KATE WEBSTER: DIRECTOR OF 'MR CUSHING AND MR LEE: THE GENTLEMEN OF HORROR' INTERVIEW

Troy Howarth, the author of The Haunted World of Mario Bava, (Here) due in 2014 from Midnight Marquee Press (http://www.midmar.com/), follows up his interview with James Goss by chatting a bit with Kate Webster, the director of Mr. Cushing and Mr. Lee: The Gentlemen of Horror. This fictionalized account of the friendship between Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee offers a revealing view of their "behind the scenes" frienship...

 

What got you interested in directing?

It was mainly being directed as an actor, at school and in amateur theatre, and seeing how much the director did to shape the final production and support the actors in giving their best performance.

 

How long have you been directing?

Since 1994 (which makes me feel ancient!), when I directed my first student production of Jacobean drama "The Revenger's Tragedy". Since then, I've directed outdoor productions, a season with Manchester Youth Theatre, site-specific plays and several shows at both the Edinburgh Fringe and Camden Fringe.

 

Oh, 1994 isn't that long ago!  Do you have any favorite directors, either in film or theatre?

Vicky Featherstone's "Black Watch" for National Theatre of Scotland is one of the strongest pieces of theatre I've ever seen and I can't wait to see what she does as Artistic Director of the Royal Court. I'm a big fan of both Simon McBurney and Theatre de Complicite, and Declan Donellan and Cheek by Jowl; I don't think it's a coincidence that they're both directors who've worked with one company over a long period of time. I've also seen some fantastic work by Rufus Norris and Katie Mitchell, who tend to be directors with big ideas.

And now we come to Gentlemen of Horror, which deals with the relationship between Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.  How did you become involved in this project?

The writer James Goss and I have known each other a long time and worked together before. He sent me this script and asked if I'd be interested in doing it, and I jumped at the chance.

 

Based on that, I would assume that you were already a fan of Lee and Cushing?

I was a fan of the films I'd seen, but I think I've become much more aware of the range of both their careers and quite the volume of films they made together since working on this project. They're both screen icons and it's been fascinating to look behind the curtain a bit.

 

What are your thoughts on Lee and Cushing as actors?  Do you prefer one over the other?

I think they're quite different, and that's one of the reasons they complement each other so well. I couldn't pick a favourite, but I think Lee has great presence and a real air of brooding menace when it's required, while Cushing brings such delicacy and precision to his roles.

That's a good distinction between the two; I'd also argue that both have tended to be underrated for far too long.  Did you do much research ahead of time, or was it all more or less there on the page as far as you were concerned?

The vast majority of it's on the page and in the encyclopedic research James has done, but we've done some more research on specific things during the rehearsal process.

 

How have you worked with your actors?  Are you encouraging them to look at the films that Lee and Cushing did together, or are you encouraging them to focus on the script itself, divorced of outside influences?

The actors are both big horror fans who'd already seen a lot of Cushing and Lee's work, but we've also looked at some of the films and biographies to flesh out certain moments and help it make sense in their minds. There aren't always definitive answer to every question. For example - no spoilers - there's a moment in the play when Cushing talks about apologising to his dying wife Helen for "not having been the perfect husband". We may never know precisely what he was sorry for, but there are little hints and indications that Matthew can use to play that scene.

 

I think the films inform every page of the script and the actors are drawing on that, but for both of them it has to be a performance, not an impression. No-one can replicate Cushing and Lee and we're not attempting that. That's also important because the script is about their relationship off screen and the things you don't see in their films.

It really is a wonderful idea; I'm sure the fans of these actors would all love to see it.  Are you pleased with how the production has been going?

Very pleased! We were delighted to find a venue with such a strong cinema connection, and it's great that they're screening "Dracula, A.D. 1972" after the play. The actors, Matthew Woodcock and Simon Kane, have been an absolute pleasure to work with; they "got" the characters from the very first read and have been doing brilliant work in rehearsals. I can't wait to see them on stage.

I have a perverse affection for Dracula AD 1972, which doesn't seem to be shared by a lot of other Hammer Horror buffs.  Sounds like a perfect capper to me!  What do you have planned after this?

We'll have at least one more performance of "The Gentlemen of Horror" early in 2014 (details to be announced in the next few weeks) and I'm hoping to be part of the VAULT Festival 2014 with a non-horror project called "We Are Not Alone". I've done two projects this year with new writing company The Pensive Federation and would love to work with them again. - we'll see what happens.

 

Kate, thank you for taking the time to answer these questions, and I wish you all every success with the production!

 

YOU CAN BOOK TICKETS TO SEE 'MR CUSHING AND MR LEE: THE GENTLEMEN OF HORROR: HERE 

HALLS OF HAMMER: 'THE MUMMY' COMIC STRIP ISSUE 22

IF YOU CAN THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX: PETER CUSHING : DR WHO

He's not just any Dr Who, he's a one -off. Think about it...

'THE GENTLEMEN OF HORROR' : MR CUSHING AND MR LEE : PLAYRIGHT JAMES GOSS INTERVIEW

"The Gentlemen of Horror" takes you backstage on Cushing and Lee’s relationship, into the dressing rooms of the films they made together.  When they first worked together in "The Curse of Frankenstein" and "Dracula", Peter Cushing was one of the most famous actors in Britain, while Christopher Lee was unknown. For the next quarter of a century, these two killed each other again and again and became firm friends. As Christopher Lee became internationally famous, Peter Cushing gradually retired into a life of quiet obscurity. And yet neither quite lost their taste for blood...

Writer James Goss is a former producer of the BBC Cult website and has written a number of books, including several in the “Torchwood” and “Being Human” series. He has also written for radio, a series of audiobooks (including “Dead Air”, read by David Tennant, which was voted Audiobook of the Year 2010), as well as adapting Douglas Adams’ “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” for the stage.
 

Actors Simon Kane and Matthew Woodcock can be heard together as Sir Maxwell House and Roy Steel in popular podcast “The Monster Hunters” (for Wireless Theatre). Simon has appeared on Radio 4′s “John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme” and “Before they were famous”, performed with Shunt and written for Mitchell & Webb. Matthew’s recent work includes “The Saint Valentine’s Day Murder” for Newgate Productions and “The Legend of Springheel’d Jack” and “Sherlock Holmes Strikes Back” with Wireless Theatre Company.

Director Kate Webster has produced and directed plays at the Edinburgh and Camden Fringes (including “The Universal” and “Helen and the space rocket” at the Etcetera Theatre), as well as work with Midsommer Actors Company, London Bubble and The Pensive Federation.

James Goss is the writer of 'Gentlemen of Horror' PCASUK Troy Howarth caught up with him...

Can you tell us a little about your background, how you got into writing, etc?

I had a proper career (running the BBC's Doctor Who and Cult websites) and then, one day found that a play I'd adapted at school (based on Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) had done rather well in LA. We'd thought it was just another high school doing it, but it had had a proper run in LA and won three awards, and I did suddenly feel as though my teenage self was having more fun than me. Now I write books and radio plays and sit at home all day with the cat. I still write lots of Doctor Who stuff (including the Doctor's "official" biography "His Lives And Times" which is just out), but am also having great fun doing other things. And this is just something I really fancied doing.

What was your first exposure to Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and their films? 

That's a really hard one to answer. I remember Peter Cushing being wonderful in the Dalek films, and I remember him getting a rose on Jim'll Fix It - mostly because my Mum found it so sad. Shamefully, I don't think I knew what a Christopher Lee was until I was grown up.

Do you have a preference for one actor over the other, and do you have any particular favorite roles and films of theirs?

It's impossible to answer this one as I know I'll get it wrong. I fell in love with Hammer when they brought out that wonderful black pick'n'mix cube of DVDs, and have found the blu-rays a similarly eclectic delight (especially the fun of finding random discs, like The Skull from a weird Australian reseller or Vampire Circus in a bargain bin in Berlin).

Actually, I really like The Skull - not only do you get the two of them playing snooker like old friends, you also get Peter Cushing being amazing in that nightmare trial sequence. And Christopher Lee being very handsome and charming. You can so see why he's a sex symbol when you watch The Skull. Not so much in The Mummy.

I think Peter Cushing was a brilliant actor - he's really amazing in 1984 and whenever Hammer let him off the leash. He's horrible, really horrible in Twins Of Evil. And hopefully I'm getting it right when I say that Christopher Lee is marvellous in the Dennis Wheatley films. I wish they'd made loads of them. And you can tell how wonderful he is as Dracula from the films in which they use someone else. The Legend Of The Seven Golden Vampires is... is a thing.

 

He certainly was the best screen Dracula, in my opinion.  What gave you the idea for this play? 

I think watching The Satanic Rites Of Dracula and talking about the making of it with the author Guy Adams. He leant me his copy of Cushing reading his autobiographies (I'm so glad the books themselves came back into print), and he comes across as so utterly charming and diffident, almost as enthusiastic about painting headscarves as he is about acting. By contrast, I did find Christopher Lee's autobiography more of a slog. There are some magnificently scathing bits, though. But Cushing's' are more delightful.

I found them both fascinating reads... But they're very different people in temperament, so that shows through. How long did it take you to write it? 

Not long at all. A radio producer friend said "oh, this would make a nice play, why don't you write it?" and I slacked off proper work and did it instead. And then kept coming back to it over the last few months.

Did it prove to be a difficult project to "sell" and get backing for it?

Not really. It all fell together surprisingly easily. My friend Kate Webster directs a lot of theatre. She approached The Woolwich Grand about doing it sometime next year, and they came back and said "Actually, can you do it in a few weeks time?". So it's a sudden, enthusiastic rush.

That's great!  Can you tell us about the actors cast for the play?  Were they encouraged to study Lee and Cushing on film or were they left to their own devices?

Matthew and Simon are very enthusiastic, and old friends who've worked together a lot. Luckily, they love the Hammer films, and are using this as an excuse to rewatch their favourites. They're still working on what they'll do. One caveat, though - if you're coming along, please don't expect two people who look and sound identical to Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. I don't think anyone can, or should!

I agree. When Scorsese made The Aviator, he said that the idea was to capture the essence of the real people, not to turn it into a waxworks exhibit; I think that's the best approach.  When it comes to doing subjects of a biographical nature, it's easy to fall into cliché formula. Was it your plan to avoid this by using these two real people as a springboard for a fantasy, as it were?

I don't really know what the cliche of an autobiographical play is. You'll be relieved to hear it's certainly not Cushing on his deathbed with Lee come to see him to chat over old times. Nor is it a series of painstaking recreations of their best scenes... It's two friends in a series of dressing rooms in between scenes on films that they're working on. Nattering, gossiping, occasionally needling each other, but mostly just being the best of friends. 

That really does sound excellent.  What are your plans after this play has had its run?

We've already had an offer for a date in January. I think it'd be nice to do it some more. But that said, please do come to Woolwich if you can. There's nothing sadder than being sat in a restored cinema laughing at your own jokes. 

We will do our best to spread the word and help fill the seats!

WOOLWICH GRAND THEATRE BOX OFFICE:

 http://www.thewoolwichgrandtheatre.com/

http://www.thewoolwichgrandtheatre.com/Whats_on_.html http://www.wegottickets.com/location/10449

james goss imdb:http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1504445/ 

PETER CUSHING: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND PAST FORGETTING : US MIDNIGHT MARQUEE RELEASES

Many celebrities approach writing their memoirs with a sense of trepidation, assuming they actually do any of the actual writing themselves.  Some use them as an opportunity boast and crow.  Some seize the chance to set the record straight, at least from their own (sometimes slightly jaundiced) point of view.  The end results can be varied in interest: sometimes they can be a very dull affair, even if they don’t end up using the form as an opportunity to throw muck and level accusations.  Anybody who has ever read the notorious memoirs of Klaus Kinski – alternatively known as All I Need is Love or Kinski Uncut, depending on the printing – will understand this only too well: sometimes the form is best approached and appreciated as performance art.  When Peter Cushing elected to write of his life in the mid-1980s, he did so on the bittersweet understanding that his time on life might be short – and that his opportunity continue acting might well also have become a thing of the past.

With this in mind, it’s amazing to find just how vibrant and upbeat “An Autobiography” really is – it is laced with pathos and tragedy, of course, with much emphasis on the devastating loss of his beloved wife Helen in January of 1971.  Helen was clearly the “rock” which gave his life meaning and he details their relationship in loving detail.  He also proves to be only too willing to address, however obliquely, his own shortcomings.  Helen was a sickly woman from the time they met and he undertook work in horror films simply as a means of providing steady income to pay for her various treatments.  He states that he “strayed” on multiple occasions and hints that this tormented him for many years.  Even more alarmingly, he paints a vivid and distressing portrait of his life spiraling out of control when she passed away – he attempted suicide that same night, but his firm religious convictions prevented him from following through.  One gets the sense in all of this that Cushing was a complicated man, given to indulging his whims when he felt like it, but also so intensely in love with his wife that it turned into an obsessive form of co-dependency.  Theirs was a loving but peculiar relationship, part husband and wife, part mother and son.  Cushing also details his health woes, which began in earnest in 1982 when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.  The prognosis was not good and doctors informed him that he would likely be dead within a year … news which Cushing took in stride because, quite frankly, he had tired of life without Helen.  Needless to say, he beat the odds – and he would live for another 12 years.

Indeed, Cushing would spend so much of “An Autobiography” detailing his relationship with Helen, as well as his childhood, that he neglected to give a great deal of attention to his film work.  It made for a very intriguing and heart-felt personal account, but many fans felt a bit cheated by the lack of Hammer Horror talk and were open in saying so.  Always one to listen to his fans, Cushing responded with a second volume of memoirs, titled “Past Forgetting.”

“Past Forgetting” also works in plenty of personal information, but it seeks to quiet the fan base by discussing his many and varied film roles in greater detail.  Cushing doesn’t dish much in the way of gossip, being far too much of a gentleman, but he pays loving tribute to some of his best friends in the business – including fellow horror icons Christopher Lee and Vincent Price – and discusses the mostly harmonious relationship he had with the producers at Hammer and Amicus.  Cushing elects to gloss over a rather ugly (albeit temporary) falling out with James Carreras over his dropping out of The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) at short notice but he was clearly appreciative of the steady work they supplied him down through the years and was never one – unlike Christopher Lee – to publicly slam the material they provided for him.

The combination of these two volumes paints a far more multi-faceted portrait of the great man than any of the available books on him.  Cushing does not shy away from admitting his failings.  He has his moments of vanity.  He could be difficult when he felt he was in the right.  All of this simply serves to paint him as an honest-to-God human being, albeit one with tremendous empathy, compassion, professionalism and good manners.  Cushing’s prose is clipped and precise, much like his diction, but the books never comes off as stodgy or ill-humored.  As a man, Cushing wore his heart on his sleeve – and these volumes make this aspect of his personality all too clear.

The two volumes were originally issued separately, of course, but have since been condensed into one handy volume by Midnight Marquee Press in America.  The volume is professionally laid out and offers up a nice selection of images, including documents and artwork penned by Cushing himself.  The book is topped off by a nice tribute to Cushing from his long-time secretary and assistant, Joyce Broughton.  The Midnight Marquee edition can be obtained directly from: http://www.midmar.com/bioscushing.html

Troy Howarth

HAJIME ISHIDA'S 'MONSTERZINE' ISSUE TWO'

Hajime 'Mr Monster' Ishida is on a roll! No sooner have we enjoyed the release of his Hammer 'Dracula' issue, here comes the next one on our hall mat this morning! This issue is a special on, yes you've guessed it, 'Dracula AD 1972'. Despite the mauling this film has received over the years, it just won't go away. And as we love it, we were happy to see the cover. And the inside of the mag, lives up to the cover promise. As well as the 'AD '72' feature, Hajime also makes lots of room for a very nice Peter Cushing Centenary Tribute. Much more inside and it's all given the Hajime treatment from his own image archives. You can order your copy here:https://www.facebook.com/HajimeIshidaMonsterzine

TROY HOWARTH REVIEWS: A LIFE IN FILM: PETER CUSHING DAVID MILLER

Of all the actors, writers or directors associated with the horror genre, arguably the most beloved and admired as a human being is Peter Cushing.  Much of this stems from the multiple accounts of his good nature and professionalism.  Unlike his frequent co-star and good friend Christopher Lee, he seldom spoke ill of the films he appeared in.  He approached each role with dedication.  Surviving documents show that his preparation was remarkably detailed, right down to the choice of costumes and hair pieces.  He was, by all accounts, a class act.  Like so many people who have been enshrined, however, the reality is somewhat more complex - yet it is seldom reported, let alone alluded to.  A number of writers have tried to come to grips with Cushing and his legacy, but few have attempted anything beyond the most routine of biographies, with an emphasis on the many films (91, in total) he completed between 1939 and his death in 1994 at the age of 81.  David Miller's book Peter Cushing: A Life in Film would have seemed an ideal opportunity to paint a proper portrait of the man himself, but it, too, charts a safer course.

 

The book kicks off with a loving introduction by Cushing's co-star from Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed and The Ghoul, Veronica Carlson.  Carlson was able to get to know Cushing before the death of his beloved wife Helen, and she also saw how her passing affected him when he appeared at his most forlorn in The Ghoul.  She notes the change in his character and recounts her time with him with genuine affection.

After that, Miller takes over with a bit of biographical background.  Miller's prose is engaging enough, but he fails to dig beneath the surface or ask any probing questions about his subject.  Instead, we are subjected to the usual portrait of Cushing as a hale fellow well met - a reputation which was undoubtedly well earned, but which doesn't allow one to really understand him and what made him tick.  As a biography, the book doesn't really bring anything new to the table - we hear much the same anecdotes that have cropped up in the other books on Cushing, thus giving the book a sense of deja vu.

Miller is more successful at charting the films and Cushing's meticulous work therein, though even here he resists the urge to buck convention by towing the conventional line that the actor was always at the top of his game.  The closest he gets to being openly critical is in his write up of the minor Vernon Sewell cold war thriller Some May Live (1967), which does indeed feature Cushing in one of his less memorable performances.  Cushing's rather difficult-to-take "old duffer" portrayals in the Dr. Who films and At The Earth's Core would appear to be as accomplished as his iconic turns as Dr. Van Helsing and Baron Frankenstein in this context, but ultimately it is very much a matter of opinion.

 

Ultimately, one doesn't wish to be too hard on Miller or his efforts.  Writing about Cushing is a difficult task.  He is so revered, so beloved, that any attempt to cut through the cliché and find the three-dimensional human being underneath is bound to be met with suspicion, even hostility.  Miller doesn't elect to take that approach and one can't really fault him much for it - after all, he is a true blue fan and his passion for the subject is evident on every page.  The end result may not be the definitive tome on Cushing, but that's perfectly OK.  It's an enjoyably breezy read, beautifully illustrated, which allows one to take in the diversity of Cushing's career - which went well beyond the confines of low budget genre fare for Hammer and Amicus.  The folks at Titan Press are to be congratulated for making this such a polished and classy looking production, one befitting the nature of its subject only too well. 

Troy Howarth

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Haunted-World-of-Mario-Bava/357391387737585?fref=ts

CINEMA PROMO SHORT: HAMMER FILMS 'SHE' 1965

We've just uploaded this short cinema promo about the making of Hammer films 'SHE starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Ursula Andress. There are only a few of these Hammer promos around, it's a bit wobbly, but an interesting peep into how the studio promoted their movies. Look out for the shots of Cushing and co star John Richardson having sweat sprayed onto their faces! The desert location was so hot, that perspiration just evaporated! CLICK HERE:HERE

TROY HOWARTH REVIEWS BRUCE HALLENBECK'S DOUBLE BILL ON HAMMER FILMS 'FRANKENSTEIN' AND 'VAMPIRES'

I must begin this review with a confession: I have known Bruce Hallenbeck, the author of The Hammer Vampire and The Hammer Frankenstein, for about 20 years now.  "Known" seems a misleading word, however, as we've never met in person.  I first came into contact with Bruce due to a letter I had written to the magazine Fangoria regarding the absence of Hammer films on home video in the United States.  At that time, most of the key Hammer films remained out of reach, and those that were available were often compromised in one way or another.  In those pre-internet days, it was wonderful to find somebody who shared my passion for these films and we maintained a steady correspondence until around the end of the decade.  After that, we lost track of each other for a time - and indeed I lost track of my passion for Hammer for a time, as my interests expanded into the realm of Italian and Spanish horror - until the wide world of Facebook brought us back into contact with one another.  I guess it would be unreasonable to expect me to have a truly objective and impartial view of the work of somebody I've been on good terms with for so long, but... I'll give it a try, anyway.

Bruce's overviews of the subject matter in these two books is comprehensive and passionate; it's truly the work of a fan who has devoured every bit of information he can on these films and their production histories.  The Vampire Film is probably the more ambitious of the two texts, simply because Hammer experimented so much more with that genre than they did with the Frankenstein saga.  Not only do we get an overview and critique of all seven "official" entries in the Dracula series (that is: [Horror of] Dracula; Dracula Prince of Darkness; Dracula Has Risen from the Grave; Taste the Blood of Dracula; Scars of Dracula; Dracula AD 1972; The Satanic Rites of Dracula; Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires - in other words, the ones that actually had the character of Dracula in them!), but there's also information and critical analyses of such popular titles as The Brides of Dracula, The Kiss of the Vampire, Vampire Circus and the "Karnstein Trilogy," comprised of The Vampire Lovers, Lust for a Vampire and Twins of Evil.  Hammer certainly knew how to offer variations on a theme and this comprehensive study gives ever title their due.

The Hammer Frankenstein covers a smaller terrain, as the series was only seven strong and didn't inspire any real spin-offs, but don't let that deter you: there's plenty of information in store here, as well.Both books provide a nice recap of the background of the novels which inspired these popular films - Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Bram Stoker's Dracula, naturally - and also offer a good, pithy overview of the treatment of these subjects in the cinema from the silent era to the modern day.  The books also contain forewords by veterans of their respective franchises: Jimmy Sangster, the screenwriter who helped to offer up a tighter, more modern treatment of Dracula, pens the foreword for The Hammer Vampire, while still-beautiful Veronica Carlson (the imperiled heroine of Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed and The Horror of Frankenstein) contributes to The Hammer Frankenstein.

Hallenbeck's prose is smooth and easy to follow throughout.  His enthusiasm for the films comes across in a genuine and unaffected manner and while I do not always agree with his assessments of the individual films - indeed, if I had one criticism to level, it's that I simply think he's too easy on some of these films! - there's no denying that he's a skillful writer who knows his stuff. Hallenbeck also had access to production documents and original scripts, thus allowing him to point out the way that directors like Terence Fisher deviated from what was on the page.  The critics who argue that Fisher was simply a working hack who shot whatever he was given should be given pause here, as Hallenbeck clearly outlines some subtle but crucial changes that he implemented in the filming: if he had stuck with Sangster's script and allowed Christopher Lee to make his grand entrance as Dracula in the 1958 original with the top hat and visible fangs which were specified, there's a damn good chance that Hammer Horror may have been struck dead, right then and there...

Both volumes have been published in the U.K. by Hemlock Film and are to be brought out in the U.S. by Midnight Marquee Press.  I cannot comment on the Midnight Marquee editions as I've not had the opportunity of seeing them, but the Hemlock books are handsomely designed and feature a nice mixture of the familiar and the rare with regards to images.  All told, these books - and Bruce's Hammer Sci-Fi - belong on the shelves of Hammer enthusiasts.

Find out about Troy Howarth's revised and updated 'The Haunted World of Mario Bava' here: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Haunted-World-of-Mario-Bava/357391387737585