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23.08.06 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |
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4TH WALL IS DELIGHTED TO
ANNOUNCE FILM INTEREST FROM
THE FUTURE FILM GROUP
"I was blown away by the story and particularly
the Ella Fitzgerald part of it. It's amazing that
no one knows this true story about the relationship between these two American icons."
Albert Martinez Martin - film producer
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MY
EDINBURGH EXPERIENCE |
Bonnie Greer and Colin
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The
show
must go
on
by
Colin McFarlane
4th Wall's Artistic Director |
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The show opened on Saturday August 5th - spookily,
the anniversary of Marilyn's death.
On day one, we are informed by the show's Musical Director
(Warren Wills) that he will have to leave the show for
personal reasons and he will only be able to play for
the first four shows. He was meant to stay until the
10th to give notes to the incoming pianist (Tom Scott)
who was due to take over from him....but not quite like
this! Just as we are reeling from Warren's news and
trying to support him, Tom then informs us that his
grandmother has died in Peterborough the day before
and he understandably needs to attend the funeral. He
does the show on the Wednesday night and then gets a
train to Newcastle, my wife Kate arranges for Lincoln
firm Discount Cabs to then pick Tom up and take him
to Peterborough and he gets a train back to Edinburgh
Thursday afternoon after the funeral to do the show
in the evening at 7.20. Phew! Not surprisingly he didn't
play his best but
he got through it.
If that isn't enough we then discover that Rain Pryor
(who is playing Ella Fitzgerald) has lost her voice
and has to go to the doctors to get her through our
show....AND her one woman singing show which follows
it! She sings around 20 songs a night across the two
shows.
And finally, to complete the picture, through out all
this the venue - The Pleasance Dome - which seats 160
has an air-conditioning system which doesn't work in
one of the hottest weeks of the summer. After five days
of the audience being in a sauna it was finally fixed.
Despite all these obstacles we have been playing to
packed houses and standing ovations. We now have interest
from two London theatres to transfer the show and we
have more producers coming between now and the end of
the run on the 28th.
We have had brilliant reviews even from one paper who
thought the whole meeting between Marilyn and Ella was
made up. The story is so amazing that alot of people
can't believe that it's true....including the critics
it seems. Touch wood everyone will have a chance to
see why when it moves to London.
The show does indeed go on!!
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| 'How
Marilyn Beat the Racists' |
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latest theatre news from the BBC |
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The fact that these two giants in entertainment had a
career defining friendship which doesn`t seem to have been considered worth
reporting on or publicising, is one that people who have seen, or heard about
the Play, are finding hard to `get their heads around`!
The Play`s storyline is plotted over the course of a series of meetings in 1955
between Ella and Marilyn, backstage at The Mocambo Club, a Club that operated
a policy of not employing non-whites, a colour bar that Marilyn was instrumental
in breaking by insisting that it used the services of Ella, whom she apparently
hadn`t met at that point, in return for her extremely visible presence at the
Club on the nights that Ella performed there.
Apparently a friendship was fostered which led to an enhanced understanding
and respect for each other`s position, art and chosen career and may have affected
both ladies` artistic direction.
Singer, Actress, Comedienne, Rain Pryor (described in the Play`s publicity as
`Daughter of Richard and star of U.S. sitcom `Head of the Class`) assumes the
guise of a jazz singer providing us with her source of inspiration and narrates
the story of the series of meetings, which is interspersed with musical numbers
which are relevant to the plot, but not intrusive, as they don`t effect to distract
from the dialogue, but provide a glimpse of both characters expressing themselves
through the medium that they both shared a love of...music, also adopting the
character of Ella Fitzgerald to believable effect.
Rain calls upon her multi-faceted background to bring Ella to life, giving her
an energy, depth and comedic timing that she may well have left us with a visual
record of...given a chance! ( a reference to a scene in the Play).
Sally Lindsay ( better known as `Shelley, the Barmaid`, in the soap opera `Coronation
Street` ) takes on the persona of Marilyn Munroe and it couldn`t have been an
easy task to either cast or accept the role, as at a layman`s guess, more information
has been made available, or is known about Marilyn than Ella (meaning there`s
more to have to `get right`!).
Her performance will come as a revelation, not just to those who know her from
her character in the longest running T.V. soap opera in the U.K., but those
who might consider that there is limited scope for the career progression of
an Actor who has become `institutionalised` in such a way!
The `third player` is the music, courtesy of Musical Director, Warren Wills,
which could easily have dominated the production, especially if Playwright Bonnie
Greer`s dialogue had accomodating `holes` in it (which it doesn`t!), but which
is reined in at strategic moments, to give the other constituents of the Play
a chance to shine.
Actor, Producer, Director, Colin McFarlane (www.colinmcfarlane.tv) may end up
going the way of the U.S.` Bill Duke and become less visible on large and small
screen, now that he has had a taste of concocting a successful recipe, as opposed
to just dishing it out...but time will tell.
`Ella, Meet Marilyn` provides a snapshot of a moment of discovery which is shared
by the audience...having knowledge that has been accepted as unquestionable
fact, or an unchangable state of affairs, whipped out of one`s grasp, is a challenging
concept...men who think they have a handle on sexual politics may find reason
to revise their position when they realise how more worthy men can be `played`...people
who `make rules` may be surprised to see how easily they can be encouraged to
break those same rules..if it`s in their interest, of course!...and those who
consider that they have a sterling record of `fighting for the little man`,
could find themselves having to recalibrate their values, which might have less
in common with those of `the little man` than they`d previously thought!
The answers to questions like.." Was the opportunity to widen the marketing
appeal of both ladies by publicising their mutual admiration of each other`s
work, overlooked by those who managed their affairs and careers?"...and.."
Why haven`t I heard anything about the situations outlined in the Play before?"...are
made accessible during the course of `Ella, Meet Marilyn`, even though a degree
of `translation`, or `lateral thinking` may be required.
The wrench from an assumption of a position of knowledge of what Ella Fitzgerald
and Marilyn Munroe `brought to the table`, to digesting the information that
this Play brings to our attention, may prove to be too much for some who may
cite "an over-indulgence in dramatic licence", whilst on their way
to the reference section of the nearest library ( or to log on! ) in an attempt
to prove their point, while others may be grateful for the opportunity to fit
the pieces that they didn`t even know were missing into the puzzle of these
two icons lives.
Go..See..Learn..Laugh..Be Moved…A host of instructions,
I know, but you`ll find yourself `multi-tasking` like a Mother….!
Ron Cushnie
Why
is a `Play with Music` (as it`s described in it`s publicity) about
two of the best known, written about and idolised icons of the twentieth
century, causing a stir throughout the U.K.? (it`s currently doing
a run at the Edinburgh Festival, Scotland)...considering how much
scrutiny, publicity or print column inches their lives and careers
have endured, it would be fair to expect that only the `We Love
The Celebrities Involved` brigade would be inspired or moved to
try to fill a gap in their knowledge or understanding of the Artistes
depicted in the Play, Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe...