In Sickness And In Monsters

 "Lose the mask."
 "Mm?" I had earbuds in.
 "Lose the mask, man" said the passerby yesterday at the top of Mount Vernon before collapsing in a heap immediately, blood falling out of his ears in clots, probably, I don't know, I didn't look back but probably. That evening, to signify the risk of my days becoming more structured I not only chose a film but attempted to make popcorn, and with every window wide open finally sat down to watch A Quiet Place.

 Peter had recommended it. He and Phil had picked it for the third episode of their new podcast Horror Movie Maniacs, with no idea that when they would finally come to record it the whole world would be self-isolating. You can hear it here, and there are also spoilers below, but I love Ryan George's hair-splitting Pitch Meetings. And I love having horror fans as best friends. We follow the rules.

A Salute to the Many Excellent Drunk Women Portrayed in "Werewolf of London" (1935)

Apologies for the low resolution. I tried to put this on youtube, but it all got blocked. 

Featuring:
 Spring Byington as Ettie Coombes ("Shh.") whose work in this film is as good as anything out of Lee Strasberg.
 Charlotte Granville as Lady Forsyth ("Please don't yank me, Paul.")
 Maude Leslie as Mrs. Charteris ("I simply jitter to go to Java.") or, at least, I'm assuming that's who this character is. I'm not sure she and Lady Forsyth are that drunk, either.
 Jeanne Bartlett as Daisy ("Give me a nice kiss, Alf."). Definitely meant to be drunk, but again I'm only assuming from IMDB that this is "Daisy".
 Ethel Griffies as Mrs. Whack ("Is your tripe tough, Mrs. Moncaster?") and Zeffie Tilbury as Mrs. Moncaster ("Spear the canary with a fork.") These two attributions I'm sure about; they're very good about saying each other's names.
 And Tempe Pigott ("I want two gins for two ladies") credited simply as "Drunk Woman" on IMDB, which is a bit rich in this company.
 Parenthetically, in contrast to all the superb character work above, the film's two werewolves, Warner Oland and Henry Hull, appear to have been genuinely paralytic for most of the filming, making their many conversations about the fictional plant Mariphasa Lupina Lumina particularly nail-biting. It's a mouthful.

"Mariphasa... Lupina... Lumina..."

 Screenplay by John Colton, from a story by Robert Harris. Direction by Stuart Walker. Second viewing by means of the Wolf Man boxset at Peter Davis and Laura Marshall's, where I finally gave this film the attention it was due. Excellent party. Peter's just extended his horror podcast output, by the way. "Horror Movie Maniacs" pleases me greatly, and might please you too, and the Hellraiser-inspired audio guignol that he and fellow maniac Phil wrote and produced – Piercing The Veil" – in which I get to play an absolute rotter, is still audible here.

March 2013 - Perfs

The Dungeon reopened in March, but I was Ringing.

    This is Warwick University – where some of Ring was made – and the head on a stick used to make it. John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme, Ghostphone, Life by Misadventure, Before They Were Famous, Gentlemen of Horror, Monster Hunters, Time Tours, Christmas Carol II, Ring... 2013, I now realise, was a year full of performances and short on rehearsal. Partly this was a money issue. But also it was because a lot of this was voice work. "Voice work" simply means you can't be seen, which means you get to read from the script (unless the reason you can't be seen is because they've turned the lights off), but it also means you rarely get to rehearse. In voice work, heavy breathing is of course vital to let people know you're still there when someone else is speaking. Was it not Stanislavski who said "Acting is reacting"?*  Voice acting therefore is gasping, and going hmm.

 

* Was it not Kuleshov who said "No it' s not"?

 And I can be heard having great fun doing both in Peter Davis' and Philip North's Hellraiser fanfiction "Piercing the Veil", here.

 And tomorrow evening, I can be seen giving an unrehearsed Don Quijote as the guest performer in this.

 And next month, I can't be seen in Ring at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre, because they'll turn the lights off, but tickets are here.

(Speaking of Hellraiser, this rejected Cenobite is always good for a laugh.)