Viva Brighton Issue #74 April 2019

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Join us at Polpo Brighton for 10% off your meal and a complimentary bellini! Offer runs until September 1st. 20 New Rd, Brighton BN1 1UF www.polpo.co.uk | @polpo
THEATRE ............................. Glengarry Glen Ross Mark ‘The Machine’ Benson I’ve heard that the David Mamet play Glengarry Glen Ross – also, of course, a Hollywood movie – contains so many swear words, that in the acting world it’s acquired the nickname ‘Death of a F*****g Salesman’. “We counted how many swear words were used,” says Mark Benson, who plays the role of Shelley ‘The Machine’ Levene, so memorably performed by Jack Lemmon in the movie. “I had the most. It came to 74.” If you don’t know who Mark is, you probably haven’t watched much TV over the last 20 years. He played Eddie in Early Doors, Howard in Northern Lights, and Chalky in Waterloo Road. He hosted the game show The Edge, starred in the 2017 Marks & Spencer Christmas ad, and reached round ten of the 2013 edition of Strictly Come Dancing. More recently, he’s played the private detective Frank Hathaway in the BBC series Shakespeare & Hathaway. He’s big, he’s scruffy, and, hailing from Teesside, he’s irrevocably northern. But not in Glengarry Glen Ross. “The play is set in the cut-throat world of salesmen, selling plots of land, near Chicago,” he says, “so I’ve learnt to do a Chicago accent… The David Mamet script has us all speaking really fast – like people do in real life – so it’s been really hard to learn. It’s probably the hardest part I’ve ever had to do on stage: but when we get it right it’s brilliant, it just goes like a train.” Mark is the most recognisable name in a cast of seven, but he feels that this is very much an ‘ensemble’ production. “What’s nice about it,” he says, “are that there are no egos at work. Everyone has their moment to shine, so everybody’s satisfied, everybody’s happy with what they’ve got to do. We’re like a little gang, going round the country.” Mark’s character is in trouble: Shelley Levene used to be the top man in the sales team, but he’s having a run of bad luck, his leads are lousy, and he’s facing the sack. Meanwhile, his daughter’s ill, and the medical bills are mounting. I wonder how easy Mark finds it to unburden himself of his character’s problems, once he’s finished performing the role. Or has he been taking all Levene’s pent-up frustrations home with him? “That could be a problem, he says, “especially with a heavy role, like this one. But I’ll tell you what. When I’d just started out, I worked with Mike Leigh. You improvised with Mike, and he always had a cut-off point where he said ‘come out of character.’ So you’d come out of character, and then you’d talk about that character, objectively. From then on, I’ve been able to become myself again when I wanted to.” So did all the profanities not leak into Mark’s day-to-day conversations? “Oh, that. It became second nature, to tell you the truth. I went home once, after rehearsals, and my wife said: ‘would you please stop swearing so much?’ It took a while to get back to normal.” Alex Leith Theatre Royal, April 22nd-27th ....55....
Page 3 and 4: VIVA B R I G H T O N #74. APR 2019
Page 5 and 6: HURSTPIERPOINT COLLEGE
Page 7 and 8: CONTENTS ..........................
Page 9 and 10: ALEJ EZ ...........................
Page 11 and 12: TRIPS AND BOBS ....................
Page 13 and 14: JOE DECIE .........................
Page 15 and 16: CURATOR’S CITY ..................
Page 17 and 18: BITS AND PUBS .....................
Page 19 and 20: JJ WALLER .........................
Page 21 and 22: BITS AND BOBS .....................
Page 23 and 24: BITS AND BOOKS ....................
Page 25 and 26: BITS AND BOOKS ....................
Page 27 and 28: BITS AND BOGS .....................
Page 29 and 30: INTERVIEW .........................
Page 31 and 32: PHOTOGRAPHY .......................
Page 39: COLUMN ............................
Page 42 and 43: BRYONY KIMMINGS I’M A PHOENIX, BI
Page 44 and 45: LEGENDS LIVE Sun 7 Apr UB40 FT ALI
Page 46 and 47: Hugh Bonneville Liz White SHADOWLAN
Page 48 and 49: 4 - 26 May Young Brighton Festival
Page 50 and 51: Experience Horrible Science activit
Page 52 and 53: Award-winning independent 3 screen
Page 56 and 57: PODCASTS ..........................
Page 58 and 59: NOURISH YOUR CREATIVITY with over 8
Page 60 and 61: Contemporary British Painting and S
Page 62 and 63: ART ............................. P
Page 64 and 65: ART ...............................
Page 66 and 67: Artists Open Houses Brighton & Hove
Page 68 and 69: ART ............................. P
Page 70 and 71: “Transforming Lives Through Art
Page 72 and 73: DESIGN ............................
Page 74 and 75: ADVERTORIAL Do something life-chang
Page 76 and 77: THE WAY WE WORK Jason Minter, Aquac
Page 78 and 79: THE WAY WE WORK Paul Bramhall, Hano
Page 80 and 81: Viva Brighton We print 15,000 magaz
Page 82 and 83: RECIPE ............................
Page 84 and 85: A-news bouche Find us at 7 Church S
Page 86 and 87: FEATURE ...........................
Page 88 and 89: 吀爀愀渀猀昀漀爀洀
Page 90 and 91: MY SPACE ..........................
Page 92 and 93: TRY BEFORE YOU BUY Rent an apartmen
Page 94 and 95: 1,000 of your neighbours each owns
Page 97 and 98: WILDLIFE ..........................
Page 99 and 100: Springfield Mews, Brighton, BN1 Gui

Viva Brighton Issue #74 April 2019

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?