was staged at deal of scepticism. EST graduates were offered money if they could the Duke of York's in 1964, The Travails Of Sancho Panza at the National recruit others. It was accused of mind control and labelled a cult by some Theatre in 1969, and Bodies at Hampstead and subsequently at the critics. EST training ceased in 1984, though gentler versions of the training Ambassador's Theatre in 1979. Following its Paris production, Fall won the still exist. Molière Award. James Saunders was associated for a number of years with the Questors Theatre in Ealing, but from 1972 on he worked closely with Sam Walters' Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, Surrey. Both Fall and Bodies were commissioned and first staged by the Orange Tree and in 1991 they presented his adaptation of Vaclav Havel's Redevelopment. Retreat (1995), his last play, was premiered by the Orange Tree Company in their new theatre. ALIX DUNMORE ANNABEL MULLION PETER PRENTICE TIM WELTON Trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Trained at University of East Anglia and Trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School Trained at RADA. Central School of Speech and Drama. For Two’s Company: A Day by the Sea, Theatre includes: Afterlife, Les Parents Theatre includes Dancing at Lughnasa Winner of the Carlton Hobbs Radio award The Fifth Column and What The Women Terribles and Sweeney Todd (National (Garrick, West End), Light Shining in Did (Southwark Playhouse), London Wall Theatre includes: The Three Stages of Yeats Theatre), The Wood Demon and Call of Buckinghamshire (National Theatre), (Finborough and St James Theatres). and James Joyce’s The Dead (Dead Poets the Wild (National Theatre Studio), My Fair The People Downstairs (Young Vic), Live at the Coronet Theatre), The Rivals and Lady (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), The Best Measure for Measure (Barbican Theatre Other theatre includes: King Kong, A Coyote Ugly (Royal Exchange Manchester), Man (Playhouse Theatre), Titanic (Charing and International Tour), Bouncers, Closer, Comedy and A Christmas Carol (Vaults); An Inspector Calls (Gielgud, West End), The Cross Theatre), The Sound of Music, Getting The Three Musketeers (York Theatre Royal), Ben Hur (Tricycle Theatre), The 39 Steps White Carnation (Jermyn Street Theatre), On and Enjoy (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Overboard, All In the Wrong, Macbeth (Criterion, West End), Gaslight (New Vic, Love in Idleness (Apollo, West End). Jesus Christ Superstar (European Tour), The (Orange Tree Theatre), Romeo and Juliet Newcastle-Under-Lyme), Top Girls (Out Comedy of Errors and Romeo and Juliet (Leicester Haymarket), A Family Affair, Mad of Joint), The Dead Guy (English Theatre Television: A Confession, Women on the (Stafford Festival Theatre),The Talented World My Masters (Wolsey Theatre), Tons Frankfurt), Nature Adores a Vacuum (Soho Verge, Patrick Melrose, Victoria, Doll & Em, Mr. Ripley and An Inspector Calls (Dukes of Money, Return of the Native, The Winslow Theatre), Separate Tables (Mill at Sonning), Lucan, Law and Order, Poirot, Lewis, Holby Theatre), Aspects of Love (Wolsey Theatre, Boy (Mercury Theatre), Twelfth Night, Good A Winter of War (Cheltenham Everyman), City, Emma, Wallander, An Accident Waiting Ipswich), Eyam (Bridewell Theatre), The Golly Miss Molly (New Victoria Theatre). The Two Noble Kinsmen (Bristol Old Vic). to Happen, Trial and Retribution, Midsomer Merry Widow (UK Tour), The Magic Flute, Murders, A Christmas Carol, Dance to the Television: Hit and Run, The Bill and Television: There She Goes, Casualty, (Donmar Warehouse), Don Giovanni and La Music of Time. Aberfan: The Untold Story. Doctors, Call The Midwife. Boheme (European Tours) and The Queen of Film: Final Portrait, Mothers Milk (best Spades and I (New End). Film: Phoenix Blue. Radio: The Simon Day Show, 49 Cedar supporting actress winner, Monaco Film Street. Television: Close to the Enemy, Silent Festival), Me Without You, Carrington, Witness, Doctors and Berkeley Square. Film: London Wall (Master Media) Mission Impossible. Film: Outside, The Magic Key and Jake the Alix is a founder member of the Fitzrovia Exorcist. Radio Hour. The COMPANY TRICIA THORNS Night (Finborough Theatre), My Real War Director 1914 -? (Trafalgar Studios and 2 national tours), The Searcher (Greenwich Theatre), Tricia began her career as an actress in the Ex (Soho Theatre), London Wall (Finborough West End as part of John Neville’s company and transfer to St James Theatre), What at the Fortune, after a Classics BA from the Women Did, The Cutting of the Cloth, Nottingham University.