Author: catherinedoveyroche

I had two outings with Barry recently, to two rather different audiences.

The first was on 27th July at the Theatre Barn, Bretforton (Worcestershire), the reopening of the venue after three years of closure for renovation. We played here a few years back. It’s delightful as a picturesque conversion job, and welcoming in terms of its audience and theatre staff. This being something of an opening night the audience were all in black tie. The theatre was packed.

Then we did an hour’s afternoon show at the actors’ retirement home at Denville Hall on 30th July, which went splendidly. The entertainment room was at capacity. Here I met up with Leonard Fenton, with whom I did music hall when I first started working as an accompanist, and Bobby Mills, with whom Penny had worked in a tour of Ayckbourne’s Taking Steps in the 1980s. Wearing a different hat, as a Humanist lay preacher, Bobby officiated at the wedding of Jake and Janet Wakstein.

Lisa Bowerman, who’s on the Hall committee, took photos.

I spent much of last weekend (27th and 28th April) at the Kennington Bioscope in the Cinema Museum as one of six pianists accompanying silent films on the Bioscope’s ‘Silent Laughter’ weekend. Full houses, big laughs, and some very interesting material, not least some recent discoveries which I was lucky enough to play for. These included a delightful comedy short made by Frank Wilson for the studio of British film pioneer Cecil Hepworth (see photo), ‘The Joke That Went Wrong’. I also played for Harold Lloyd’s feature ‘Grandma’s Boy’, which has challenging chase sequences, to say the least. David Robinson, film historian and writer, whose ‘World Cinema’ fired my interest in film many years ago, was a pleasure to meet and listen to.

I was in BBC Maida Vale studios this morning to help record a cast of 4 young teenagers in singing selections from Calamity Jane. Tom Wainwright’s trilogy, Leg Breakers – half hour Radio 4 dramas set in and around a children’s Saturday drama school – required an MD/pianist to be the instrumental side of Keith, the music man of the ‘Leg Breakers’ school.  Studio staff and adult cast members generously augmented the children’s vocals. A good time had by all. Sasha Yevtushenko, the producer, and his team will doubtless work some magic on the recordings to make the group sound even larger. The programmes will be transmitted on 19th June, 26th June and 3rd July, all at 11.30am. My contribution is mainly in the final episode.