Catherine Bailey, West End Actress (LONDON, UK)
Posted: November 29, 2011 Filed under: Interviews, Stage | Tags: actress, arts, Bailey, Catherine, Criterion, interview, stage, The 39 Steps, theatre Leave a comment
Annabella, Pamela, Margaret - or just Catherine. Photo by James Looker.
What is it like being the only actress in The 39 Steps?
The cast are a dream team and I totally lucked out in being cast alongside them; namely Andrew Alexander, Stephen Critchlow and Ian Hughes. I love performing with them, and the roles I play in the production are a total gift – it’s rare and such a treat to be able to play such varied and exciting women! As for being the only female – well this is not unusual – there are fewer parts for women in drama generally, but I think this is something people are changing, particularly in the case of older women. There is a campaign to make TV and film makers feature women more prominently actually, to redress the balance, sign up if you agree! http://www.gopetition.com/petition/24658/sign.html
Which – if any – of the three characters you play do you identify with most?
Well I’d love to think I had Pamela’s gumption, Margaret’s heroism and Annabella’s mystique, but in reality I don’t have much in common with them – apart from bearing a striking resemblance to them all of course.
How much creative license do you have as actors?
Rehearsing the play was a bit like learning a dance – there were ‘moves’ to learn. So we start with that and then flesh it out with our own embellishments and ideas, but whilst staying within that choreographed remit. It is quite disciplined, but it must be combined with mischief, playfulness and joy too.
Do you improvise or is everything scripted?
Everything is scripted even if it seems improvised thanks to Patrick Barlow’s script. He is a genius and I recommend you watch him in The National Theatre of Brent. You can see it online on 4OD: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/massive-landmarks-of-the-twentieth-century/episode-guide/series-1
What is the best thing about being in The 39 Steps?
I mentioned that element of ‘play’ which for me is at the heart of The 39 Steps – so that combined with getting a live audience reaction is the best thing I reckon!
What is the best moment you have experienced in your career?
I was a child actor so the one that stands out is one of my first acting jobs, which was when I was in Spring Awakening at the RSC (not the musical, the play adaptation by Ted Hughes). I had a total blast and made lifelong friends as well as running about backstage at the Barbican. For a 15 year old it was a rather dazzling experience!
How do you feel when you’re on stage in front of a live audience?
There is something great about telling a story to a room full of people, especially if they are listening and laughing. The reactions of the audience feed into what we’re doing on the stage. The trick is to relish the participation of the audience without getting self indulgent, so telling the story has to remain the most important thing.
Most awkward moment when you’re performing?
Recently there was a technical fault and so the lights didn’t come up for a scene at the start of Act 2. Us actors didn’t know whether to start the scene in the pitch dark or wait until some lights came on. We did the latter, which was fine, but there was a brief moment of blinking whilst retinas adjusted to the light! We got away with it, our technical crew are so professional and quick-witted I don’t think the audience even noticed!
What is your biggest dream?
To keep on working as much and for as long as possible!
Do you try and separate your work and your personal lives? Is it difficult?
I am lucky to have a terrific fiancé who supports me and understands how irregular the life of an actor can be, as well as great friends, many of whom are also actors, so I’m not short of people I can discuss the trials and tribulations of the profession with!
What is your message to any aspiring actors and actresses out there?
Get out there and do it! Join a drama club, or set up a play-reading group. Make your own work if necessary by setting up a theatre company – I did this with some friends a while ago and it is hard work but so rewarding and such a creative outlet – we are called Baz Productions and just put on our first show which went down a storm! I would add that my final bit of advice to aspiring actors is to be tenacious!!!
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Catherine will be performing at the Criterion Theatre until July 2012.
‘The 39 Steps’ Review (LONDON, UK)
Posted: November 29, 2011 Filed under: Stage | Tags: comedy, Criterion, london, play, review, stage, The 39 Steps, theatre, thriller, West End Leave a commentWHAT: Play (Comedy Thriller)
WHERE: Criterion Theatre (map)
WEBSITE: http://www.love39steps.com/
HOW MANY TOBIES WOULD GIVE LOUD DOG WHISTLES (out of 5):
A beacon of light at the West End.
MY STORY: The problem with watching the same play twice is that the second time usually disappoints. Especially if the first production you saw of it was pretty much the best thing you’ve ever seen performed on stage – as was the case with ‘The 39 Steps’. That was the first play I ever reviewed actually. I gave it four stars because at that point I didn’t feel confident enough giving it five, and I spent the next two years kicking myself because nothing I saw since was anywhere near as good as that. (Maybe with the exception of ‘Oklahoma!’ starring West End star Marti Webb, but that’s another story for another time.) So I sank into my seat at the Criterion Theatre with great expectations. And I was not in the least bit disappointed.
‘The 39 Steps’, for those of you who have been existing without having heard of it (shame on you), is a hilarious stage adaptation of the Hitchcock film adaptation of the book, which was originally written by John Buchan in 1915. (I hate italics, but it’s either that or caps because I need to show you visually exactly how funny it is, and I choose this. Or, I suppose, I should just put 😀 Would life be simpler if we all just communicated in smileys…? I digress) The book and film versions are both Very Serious Thrillers, but Patrick Barlow ingeniously turned it into a farce, and the result is fantastic. In fact, I’m convinced the world will be a better place if all plays are like this one, because it combines the best parts of theatre seamlessly, and I defy anyone to walk out of the performance not feeling happy as a duck.
In a nutshell, the plot revolves around Richard Hannay, who is on the run from the police after a ravishing spy he met at a London theatre (oooh – irony!), Annabella Schmidt, was murdered in his flat. In order to clear his name, Hannay needs to discover the reason for which Schmidt was assassinated. Her dying words revealed that a top state secret was about to be smuggled out of the country by foreign spies and if they succeed, ‘then Lord save us all’. And so begins Hannay’s adventures across the Scottish Moors, during which he meets a couple more beautiful women, including Pamela – to whom he reluctantly ends up being handcuffed with – a few not-so-attractive men, and a herd of sheep.
Revelations before dinnertime. Photo by Tristam Kenton
There are, in total, 139 roles in ‘The 39 Steps’ – and yet it only takes a(n absolutely brilliant) cast of four to have them covered. Andrew Alexander takes on the lead character, Catherine Bailey appears as all three of Hannay’s love interests, and Stephen Critchlow and Ian Hughes fill the remaining 135 characters between them, from Scottish inn-keepers to detectives to thorn bushes. Yes, thorn bushes. It is mesmerising to watch how quickly and precisely they can switch roles with swift changes of hats or positions or accents. They have, in short, found a solution to the question of how to be everyone everywhere at the same time. This is helped by a very versatile set: the wall of the inn, for example, magically transforms into a wardrobe, and the wardrobe somehow opens into a bed. Kudos to set designer Peter McKintosh. Genius.
The thing that amused me most, though, is how self-aware ‘The 39 Steps’ is. Certain lines are said before things happen, and thus a sofa flies on stage, or a telephone rings, only after a character demands them to. They use this joke a lot throughout the performance. It’s like their trump card. Does that sound forced? Maybe, but it works. It never gets old just because they know they’re being cheeky bums mocking conventional theatre techniques, but they also know that they can pull it off brilliantly. The play is made to seem spontaneous through very careful planning and fantastic execution. It is a case of art having successfully imitate life, and really, what more can you ask for in live theatre?
So if you, like Hannay, need ‘something mindless and trivial; something utterly pointless’ but guaranteed to make your entire day worth living for, then definitely, definitely (if I may commit the same crime twice), make time for ‘The 39 Steps’.
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INSIGHT
West End star Catherine Bailey, who plays all three female roles in The 39 Steps. Photo by James Looker.
Want to know what it’s like behind the scenes of a West End show? Click here for an exclusive interview with Catherine!
The City I See 