Gallery of the past

 

Portugal. Working holiday with the Royal Ballet School. There to perform in an international festival of folk dance. I'm third from the left - (at the time my surname was Andrews). Others in this photo include John Peterson (at that time known as Peter Sellers) who stared in 'Cats' and 'A Chorus Line' and wowed the USA in 'Cabaret', Jeremy Kerridge: multiple award winner for his work under Christopher Gable at Northern Ballet Theatre, Michael Clark: influential and transgressive contemporary dance star and Mark Siezcareck, last heard of with the Pina Bausch Company. In our year at the RBS there were also Russell Maliphant, the choreographer and Alex Ferri: star ballerina at the Scala, Milan.

 

Portogallo. Una vacanza lavorativa con i colleghi di classe Royal Ballet School, ospiti di un festival di danza folk. Io sono il terzo da sinistra (allora mi chiamavo Andrews di cognome).

Tra i miei colleghi c'è John Peterson, star di 'Cats' e 'A Chorus Line' e Michael Clark importante personaggio trasgressivo che ha influenzato l'evoluzione della danza contemporanea. Più tardi arrivavarono Russell Malifant (ora celebre coreografo), e Alex Ferri, ora ballerina di fama internazionale ed 'étoile' del Teatro Scala di Milano.

 

Paradise Lost, directed and choreographed by Geoffrey Cauley for Northern Ballet Theatre. In the photo with me (as the serpent - the lackey of Lucifer) are Alex Worral as Eve (in act 2 a 1930's styled political figure of great glamour and dangerous influence) and David Needham as Lucifer.
'Il Paradiso Perduto' regia e coreografia di Geoffrey Cauley per il Northern Ballet Theatre. Io sono il serpente e con me nella foto c'è David Needham, il Diavolo, ed Eva (diventata una figura politica e sofisticata dei anni 30) interpretata da Alex Worral.

 

 

 

(Off stage I wanted to be James Dean!)
(Fuori scena volevo essere James Dean!)

Almost every actor in Britain has done The Rocky Horror Show at least once. This was a British tour.
I'd done the same show the year before with Martin Duncan, Anita Dobson, Clive Carter and David Cardy
Quasi ogni attore inglese ha recitato almeno una volta nello Rocky Horror Show. Ecco il mio contributo al club.

 

I wonder why we're all so fond of dressing room photos? Probably the same reason we're so fond of dressing rooms - our nests. Here backstage in 'Annie' with Jeannie Harris and Rita Henderson.
Perché ci piacciano tanto le foto fatte nei camerini? Forse perché il camerino è il nostro nido, la nostra casa fuori casa. - Qui la produzione era il musical 'Annie'

 

On stage in "The Threepenny Opera". This production, by Neil Murray was, like the piece itself, perfectly balanced between Cabaret Theatre and Baroque Opera.
In scena nell' "Opera di Quattro Soldi" di B.Brecht. Una produzione delicatamente posizionato, come l'opera stessa, tra il teatro tedesco del cabaret e l'opera barocca.

 

Dressing room again. This time at Chichester with Sue Holland.
Ancora in camerino - con la mia grande amica, l'attrice Sue Holland.

 

Paris - colleagues at the Lecoq school Giovanni Fusetti, Mikaela Husàn and Priska Elmiger in their show 'Circo Crapo'. We all, in various formations, were always making shows.
Parigi - i colleghi alla scuola Lecoq: Giovanni Fusetti, Mikaela Husàn e Priska Elmiger nello loro spettacolo "Circo Crappo". Ciascuno di noi creava spesso nuovi spettacoli .

 

I started imitating the Mona Lisa for the tourists outside the Musée d'Orsay. It was an art based gag so it was always very successful, photographed continuously by a constant flow of people, often many at one time - I once worked out that during the course of a year they took over a million likenesses. The Americans liked it particularly: there was a feature in the arts section of the Washington Post, CBS made a feature for The Connie Cheung Show and my spies tell me that I'm still to be found in numerous guidebooks. I remember once someone walked past me and though I couldn't move to see her well I was deeply moved by her beauty and her dignity, I remember the glowing feeling in my belly, and as a secondary thought it occurred to me that she had looked like Anne Bancroft - I dismissed the thought but ten minutes later she walked past again and the man she was with turned and said, in that studied way people do when they're not quite sure which language to use, "well done". He was Mel Brooks - so I'd been right about his Missus. But this wasn't a first. I was always "recognizing" people seen out of the corner of my eye - it was one of the games I used to play as I watched the people in front of me. Among the people 'spotted' I was right about Lesley Caron, Michael Winter, Lesley Collier and a next door neighbour from my childhood but much to my annoyance I was always wrong about Gerard Depardieu. One regret about Paris and my own laziness is that I was commissioned by the editor of a French publishing house to submit a sort of autobiography. They were interested in my living a contemporary Vie de Boheme. This approach was made just one week before I left Paris for Italy. During a fairly unsettled first year during which I started to establish a home and some work I fell out of touch with the publishers and have never renewed the contact.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Le mie prime performance come Gioconda, le ho fatte davanti al Musée d'Orsay. Essendo una gag basata sull'arte avevo sempre molto successo. Mi hanno fotografato tante persone continuamente - ho fatto il calcolo che di foto me ne hanno fatto più di un milione in un anno. Una cosa della quale sono dispiaciuto, è che fui contattato da un editore francese interessato alla mia storia - cioè: com'è vivere una vita da 'boheme' nella Parigi d'oggi ma, una settimana dopo, mi sono trasferito in Italia e tra una cosa e l'altra non ho mantenuto il contatto. Questo signore ha assistito un giorno per caso ad una strana situazione nella quale un'insegnante ha fatto una lezione estemporanea ad un gruppo di suoi studenti, per quindici minuti, sul ritratto cinquecentesco.