Alan Rickman
Page 35
Deep down, it’s not that he’s shallow as the joke goes but that he has an atavistic working-class distrust of anything that is not quite a proper job. One that doesn’t leave you with chilblains or ink on your fingers or warts on the palm of your hand. As he once said, acting is ‘mostly a great deal of fun’. Hence all the agonising as he endeavours to take everything seriously, tries to analyse what cannot be analysed, especially those strange instincts for performing that take over the body and which cannot be fully articulated.
The only time that Alan Rickman ever got his fingers filthy at work was when he took care to put dirt under his nails in order to play the Vicomte de Valmont. It was, as always with his artist’s eye, an inspired detail. The man was, after all, nothing more than a filthy scoundrel, so he might as well look like the kind of rough trade that didn’t wash properly.
Rickman is an endearing man, kindly and well intentioned, despite some spectacular sulks that make him seem like a bloody-minded, crotchety human being rather than some effete thespian godhead. Of the kind to be superstitiously touched in awe, as if he imparted some magic power. Alan Rickman made it when he was 42, so there’s hope for the rest of us. If he sometimes sounds pompous, that goes with the territory in a looking-glass world.
There is no doubt that he felt damaged by the Riverside débâcle, which thrust him centre-stage in an impossible situation. He may recover and see fit to run his own theatre one day, but it would probably be a tiny studio one such as the Bush, which saved him from the emotional fall-out from the RSC. Meanwhile, he will go on making bigger and bigger movies, always holding something back and luring you further and further into the heart of his darkness or whatever else is on offer. He’s a seductive actor.
They rightly call him standoffish, since he’s so good at staging stand-offs. But he’s also good at seducing, mainly the audience. He’s always one step removed, as with all the great stars who play to their fans.
The world awaits Alan Rickman’s first real screen love scene: but it will be conducted with the utmost decorum and erotic power, probably with all his and her clothes on. The Japanese would understand such a concept; indeed, they’re a Rickman-friendly people. They understand his haughty elegance and delicate sense of style.
There may come a day when Rickman realises that not everything Dennis Potter wrote was wonderful; he may even try to do better himself. And Mesmer will disappear into the mists of history, like the man himself.
Whither Alan Rickman? Well, clearly age doesn’t wither him nor custom stale his infinite variety of cinematic and theatrical moods. He has produced an impressively diverse portfolio so far, even if the public – being a perverse lot – warm to the criminal element most of all.
‘Alan used to get very cross with me at the Bush,’ Jenny Topper told GQ magazine in 1992, ‘when I would suggest an actor for a part and ask his opinion. “Of course he can do it,” he would say. “He’s an actor, isn’t he?” He honestly believes any actor should be able to play any role.’ What Clifford Williams calls ‘the fat Hamlet syndrome’.
On radio, he certainly did play many different roles: even the trademark voice has been different. On stage and television and film, he most emphatically has done so far. But always flavoured with that pungent aroma, Essence Of Rickman.
The difference between Claude Rains and Alan Rickman – both very feline, subtle actors of great finesse – is the latter’s sexy electricity and physicality. There’s an incandescence that a million light bulbs can’t provide; an intensity, a magnetism that you can’t fake. It’s easier to simulate sincerity.
What he does with his power next could turn him into a greater star than Anthony Hopkins. It depends on how much Rickman really wants it.
The Faustian contract comes into the frame again as Alan broods about his next step, giving – as Peter Barnes puts it – the decision-making process the full Hamlet treatment. To be a star, or not to be a star? So long as he doesn’t have to sell his soul to a damnable film. There have been very few flops in Rickman’s movie career; but he’s such a workaholic that he makes enough successes to cover up the failures.
If, however, he doesn’t make time for more carefully-chosen, prestigious theatre work, then he will become the star turn in movies instead of the star. The man who is brought in to add a touch of class. It’s a nice living, but it’s a bit frivolous.
Alan Rickman has been the ultimate novelty act so far, a magician of the cinematic senses. There’s still a hint of the dilettante about him; could he, like Anthony Hopkins, play Richard Nixon? Or do the crowds simply want him to provide the cabaret, to do one of his dazzling routines that brought the house down at Latymer Upper all those years ago?
Stephen Davis calls him an enigma, not least to his friends. He’s also an enigma to himself, an honoured visiting alien in Hollywood who doesn’t quite fit into the British theatrical scene either. But that’s a problem facing all British actors who try to make it in America, given the embryonic nature of the film industry over here. They become strangers in their own land.
Alan Rickman has become best known for being the Autolycus of the acting trade, the picker and stealer, the grand larcenist par excellence.
Now he needs to make his indecision less final in order to march triumphantly on to the next stage.
Humble beginnings. Alan Rickman’s school nativity play, West Acton, 1951
Alan Rickman (far left), a poised presence in Guys and Dolls, Leicester, 1975
Alan on tour with the rep at the Crucible, Sheffield, in Ibsen’s When We Dead Awaken, 1976
First stint at the RSC in Antony and Cleopatra, with Glenda Jackson and a girlish Juliet Stevenson, 1978
Alan Rickman, who also designed the poster, as Antonio in 1979
Looking decidedly menacing as Achilles in Troilus and Cressida, 1985
The cast of Lucky Chance, with Alan Rickman as the quaintly named Gayman, starring with long-time friend Harriet Walter, 1984
Gayman evolves into the dissolute aristocrat Vicomte de Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, 1985
“I’m too old but what the hell.” The ultimate challenge: as Hamlet at the Nottingham Playhouse, 1992
Alan Rickman’s first cinematic lead role in Dennis Potter’s Mesmer, 1993
Alan Rickman, as Colonel Brandon, finally awakens the love of Marianne (Kate Winslet) in Sense and Sensibility, 1995
CHRONOLOGY OF ALAN RICKMAN’S THEATRE, TELEVISION, RADIO AND FILM
THEATRE: Seasons in rep (from 1974–78) at Library Theatre Manchester (1974); Haymarket and Phoenix Theatre Leicester (1975); Crucible Theatre Sheffield (1976–77); Birmingham Rep Theatre and Bristol Old Vic (1976–78).
As actor: The Devil Is An Ass and Measure For Measure (Birmingham, touring to Edinburgh Festival and National Theatre), 1976–77; The Tempest, Captain Swing, Love’s Labours Lost and Antony And Cleopatra (RSC), 1978–79; Antonio (Nottingham Playhouse), 1979; Fears And Miseries Of The Third Reich (Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre), 1979–80; The Summer Party (Crucible Sheffield), 1980; The Devil Himself (Lyric Studio Hammersmith), 1980; Commitments (Bush Theatre), 1980; Philadelphia Story (Oxford Playhouse), 1981; The Seagull (Royal Court), 1981; Brothers Karamazov (Edinburgh Festival and USSR), 1981; The Last Elephant (Bush Theatre), 1981; Bad Language (Hampstead Theatre Club), 1983; The Grass Widow (Royal Court), 1983; The Lucky Chance (Royal Court), 1984; As You Like It, Troilus And Cressida, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Mephisto (RSC), 1985–86; Les Liaisons Dangereuses (West End and Broadway), 1986–87; Tango At The End Of Winter (Edinburgh and West End), 1991; Hamlet (Riverside Studios and British tour), 1992.
As director: Desperately Yours (New York), 1980; Other Worlds (assistant director, Royal Court), 1983; Live Wax (Edinburgh Festival), 1986; Wax Acts (West End and tour), 1992; The Winter Guest (West Yorkshire Playhouse and Almeida Theatre), 1995; Antony And Cleopatra (Royal National Theatre), 1998; Private Lives (West End and Broadway), 2001 and 2002.
TELEVISION: Romeo And Juliet (BBC), 1978; Thérès
e Raquin (BBC), 1979; Barchester Chronicles (BBC), 1982; Busted (BBC), 1982; Pity In History (BBC), 1984; Benefactors (BBC), 1989; Revolutionary Witness (BBC), 1989; Spirit Of Man (BBC), 1989; Fallen Angels, 1993; Rasputin (HBO), 1995; Victoria Wood With All The Trimmings (BBC), 2000; Play (Channel 4), 2000.
RADIO: The Dutch Courtesan, Actors, Polly, Rope, Manchester Enthusiasts, Gridlock, A Trick To Catch The Old One, Billy and Me, A Good Man In Africa, That Man Bracken, Blood Wedding, The Seagull, The Magic Of My Youth.
FILMS: Die Hard, 1988; The January Man, 1989; Quigley Down Under, 1990; Truly Madly Deeply, 1991; Closetland, 1991; Close My Eyes, 1991; Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, 1991; Bob Roberts, 1992; Fallen Angels, 1993; Mesmer, 1993; An Awfully Big Adventure, 1994; Sense And Sensibility, 1995; Michael Collins, 1995; Rasputin, 1995, The Winter Guest (as director), 1997; Lumière And Company, 1995; Dark Harbor, 1997; Judas Kiss, 1997; Dogma, 1998; Galaxy Quest, 1999; Blow Dry, 1999; The Search For John Gissing, 2000; Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, 2001; Standing Room Only, 2002; Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, 2002.
INDEX
The page references in this index correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created. To find a specific word or phrase from the index, please use the search feature of your ebook reader.
A Little Like Drowning 144
Abbott, Jacqueline 180
Absolutely Fabulous 93
Academy Awards (Oscars) 224–5
Ackroyd, Peter 25
Acton Business and Professional Women’s Club 20
Actors (Barnes) 15, 91–2
Adams, David 49
Adams, Gerry 231, 235
Aladdin 1, 137
Albery, Donald 180
Albery Theatre, London 261
Alchemist, The (Jonson) 38, 40
Ali Baba and the Seven Dwarfs 40
Allen, Tim 248, 249
Allen, Woody 99, 150
Almeida Theatre, London 57, 109, 177, 190, 221, 224
Almodóvar, Pedro 246
Ambassadors Theatre, London 110
Amblin 233
Amnesty International 149
An Awfully Big Adventure 6, 197, 199, 216–21, 235, 248
Aniston, Jennifer 260
Antonio (Barnes) 59, 74
Antonio and Mellida (Marston) 74
Antonio’s Revenge (Marston) 74
Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare) 4, 87, 234, 249–52, 253, 260
Arditti, Michael 163, 166
Armstrong, Alun 220
Art of Love, The 107
Art (Reza) 265
Arts Council 170, 184
As You Like It (Shakespeare) 73, 104–6, 113, 162, 223, 279
Ashcroft, Peggy 254
Asquith, Ros 102, 105
Astaire, Fred 14, 54, 240, 279
Atkinson, Robert 163
Atkinson, Rowan 269
Aung San Suu Kyi 254
Austen, Jane 70, 122, 224, 227
Avengers, The 233
Babelsberg studio 201
Babes in the Wood 55
Bacall, Lauren 102
Bacon, Francis 11
Bad Language (Hughes) 79, 97, 98
BAFTA awards 280
Bailey, Catherine 54, 174, 176, 177–8, 179, 180, 181–6, 193, 204
Bainbridge, Beryl 216, 219
Barber, John 61, 68, 101–2, 115
Barbican Theatre, London 176
Barchester Chronicles, The 6, 7, 53, 72, 80–6, 90, 107, 267
Barchester Towers (Trollope) 81
Bardsley, Barney 53, 117
Barge, Gillian 204, 206, 208, 274
Barlby Primary School, West London 26, 129
Barnes, Christie 262
Barnes, Clive 261
Barnes, Peter
on acting and actors 89–90, 213, 223, 234, 270
on AR 5, 6, 9, 11, 14, 58–60, 64, 214–15, 216, 222–3, 233, 245, 249, 251, 261, 282
AR’s work with 261
family 26–8, 262
on Harry Potter films 267
on Rima 8, 13, 160
screenplays 119, 137–8, 139
stage plays 22, 26, 58–60, 74–5, 91–2, 152–6
TV dramas 129, 131–2
Barrie, J.M. 216
Barrow-in-Furness 167–8
Barton, John 107
Bates, Alan 100, 249, 250, 251, 261
Baudelaire, Charles 103, 109
Bausch, Pina 247
Baylis, Lilian 179
BBC 23, 53
News 24 251, 259, 269
Beals, Margaret 54
Beatles, The 257
Beaufoy, Simon 256
Beauvoir, Simone de 7
Bechtler, Hildegard 176
Beckett, Samuel 257
Beckinsale, Kate 35
Bedelia, Bonnie 122, 123, 124, 125, 126
Beggar’s Opera, The 108
Behn, Aphra 98
Benefactors (Frayn) 127–8
Bennett, Jill 53
Berens, Jessica 152
Bergman, Ingmar 99
Berkeley, Busby 257
Berlin Film Festival 227
Berry, Cicely 66
Bharadwaj, Radha 148
Bigelow, Kathryn 148
Biggerstaff, Sean 247
Biggins, Christopher 10
Billington, Michael 79, 102, 115, 155, 166–7, 178, 222
Billy And Me 129, 131
Binder, Mike 255
Birmingham Post 61
Birmingham Rep 61
Bishop, Susannah 65
Black Dwarf, The 22
Blair, Tony 13, 79
Blessed, Brian 140
Blood Wedding (Lorca) 93
Blow Dry 256
Bob Roberts 164, 276
Bogart, Humphrey 102
Bogdanov, Michael 5, 56–7
Bond, Matthew 35–6
Bond, Philip 35
Bond, Samantha 35
Bonham-Carter, Helena 259
Borgia Orgy, The 48
Boston Globe 244
Bourne, Val 176
Bowie, David 196, 196–7, 201
Boys From The Blackstuff 85
Branagh, Kenneth 31, 169, 217, 225
Breathnach, Paddy 256
Brecht, Bertolt 238
Brett, Jeremy 147
Brierley, David 113–14
Briers, Richard 169
Bristol Old Vie 60, 115
British Museum, London 137
British Theatre Association 180
Brody, Hugh 144
Broidy, Susan 159
Bromley, Mrs 29–30
Brook Green Players 46
Brook, Peter 153, 170, 179, 249
Brown, Divine 218
Brown, Gordon 259
Brown, Jane 199
Browning Version, The (Rattigan) 34
Brussels Film Festival 265
Buccaneers, The 154
Buck, Karen 163
Burdett-Coutts, William 185, 187
Burge, Stuart 13, 58, 59
Burma UK campaign 253–4, 260
Burn This 111
Bush Theatre, Hammersmith 15, 62, 76–7, 180, 224, 281
Busted (Davis) 51, 90–1
Byer, John 37
Calder-Marshall, Anna 61
Callow, Simon 14, 77
Cambridge, University of 91
Camden Journal 54
Camille 109
Campbell, Alastair 258–60
Cannes Film Festival 196
Carlton Television 70
Carnation Gang, The 149
Carne, Rosalind 97
Carnival Theatre 183
Carrington 214–15
Casablanca 120, 155
Castle Bromwich News 61
Catcher in the Rye, The 62
Cates, Georgina 219, 220
Caucasian Chalk Circle, The (Brecht) 39
Chariots of Fire 65
Charities Commission 190–1
Charleson, Ian 65
Charlie
Rose Show, The 260–1
Chelsea (constituency) 159
Chelsea College of Art 36, 41, 44
Children On The Edge 137
Christabel (Potter) 197
Christopher, James 178
Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow 73–4
City Limits 102, 117, 155
Clark, Alan 163, 258
Clerks 248
Close, Glenn 110
Close My Eyes 16, 138, 139, 149–52, 158, 245
Closetland 138, 139, 148–9
Cloud Over the Morning 39
CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) 8, 12, 168
Coleman, lain 176, 181, 182, 183, 185, 186
Collins, Michael 234–6
Colman, Ronald 155
Coltrane, Robbie 266
Commitments (Hughes) 76–7, 98
Conlan, Tara 250
Coogan, Steve 125
Cook, Peter 7
Coppola, Francis Ford 206
Coriolanus (Shakespeare) 38
Costner, Kevin 17, 137, 138, 138–9, 140, 141, 143, 278
Court Drama Group (Stanhope Adult Education Institute) 36, 47–9
Coveney, Michael 74, 101, 105, 116, 166, 250
Coventry Telegraph 61
Coward, Noël 261, 266, 270
Cox, Brian 69, 71, 73, 215
Cranham, Kenneth 71
Crewe, Sue 168
Crossley, Stephen 54, 214
Crowley, Aleister 88, 238, 270
Crowley, Bob 176
Crucible Theatre, Sheffield 57, 73–4, 106, 162
Crying Game, The 245
Curtis, Richard 268–9
Cushman, Robert 34, 39, 40, 42, 60, 79
‘Daddy’ (Plath) 88
Dahl, Sophie 268
Daily Express 7, 154, 165–6, 222
Daily Mail 105, 139, 155, 159, 163, 167, 222, 270, 275, 277
Daily Mirror 121, 167
Daily Telegraph 55, 60, 61, 62, 68, 95, 97, 101–2, 115, 116, 151, 158–9, 163, 166, 178, 222
Dalyell, Tam 258
Dance, Charles 77, 216
Dance Umbrella 176
Dances With Wolves 134, 136
Dangerous Liaisons 16, 110, 112–13
Dark Harbor 245–6