The Biograph Girl - Finborough

[Deleted]

www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/productions/2018/the-biograph-girl.php

The first professional UK production since its 1980 premiere



""You laugh at your flickers, Miss Gish. But you wouldn’t laugh at the Mona Lisa."

"The Mona Lisa’s art."

"My pictures are a new kind of art. Maybe more important."



Commissioned by the Finborough Theatre as part of their acclaimed ‘Celebrating British Music Theatre’ series, the first professional UK production since its 1980 premiere, The Biograph Girl by Warner Brown and David Heneker.



From the composer of Half A Sixpence, a joyous musical celebration of Hollywood's glorious era of silent film – beginning in 1912 when disreputable “flickers” are shown in fleapits and no self-respecting actor will appear in them, and ending in 1927 with movies now a glamorous, multi-million dollar industry and the first talking pictures signal the doom of silent films. In a breath taking sweep of just fifteen years, the great innovative directors created filmmaking as we know it today, ground breaking movie moguls laid the foundations of the entertainment industry, and trail blazing actors launched the Hollywood star system.

[Snciole]

Anyone else been? I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would (considering I saw Hamilton the day before), great book, though it is unsure if Lillian Gish or Mary Pickford is the focus, really great performances from the cast plus it felt really progressive with songs like Rivers of Blood looking at race and having two strong female leads.

Musically I am unsure, there are some great catchy tunes like Working on Flicers and more moving songs like Rivers of Blood and Put it in the Tissue Paper but the title song just felt rather long and indulgent. Full review here viewfromthecheapseat.com/2018/05/27/the-biograph-girl-finborough-theatre/

[Dawnstar]

I was supposed to go this afternoon but it was cancelled. I've re-booked for next Saturday matinee. I'm mostly going to see Matt Cavendish so your comment "whose character is underused" doesn't sound very promising to me!

[Snciole]

That's a shame about it being cancelled. I hope you get a chance to go again. Cavendish is really good but as the programme notes say Sennett never met Gish in real life so his purpose/relationship with Gish is never explored, nor is his relationship with DW Griffith. Without spoiling it he has a great scene but sad they didn't explore the character further.

[Dawnstar]

Snciole As long as it doesn't get cancelled again on Saturday then I'll see it then. May I ask what the temperature was like in the Finborough when you were there?

[Snciole]

It was fine, I had my fleece off which suggests it is warm but I don't recall it being unbearable.

[Dawnstar]

May 28, 2018 19:48:09 GMT Snciole said:

It was fine, I had my fleece off which suggests it is warm but I don't recall it being unbearable.

Thanks. I really hate hot fringe theatres.

[Dawnstar]

I managed to see this at the second attempt this afternoon & I found it enjoyable, if lacking in any particularly memorable songs. The cast were all good & I was particularly impressed by Sophie Linder-Lee as Mary Pickford & Emily Latham as Lilian Gish. I enjoyed seeing Matt Cavendish in something different to Mischief or improv & the slapstick scene totally demonstrated why he was cast!

[shady23]

Found this very interesting, how are people meant to pay their bills on these wages?

[musicalmarge]

I didn’t know that the cast had guns to their heads to perform in these shows.....

[Deleted]

Maybe some cast members are doing the show to get experience and to get their name.out there via some great reviews, in whuch case Shenton isnt helping anyone.

[fossil]

A little bit of Googling reveals that this production is produced by Mercurius whose web site has a link to a crowd funding page for this production:
"We need to raise money to do justice to this brilliant piece of theatre, and pay people for their talent and energy. We've got an amazing team together and original writer Warner Brown is revising the script and score especially for this production. But to make it happen and to reward everyone for their work we need your help."

I have no reason to doubt the integrity of Mercurius ands suspect that if this production transfers to a larger theatre (it would be a crime if it does not!) then the actors would the be better remunerated.

Effectively, because the actors choose to gain experience and exposure by choosing to work for very little money, Shenton is to punish them for being exploited by not giving publicity to their efforts.

I saw the matinee on Saturday. A thoroughly enjoyable show playing to a full house. 4*

The usher was asking everyone not to record the show on any devices. Apparently they have had trouble with a few people doing this.....and presumably they want to sell the CDs of the show which were on sale.

[Deleted]

Jun 3, 2018 18:49:17 GMT fossil said:

The usher was asking everyone not to record the show on any devices. Apparently they have had trouble with a few people doing this.....and presumably they want to sell the CDs of the show which were on sale.

Is it a new recording of this production or the already existing one from the eighties?

[Dawnstar]

Jun 3, 2018 20:07:55 GMT @cardinalpirelli said:

Is it a new recording of this production or the already existing one from the eighties?

Sadly it's the existing one. I asked afterwards. If it was the cast I had just seen then I would have definitely bought it.

I don't quite know how to react to Mark Shenton's comment. In one way I now feel kind of guilty about having seen the show yesterday but at the same time if you go to see a show to support a cast member then I would think that's better than not seeing it?

[Deleted]

It's a general issue with fringe theatre to be honest, not just the Finborough. Key question I think is whether people are being treated fairly - eg is open-book accounting being used so everyone in the production knows the money situation -

www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2012/feb/07/fringe-theatre-open-accountable

(so if people are in the show on a profit-share arrangement, they know whether or not there has been a profit)

And according to the finborough on this very forum - theatreboard.co.uk/post/203053/thread they do use open book accounting

we only have 50 seats, we try and keep the seat price accessible, many seats will be sold as concessions etc. The weekly expenses are paid solely from all of the money we get from the Theatre Tax Relief scheme for this show, plus all of the money we get from interest on our charitable reserves (100% of all income from both those sources goes only towards fees on our in house shows), so 100% of all and any profit will only go to the company and crew, and we always do Open Book accounts so they'll be able to see where everything went. Best, Neil

[musicalmarge]

I think Mark Shenton should stop reviewing Macktintosh shows. People are paid the same today as there were 20 years ago (more or less!) considering the ticket price differences THAT is more of an consumer and social issue to me than actors voluntarily doing travel expense only fringe work to gain experience, add credits on CV and make contacts. For him NOT to review them goes against the reason WHY they do such shows.

[Dawnstar]

I think the WOS review (for those who aren't still boycotting WOS!) is good at considering the strengths & weaknesses of the show. www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/reviews/the-biograph-girl-finborough-_46747.html (Even I, who am not particularly feminist, did a bit of eyebrow-raising at "Every Lady Needs A Master".)

Also I might have to revise my opinion about the songs not being memorable as I have had bits of several of them stuck in my head today. Maybe I should have bought that cast recording after all!