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thewidowstanton · 3 years

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The Widow’s best of 2020

Well… during a year when we haven’t been able to see many live shows we’ve still managed to find lots of things we loved. Here are some of them; live shows are indicated, otherwise we watched them online – our grateful thanks go to all the companies that streamed their productions for free – listened to them or read them. You’ll notice that our list includes lots of women and the occasional man.

But before that we start with a new category…

PERSON OF THE YEAR: Circus director Carol Gandey (pictured) of Gandeys Circus. If UK touring circus – an artform championed by The Widow’s Liz Arratoon for more than 25 years – is to survive Covid-19, it will be in large part to her. Gandeys had produced three shows before the UK’s March lockdown, two of which never had a chance to open, incurring hundreds of thousands of pounds in costs. It then provided accommodation and living expenses for 33 stranded artists, and meanwhile developed an air-flow working model for circus – trialling an opening at Butlins – which gave the government enough confidence to allow circuses to reopen with reduced seating capacities.

Carol constantly lobbied the government and the Arts Council for aid – as did other industry figures – and her application to the Arts Council Recovery Fund, which was said to be exceptional, resulted in a £1.1 million grant; the largest amount awarded to any UK circus company. Gandeys used some of the money to cover the losses due to the lockdown, and to fund a survival package that included some reduced-capacity performances this autumn, as well as funding the production costs for reopening in 2021.

From one strong and inspirational woman to another…

BEST EXTRAVAGANZA: Rhianna’s Savage X Fenty Volume 2 TV special for her lingerie range. Wow! What a mix! This was an explosion of creativity; part fashion show, part dance show, part gig, part circus, part ad, and included a simply stunning floral set. Add a cast of big names, a wonderfully diverse choice of dancers and models, no expense had been spared. Exciting, fresh and really impressive.

BEST LIVE SHOW: Zebra, a solo show by juggling genius Wes Peden, which was part of the London International Mime Festival at the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room.

BEST CIRCUS SHOW: The really inventive CAPAS by Circo Eia (pictured) – so great to see so many new ideas, and here’s our chat with cast member Francesca Lissia. Plus the intricate and dazzling Twenty Twenty by Gandini Juggling.

BEST DANCE SHOW: Faust by the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, featuring the spectral Bernice Coppieters (pictured) as Death; and Cia de Dança Deborah Colker’s super-stylish Belle, inspired by the novel Belle de Jour.

BEST KIDS’ SHOW: Little Angel Theatre’s hat trilogy, presented by puppeteer Ian Nicholson; an adaptation of the picture books by Jon Klassen: I Want My Hat Back, This Is Not My Hat and We Found a Hat.

BEST COSTUME: The Widow has always considered costumes to be extremely important. As Federico Fellini said: “Don’t forget that costumes, like dreams, are symbolic communication,” and frankly we wish more artists would make the sort of effort Dua Lipa made on Saturday Night Live!

Staying with costumes… slightly less glamorous, but an effort was made by Hot Mess in party-sketch work-in-progress Dirty Stop Outs.

MOST EXCITING: Meeting Marina Abramović in the foyer at London’s Barbican before the Efterklang gig.

BEST SHOWGIRLS: Seen in the 1972 film Un Flic; costumes by Colette Baudot. Also featured is a stunning black dress, worn by Catherine Deneuve, designed by Yves Saint Laurent.

BEST BURLESQUE: Lady of Burlesque, starring Barbara Stanwyck, who wears costumes by the great Edith Head.

BEST FILM CREDITS: Sudden Fear, starring Joan Crawford as a scorned – but impeccably dressed – woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown!

BEST CASTAWAY: Hard to choose between Rupert Everett, Ian Wright or Daniel Radcliffe, who all washed up on BBC Radio 4′s Desert Island Discs.

BEST SHOWBIZ STORY: Catherine Russell – on Outlook, BBC Radio 4 – who has played the same role for 32 years and said the same lines more than 13,000 times. She holds the world record for the most theatre performances in the same role; Margaret Thorne Brent – a psychiatrist who might also be a cold-blooded killer – in the off-Broadway play Perfect Crime.

BEST TV SERIES: It was a close call with The Queen’s Gambit, but our choice is the utterly brilliant My Brilliant Friend; the adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s series of Neapolitan novels.

BEST DOCUMENTARY: The Bee Gees – How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.

BEST CABARET PIC: The ever-lovely Eve Ferret at the Crazy Coqs in London. Picture: @marc_t_albert

BEST SHOWBIZ MEMOIR: John Cooper Clarke’s I Wanna Be Yours.

BEST SHOWBIZ BIOGRAPHY: Jon Gresham: The Life and Adventures of a Sideshow Showman, Fire-Eater and Magician by Edwin A Dawes, Pat Gresham and Jon Marshall. This is a painstakingly detailed and enthralling account of Gresham’s life, lovingly compiled by his widow and friends from material written by Gresham himself. Want one? Details below.

BEST SHOWBIZ AUTOBIOGRAPHY: The heartbreaking Everything and Nothing: The Dorothy Dandridge Tragedy by Dorothy Dandridge and Earl Conrad. The revealing autobiography of Hollywood’s first African-American sex symbol and screen legend.

BEST GIG: Sevdaliza’s only show this year, streamed live from The Hague's Koninklijke Schouwburg (Royal Theatre) to a global audience.

BEST SONG: Désormais by Charles Aznavour, which was used as the title track for the film Chambre 212 or On a Magical Night.

BEST ALBUM COVER: Charles Aznavour’s Désormais. That hat!

MOST CHARMING: The sheep invasion during Isabella Rossellini’s show Sex and Consequences, which was streamed live from her farm in Bellport, Long Island, USA. Yes, her live sheep!

BEST TWITTER CIRCUS PIC: The stunning Crystal Pyramids by Severus posted by @PablosCircus.

BEST LIVE COMEDY: Myra Dubois – star of Britain’s Got Talent – at The Poodle Club in Sydenham. Some of us recognised the greatness of Rotherham’s finest before she was famous!

GONE TOO SOON: Actor Chadwick Boseman (pictured) at just 43, funnymen Eddie Large, Tim Brooke Taylor and Bobby Ball, and dancer, choreographer and actor Ann Reinking.

MOST MISSED: Davenports magic shop that closed at the end of January – but you luckily can still order from it online – and a more recent casualty, after 96 years, London’s beautiful Café de Paris.

MOST DISAPPOINTING: Madonna’s Madame X show at the London Palladium. Goodness, this was shoddy! She was so incapacitated that she simply marked all the dance moves and had to be helped around the set, and up and down the stairs. The tickets were exorbitantly expensive and no one paid to see someone hobbling about onstage. We paid to see Madonna!

But let’s not end on a sour note…

BEST SHOWBIZ MASK: Shirley Bassey’s fabulous sequinned number!

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL: Some things we’re looking forward to include: The 45th London International Mime Festival, which will be screening free-to-view videos of shows from past LIMF editions, running an extended workshop series with live and online classes, and hosting a series of talks.

We’re also awaiting the new series of Call My Agent, which starts on Netflix on 21 January 2021.

And, last but by no mean least, one of the world’s truly funny clowns, Gloria – also known as Mooky Cornish – has been busy training her chickens – Kukuruzza (pictured top), who has been taking piano lessons, and the athletic Galina – and will be touring the Canadian prairies with them next summer. Now that’s something we’d love to see! Picture: Nichole Huck

Better days ahead!

*Jon Gresham book is available via PayPal from [email protected]: P&P incl, UK – £25, EU – £30, USA tracked – $52

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acrobaticcatfeline · 4 years

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More facts about my boys.

Janus and logan are both 5'2

Patton is 5'8 and virgil is 5'10

Remus is 5'11 and roman is 6'

Thomas is 6'3

Patton is vegan or rather, plant based. Hes allergic to a protein found in animal products and just stays clear of it all even if theres some things he could technically eat, and virgil has a pretty vegetarian diet because of it, but often eats meat when out and about.

Janus is bisexual, logan is gay, patton and virgil are both pan and ace, roman is pan and remus is gay.

Janus got his scars mostly in an accident when he was younger. He says they were road rash that he kept picking at and scarred over.

Virgil has anxiety and ADHD, remus has ADHD and undiagnosed depression, janus has ADHD. The other three are mostly neurotypical/undiagnosed

Janus has chronic back pain, and logan has scoliosis (the projecting lol)

Their last names: Roman and Remus Reyes

Patton Corwyn

Logan Cho

Janus Vega

Virgil Suri

Virgil and patton have a siamese cat named Willow and a king Charles spaniel named Harriet, Logan has a Maine coon named Donna, Janus has a ferret named Noodle and a rat named Scooter. Yall already know about remus' cornucopia of animals. Lots of fish and reptiles. Roman however, has a hyacinth macaw named Winona. She has to stay in his room most of the time though, because she sneaks into remus' room and terrorizes his pets.

Roman and remus live in a small house near the beach, their mom bought it for them, mostly because she wanted her space back again, but also because it was a good deal and made their commute to school shorter. Janus and logan both live in dorm rooms, and both have roommates that are less than ideal. Patton and virgil have an apartment together.

Janus and virgil are not on good terms with their parents, very happy to have escaped to college. Patton and logan both have loving parents, logan however felt like a burden and doesnt keep in good contact with his. Roman and remus have a very busy but kind hearted mother and uncle.

Both Reyes' are in showbiz, their mother is a talent scout and their uncle is a theater owner in both florida and New York. They dont really have much time for the boys regrettably, but what they lack in time they make up for in support. Both have invested fully in their futures, their mom bought their house, and their uncle got their cars. They did however insist the two paid their way through college.

Pattons mom is a veterinarian and his dad is restaurant owner. Logans mom is a doctor and his dad is a nurse. Janus and virgil prefer not to talk about their parents, though janus has mentioned offhandedly that one of his parents is a cop.

Janus got into college on a scholarship for theatre, logan got in on several scholarships but mostly academic, patton got in on an arts scholarship and virgil got in on a writing scholarship. The twins got a few scholarships but they were used up by the end of their first year and have paid it themselves since then.

They're all very punk, patton roman and janus are all pastel punks, where as logan remus and virgil are very anarcho punk. Logan and roman are a bit less pronounced though.

#fe rambles #ts janus #janus sanders #duke remus #remus sanders

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elenatria · 5 years

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Stellan, whose childhood dream was to be a diplomat (like his idol Dag Hammarskjöld, a Swedish diplomat and former Secretary-General of the United Nations) and whose idea of relaxation is devouring books on politics and economy, said: “Of course, the subject, I’m truly politically interested and aware of what’s going on in the world and I could say that this series made me think more about certain things, as I’ve mentioned the importance of truth…”

The clothes were specially made to look exactly like they did. My (costumes) were even made in original fabrics from that time, and with detail. We had five months to do five hours (of filming), which is like shooting a big movie.

Chernobyl afforded him the opportunity to work with Emily again after their last film together Breaking the Waves more than 20 years ago. “Of course, I fell in love with her when we made Breaking the Waves and I wanted to work with her so bad again because she’s a fantastic actress and finally this opportunity came and it was just irresistible. The situation is quite different now, compared to Breaking the Waves, because for one we didn’t make love in this one (laughs). We kept our clothes on, but still it was great to work with her.”

For Stellan, it was most interesting to flesh out a character conflicted with being faithful to long-held beliefs and ferreting out the truth. “The most interesting thing is to play a character that’s done his whole life to turn to a system, ideology that stays, and who believes in it fully and wholly. And then, to see him getting all his delusions punctured in a very short time, and to be forced to eventually decide whether he should continue to fight for a system that he loves and has been fighting for all his life, or should he start to fight for the truth,” he said.

Meanwhile, Stellan happens to be the patriarch of a showbiz family that includes sons who starred in other HBO shows — Alexander Skarsgard in True Blood and Gustaf Skarsgard in Westworld. Bill and Valter are his two other children in the acting world. “They’re all doing very well. But I’m proud of them because they’re really good people because how your career works in this world is a bit of a luxury. I’m happy that they’re good actors, but I’m most happy when I see them together and how they treat people. I’m just as happy when I hear people, who just worked with them, say that they’re wonderful people and generous and tolerant. That makes me more happy than any awards that I get.”

#stellan skarsgard #chernobyl #boris shcherbina #interview #bill skarsgard #alexander skarsgard #gustaf skarsgard #valter skarsgard #family #emily watson

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petlover18-blog1 · 6 years

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Lights, camera, animals - what does it take to make the cut?

New Post has been published on https://www.petlovers.shovelnews.com/lights-camera-animals-what-does-it-take-to-make-the-cut/

Lights, camera, animals - what does it take to make the cut?

We’ve all heard the old golden rule of Hollywood: never work with children or animals, but at least one of them is mostly trainable.

If you’re still deciding which one, this story is about the vast network of four-legged, feathered and reptilian wannabes looking for their big break.

Animal talent agencies are bursting with dogs, cats, birds, farmyard friends and all manner of quirky and exotic creatures available for commercials, TV shows, stage productions or feature-length films.

“We’ve been crazy busy,” founder of agency Animal Extras Fiona Macdonald says.

Fiona started out with a dog-walking business when one of her clients, who worked in TV production, encouraged her to get into supplying well-trained dogs for the industry.

Twelve years later, Fiona now has about 600 animals on her books from around Australia. If you’re looking for an albino peacock, a trained owl or a chilled-out python, complete with qualified wrangler, she’s your girl.

“We can usually meet most requests,” Fiona says. “Although we did have to turn away a Japanese production company recently who were after a boxing kangaroo.

“I had to explain that you can’t really train a kangaroo to box and it’s probably not good to try. And we did have a bit of trouble coming up with a zebra the other day.”

As it turns out, much of the “bread and butter” work in the industry goes to more domestic creatures – dogs, cats, horses and farm animals.

Animal trainer Heidi Mackay has made a living from working with animals in the entertainment industry for the past 25 years.

She shot to prominence as the horse trainer for the 1995 film In Pursuit of Honour, starring Don Johnson. She had to manage a cast of 300 horses, one of the largest assembled at the time.

Her stellar job led to regular work in the US, with credits on big budget Hollywood films Dancing With Wolves and Gladiator. She trained ferrets for the TV series BeastMaster, wolf-crosses for The X-Files and has worked with most animals, including tigers, elephants and birds of prey.

“I can’t even tell you all the jobs,” she laughs. “They all get mixed up. After a while, a job’s a job.”

These days she is the horsemaster at Australian Outback Spectacular and has seven of her own beloved dogs, all different breeds, who she’ll use for production work as it comes in. She says this year has been her busiest.

“You can’t just pull a dog out of a backyard,” Heidi says.

“They have to have trained behaviours and do everything asked of them on set. People might see a dog on TV and think my dog could do that but there’s a lot more to it.”

As well as being impeccably trained, usually from a young age, the animals need to be able to perform their tasks or tricks in any environment and not succumb to distraction, fright or an “off day”.

It requires meticulous preparation, troubleshooting and a good working relationship between animal and trainer.

Funnily enough, Heidi prefers working with dogs over cats (“yes, you can train a cat but cats can be hard to work with” – who’d have thought?).

“It’s horrible being on set when your animal isn’t doing what it’s meant to,” Heidi says. “You always need to have a back-up plan.”

Heidi just completed a short film with her red kelpies, two brothers, who also happen to feature in the current Outback Spectacular production. The film required only one dog but Heidi has been around long enough to know how handy a body double can be.

“One got a bit of a fright and didn’t want to speak on cue so I brought his brother out. He did it first time and no one will ever know. You can’t keep the crew waiting.”

Of course, working with animals is not without its unique challenges. Every trainer has a few funny stories that were probably not so funny at the time.

Sydney-based trainer Ann Harris, the founder of Animal Talent Time, once took her own pet goat to a TV set in a nappy to avoid the obvious.

“I whipped the nappy off for the shoot and actually that went pretty well,” she says. “It was a segment to raise money for a charity to buy goats for people in third world countries.

“There was a table of promotional brochures nearby and after the goat had done his thing, he went over and ate them.

“They decided to keep it in the segment because it was a blooper that worked.”

Ann has erected a star picket fence in the bush for four hours before a shoot to stop a kangaroo hopping off into the wild and trained her pig Coco to roll out a red carpet and pull a flag up and down a flag pole.

“You always have to put the animal first,” Ann says. “There’s a Code of Practice the industry has for working with animals and you always need to have someone experienced on set and keep monitoring them.”

Heidi too says respect for the animal is the basis for her work.

“At the end of the day, you need the animal to be happy in what they’re doing, to love their job,” she says.

“You need to praise more than correct. My two kelpies absolutely love doing the Outback Spectacular show every night.

“They thrive on the applause and the attention. They hate it when they have to miss a show.”

But don’t think peddling your pet’s star appeal is your key to giving up the day job.

One-off animal gigs are generally modestly paid. There are no set minimum or standard rates for animals as there are for people and some production companies, not all, can still consider animals akin to props for hire.

If it’s a simple job, such as a pet sitting on a box for a photo shoot, owners may be entrusted to do it unaccompanied. For anything more complicated, qualified animal trainers – known as wranglers – are needed and that may affect the rate that trickles down to the animal’s owner.

But, as happens in the fickle, fantastical world of showbiz, your pet could be one of the lucky ones. The right look, or perhaps a unique trick, could lead to long-term work or an exclusive deal.

Henry, the Heritage Bank fluffy cat, has recently been signed to a cushy three-year contract while the Melbourne owners of Axle the staffy scored a tidy sum when the Pizza Hut chain in South America purchased exclusive video of him doing his signature trick, balancing three fidget spinners on his nose and two front paws.

“At the end of the day, the people who put their pets on our books are mostly animal lovers who love their breed,” Fiona, of Animal Extras, says. “No one does it to get rich.”

But that doesn’t mean you should stop practising that cool trick your pet can do when no one’s looking.

Source: https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/lights-camera-animals-what-does-it-take-to-make-th/3493915/

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