G R I F F E N 2 0 2 3 | 7 Director Simon Evans (2002) is one of Abingdon’s thespians who could be said to have ‘aced’ lockdown. He may also have helped save the mental health of a nation. Despite the cancellation or postponement of several productions he was about to direct, Simon showed tremendous ingenuity by conceiving, creating and selling to the BBC a new television sitcom that became an instant, runaway success at the height of the restrictions. Staged starred David Tennant, Michael Sheen, Simon and his ex-St Helen’s actress sister Lucy Eaton as barely fictionalised versions of themselves, all struggling hilariously to cope with the reality of no work. It threw into the mix some of the biggest names of stage and screen for a killer set of cameos that featured, inter alia, Adrian Lester, Samuel L. Jackson and Dame Judi Dench. Such was the acclaim with which the first six episodes were received that the BBC promptly commissioned a second series. Now, despite the easing of restrictions and a much longed for sense that things could be returning to normal, Simon is preparing to unleash Staged Series 3. Three years before the pandemic, actor Kit Young (2013) emerged from RADA like a comet, turning heads with a string of superb performances in high profile productions such as Nick Hytner’s Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at London’s Bridge Theatre. It wasn’t long before Netflix and Hollywood caught on, and Kit was signed up to play the key role of Jesper Fahey, “a Zemeniborn sharpshooter, Fabrikator and member of the Dregs” in the Netflix fantasy series Shadow and Bone. The success of that series led to another prominent role in a new Netflix film, The School for Good and Evil, released in October 2022. Kit has also starred in a forthcoming film, The Origin, about the first six homo-sapiens to land in Britain, for which Kit had to learn a specially created approximation of primitive human language. The film follows “a small, hungry group of Stone Age hipsters as they are hunted through a harsh landscape in the wilds of Scotland by a malevolent, mystical being.” With The Beautiful Game, another new film - in which Kit performs opposite Bill Nighy - set for release in 2023, it seems for the moment as though Kit’s services are exclusively dedicated to the silver screen. However, at a recent catch-up in London, he revealed he hopes to return to the theatre in the next year or two, in the company of Hollywood legend Laurence Fishburn, who plans to involve Kit in productions at a new venue in New York. Toby Marlow (2013) has also had an extraordinary rise to prominence in the relatively short time since leaving School. Having cowritten with Lucy Moss the musical SIX, which tells in the most novel and entertaining fashion the stories of Henry VIII’s six wives, Toby has seen their university-created show go from one extraordinary success to another in dizzying fashion. Hailed as ‘the most uplifting piece of new British musical theatre’ by the Evening Standard, the show’s subsequent Broadway opening was greeted by The New York Times as ‘pure entertainment’, while the studio album of the show has been adored on playlists across the globe. Toby and Lucy’s achievement was deservedly recognised with a Tony award for Best Original Score. Toby is now writing songs for DreamWorks, the American film company co-founded by Steven Spielberg. After his Cambridge degree, Henry Jenkinson (2012) headed for New York and trained as an actor at the prestigious Juilliard School. He returned to the UK in early 2020 for a role in a production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George at the Savoy Theatre with Jake Gyllenhaal. The pandemic intervened, and Henry’s plans were forced to change. He switched from performing to writing for television, in tandem with his Cambridge contemporary, Sophia Carlo. Together, they have now produced a number of issue-driven stories that give voice to those who are underrepresented in mainstream television drama. They are currently writing a speculative history drama called Owensville for Dancing Fox and working on a TV commission for the actress and James Bond star, Eva Green. As theatre picked up again, Henry was cast in another Sondheim classic, Into the Woods, directed by the legendary former Monty Python star, Terry Gilliam. For details of one of Henry’s subsequent performing assignments, read on! No-one knows the reality of trying to keep the theatre lights on better than John Terry (1997). One of the first Abingdonians to take A level Theatre Studies in the 1990s, John has now been artistic director of the Theatre in Chipping Norton for more than twenty years. This 200-seater may be a ‘small rural theatre’, but thanks to John, it’s known for punching above its weight. John not only leads on the creative decisions, but is also CEO of the business, which means life is never boring; “On an average day, I might come out of directing a scene where people are covered in mashed potato, walk downstairs and deal with the fact that the heating has broken or someone’s handed in their notice, and then go back in and carry on with the mashed potato.” As well as directing bold contemporary work such as Katori Hall’s Olivier Award-winning play The Mountaintop, John also powers Chippy’s annual panto. This theatrical marathon runs each year for 97 shows over three months, and demands huge reserves of energy and stamina. Yet despite all the challenges of running a theatre, John claims “It’s an awfully nice way to make a living, really.” In 2022, playwright Mike Bartlett (1999) achieved the remarkable distinction of having three plays running concurrently in London theatres. The 47th played at the Old Vic and featured Bertie Carvel’s superb characterisation of Donald Trump as a 21st century Shakespearean villain in a play that immersed us in the Machiavellian plots surrounding the next US Presidential election. The action sees Trump giving his backing to other Republican contenders before betraying them by announcing his intention to run against Kamala Harris for the White House. Mike’s play revisited the contemporary blank verse technique he’d first explored in King Charles III, which allowed us to view a contemporary leader through the filters of critical, linguistic and historical distance. For many, there was delight in the dark wit of Mike’s script and the brilliance of the acting, whilst for others, the humour was a little too close to the contemporary bone. As a New York Times review put it, “This Trump play in London is a comedy. Unless you’re American.” Whatever your nationality, Mike’s Scandaltown, his second new play to occupy a London stage this summer, was a sure-fire comic hit. Toby Marlow Kit Young and Paddy Gervers at the BFI
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