Stage Fright rehearsal and recording for Wireless Theatre Company

We had a very good rehearsal at the Canal Cafe Theatre on the 12th of September which I attended and photographed, then a second rehearsal I could not attend followed by the recording on the 24th of September @ Unity Studios with director Emma Taylor and producer Mariele Runacre Temple where I took more photos and saw my idea yet again come to life through the amazing talents of all concerned with actors Abi Titmuss, Alex Barclay and Andrew Macbean , to be followed by a month or so of editing. watch this space and the WTC site for the release date!

We are recording Stage Fright for the Wireless Theatre Company on 15th September

Abi Titmuss and Alex Barclay return to play Geraldine and Peter.

The actor now playing Charles is Andrew McBean - who trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and has worked extensively in TV and theatre since. His film and television credits include Torchwood and Poirot for BBC, and  Whistleblower, Bafta nominated  Elizabeth David A Life In Recipes, The Real Great Escape and The King’s Beard for ITV. Feature films Backwater and Dead Cat (due for release Summer 2010) and short films Lost (BBC) and The Wrong Sea (National Film School) and he also played the doctor who broke the major storyline news to Jack Branning that his baby was in fact swapped, in Eastenders.jTheatre credits include most recently Squire Squigley/King of Gooseland in Mother Goose at the Northcott Theatre in Exeter, The Picture of Dorian Gray (European Tour) Measure for Measure, Richard III and Titus Andronicus (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night and King Lear (Creation),1:60:3600 (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Treasure Island and Grimm Tales (Tobacco Factory), Killer Joe (Bristol Old Vic), Christmas Carol (Trafalgar Studios), Bloody Sunday: The Saville Enquiry (Tricycle), Macbeth (Lord Chamberlain’s Men), Jeffrey Archer’s Prison Diaries – Hell (Underbelly Edinburgh), The Little Years (Orange Tree), Tea & Sympathy, Young Woodley and The Lady’s Not for Burning (Finborough), Shooting With Parsley (Royal Geographic Society), Habitats (Gate), Rebecca, Hayfever, While The Sun Shines, The Gentle Hook, Living Together, and See How They Run (Sidmouth). For Wireless he’s been in The Strange Case of Springheel’d Jack and We Are Not the BBC.

The rest of the crew are Mariele Runacre-Temple - Founder of The WTC and a fine illustrator!, Lynn Howes - The playwright, Emma Taylor - The Director and Jack Bowman who is assistant producing and helped Mariele adapt the script for radio. 

I, Stefan will be taking photos of the rehearsal and the recording and enjoying seeing my theatrical baby reborn, this time for a worldwide audience. The pleasure of seeing something that was just a plot structure in my head many years ago, made manifest in a brilliant script by Lynn Howes and then become performed in the flesh and now the airwaves by a talented team of theatre professionals and actors is difficult to describe, but wholly wonderful.

The recording will take place @ Quince Studios, a very small but super studio in Marylebone, engineered by the fab Matt Walters who will lead us through the day. We’ll rehearse on Monday, working with Andrew in the role and ironing everything out. In the studio there isn’t a lot of time for notes as we have to move very fast. We have a tight recording schedule that we’ll need to stick to, usually allowing no more than 2 takes for each scene! They’ll have a microphone each and probably work in sequence.

Watch out for future posts, as editing progresses and we ultimately load it up on the WTC website for you to download as a podcast!

STOP PRESS - Stage Fright to be broadcast by The Wireless Theatre Company

I am pleased to announce that The Wireless Theatre Company is to produce a "radio" version of the play and broadcast it as a downloadable file to be listened to at your convenience.

WTC are an independent radio drama company producing original audio drama, comedy, stories, poems, sketches and more to be downloaded from their website directly to your iPod or MP3 player. Nearly all of their plays are completely free, and there is a huge mix of stuff to suit all tastes.

WTC's radio dramas are produced, directed and edited by their dedicated team and they  work with a wide range of acting and writing talent – both up-and-coming and established professionals.

Watch this space for further announcements as the day of broadcast approaches, in a few months.

"The Wireless Theatre Company is a brilliant idea. 

I've heard some great performances, real talent. 

Putting plays on the net is brilliant"

Nicholas Parsons

Watch Abi Titmuss talking to Lorraine on GMTV on 17th February about her acting career & StageFright

Watch Abi Titmuss talking to Lorraine on GMTV on 17th February about her acting career & StageFright

Excellent review of the play in International Life a super online magazine

Stage Fright - Review

True to the notes, Stage Fright is 'a savagely funny satire' and it's three players give a real acting master class, squeezing every twist and turn from Lynn Howes wickedly playful script.

 

photography by lubo

Read the rest of the article on http://www.internationallife.tv/node/2172/view

Stage Fright - Sunday Mirror - Abi Titmuss by Adam Lee-Potter

Abi Titmuss goes from Lads' mag pin-up to award-winning actress

EXCLUSIVE by Adam Lee-Potter 7/02/2010

 

Abi Titmuss is nothing if not a mistress of ­reinvention. The sexy girl-next-door who shed her nurse’s uniform to romp in a sex video before emerging as the nation’s favourite glamour girl has taken on yet another role. And it might just be her most convincing yet.


The one-time good-time girl is now a serious actress, winning a Best West End Debut award for her performance as a prostitute in Arthur Miller’s Two Way Mirror four years ago. 


The woman once voted the seventh sexiest in the world by lads’ mag FHM has been much in ­demand, despite keeping her clothes on. Not that she wasn’t asked. “A lot of plays, I’d read the script and it was a case of ‘scene one, Abi’s clothes fall off’. That’s why I didn’t do them.

“I wouldn’t say no to sexy scenes if they felt right. I certainly don’t intend to do topless in a film. But if Steven Spielberg knocked, I’d think about it,” she jokes.


The model, who has so far earned more than £1million – and bought four houses – by taking her clothes off for a top rate of £30,000 a day, is a smart cookie. 


Today she is the girl next door again. Chatty, open and the owner, still, of a staff nurse’s handshake that could crack walnuts. She is impossible to dislike.


She is the picture of ­innocence and frank about her rise to fame. “I’m so grateful to the newspapers. Really I am. They made me.” ...........................

......  “I want longevity,” she says. “Even if it takes me until Helen Mirren’s age to win an Oscar, that’s fine.” She might just achieve her goal.



She is utterly convincing in her new play, Stage Fright, at London’s Canal Cafe Theatre, playing a manipulative man-eating actress ............


Continue to read the full article on:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2010/02/07/abi-titmuss-goes-from-lads-mag-pin-up-to-award-winning-actress-115875-22023738/

Stage Fright Review 5 Stars John Phillip remotegoat

Review of Stage Fright

"Not Just a Pretty Face" by John Phillips for remotegoat on 04/02/10

Abi Titmuss is no ordinary thirties-something actress, trying to make her mark on the Fringe.

Read on ...... http://www.remotegoat.co.uk/review_view.php?uid=4831

Fringe Report Review 3/2/2010 Stage Fright Verdict:: Perky comedy drama

London - Canal Café Theatre - 2-20 February 2010 - 19:30 (1:20)

Peter (Alex Barclay) is a playwright, mainly would-be, with a history of duff romances in his private life. Charles (Sion Tudor Owen) is an out-of-date actor, his moderate successes long gone by. The two men have quarreled working together on a past project. Now Charles has a plan. He's trying to have sex with his much younger new object of desire Geraldine (Abi Titmuss). He reckons that a play written by Peter for him and Geraldine will (a) achieve sexual intercourse and (b) make him a star, both interrelated.........

...... It's a good-looking cast with clever contrasts in physical size, well-suited to the comedy of the script. Sion Tudor Owen delivers an aimably podgy and medium-height Charles capable of huge fits of rage and extreme expression alongside Charles's more reflective moments. Alex Barclay's tall lanky Peter goes well physically with Charles as a kind of end-of-pier comic couple, and his Peter is a believable character building from manic reasonableness to raw mania. Abi Titmuss brings out Geraldine's manipulative essence. She works the strands of Geraldine into the delivery of a flesh-and-blood complex person, a credible catalyst driving the play's switchback turns.

Read the full text on http://www.fringereport.com/1002stagefright.php

BroadwayWorld INTERVIEWS: Actress and Model Abi Titmuss of STAGE FRIGHT

Hi Abi, and thanks for joining us. You're in rehearsals for Stage Fright at the Canal Cafe at the moment - how's it going?
Really well. I'm shattered, but it's brilliant, and we're having a lot of laughs.
So the cast is gelling quickly?
Yes. Sion [Sion Tudor-Owen] and Alex [Alex Barclay] are fantastic, so I'm really having to up my game and   ..... read on!

Stage Fright - the flyer!

Another milestone on the way to the first night of Stage Fright
on 2nd Februaryhas now been reached
- the flyer is at the printers!

Soon this will be distributed throughout London,

so that theatre goers have an opportunity to see what The Guardian has stated
"is the Theatre Event of 2010!"

Book now on

http://www.canalcafetheatre.com/EventPage.php?EventId=674

to avoid disappointment!!

Photo session and press

I recently did a photo session during a rehearsal, producing pictures for publicity purposes.

photography by lubo

The resulting press campaign has produced a lot of copy in the press and theatre related websites which reflect the buzz around the play which is developing.
http://www.whatsonstage.com/news/theatre/london/E8831261143572/Abi+Titmuss+Gets+Stage+Fright+at+Canal+Cafe,+Feb.html
 
http://www.spoonfed.co.uk/spooners/spoonfed-team-2630/abi-titmuss-to-star-in-stage-fright-at-canal-cafe-1915/
 
http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/2010/01/06/celebrity-big-brother-abi-titmuss-turned-down-chance-to-be-on-last-ever-show-115875-21947009/
 
http://www.thedramastudent.co.uk/2009/12/news-abi-titmuss-gets-stage-fright-at-canal-cafe-feb/
 
http://www.totalformat.com/forum/general-entertainment-news/175886-stage-fright-abi-titmuss-stars.html
 
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/bigbrother/news/a194242/abi-titmuss-turned-down-celeb-bb.html
 
http://topics.treehugger.com/article/0bbsgaJ6Aq1Az?q=humor+OR+comedy+OR+funny+OR+witty
 
http://twitter.com/Spoonfed/statuses/6766126056
 
http://www.visitlondon.com/events/detail/7173909
 
http://www.thestage.co.uk/listings/production.php/43843/stage-fright
 
http://upcoming.current.com/topics/abi+titmuss
 
http://web.orange.co.uk/article/news/mills_turned_down_350_000_celeb_bb_offer

Book early to avoid disappointment!! 

Stage Fright the play with Abi Titmuss @ the Canal Cafe Theatre Feb 2nd to 20th 2010

Stage Fright the play is based on an idea of Stefan Lubomirski de Vaux's and will run from February 2nd to 20th 2010 at the Canal Cafe Theatre.

A savagely funny satire on celebrity and theatre, Stage Fright charts the struggle for supremacy between three actors appearing in a play together; old friends Peter and Charles, and Geraldine, the young and vulnerable actress they have befriended.
As opening night approaches, it becomes apparent that Geraldine is not who she appears to be, and the friends must fight to salvage their pride, their identity and their reputations. Featuring the ultimate pin-up turned actress Abi Titmuss, with Sion Tudor-Owen
and Alex Barclay. 

Written by Lynn Howes and directed by Emma Taylor.

Produced by Sonja Rein with Executive Producer Stefan Lubomirski de Vaux.

Book now on http://www.canalcafetheatre.com/EventPage.php?EventId=674

There is already an article in The Guardian which states "Stage Fright - Marina Hyde's tip for the theatre event of 2010"

Abi has also been on BBC2 on January 3rd 2010 and talked about the play enthusiastically.
Her interview starts 1hr 20 mins into the programme.