Category: Events

Posting Letters to the Moon – new dates, new web site

Posting Letters to the Moon - web site

Additional dates have been added to the short tour of Posting Letters to the Moon, and a mini-website has been set up to promote current and future appearances.

In addition to the dates, previously advertised on this site, additional readings of the wartime letters between Fleming’s mother Celia Johnson and her husband Peter Fleming read by Lucy Fleming and Simon Williams have been confirmed:

ALHAMBRA CINEMA, KESWICK
Sunday, March 5, 2017
18:30-21:30
Includes a screening of Brief Encounter
£15 per head including refreshments, live performance and film
W: Keswick Alhambra | E: alhambracinema@gmail.com | T: 01768 772195

UPSTAIRS @ THE GATHER, ENNERDALE CENTRE
Ennerdale Bridge CA23 3AJ
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
19:30-21:30
The Gather Ennerdale Centre
£8 per head (plus book fee) via Eventbrite
E: bookings@ennerdalecentre.com | T: 01946 862453

NETTLEBED VILLAGE CLUB
Nettlebed Village Club, Henley-on-Thames, RG9 5DD
Friday, 21 April
19.30 for 20.00
Tickets £15 | Please ring Sue on 01189 345 960 for ticket details
Charity Evening to raise money for the Nettlebed Club’s Roof Fund

The Posting Letters to the Moon tour is previewed in Cumbria Life:

Posting Letters to the Moon - Cumbria Life
Image by Angela Jackson.

The reading of Posting Letters to the Moon at The Dukes, Lancaster on 1 March is reviewed on the British Theatre Guide site

Lucy Fleming and Simon Williams come steeped in their own theatrical fame, either from stage, film or TV appearances, or on radio in The Archers. This very week they both also appear in new cinema release The Viceroy’s House, which just happens to be set in New Delhi where her father was stationed.

So she can be excused if her voice just occasionally falters as she reads her mother’s adoring words of love to her father. Some people may think it was just acting, but a sold-out auditorium knew otherwise—and promptly stifled its own sniffles when her husband joked: “Pull yourself together!”

It was that kind of evening, one of sharing in another family’s heartfelt love.

An image from the Getty Images archive, pictures Peter Fleming, Celia Johnson and a young Lucy Fleming in 1955:

 

The Posting Letters to the Moon tour is covered in:

Lucy Fleming and Simon Williams – ‘Posting letters to the moon’ – at Carnforth Station Heritage Centre

Lucy Fleming and Simon Williams appear at the Carnforth Station Heritage Centre Carnforth, Lancashire LA5 9TR) on Thursday 2 March at 19:30 to deliver a reading of the wartime correspondence between Fleming’s mother Celia Johnson and husband Peter Fleming.

These letters from Celia to her husband tell of her experiences during the war – from coping with a large isolated house full of evacuated children, learning to drive a tractor, dealing with rationing, occasional holidays in Cornwall where she took to surfing, and all the while acting for David Lean, Noel Coward and starring in the classic film Brief Encounter in 1945.

Not only are the letters highly engaging, but they also provide a fascinating historical insight into that time of true austerity and fearfulness.

Carnforth Railway Station was the filming location for the pivotal scenes in the 1945 film Brief Encounter in which Celia Johnson starred. Tickets for the event (‘Posting letters to the moon’) are £9:00 and are only available from the Centre.

Other performances are scheduled for Wednesday 1 March 2017 (Dukes Playhouse, Lancaster) and Saturday 4 March (Glenridding Public Hall, Glenridding).

Posting letters to the moon - Lucy Fleming and Simon Williams

The Westmorland Gazette carries a short preview of the event:

Brief Encounter actress Celia Johnson’s daughter Lucy Fleming to perform at Carnforth Station Heritage Centre in Posting Letters to the Moon

THE daughter of actress Celia Johnson is to make a special appearance at Carnforth railway station this spring, where her mother filmed famous scenes from Brief Encounter in 1945.

Actress Lucy Fleming and her husband Simon Williams – of Upstairs, Downstairs fame – are to appear in Posting Letters to the Moon, when they will read wartime letters between Lucy’s mother and father, Peter Fleming.

Described as touching and amusing, the letters from Celia to her husband tell of her experiences during the war, from coping with a large, isolated house full of evacuated children, to learning to drive a tractor, dealing with rationing, and all the while accepting offers of work when she could get away – for David Lean, Noel Coward, wartime propaganda films and ultimately in 1945 starring in the classic Brief Encounter.

“It was a joy to discover these letters, and I hope you will find them as funny and moving as I do,” said Lucy, whose uncle was James Bond author Ian Fleming.

The performance is to take place at Carnforth Station Heritage Centre on Thursday, March 2, at 7.30pm. The pair will also be taking their show to the Dukes Playhouse, Lancaster, on March 1, and Glenridding Public Hall on March 4.

Survivors’ location enjoys annual open weekend

The abandoned village of Imber on Salisbury Plain (the principal filming location for series three Survivors episode Sparks) enjoyed its annual ‘open’ weekend over the Easter holiday break; an event covered this year by an illustrated feature in The Mirror (27 March 2016).

The village of Imber was forcibly evacuated in December 1943, as the military commandeered sites that could be used to prepare troops for the street fighting that would follow the Normandy landings of D-Day. The emptied village was repurposed as a Ministry of Defence training ground. Villagers were never able to return, and the site became sealed-off from public access all year round – except for a single annual open weekend, when visitors were welcomed to view the landmark church and other buildings.

St Giles Church, the main interior and exterior location in Sparks, benefited from a £300,000 restoration project in 2008, sponsored by the Churches Conservation Trust, which prevented the building from falling into a state of complete disrepair.

Imber - open weekend - 2016

Denis Lill – Twelve Angry Men stage tour – first night reviews

Press reviews of the first night performance of the touring stage version of the classic juror drama Twelve Angry Men have included praise for Denis Lill’s striking portrayal of Juror Number 10.

Twelve Angry Men - theatrical tour - 2015

Denis Lill – more familiar as the pipe-smoking, kindly surgeon in TV’s The Royal – is quite magnificent as the bigoted, outspoken and argumentative Juror 10

Barry Dix, Get West London, 29 January 2015

Denis Lill attacks the role of the bigoted fool from hell with everything he has got – although absolutely no chance for light and shade has been provided here by the author.

Francis Batt, Slough and South Bucks Observer, 28 January 2015

Twelve Angry Men - theatrical tour - 2015

Twelve Angry Men, arguably the finest example of its genre, brings together a punchy, fast-moving script, acting of the highest quality and a remarkably realistic set and visual effects to create a quite stunning production.

Tom Conti brings with him to the Theatre Royal, Windsor, many of the cast and crew from the record-breaking production of the play which won so many plaudits during its West End run. He is becoming a familiar face at the venue, returning to Windsor for the third time in little more than a year.

Twelve Angry Men, inspired by the real-life jury experiences of writer Reginald Rose in Manhattan in the early 1950s, was originally a TV play, adapted into an Oscar-nominated film starring Henry Fonda. The stage version was first seen in London in 1964.

After completing its run The Theatre Royal, Windsor (27 January-7 February 2015), Twelve Angry Men begins a national tour, starting in Coventry on 9 February 2015 and concluding in Glasgow on 27 June 2015 (although further dates may follow). Tickets are on sales for venues across the country.

UPDATE, 24 Feb 2015: A review of the play’s run at The King’s Theatre, Edinburgh in the Edinburgh Evening News (24 February) includes further praise for the show and for Lill’s performance.

Tom Conti delivers a smooth performance in the lead role of the lone challenger who cajoles the others into returning a unanimous not guilty verdict, building in intensity from perhaps over-played brooding isolation at the start to powerfully-projected frustrated fury at the climax.

Pick of the other jurors, and of some dodgy American accents, was Denis Lill as the prejudiced garage-owner, who is uncomfortably believable as the closest thing 1950s New York would have had to a UKIP voter.

So too is Andrew Lancel a stand-out as the troubled last-angry-man-standing, whose portrayal of a father estranged from his son is the emotional high-point of the show.

UPDATE, 25 Feb 2015: Another review of the Edinburgh run, is published today in The Herald:

Conti’s world-weary understatement as the play opens is a deceptive foil to his fellow jurors as he quietly but determinedly changes everybody’s mind. While unexpected gales of gallows humour ripple throughout, it is the ferocious bluster of Denis Lill’s Juror 10 and especially Andrew Lancel’s fierce turn as Juror 3, lashing out at his own estranged son by proxy, that defines the production.

Lucy Fleming and Simon Williams at ‘Taken at Midnight’ after-party

 

LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 26: Lucy Fleming (L) and Simon Williams attend an after party following the press night performance of ‘Taken At Midnight‘ at The Institute of Directors on January 26, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Getty Images)

Denis Lill to appear in the 2015 stage tour of Twelve Angry Men

Denis Lill (Charles Vaughan) is to appear in the 2015 stage tour of the classic behind-the-scenes jury drama Twelve Angry Men, joining an all-star cast headed by Tom Conti, and featuring many of producer Bill Kenwright’s regular ensemble of actors.

Twelve Angry Men - 2015 touring production

Full casting has been announced for the 2015 UK Tour of Twelve Angry Men. Seven actors who recently appeared in the West End revival will reprise their performances for the tour.

Joining the previously announced Tom Conti is: Andrew Lancel (Coronation Street), Robert Duncan (Drop The Dead Donkey), Andrew Frame (EastEnders), David Calvitto (These Shining Lives, The Odd Couple), Mark Carter (Hollyoaks, Utopia) and Sean Power (Secret Diary of a Call Girl). Jon Carver (Doctors) returns to play The Guard.

The cast is completed by: Denis Lill (The Royal, Only Fools And Horses), Paul Beech (King Lear, A Tale of Two Cities), Alexander Forsyth (Porcelain, It Never Ends), Edward Halsted (Holby City, Jonathan Creek) and Gareth David-Lloyd (Torchwood).

Twelve Angry Men opens on 27 January 2015 at the Theatre Royal Windsor with the current cast initially confirmed to play until 2 May 2015.

Twelve Angry Men is produced by Bill Kenwright and directed by Christopher Haydon, with design by Michael Pavelka. Originally written, by Reginald Rose, as a television play in 1954, Twelve Angry Men was adapted for the stage in 1955 and as an Oscar-nominated Hollywood film, produced by and starring Henry Fonda in 1957. The production was first seen in the West End last November, when it opened at the Garrick Theatre, London starring Robert Vaughn and Jeff Fahey.

UPDATE, 20 April 2015: The tour has now been extended until 27 June, with additional runs at theatres in Southend, Wolverhampton, Barnstable, Croydon, Newcastle and Glasgow. Tom Conti will not appear at the Southend or Wolverhampton runs; with the part of Juror No. 8 being taken on by Jason Merrells.

Big Finish talk Survivors at the London Film and Comic Con

Members of the Big Finish production team discussed the reception of the first series of Survivors audio dramas at the recent London Film and Comic Con.

Producer David Richardson reveals: “Survivors has been selling very well […] it’s had really great reviews; people have really started buying into it and it’s been a great success for us.”

Script editor Matt Fitton adds: “People are picking it up without having seen the TV series, and also fans of the TV series are picking it up and saying that it really is in keeping with it; that it’s part of that world. So it works both ways… Quite a few have come in, listened to it, and then gone and bought the DVDs of the 1975 series.”

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Survivors audio-drama panel at Big Finish Day 5

Big Finish have posted a set of photos on Facebook from the Big Finish Day 5 convention (13 September) – including shots from the Survivors panel, which several attendees have been retweeted:

Survivors cast and crew - Big Finish Day 5


 
Carolyn Seymour - Big Finish Day 5


 
Terry Molloy and Chase Masterson - Big Finish Day 5
https://twitter.com/ChrisDalek/status/511200831027572736/

Lucy Fleming – special screenings of Brief Encounter

Lifelong surprise at a Brief Encounter

The star of Brief Encounter was always surprised that the tiny wartime movie had become a classic, her daughter says.

Actress Lucy Fleming, whose mother Celia Johnson starred as the housewife Laura in the film regularly voted one of the most romantic of all time, said: “I remember her saying about 10 years before she died [aged 73 in 1982] that it was odd that this little film she made during the war had become a classic. But she was terribly proud of it.”

Ms Fleming, 67, will introduce the film, which co-starred Trevor Howard, at three special screenings tomorrow and on August 22 and 29 with accompaniment by the London Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the Southbank Centre’s Festival of Love.

The film, which follows the stiff-upper-lip near-romance between two married people who resist having an affair, was directed by David Lean in wartime Britain.

Ms Fleming said: “Obviously it’s very old-fashioned but it appeals to people still. I think it’s just a little gem — but I’m a bit biased.”

Brief Encounter

Louise Jury. 2014. ‘Lifelong surprise at a Brief Encounter’. Evening Standard. 14 August