Curtain Up!
Louise Gold starred as one of the performers, at the
Minerva Theatre,
Production was to raise funds of The Chichester Festival
Theatre’s new Senheiser System (to enable members of the audience with hearing
and visual impairments to fully enjoy performances)
Cast
Desmond
Barrit
Alicia
Davies
Louise
Gold
Philip
Quast
Production Team
Devised by -
Desmond Barrit
Pianist - Daniel
Jackson
Running Order
Act 1
OVERTURE: “It’s Showbiz” Medley - played
by Daniel Jackson
Comedy Tonight
(Stephen Sondheim) - sung by The Company
This is a Theatre
(A.P Herbert) - ?
Theatre (Nicholas
Smith) - ?
On the Building of the Festival Theatre
(
At the Theatre
(Rachael Field) - ?
THE AUDIENCE
The Audience at the
Chocolates (Guy
Boas) - performed by Louise Gold
The Boy I Love is Up in the Gallery
(George Ware) - sung by Alicia Davies
To the Lady Behind Me At The Theatre
(Punch 1948) - performed by Philip Quast
The Queue (Guy
Boas) - ?
The Audience (Guy
Boas) - ?
Charge of the Late Brigade
(Herbert Farjeon) - performed by The Company
THE ACTORS
Actors (Anon) -
?
The Repertory Actor
(Guy Boas) - ?
The Boy Actor (Noel
Coward) - ?
Her Voice (Oliver
Herford) - ?
Epitaph for an Actor in the TV Age
(Nicholas Smith) - ?
Mrs Worthington
(Noel Coward) - sung by Desmond Barrit
Walk Ons (Julie
Lumsden) - ?
Deep Throat (Jo
Anderson) - performed by Louise Gold
My Mother Doesn’t Know I’m on the Stage
(Billy Bennett) - performed by Desmond Barrit
American Student Actors
(Stephen Surry) - performed by Philip Quast
Act 2
ENTRACTE
THE PERFORMANCE
Stools (Martin
Charnin) - ?
Giving Notes (Victoria
Wood) - performed by Louise Gold, with Philip Quast and the
audience
Funny Without Being Vulgar
(Harry Brett) - performed by Desmond Barrit
The Prompter (Albert
Chevalier) - ?
THE CRITICS
The Critic (Guy
Boas) - ?
THE BARD
Anecdotage (Derek
Nimmo) - ?
I Was Here (Flaherty
& Ahrens) - sung by Philip Quast
I’m in the RSC
(Jack Klaff) - performed by Desmond Barrit
Quoting Shakespeare
(Bernard Levin) - ?
When I Read Shakespeare
(D.H. Lawrence) - ?
Essentials to Shakespeare
(Elizabeth Jennings) - ?
They All Want to Play Hamlet
(Carl Sandbirg) - ?
The Death of Romeo and Juliet
(Anon) - performed by Philip Quast
Hamlet (Stanley J Sharpless) - ?
BACKSTAGE
Touring Days (Noel
Coward) - ?
A Touch of the Memoirs
(Donald Sinden) - ?
Train Call (Donald
Wolfit) - ?
Superstitions (Jonathan
Field) - ?
I Should have been Knighted
(Diana Whelan) - performed by Desmond Barrit
Broadway Baby (Stephen
Sondheim) - sung by Louise Gold
THE CURTAIN CALL
Our Revels Now Have Ended
(William Shakespeare) - ?
Exit Nonie (W S
Christian) - ?
The Play is Done
(William M Thackeray) - ?
Epilogue To ‘Midsummer Nights Dream’
(William Shakespeare) - ?
Jill Parry has kindly written a review of Curtain
Up! please click here to read it.
All four members of the cast had been appearing at
Desmond Barrit had been appearing as
Shylock in The Merchant Of Venice, and, Sorin in The
Seagull
Alicia Davies had been appearing as
Casilda in The Gondoliers, Stephina in The
Merchant Of Venice, and, Mary Jane/ Poppy - a Water Baby in The Water Babies
Louise Gold had been appearing as The
Duchess Of Plaza Toro in The Gondoliers, and,
The Irishwoman/ Mrs Bedonebyasyoudid / Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby in The Water Babies
Philip Quast had been appearing as
Antonio in The Merchant Of Venice, and, Trigorin in The
Seagull
Just over a week earlier Desmond
Barrit, Louise Gold, and, Philip Quast had appeared in the Final Chic Cabaret 2003, where Phillip Quast also sang I Was
Here.
Louise Gold and Desmond Barrit
returned to
Louise Gold has previously appeared
at
Some of the pieces presented in the show were almost
certainly already very familiar to some of the performers. For example:
Louise Gold had previously sung Comedy
Tonight in Side By Side By
Sondheim and The Regent’s Park 70th
Anniversary Gala. She has gone on to sing a very different version of it in
a late night FUNdraising special featuring The Company Of Mary Poppins.
Ms Gold might also be supposed to have some
familiarity with Broadway Baby, although there doesn’t appear to
be any note of her having sung it before herself, she was in a few shows where
other people (Bonnie Langford, Maria Friedman, Liz Robertson,
and, Joan Savage) sang it, namely: Sondheim
At The Barbican, Side By Side By
Sondehim, Side By Side By Sondheim 25th
Anniversary Gala, and, Follies.
The Chichester Festival Theatre complex itself
has previously echoed to the sound of the song Mrs Worthington when Peter
Greenwell performed it in Noel/Cole:
Let’s Do It.
This is a show about actors, and it is of course
performed by actors, with a wealth of experience.
For example be noted that three of them, Desmond
Barrit, Louise Gold, and, Philip Quast have all been in the RSC.
(In Louise’s case actually at
Louise Gold happens to have had some
connection with the world of amateur dramatics (thanks to her parents both
being members of Unity Theatre) and indeed her mother has actually
directed amateur theatre (starting with a Leonard Irwin play, The
Wages Of Eve at Unity Theatre). Over
thirty years later, Louise herself was roped into appearing with the Fall Out group.
Alicia Davies’s previous credits
include The Regent’s Park 70th
Anniversary Gala
Louise Gold and Desmond Barrit
had previously starred together in Du
Barry Was A Lady (2001 Production)
Critics Comments
.
Links about Curtain
Up
Philip Quast forum, very informative thread
about Curtain Up!: http://pub25.bravenet.com/forum/show.php?usernum=2098859878
Philip Quast fan-site, page about Curtain Up!: http://www.allthingsquast.info/stage/plays/curtainup.htm (please note,
when my computer tries to access this
site is crashes, but the webmaster assures me no one else seems to have
experienced this problem)
Text for Giving Notes: http://www2.prestel.co.uk/cello/GivingNotes/htm
Muppet Central Interview with Louise Gold
(she mentions her parents’ involvement with amateur theatre): http://www.muppetcentral.com/articles/interviews/gold.shtml
TheatreNow.Com interview with Louise Gold about
Follies (she mentions her parents’ involvement with amateur theatre): http://www.theatrenow.com/asp/link.htm?news.asp?art=3430&cat=1
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