by Dee | Feb 5, 2020 | Featured, Glo Arts & Entertainment
As I interviewed award winning actress Ann Mitchell recently – I was reminded that great work comes with enormous dedication and commitment, and Ann has that in abundance.
Ann as Cora Cross in Eastenders
Born in 1939 in London’s East End, Ann grew up in a tough but nurturing family environment. From a very early age, Ann had a passion for Drama and joined the Joan Littlewood workshops at the Theatre Royal as a teenager, and went onto win the first scholarship into East 15 Acting School at the age of 21.
Ann was already married with a young baby, and initially felt it impossible to pursue both motherhood and a career in acting, but her family rallied round, and told her to pursue her dreams and that they would provide all the support and childcare she would need to achieve them.
Ann described those early years as challenging and heart wrenching as she handed her baby to her Mum as she set off to learn her craft. But her hard work paid off as when she left Drama School Ann Mitchell was given the opportunities she needed to successfully launch her career.
The Glasgow Citizens Theatre was one of the most radical theatre companies in Europe at that time. With its ground breaking plays, performances and sets it challenged the Establishment theatre with gusto. Ann was a leading member of the Company whose roles included Mother Courage, where the great designer, Philip Prowse, made not the traditional cart for her to drag around the stage but a burnt-out ambulance, made fit for purpose, which was tied to a rope around her waist. She also played the title role in Mary Stuart and Eva Braun in Summit Conference, written for her by Robert David McDonald.
Mother Courage
Ann went on to play leading roles in major repertory companies throughout the U.K including the National and the Royal Shakespeare Company, for whom she played Hecuba in Peter Hall’s epic production of ‘Tantalus’ written by John Barton. The cast were on stage in masks for twelve hours. Ann describes her experience as ‘exhilarating and knackering’! Now perhaps we can begin to understand why Ann Mitchell is such a legendary actor.
Many of us will remember her award winning, iconic performance as Dolly in Widows, another evocative series from the 80’s written by Lynda La Plante who subsequently wrote “She’s Out” for Ann to reprise the role of Dolly.
Ann with “Widows” creator Lynda La Plante
Ann’s many television appearances span three decades and, as she says, she has guest starred in every series known to man!
Ann was also nominated for an Olivier when she starred in the West End with Simon Callow in ‘Through the Leaves’ and has received an Honorary Dr of Arts from UEL lifetime achievement award.
Recently Ann appeared in the role of Elsie, written for her by Heidi Thomas, in Call the Midwife. Elsie is a woman who had been administering abortions to young unmarried girls or women who were in trouble. Ann’s character was sent to prison, as abortions were still illegal in the early sixties, but we are set to see Ann reprise her role on the 16th and 23rd of February. Ann expressed her delight at being in a series covering so many issues of the time – racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, domestic violence and abortion, with such compassion.
Ann as Elsie Dyer in Call the Midwife
Watch out for Ann when she will be interviewed on Lorraine on Friday 21st of February talking about her work on Call The Midwife.
Ann is also a political activist and human rights campaigner. She is a Patron of many organisations including Clean Break, The Citizens of the World Choir, WacArts and many others. She is passionate about this work.
After Call the Midwife, we will be seeing a lot of more of Ann Mitchell in another series of Year of the Rabbit due to hit our screens later this year, in which Ann plays the hilarious Gwendoline, landlady in the Bar of Gold.
Ann as Gwendoline in The Year of the Rabbit
When filming is completed on the series, Ann is determined to carry on with both her career and her charity work. So are there any signs of Ann Mitchell slowing down – absolutely not, she still has important work to do and I for one am delighted to hear it. Thank you Ann, you really are an inspiration to so many and a true legend in our lifetime.
https://www.annmitchell.net/
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by Dee | Jan 14, 2020 | Featured, Glo Arts & Entertainment
It sometimes seems as if certain events as a child shape your future and this certainly had been in the case for many years as a result of one incident that occurred very early on at my school.
I was sent to a Convent at the age of 5 and stayed there until I had completed my education, so a total of 13 years. I can’t say I hated it, and most of the Nuns were well intentioned, and there were individuals I vividly remember who would make fabulous characters in a books or movies. One read Jackie Collins books, tucked out of sight under her habit, professing to be censoring them for the older girls. Another was a frustrated tennis champion, who would have given Navratilova a run for her money, as she seemed to be on the tennis court every day at every opportunity and others who were mostly kind if not a little eccentric.
I say ‘mostly’ because there was one very ‘bad’ Nun, Sister St John who was quick tempered and judgemental, and it all started when I was late for meeting my grandfather in the hall after school, who had been waiting to pick me up. By the time I had reached him, he had decided to leave me there for another half an hour as I was seeming to enjoy playing with my friends outside. It actually suited him as he wanted to get something from the local shop, but it led to a tirade of abuse from our ‘bad’ Mother accusing me of being spoilt and a thoughtless brat.
It may seem strange that I remember the incident so well, being only five or six, but it stuck in my mind as Sister St John was the Art Teacher who remained throughout my school education, and seemed to victimise me onwards from that day.
It may also seem a little paranoid, but over the years it was as if I didn’t exist. She never commented on my artwork and not once did she display any of my paintings on the Art Room wall. I was really good at Drama and English Literature, and received the highest award in the sixth form for Drama and Poetry, but I left school believing I had absolutely no artistic flair for painting at all.
I was well into my forties before my then husband’s brother who was a painter, challenged me to pick up the brush, something I had resisted for many years.
He told me that if we spent a day together he would teach me to paint and I would have created a picture at the end of it. He said it didn’t matter how good or bad it was, it was just for me and to overcome the stigma I had carried around with me for so many years.
I agreed, and it was one of the best decisions of my life. We painted in oils, and I literally let my mind run free as I dabbed paints and mixed colours and applied them to the canvas, resulting in a wonderful amalgamation of free spirited expression. I didn’t even think about it being good or bad, and decided to give it a go in my free time in the future.
That was 15 or so years ago, and since then I have attended several art classes and courses, and even had my landscape painting displayed on a wall at one of them.
I have also had my abstract work displayed at an art exhibition called ‘Friends and Family’ at The Vaults in London opposite the London Eye, and have recently raised £550 as one of my paintings was auctioned for charity at a local event.
When asked I still say I just paint for passion and I am not very good, but my judgment has to change soon, as when I was having one of my paintings framed in a shop in Islington, a famous singer asked me how much it would be to buy. I was so shocked I said it was not for sale, but asked her how much she felt it would be worth, to which she replied ‘I don’t know, my husband is the art dealer’. I still can’t believe I have any talent for painting, but the world seems to be proving me wrong.
So how about you – and it is not about how good or bad you are? It is all about the courage to pick up the brush, and if you don’t you will never know whether or not painting is for you.
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by Dee | Jan 9, 2020 | Celebrity, Featured
Janine Duvitski is a ‘classic’ in every sense of the word, which is evident from her first appearance on stage in her youth, to her subsequent success as a National Treasure.
Janine was born in the fifties and always wanted to be an Actress. She unconsciously pioneered the ‘Law of Attraction’ as at a very early age, where at the age of 10 she created a secret ‘wish box’ which held her dreams as an adult which were to have a successful career in acting, a house in the centre of London, to be married to an actor and have six children. She has achieved all of them. She lives in a four story house in the centre of Holborn, is married to Actor Paul Bentall, has four children of her own with Paul and two step-children, and the rest is history, with her amazing acting career spanning four decades.
A true ‘classic’ in every sense, there were no short cuts for Janine as she auditioned for East Fifteen Acting School at the age of 17 and honed her craft for three years, coming through with flying colours. On leaving drama school Janine went into rep, and was then discovered by ground breaking television Director, Alan Clarke who gave her the lead in a revolutionary TV Drama, Diane, telling the harrowing story of a young girl who had been sexually abused by her father and who had subsequently born his child.
The play was eventually televised amidst public reproach in spite of efforts to prevent it reaching the public. But Janine was well on her way, and the legendary Mike Leigh was soon to give her the break she had been waiting for. Abigail’s party was everything Janine needed to portray all of her strengths as an actor, a role she created with Mike Leigh alongside the other actors, through improvisation and one that carried her through to give her the recognition she deserved.
Janine then went on to perform at the National Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company and the Young Vic, with stunning reviews alongside contemporaries like Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith.
She was also in demand for feature films and national television, and starred in well-known TV series such as Waiting for God and One Foot in the Grave as well as movies such as Dracula, starring opposite Sir Lawrence Oliver.
Janine has also had success with her daughter Ruby Bentall becoming a successful actor and Edith Bentall who is well on her way to music fame as a singer-songwriter.
Janine has been appearing in Benidorm from 2007-2019 as the lovable Jacqueline, a middle aged swinger who moves to Spain to improve her marriage, with hilarious consequences. Janine’s comedic and natural talent has become legendary, for which she has achieved public acclaim.
So what is next for Janine? Having spoken to her in her backstage at the Palladium where she is starring opposite Nigel Havers and Julian Clary in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, she is excited at the possibilities for the future and is open to offers that are already on the table for film, theatre and television.
Janine Duvitski is a ‘classic’ in every sense, and I have a feeling her ‘wish box’ is not yet complete as she embarks on the next exciting chapter in her career and reveals even more of her infinite talents.
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