Tom Stoppard’s Artist Descending a Staircase, which began life as a radio play in 1972, is being re-staged for the first time in twenty years at the Old Red Lion Theatre in Islington, with Edward Petherbridge playing the part of Donner (http://www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk/coming-soon.htm). A brilliant and hilarious satire, the play is also, as Frank Rich of The New York Times observed, a ‘genuinely moving investigation of the nature of perception, memory and art.’ What follows is an extract from Edward’s rehearsal diary.
—o—
Pellicci’s is the name of the little café across the road from the People Show rehearsal studios in Bethnal Green. It is a treasure of a time warp. Framed, on the wall behind the counter, and dated 1953, is a faded brown-paper sandwich bag, specially printed for the Coronation of Elizabeth II. The walls themselves have a charming inlay pattern in veneer, though the tables are Formica-topped. The founding Italian family is commemorated in a large, late-nineteenth-century photograph and the delightful girl descendant who serves me is alarmingly bilingual, flipping from native Cockney to fluent Italian mid-sentence. She already treats us like old regulars and knows our gossip.
‘The big man is comin’ tomorrow I ’ear; the boss thought it was George Peppard and wanted to meet ’im.’
She was impressed when we prefixed the mere Tom Stoppard with ‘Sir’.
Over Chapati bread, which we ate at an outside table on the pavement (it was warm enough today), I asked my partner in crime, David Weston, what he was doing in 1953.
‘I was a boy scout, selling programmes in the Mall,’ he replied.
I said I was playing Slender in the Coronation production of The Merry Wives to Peter Dews’s Falstaff at Bradford Civic Playhouse, and we swapped our experiences of Peter. David had managed to play the walk-ons in Peter’s An Age of Kings for BBC TV on Saturdays and Sundays during his National Service, being stationed at Catterick. Such is the freemasonry of The Profession; we have so many people in common. The wonderful thing is that our sworn enmity in the Lord Archer play of ten years ago has completely evaporated.
I even share a brotherhood with my younger self in the play, young Max Irons. I spotted him as we were entering the Tube so I suggested we have a drink in the adjacent pub, as a stopgap until we can have champagne and smoked salmon in the Eurostar Long Bar at St Pancras. We had a heart-to-heart about the difficulties of rehearsal, and bonded somewhat, I hope, to facilitate the fact that we are playing one another. It had been a ropey run-through, but let’s hope by tomorrow – Wednesday afternoon – we will be ready for ‘the big man’. It is a big little play, though we haven’t quite risen to it yet. But actors are such heroic people, for all our egotisms and the impecunious privileges of life on The Fringe; the seniors managing their ageing memories and making their old tricks as fresh as humanly possible.
‘The artist is a lucky dog’, as Stoppard’s young Beauchamp says, and so is the ‘artiste’, handed gift after Thespic gift in this play. We struggle with the wrapping now and then, of course; tomorrow is another day.
—o—
From Tom Stoppard’s Artist Descending a Staircase …
Beauchamp: I don’t know, Donner … before the war, in Soho, you were always making plans to smuggle a live ostrich into the Royal Academy; and now look at you. In Zurich in nineteen fifteen you told Tarzan he was too conservative.
Donner: Tarzan?
Beauchamp: I don’t mean Tarzan. Who do I mean? Similar name, conservative, nineteen fifteen.
Donner: Tsar Nicholas?
(As both artists soon realize, the ‘conservative’ in question is Tristan Tzara, the father, of course, of Dada.)
Staircase Limericks by Edward Petherbridge
1.
Tarzan showed us the ropes of Dada
Which gave us a je ne sais quoi
But I’ve now made my mission
A return to Tradition
So it’s bah to Dada, and ta-ta.
—o—
If you haven’t already done so, be sure to visit Edward’s new website – launched on the 1st of December. On it you will find – among the other treasures – further extracts from his rehearsal diary, reviews of Artist Descending a Staircase and details of his limited edition book Artist’s Impressions.
I enjoyed this, with the intriguing stream of consciousness style. And it’s always interesting to get a glimpse inside an actor’s head, I shall be going to Mr. Petherbridge’s website to read more of his rehearsal diary.
That cafe looks like a great place to have a sandwich and/or conversation in. The decor is great, especially all the woodwork. I’m glad it’s lasted so long & hope it continues to do so.
What an enjoyable insight into a rehearsal process – and far too self-deprecating I’m sure. The cafe is a real gem. I heartened how many of these family cafes survive, outside an invisible barrier round central London (they all seem to be disappearing there).
And – oh dear – Tzara will always be Tarzan to me, from now on.
[...] about the play which will include his rehearsal diary (from which we published a short extract here last month) in full as well as other poems and original artworks – all related to Artist [...]
I have absolutely no idea how I missed this! Thanks a lot, Real Life! Thank goodness for the link from the Murder at The Old Red Lion article. I loved this, I’m a sucker for snippets from the inside of a theatre. I am a Drama student no more so it’s unlikely that I’ll ever experience being part of a company again. I loved it and I miss it, so this was wonderful for me.
[...] about the play which will include his rehearsal diary (from which we published a short extract here last month) in full as well as other poems and original artworks – all related to Artist [...]