Intimate Letters: Timothy West & The Pavao String Quartet

CAMPUS WEST REVIEW TEAM

Mixed reviews on acclaimed, legendary actor Timothy West and sterling praise for the ladies of the Pavao String Quartet. 

Tracey's Review:

Another great performance at Hawthorne-Theatre Campus-West. Timothy West with the Pavao String Quartet in Intimate Letters. I've not heard of the Pavao String Quartet before but they were very good, lovely soothing sounds of 2 violins,1 viola and 1 cello :)

The show was to be a dramatic retelling of the passionate love affair between Janacek and a younger woman, mainly from letters Janacek sent to his love.  The music seemed to be the main part of the show, with Timothy appearing in the 2nd half. 

Timothy West who is a great actor with many shows and appearances behind him was the main headline and I felt he played the part of Janacek very well, reading out some of his letters with passion, humour and lots of expression.

Now and again the Quartet would play between each reading, sometimes soft and sometimes with the frustrations that Janacek must have felt when his love sometimes seemed un-returned which I suppose with a long suffering wife may well have.  Now and again I did have trouble hearing what he was saying (think I need a hearing aid) but perhaps it was because he was mainly on one end of the stage.

There is so much variety at Campus West and it's there to be enjoyed :)

Jane's Review:

Last night I saw Timothy West with the Pavao String Quartet performing ‘Intimate Letters’ at the Hawthorne Theatre, Campus West.

Billed as: ‘A dramatic retelling of the passionate illicit love affair that resulted in one of the finest and most passionate string quartets of the 20th century, researched by cellist Justin Pearson’, I was not really sure what to expect but certainly looked forward to seeing Timothy West, a well-known face from British stage and screen, appearing live on stage.

The Show opened with a beautiful rendition of Dvorak’s ‘American’ quartet, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The Pavao String Quartet both looked and sounded elegant and graceful. The first half was short, lasting only just 30 minutes, which was slightly surprising, and Mr West did not make an appearance until the 2^nd half.

It was in the 2^nd half the ‘letters’ mentioned in the show’s title were read, and accompanied by the music written by Janácek whilst carrying on a (rather one sided it seems) love affair with a much younger woman, and writing to her of his feelings and desperate hopes for a union.

It was certainly interesting to hear the music alongside the words he wrote, allowing us to understand the deep emotions that inspired the piece; however I have to say I was rather disappointed with the performance as a whole for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I was expecting to be captured by a very strong performance by such an experienced actor and he did deliver the reading with passion, moments of lightness and moments of despair. However despite the fact that he was reading the letters from a book, he stumbled over the lines at least five or six times, and this left me feeling the performance was slightly under rehearsed – not what I had hoped for at all!

Secondly I felt that the lack of any attention to the stage picture made this seem more of a performance being recorded for radio than a show to watch. I understand that the most important part of the evening was in the listening, however with very little effort and slightly more imagination a much more pleasing atmosphere could have been created on the stage by, for example, using matching (or even period) furniture, or using lighting to spotlight the actor and produce a more intimate feeling.

Mr West was on stage for no longer than 25 or 30 minutes and the show ended with the rest of Janacek’s Quartet number 2 being played.

Overall I think it may have been that the name of the production was slightly misleading – it was billed as Timothy West with the Pavao String Quartet – when in fact it felt as if it should have been the other way around. The music definitely took centre stage and the readings helped to give an insight into the composer’s state of mind whilst writing.

The show is touring the country from now on and I am sure will bring great pleasure to any lover of Janacek’s work, and whilst I commend the musicianship of the String Quartet, I hope that the ‘rehearsal’ last night means Mr West will produce flawless performances from now on!!

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We have a couple of  great comedies coming up at The Hawthorne Theatre over the next couple of months, check them out here http://hawthornetheatre.co.uk/whatsonstage.html

Remember if you want to become a part of the Campus West Review Team, then contact us on Facebook or Twitter! 

Another great review for Campus West show!

In Extremis Review

By Cat Perry, Campus West Review Team. 

As the audience took their seats, we were instantly welcomed back in time to the Victorian

streets of London, as sound effects from the time and place were piped in to the small

theatre. This trip back in time became even more apparent when the actors portraying

Oscar Wilde and Mrs Robinson graced the stage.

In Extremis is based on a true event of Oscar Wildeʼs life but is really the story of his

society palm reader, Mrs Robinson. Set 24th March 1895 it is the imagination of what may

have happened in that room just a week before his trial, to make Wilde stick around.

Imagination only seeing as Mrs Robinson tells the theatre that they were the only two in

the room that night and now they are both dead so no one will ever know what really

occurred.

Immediately the fourth wall is broken by Mrs Robinson talking to the audience with Wilde

in the background. This tool which is used throughout, allows the audience to hear what

both wished they had said opposed to what they actually said to each other, either to

protect their career in Robinsonʼs case or to protect his name in Wildeʼs. As the story and

the characters thoughts play-out, it becomes increasingly sad as Wilde admits his real true

love for, not his wife, but for a man. His words that almost hurt him to say allowed to the

room are never said out loud to Mrs Robinson and the fact he doesnʼt allow himself to do

so seems the saddest fact of all.

The actors portrayed very believable characters which really pulled you in to the situation

and emotions at hand. Oscar Wilde originally portrayed as stubborn, fast paced and

perhaps a little snobbish, but the moments where we hear his true feelings itʼs impossible

to not feel for this famous man.

http://catperryreviews.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/in-extremis-at-the-hawthorne-theatre-10th-may-2013/

Our next review will be on Intimate Letters, starring acclaimed actor Timothy West. We can't wait! 

Tickets available here if you would like to join us http://hawthornetheatre.co.uk/pavaostringquartet.html

Check out these great reviews from the Campus West Review Team!

Check out these great reviews from the Campus West Review Team!

If you would like to take part in the review team, message us on Facebook or twitter. We'd love you to come and take part. 

These 3 reviews are from Shhh! World Premiere Performance Thurs 4th May. 

Kim's Review

Went to Sshhh! at Hawthorne-Theatre Campus-Westlast night and loved it.  I was a bit skeptical as I had never been to anything like this before, but to my surprise I really enjoyed it.  It was set in a library and involved the lives of young people and their experiences in love life and music. The set involved 3 large bookcases on wheels which were cleverly moved round the stage to complement the dancing.  I was not sure if they were going to sing at times as they seemed to lead you into thinking that.  It was only dance which was very well choreographed and very well done by the talented cast.  The music incorporated many different genres including dubstep, classical, rock and jazz.  The cast were very energetic using the entire stage......goodness how they managed to keep going!!  On the whole would recommend it to everybody.  This is my first time as a reviewer for Hawthorne Theatre and I am looking forward to the next show!!

Tracey's Review

Wow, what a night, went to see a show at the Hawthorne Theatre, Campus West, called Shhh! Taking part in the review team for Campus West is a great idea, hopefully reviewers will encourage more people to attend shows they may never have thought of before!

I’ve never been to a contemporary dance show before but it was amazing! The show was based on the lives of young people in a library. The main props were 3 big book shelves, the odd table and chairs plus of course books which found themselves occasionally being thrown through the air. There were lots of fantastic dance moves, poses, running and jumping to some great music although I did keep expecting them to burst into song. The stage was used to every inch, was a bit concerned they might do themselves an injury with all the moving of the book shelves!  At times I found the music a bit loud and vibrated but that could just be my ears – I’m not getting any younger!

The dancers were fantastic bouncing around the stage for 60+ mins is no mean feat, they certainly threw themselves into their parts with expressions to match the music and stories. Loved the part where they wore headphones, each listening to their favourite style of music, from the delicate to the heavy. They should be very proud of themselves. 

Jane's Review 

Last night I was lucky enough to be invited along to the Hawthorne Theatre at the Campus West in WGC to watch the world premiere (no less!!) of Shhh! A contemporary dance piece set in a closed down library.

Overall I enjoyed the show, and as I left the theatre, amongst the hundreds of images left whirling around in my head, I found myself considering the consequences of the sad fate of many of our now-closed libraries, and the implications of this for the different people who use them.

Hope you enjoyed the reviews! There will be more to follow from In Extremis this Friday at 7.30pm.

http://hawthornetheatre.co.uk/inextremis.html

Shhh! Q&A

Get to know the cast and creatives of the explosive new dance piece premiering at the Hawthorne Theatre.

ALICIA PATTISON, MIRANDA MacLETTEN, RACQUEL GAVIRIA, JAMES WILLIAMS, BRENDON HANSFORD – The Company + ADAM TOWNDROW – The Producer + ANNIE-LUNNETTE DEAKIN-FOSTER (Choreographer)

How important are your Hertfordshire roots as a company and is this reflected in your work at all?

Alicia: As a company, our Hertfordshire roots are very important to us. Most of the dancers in the company are not native to London or Hertfordshire, but the support and welcome we have received throughout the creative process has really helped!

Miranda: While rehearsing the work the local community has been very supportive. The kindness of the people from St Francis Of Assisi has been overwhelming. Without the use of their church we would be unable to rehearse with the set which has a massive impact on the production.

Racquel: Well as one of the directors is from Hertfordshire it's really important to get involved with the community and share our work with the people of Hertfordshire. To give something back to the town especially as we do a lot of education projects within the schools in the area it's great to perform for them and show them what we do best.

Brendon: Extremely, I run a dance studio in Welwyn garden city and feel really privileged to be dancing with a company so close to my base.

Adam: For me they are very important.  Here in Herts there is a real sense of tradition, ambition and acceptance.   Supporting innovative ways to create and produce new creative ideas, which is very inspiring. As an ex-choir boy of St Francis Church, worker at Comet and Tesco in Hatfield, work experience at John Lewis, AND went to Applecroft and Chancellor’s School, my roots are very deep.  To be able to create and produce a show with the Hawthorne Theatre means a great deal to me. 

Annie-Lunette: It is amazing to finally get the chance to present our professional work in Adam Towndrow’s (company co-founder) home town. After nearly 8 years, it has been a true ambition of ours to create a full length work, and to perform in the Hertfordshire region. To be supported by the Hawthorne Theatre is an honour, and this truly feels like a work that has been developed and grown in Hertfordshire.

Libraries, eh? What’s the strangest / most unusual thing to happen to you in a Library?

Miranda: When I was 10 my best friend and I went to a new school. On our first day my friend, who always had his head in books and was particularly well read for his age, walked straight in to the library and, in his 10 year old voice, knocked the librarian for six when he asked for a book on quantum physics. This story went down in history with our families. His bond with the library grew and grew and now he is a barrister.

Alicia:  I have always loved libraries! I find them really comforting and they’re not the usual places you experience weird and wonderful things, but I did perform in a flashmob in a library once!  Which was obviously great fun and received very mixed responses!  I have also fallen asleep many a time in libraries…Sometimes for hours!

Racquel : The strangest thing that's happened to me in a library is I was working at one of the computers in my local library at the time. When someone came past and put a note on my table. They didn't stop they walked on by and when I read the note it said how beautiful they thought my eyes were and then gave me their name and number.....you could say this was the start of a romantic love story, like the piece....however I thought at the time, being cautious of any man, that it was weird and did not call the number! ;)

Adam: I’d have to say, in the Welwyn Garden City library, before the refit, probably in the late 90’s, I was about 12, I tried to jump the last 7 or 8 last steps.  I miscalculated the steps and ended up tumbling down the last few steps, I was in so much pain and so embarrassed, but I looked up to see a scary librarian, and despite watching me falling down the stairs, told me I was making too much noise!!

Annie-Lunette: I went to my local library once to take out a book, and I found out it was closed when I got there. There was a Librarian locked inside, who couldn’t get out, with the electricity turned off so they couldn’t call out. I had to call the emergency number on the door and was like “please help, someone’s locked inside the library!”

What made you interested in dance?

Miranda:  I could never could sit still as a child, my feet keep on dancing even when I’m sleeping. It drives my partner mad.

Alicia:  I was a late starter.  I was such a tomboy when I was younger and had no interest in ballet or jazz etc, but I was then introduced to contemporary dance and dance theatre by Lancashire based dance company, Ludus, and I caught the bug.

I’ve been dancing contemporary ever since!

Racquel: I started ballet when I was 4 because one of my friends was doing it. I need up loving it and was hooked ever since. Since going to ballet school at 16-19 I did a lot of Contemporary and loved it too. The movement is beautiful and you can feel so free dancing to great music.

James: I grew up in a family full of music teachers surrounded my music and creative minds, this drove me to love the arts and eventually to follow a drama path once I left school, however the acting failed to hold my interest as I was drawn to the dance course that ran in parallel with drama and from there on I chose to specialize in contemporary dance, whilst dipping my toe into many other styles of movement along the way. 

Brendon: Honestly... I started dancing to meet girls!

Adam: I was dating a dating a dancer, who got me into dance!

Annie-Lunette: My sister, who encouraged me to be creative and dance at Christmas parties. I was always creating dances at school, and fell into it academically later at secondary school.

What one piece of advice do you wish someone had given you when you started out in dance professionally?

Miranda: Dance school teaches you to how to dance but not how to survive as a dancer. After graduation you expect to be paid for you skills straight away. I wish someone had pulled me aside and said not to be ashamed to do things for free after graduating because they build relationships with companies off ten leading to repeated paid work.

Alicia:  Be yourself.  This is a tough lesson I have learnt since beginning my professional career!  Countless times I have been to class or auditions and aspired to be or emulate how another dancer performs or choreographs.  It is so important to be yourself and remember that there are other dancers/choreographers who enjoy and look up to your own style.  Replicating someone else will never benefit you as a performer!  Although it is important to discover and practice new styles and techniques of dance, it is important to have confidence in your own ability is crucial to your own professional development.

Racquel: I wish I was taught more about business. Essentially when you become a dancer you are your own business and I wish I viewed it like that more from the beginning of my career. I was always told it was about how good you are, but as you get to know the business like anything, it's who you know and how good you are at promoting yourself. Of course you have to be good, but hopefully if you are going into this tough profession that's a given.

James: There are many things I wish I had been told, finding one crucial piece of advice is nearly impossible. I have found that part of being a dancer is finding your own struggles and deal with them in a way that keeps yourself and your Employer sain and on good terms, the arts industry is full of personalities and a huge part of your job is to navigate them and find your place amongst them.

Brendon: Get thick skin very quickly as it is a very hard industry which is full of rejection. BUT when you finally start getting work, it's the best feeling in the world.

Adam: Look after your body, learn as many additional skills as possible, be punctual and enthusiastic at ALL times!

Annie-Lunnette: Keep active, go to as MANY auditions as possible, and NEVER give up.

JAMIE SALISBURY - Composer

Libraries are usually all about silence. How did this affect your approach to writing the music for Shhh!?

Libraries are never really silent. There’s a background hum, and various noises which if you choose to, you can hear as music – books being moved, pages turning, electronic sounds, pencils scratching, creaking chairs and sounds of whispering for instance. All of these are sounds I’ve incorporated into this score in a musical way.

Which comes first, the music or the dance? And how closely do you have to work with the choreographer and the dancers to create the music for a dance piece?

In this case the music was written first. The overall scene by scene narrative was created by Annie, but I had freedom within each scene to let the music lead the way which was fantastic – I often write for film, TV, games or advertising, and that usually involves following the action very closely, or sticking tightly to a predetermined brief and not allowing the music to follow it’s own course. Writing for dance was great fun and very liberating.

There are several forms of dance in this piece – classical, street, even parkour. How does your music reflect these different forms or does it not matter?

All that mattered was that I knew that whatever I threw into this score, the choreographer and dancers would have the freedom and skill to make it work, whatever the genre. I’ve bounced around from classical minimalism to dubstep, rock, trip-hop, ambient, jazz, and more – in fact at one point you can enjoy a mix of baroque, jazz, rock and dubstep all simultaneously, which was a fun challenge and something to listen out for if you come to see the show! I’m an eclectic composer and it was great having the opportunity to explore so many styles in one piece. 

Performance of this explosive dance premiers on Thursday 2 May and runs through to Saturday 4 May 2013. 

The Hawthorne Theatre goes digital

In the autumn of 2012, a great change took place in the projection room at the Hawthorne Theatre.

The Digital projector goes live

On Sunday 9 September at 10.15pm the main 35mm projector, an Italian made Cinemacanicca Victoria 5, was switched off for the last time and its long-play film carrier – a Westrex 5035 was moved into its new position behind projector No. 1, previously only used to show adverts and trailers.

The 35 mm projector finds new home

The following morning at 7am engineers moved in to carefully dismantle the old projector, to be restored and displayed as a working model at the Museum of Cinema Technology at Bletchley Park, to make way for our brand-new Barco 2k 19B digital projector and Dolby server.  The installation took three days, scheduled around, an existing film programme and without closing the cinema.  Films were ran that week using Projector No. 1; strange to note our main machine had always been referred to as Projector No. 2!  The last 35mm presentation was The Flowers of War with Christian Bale starring.

The Digital Key

After a week’s live performance our first digital showing was Jo Nesbo’s Jackpot.  Content now comes in the form of a hard-drive, which is ingested onto the server, typically taking between half-hour and an hour and it is unlocked for us to show by delivery of a ‘key’ from the distributor, only active for the duration for which we are showing it.

All projectors to all people

The picture quality and light output is outstanding with all over sharpness across the 31-foot screen.  We can do everything we did before, and more, including live satellite feeds.  We still have 35mm capabilities – watch out for these rare screenings, as film is becoming increasingly scarce, and even 16mm as we still have our Fumeo projector, which gives a superb image and is regularly used to this day for Welwyn Garden Film Society.

Projectionists do exist!

We always have a technician in the projection room, nothing is left to chance, so you can relax. In fact, if we do our job correctly, to the customer, - we shouldn’t exist.

One last thing, to ensure a perfect presentation every time, we are using automotive cues, to present the whole show timed to the second; rest assured, we’ll always be watching!

Steve Baker

April 2013 

The Day The Badger Growled.

I was at a meeting the other day and someone asked about the one moment, the epiphany if you like, that made you fall in love with live Theatre (yes, it was that kind of meeting...). So, naturally, when someone asks you a question like that, you start to think...

In the end, I went for a slightly strange example.

It comes from when I was at school, probably around 13 or 14 years old, and I was taken to see a Panto. Now I need to explain a few things. First off, no 13 or 14 year old in the world wants to go to Panto, or wants to be seen wanting to go to Panto, and I was no different. I was far too old for that baby stuff. The fact that I was going with a group of friends of the same age didn't help - they didn't want to be there either.

On top of this was the fact that we weren't actually seeing a Panto (bear with me). We were going to our local Rep Theatre, the Octagon in Bolton, and the Octagon was far too Right On to put on a Panto. Instead, they had a Family Show, and this particular year it was a version of The Wind In The Willows. Now, if any of you out there know The Octagon, you'll know that it is an excellent theatre with great repertory productions. It also specialised in Theatre In The Round - where the audience sit all around the playing space and are frequently just a nose hair away from the actors. This can make for a wonderfully vivid experience but it can also be an eye-opener...

So, the night came and my friends and I trotted off to the theatre and took our seats. Now, one more thing you should know about 13 or 14 year old boys is that they have extremely smutty minds. Or at least, we had. Panto frequently employs double-entendre for comic effect, but this Family Show didn't. Not that it mattered to us - we just added our own. We giggled in the wrong places; found smut in the most innocuous phrases. I'm not proud of it, but it happened. I'm sure the audience around us noticed.

The actors certainly did.

There came a part during the show, in the first half, where the characters on stage sung a song and invited the audience to join in with the chorus. So they started it up, gave us all the chorus once, and then - well, then the actor playing Badger (who I remember as quite burly and wearing faintly scary make-up) walked straight up to the four of us and loudly announced that we should stand up and sing it for everyone else! I'm sure you could have heard a pin drop. As one, we shrank into our seats and tried to pretend we weren't there. But Ratty joined in now, and got the audience to applaud us, so - shaking, and with very quiet voices - we did as Badger said and sang the chorus.

We were perfect audience members for the rest of the show.

Now I'm sure this story would put the terrors into some people out there and they would vow never to go near a theatre again, but for me it had exactly the opposite effect. Suddenly, I realised what live theatre could do. It could affect you on a very immediate level; yes, it could scare you but deep down (or even quite close to the surface) we knew we were doing wrong. I think we thought that it was like talking in front of the TV. With theatre, however, there could be consequences, for at it's most basic level a performance is a dialogue between the actors and the audience. It's just that, this time, the dialogue was more obvious. And I realised also the power that an actor can have. For not only did Badger quell us, he gave the whole audience a reason to engage with him and to join in a common purpose : showing up those little upstarts who had been spoiling the play for them. Furthermore, he did it without breaking character. And that one act opened up a whole new world to me, full of possibilities and one that I still find surprises in today.

So, that's my epiphany. What's yours? Add your comments below by clicking where it says 'comments'.

You Always Remember Your First Time

Thinking about my favourite film the other day (as detailed in an earlier blog entry), I also found myself recalling my first visit to the cinema.

This would have been when I was 4 or 5 yrs old, which places it at the fag end of the 1960s, and the cinema was in a nearby town in the North West. I know that we would have had to get in the car and driven there, which made it a big event, and that both my Mum and Dad were there (which, as my Dad worked night shifts, was remarkable in itself).

I remember thinking the cinema was huge, and not really understanding what it was (was it a giant tv? I know that the film I was coming to see had been seen - briefly - on television, on Clapperboard with Chris Kelly. Or was it Screen Test? I was an avid watcher of both. But if we were going to watch a tv, why did we have to come all this way, and what were all these other people doing there?). In my memory, we were quite close to the screen and it was huge - the size of a double decker bus, at least.

And I remember people smoking around me, my Dad probably amongst them. There was a constant haze of smoke hovering above our heads from all the nicotine being expelled, but even that was magic - not knowing the health hazards back then, it added to the feeling of being allowed into another world, a more adult world. The light from the projector cut through the smoke like a beacon.

There was something already playing when we got there - I don't remember what, probably a trailer, or a public service film, not what we had come to see. In those days, film programmes ran continuously and you could come in half way through a presentation and leave halfway through the next showing of it if you wanted; there was a constant flow of people getting up or arriving (and we complain about people texting!).

The other thing that was different back then was that you didn't just have one film... For the young ones out there, I should explain that you had the main feature and a 'B' film (often with no relationship to the one you'd come to see, often much lower budget, occasionally quite wonderful). My Mum and Dad had brought me to see Bambi as my first cinema experience - a heart warming tale of cute furry animated animals (and yes, we're ignoring the wholy traumatic 'Mother' sequence in that description) - but what I actually got was another Disney film, a live action tale called Doctor Syn, Alias The Scarecrow.

As you might guess, this was not cute and cuddly. Although made for TV originally, as part of The Wonderful World Of Disney hour, it was released over here as a fully-fledged film. Starring Patrick McGoohan, it was a tale of Smugglers outsmarting the King's Men in Olde England - and it's opening shot has stayed with me forever:

A blasted heath, windswept and dark, and the King's men searching for the smugglers they know are nearby. But there is no sign of them and eventually, frustrated by an empty landscape punctuated only by scarecrows, they give up. Once they have gone, the camera returns to the heath, and the scarecrows, one of which moves...

Yes, smugglers evading capture by dressing as farmyard furniture is a bit far fetched, but for the 4- (or 5-) year old me it had a dramatic effect. It scared me half to death. But I loved it still. I still credit that film as the reason why I have an abiding interest in and love of Horror Films, evidently imprinted from an early age. My first visit to the cinema was therefore also a formative one for me, and one which (you can tell) has stayed with me. It shows the power of film - or at least, of images - and I'm sure many of you out there have had similar experiences, even if it wasn't with your first visit.

But I have to wonder what I would have been like if Bambi had been on first...