A Brief Encounter with Hannah Yelland
May 11, 2009
Hannah Yelland plays Laura Brief Encounter which Kneehigh is currently touring, after a hit West End run. We wanted to catch up with Hannah and ask her about acting, the tour and her own love life
Question: What is it like working with your father David Yelland?
Answer: “When Chichester Festival Theatre decided to revive their very successful production of Nicholas Nickleby, with Hannah reprising her role as Kate, the hero’s feisty sister. They asked my father to play my uncle Ralph and before he gave them an answer, he came to me first. ‘Did I mind awfully if he were to accept the offer?’ - I told him to go ahead. We had a completely fantastic time acting together and I think he saw me in a different way. It was a little confusing at first to know what to call him. Was it Ralph? David? Or Dad? Mostly I kept it strictly professional but there was one point during rehearsals when I called him Dad before quickly adding David.”
Question: Before auditioning had you seen the West End version of the show?
Answer: “I absolutely loved it” but without knowing much about Kneehigh’s history or ethos.”I was very green about the company but Emma [Rice} and I chatted very pleasantly and then Emma asked me very directly if I would do ‘a turn’. I had to think on my feet and I suggested singing a folk song that had been composed by a friend of mine. I thought that it had all gone horribly wrong and so I was caught completely off-guard when my agent rang me with the news that they wanted me to play Laura.”
Question: Brief Encounter is a classic British love story, but what about your private life?
Answer: “My other half’s an American lawyer and we met at a mutual friend’s wedding. I saw him across the proverbially crowded room and our eyes met. But he made the first move, coming over to me. Now he’s back in Washington DC so thank heavens for Skype. It’s wonderful, when it works!”
Question: What memories do you have of previous productions you have worked on?
Answer: “I was playing Vivie in Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession, and got on with 1960s icon Twiggy very well, who was playing my mother. One night before we were due to go up, Twiggy invited me to come to her dressing-room to meet a friend after the show. She particularly wanted me to meet her friend Paul who’d be in the house that night. I didn’t think that much about it and so I walked casually into Twiggy’s dressing-room and there was Paul McCartney.”
Brief Encounter plays the Theatre Royal Newcastle from May 12th to 16th
Ryan Molloy talks to Whatsonstage North East
March 1, 2009
Ryan Molloy is the winner of the Whatsonstage Best Actor in a Musical Award for his portrayal of Frankie Valli in the multi award winning West End smash hit Jersey Boys. As Ryan is a fellow Geordie I thought it was time Whatsonstage North East caught up with him. I wanted to know how a “local lad” moved from the region, via way of Los Angeles, to become a multi award winning leading man, in a West End musical that is playing to packed houses night after night.
Ryan told me he is originally from North Shields and became a pupil of North Tyneside College (recently renamed TyneMet and a landmark on the regions Coast Road which leads from Newcastle to Tynemouth) before moving to London and studying at The Poor School. But being influenced by films such as St Elmos Fire and the Breakfast Club, he set off to America with two hundred and fifty pounds of travellers’ cheques in his pocket (a gift from his Mother) determined to further his career. Read more
Chris Hayward : There’s Nothing Like A Dame
January 17, 2009
When you interview someone you never quite know what to expect. It can be prearranged questions only, a structured conversation where you know the interviewee does not really want to be there in the first place or the other extreme when the questions go out of the window and you end up chatting. Luckily for me that is what happened when I caught up with Chris Hayward at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle.
Chris is just ending his second panto run at the Theatre starring alongside North East favourites Clive Webb and Danny Adams, in Robinson Crusoe and the Caribbean Pirates. He is already booked to join the father and son comedy act as they return to Newcastle next year in Cinderella.
I caught up with Chris immediately after he had finished the 1 p.m. Sunday performance and with just one and hours between shows I was delighted that he was willing to see me at all.
During the performance I had been in the wings so had seen all his costumes close at hand and noted how much work and detail went in to his fabulous creations. Chris has fifteen entrances during Robinson Crusoe and immediately on leaving the stage races to change in to the next costume. Read more
Michael Harrison panto update
October 19, 2008
We caught up with Michael Harrison again as we follow the progress of writing, producing and directing this year’s pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle. Just after our chat he was taking a short well deserved break in the sun, before returning to face the hectic panto season.
Since we last spoke to Michael as he unleashed Titan the Robot on unsuspecting shoppers in Newcastle Upon Tyne, he has been busy with the new touring version of Witches of Eastwick, which is playing to packed theatres around the country. The North East will get a chance to see the production in the spring when the show, starring Marti Pellow, plays the Sunderland Empire.
Since we last talked Michael has finished the script for Robinson Crusoe and the Caribbean Pirates selected the costumes and is ready to start working with the stars of the show, Danny Adams and Clive Webb, on some of their routines in the next few weeks.
Following this it is down to rehearsals which will take place in the Theatre Royal before moving in to the auditorium for the technical rehearsals before the show opens on December the 5th.
Michael has given us the opportunity to drop in on rehearsals and we look forward to letting you know how things are progressing as the record breaking pantomime prepares to open.
We talk to UK Puppetry cast
September 29, 2008
Following our interview last week with the sounding members of Puppetry of the Penis, I managed to catch up with the current cast who are currently touring the UK.
Martyn Odell and Dan Lewey had arranged to meet me backstage just after they finished their checks for that evenings performance at the Journal Tyne Theatre in Newcastle. We finally found one of the dressing rooms just off the stage area which luckily had three chairs. I immediately noticed that both guys were very relaxed, friendly and extremely funny and made the interview feel more like a chat between friends, where nothing was off the agenda. Often interviews are timed to the second and very focused with certain questions or subjects being off limits, this was very different, thankfully.
Having covered how Puppetry of the Penis started last week with the shows creators Simon and David last week I wanted to know more about these guys and how an Englishman came to be involved in what seems to be a market cornered by the Australians.
Martyn told me that he came to see the show several years ago and was just one of the audience who decided to join the cast on stage when invited to do so. He explained that during every performance they offer the guys in the audience the opportunity to join them on stage and perform the “Hamburger” (you may recall from our earlier interview this was the “dick trick” that started the whole idea off when Simons brother demonstrated it to him). If no one volunteers the performers carry on with the act without any pressure, but often a student will feel brave enough to demonstrate their skill , exactly as Martyn had done a few years before. After his impromptu performance he swapped email addresses with the cast at the end of the show.
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