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Did you hear about the very-full-of-himself actor at Bexhill Rep (I swear this is true) who gave himself a grand exit, swept off the stage and straight into the sea? A friend of mine was in the company there – she should know. Sailors and actors tell the best yarns – I am not in touch with any sailors right now, so here are some actors’ yarns we hope will hook you.

David Frost

A Consumer Guide to Religions

By Acting, Little Jump
Shock and horror. This was one of the ground-breaking, society-changing, pieces of writing for which the BBC’s That Was the Week That Was became notorious. The establishment of the time couldn’t stomach it. Suggested by Ned Sherrin and written by…
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The Hungarian Count, part ten

By Acting, Stage
There was more correspondence with agents in New York, the UK and France about rights and percentages. Until, finally, Nicholas got his version of our translation-from-the-French and began a meticulously detailed revising of his own script – the French version…
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Wenckheim Palace Budapest

The Hungarian Count, part eight

By Acting, Stage
There is an entry, in the category of counts – of whom there are many – in a schedule of the Hungarian aristocracy as follows: “Wenckheim: Article 73 of 1790/91. Austrian baron: 1776; Austrian count: 1802. The Wenckheims’ hereditary seat…
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German soldiers Budapest

The Hungarian Count, part seven

By Acting, Stage
Nicholas Wenckheim was tall, slim handsomely lean-faced, beautifully dressed – probably in his fifties. He spoke remarkably good English and displayed the most exquisite manners. Even when – later – I detected anger, even fury, he controlled it in a…
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London Taxi 1980

The Hungarian Count, part six

By Acting, Stage
So we wrote to Nicholas Wenckheim as follows: Would he go with this approach? The answer seemed to be ‘yes’. Other jurisdictions do bad things, too, he seems to concede. Also, some astonishing figures came out of this correspondence. Not…
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The Hungarian Count, part four

By Acting, Stage
We were at the height of the Cold War when Wenckheim was writing, so global fear of the possibility of a nuclear exchange, and the resulting effects of radiation on the surviving population, were at their most alarming. Nevertheless, what…
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Buenos Aires 1970s

The Hungarian Count, part three

By Acting, Stage
In September of 1975 Claudine Vattier wrote to say how pleased she was that we liked Wrangel Island; she thought it ‘intéressante’ and found the characters to be ‘chouettes' – cool. She recognised the difficulty of placing it! In passing, she…
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Wrangel Island

The Hungarian Count, part two

By Acting, Stage, Writing
Claudine Vattier’s French translation of Wenckheim’s play arrived. La Terre de Wrangel, she called it; Wrangel Island, in English. It’s a real place. A sizeable island belonging to Russia, about five hundred miles west from Alaska. Today, it’s known as…
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My mate Bernard

By Acting, Little Jump
I once was walking under the walls of Cardiff Castle with Bernard Bresslaw; we spent a lot of time together before he became ‘starry’ and began to ‘hold court’. Bernard was six feet five. Suddenly he dived violently away from…
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The Understudy, part four

By Acting, Stage
This is the grand finale scene from As You Like It. I can see Ray Llewellyn’s head and shoulders, between two lady’s heads, at the back, a third of the way from the left edge of the photograph. And I’m…
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Paul Rogers Touchstone

The Understudy, part three

By Acting, Stage
That’s Paul, second on the left, as Touchstone. It’s how I was meant to look – and then un-look – in minutes. And this is the Olympia Theatre programme, Dublin, where we ended the Season. And you will see that…
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Howard Goorney

Howard Goorney
– A red gent

By Acting, Stage
I first met Howard Goorney when we were both working with Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop in Stratford, east London. In Part One of Are You Going to do That Little Jump? I describe the weekly Soviet style meetings presided over…
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