All My Sons with John Ringham 1993

"This is a beautifully crafted piece...and it affords a wonderful

opportunity for John Readman to do his All-American Boy act as Chris Keller. This most polished and well observed performance as the blighted son of a blighted father must rank as one of his finest accomplishments yet."

The Stage and Television Today.

John Ringham

Reading the latest Equity Journal this morning, I was saddened to learn that John Ringham passed away on 20th October 2008. We worked together at The Everyman in Cheltenham, John's home town, on a production of All My Sons; John played Joe Keller and I played his son, Chris. Posted above are some production photographs.

We got on extremely well together, he really was a joy to work with although I think its fair to say that he didn't take any prisoners when it came to the job of acting, which he was clearly passionate about. I had taken over the role of Chris from another actor a week after rehearsals had started. Understandably, John was a little 'edgy' about the prospect of effectively starting again with someone new and with only two further weeks to go before opening. We met at the beginning of afternoon rehearsals on the Monday of week two; as the director was introducing me to the company, John's immediate response was "I don't care who he is as long as he can act!" No prisoners indeed!

Somehow I needed to reassure him that he had no cause to worry and that I was up to the job. From the end of that first afternoon, I made sure that I was 'off the book' for every subsequent rehearsal. That seemed to do the trick, he relaxed and we very quickly got into our stride and made terrific progress. It subsequently proved to be one of those occasions where the entire company of actors, crew and production staff worked brilliantly well together and came up with a remarkable production of which I am extremely proud. Sadly, our professional paths never crossed again.

 
I loved working with John and hope he felt the same about me.

Don't Look Now

Daphne Du Maurier’s classic thriller Don’t Look Now is brought to the stage with an all-star cast including renowned actress Rula Lenska, Peter Amory (Chris Tate from Emmerdale) and Nicola Bryant (Doctor Who).

Following the death of their daughter, John and Laura visit Venice to try and escape their grief. When they meet two aged sisters, who claim to have psychic visions, strange things start to happen. John begins to question his own sanity, and that of his wife, who seems to be completely under the sisters’ command.
This classic drama promises an evening of suspense and intrigue from the celebrated author Daphne Du Maurier, whose recently staged works include September Tide, My Cousin Rachel and Rebecca.
Made into an iconic film in 1973 starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, this story begins as a moving examination of grief – and becomes a chilling tale with a dark and terrifying climax.

I Hate Mobile Phones Pt2

Congratulations! Your short film has been picked to feature in this week’s VC2 show, Brand Spanking New.
Tune into Current TV.

Tuesday 16th September 2008 at 11pm

premiering...
I Hate Mobile PhonesAn hilarious comedy rant produced by John Silke and presenter Daniel Maxim, the team who bought you A Very British Day Out.

+ Sky 183
+ Virgin Media 155

Emmerdale & Coronation Street

...a brief update: recently played 'Dr. Hibbert' on Emmerdale which was great fun and next week, I'm back to do some more work on Coronation Street in a plot line so top secret, that so far, I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing! Apart from that, my first episode of Allo, Allo! was on BBC 1 again a couple of Sundays ago and I've just opened in a touring production of Don't Look Now with Rula Lenska, Peter Amory and Nicola Bryant.

Look North Interview

I should mention that if you do have a look at the BBC clip, the actress I'm rehearsing with is the great Joanne Stoner

Corporal Caponi in Allo'Allo!

Captain Bertorelli & Corporal Caponi in Allo, Allo!

I Hate Mobile Phones Pt1

http://current.com/items/88985148_i_hate_mobile_phones

Here's a little film project I've been working on with some chums... Ryanair are allowing mobile calls from aircraft from July 2008!

today's other link is to a clip I did last autumn for BBC Look North about a play called 'Disposable People'; just found it myself, buried away in the BBC archives.

Look north...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/ondemand/humber/realmedia/2007/10/11/john_banks?bgc=6699CC&nbram=1&lang=en&bbram=1&ms3=6&ms_javascript=true&bbcws=1&size=16x9