Home Chat 29/07/2010 12:13 Page 1
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Aug2010_Home Chat 29/07/2010 12:13 Page 1 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE NOËL COWARD SOCIETY President: HRH The Duke of Kent Vice Presidents: Barry Day OBE • Stephen Fry • Tammy Grimes • Penelope Keith CBE AUGUST 2010 t was with surprise and sadness that the NCS committee Barbara Longford greeted Barbara Longford’s announcement that she wished Ito stand down as its chairman. For all of us Barbara’s name has become synonymous with Brief Encounter the Society and with the enormous programme of activity and events that has marked her hugely successful period as Design For Living Chairman. She has decided to move on to pursue her desire to support the work of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Coward Celebrations Families Association (SSAFA). We wish her well with her new role and commitments and celebrate her contribution to the work of the Society in our centre pages recalling the highlights of her time with us. Warmest thanks from all of us for all the fun, the style and the passion of her contribution to our hero - to: ‘The Mistress’ from all of the lovers of ‘The Master.’ BRIEF ENCOUNTER RETURNS TO BROADWAY A NOËL COWARD SOCIETY EVENING he Roundabout Theatre Company in association with David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers and Cineworld presents T Kneehigh Theatre’s production of Noël Coward’s Brief Encounter adapted by Emma Rice. The production opens at Studio 54 in New York for previews on September 10, 2010. Stephen Greenman and Barbara Longford at Sardi’s in December Following opening on September 28th there will be a limited 2005. Photograph taken and provided by Kathy Williams run through December 5th. For those of you who were not able to see this extraordinary production last year at St. Ann’s Warehouse in DESIGN FOR LIVING Brooklyn, you have another chance. We are happy to be able OPENS OLD VIC NEW SEASON to offer an evening for Society members on Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 8:00 P.M. We have seats in the SOCIETY THEATRE EVENT! orchestra at a discounted rate of $77.00 (regular price is SATURDAY 25 SEPTEMBER $127.00). 2:30pm MATINÉE PERFORMANCE For those wishing to attend, please send a check made payable to Ken Starrett (at $77.00 per ticket) for the number nthony Page will direct Noël Coward’s provocative and of tickets you wish to purchase. unconventional romantic comedy, Design For Living , A for the first time on the London stage in over 15 years. I must receive your check no later than: Coward focuses on three egotistical, beguiling and self- Friday, August 27, 2010. absorbed characters – Gilda, Otto, and Leo – who challenge the moral boundaries of relationships. Anthony Page’s For any questions, please contact: production for The Old Vic will star Tom Burke, Lisa Dillon and Andrew Scott. Design For Living is a co-production with Ken Starrett Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer. Director Anthony Page Noël Coward Society said: “I love this play for the miraculous lightness of the 49 West 68th Street – 1R dialogue which contains a huge range of passions.” New York, NY 10023-5322 SEE Page 16 for arrangements and costs and Tel: 212/877-4259 OUR INSERT FOR FINAL DETAILS OF THIS EVENT... e-mail: [email protected] WHY NOT ASK A FRIEND TO JOIN THE NOËL COWARD SOCIETY? - see Page 16 for details Aug2010_Home Chat 29/07/2010 12:13 Page 2 SIÂN PHILLIPS CBE AT UK FLOWER-LAYING THE UK NOËL COWARD BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS TAKE PLACE ON SATURDAY 11TH DECEMBER his year’s UK celebrations of the Master’s birthday take place as usual at three venues in London’s West End. Our Annual General meeting will take place at T the Noël Coward Theatre (10.15am for 10.45am) moving to the Flower-Laying ceremony at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (11.45am for 12.00 noon) when the distinguished actress Siân Phillips will lay flowers on the statue of Sir Noël Coward, talk about her life in the theatre and meet NCS members. This will be followed by our Annual Lunch that we hope will take place at The Garrick Club where Siân will join us. A passionate lover of music, Siân has recently performed Sunday cabaret dates at Pizza on the Park while also appearing in Calendar Girls in the West End. It was at ‘The Pizza...’ that Barbara Longford invited her to join our annual celebrations. Siân Phillips has worked in every aspect of the theatre and entertainment arts. She started in Wales as a child actress in the theatre and on the radio. In her show at Pizza on the Park her anecdotes on Noël Coward, Dorothy Parker, Beryl Reid and Marlene Dietrich, brought the house down. Siân Phillips She is probably best-known for her role as Livia in the BBC adaptation of Robert Graves' novel, I, Claudius (BBC2, 1976), for which she won the 1977 BAFTA Television Award for Best Actress, and for many appearances on the original run of Call My Bluff . She also appeared opposite Peter O'Toole (to whom she was married in the 1960s) and Richard Burton in Becket (1964); as Ursula Mossbank in the musical film Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) again starring Peter O'Toole; once more opposite O'Toole in Murphy's War (1971); as Emmeline Pankhurst in the TV mini-series Shoulder to Shoulder (1974); as Ann, the unfaithful wife of Alec Guinness's character George Smiley, in the BBC1 espionage dramas Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979) and Smiley's People (1982), adapted from John le Carré's novels of the same names; in Nijinsky (1980); and as the queen Cassiopeia in Clash of the Titans (1981). Another popular role was that of the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam in David Lynch's Dune (1984) and Charal from Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985). Her most recent film is The Gigolos (2006) by Richard Bracewell, in which she plays Lady James. Her West End credits include Pal Joey , Gigi , A Little Night Music , and Marlene , in which she portrayed Marlene Dietrich. She has also appeared on the American stage in Marlene . In June 2000, she was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list. She is also a leading light in ‘Social, Welsh and Sexy’ (SWS), the London-based organisation for Welsh socialites. Siân provided spoken word backing to a track on Rufus Wainwright's 2007 album Release the Stars , and appeared live with him at the Old Vic Theatre in London on 31 May/1 June 2007. Phillips starred in London's West End production of Calendar Girls . Phillips played Juliet opposite Michael Byrne's Romeo in Juliet and her Romeo at the Bristol Old Vic in 2010. Watch out in our October edition for a booking form for the Noël Coward Birthday Events in London’s West End. As usual, members are invited to attend the Annual General Meeting where coffee and refreshments are provided through the courtesy of Cameron Mackintosh and the theatre manager of the Noël Coward Theatre - and then on to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane for the flower-laying followed by drinks in the downstairs bar where Siân will join us to meet members. All of this is provided at no charge to members. The cost of the annual lunch is still being finalised and will be given to members in the next edition of Home Chat in October. The Society does of course welcome the guests of members at its annual lunch. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at some point in the celebrations - please do join us and help celebrate the literary longevity of our hero Siân Phillips in ‘I, Claudius’, ‘Dune’ the quite exceptional writer and performer - the inimitable Sir Noël Coward. and ‘Calendar Girls’. Page 2 Aug2010_Home Chat 29/07/2010 12:13 Page 3 NOTES FROM NEW YORK... KEN STARRETT t is with deep sadness that we report the passing on June 21st theatre presented the American Premiere of Suite in of Noël Coward Society member, Sylvia Schwartz . Hers Three Keys . This production included Shadows of Iwas a life that was rich and full. Professionally she was a The Evening which has rarely been seen since. colleague of the legendary Broadway producer, David Merrick Jerry Vermilye has written 16 books on theatre and film and also spent several years at the William Morris Agency. personalities, such as Audrey Hepburn, Laurence Olivier and She was beloved by many people far and wide in the Ingmar Bergman. All his books, including this latest one on entertainment industry. In her retirement years she avidly the Boothbay Playhouse, are pursued many interests such as frequent travel to far-flung available on amazon.com . places - London, Tokyo, Hong Kong or all across America. Noël Coward Society She belonged to various organizations like the Professional member, Elizabeth League of Theatre Women, The Lamb Clubs, The Sheet Music Sharland will be a Guest Society, The Twelfth Night Club and the Episcopal Actors' Speaker at the English Guild. A hugely enthusiastic member of our Society, she never Speaking Union of New missed an event, and was constantly recruiting new members. York when they hold a Wherever she went she was armed with Society membership launch of her latest book, forms. Her boundless energy, passion and warm friendly Behind The Doors of manner will be greatly missed. Notorious Covent Garden . The book tells SUMMER THEATRE IN AMERICA the history of the theatres of Covent Garden, including the There was a time between the late 1920s and the mid- Noël Coward 1970s, that a very popular theatrical tradition in America was Theatre, The “summer theatre.” A resident stock company of actors would Novello Theatre, as present a different play each week from June until September.