ACTING UP
or
TALES FROM A TROUBLESOME TROUPER
by Mr Frederic Mohr
A rehearsed reading by Miss Maureen Beattie
The stage managed by Miss Susan Barrie
To take place on the stage of The Britannia Panopticon,
the World’s Oldest Surviving Music Hall and as a fundraiser for the same.
It is 1755. The scene is set in a wretched hovel in London. The notorious Charlotte Charke, once a celebrated actress, has fallen on hard times and is desperate to interest speculators in buying the copyright to her new novel. She invites them to a private auction and solicits bids whilst revealing secrets from her own life in a captivating and often comedic chronicle.
Charlotte Charke was a real person of infinite interest. Her father, Colley Cibber, was the leading British actor of his age. He was also a playwright and Poet Laureate. Charlotte herself managed some success and fame in the establishment theatre of her father but gave way to spells in the “fringe” theatre of her day, moving swiftly from “tour de force” to “forced to tour” as her career and life of privilege descended into destitution. She took to wearing male clothing and became publicly known as Charles Brown. She unsuccessfully tried various jobs associated with men such as valet, sausage maker, farmer, and tavern owner. Eventually, under her own name Mrs Charlotte Charke, she found success as a novelist and memoirist until her death in 1760.
Her indomitable spirit is remembered here in Frederic Mohr’s one woman play which paints an enthralling picture of 18th Century British Theatre and the wider society of the time, with a powerful and timeless tale of survival at its core. But beware. This piece pulls no punches and, as Charlotte herself attests, it is “a moral tale, good wholesome stuff, but covered over with more piquant sauce than a Frenchman’s banquet; warm and pungent as a doxy’s bush.”
THE ACTRESS
Miss Maureen Beattie has been hailed as one of Scotland’s foremost performers. Like the character she plays in Acting Up, she hails from theatrical royalty. Her father, Mr Johnny Beattie, was the last leading link with the great Scottish tradition of Variety and Music Hall. Miss Beattie trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and graduated with the James Bridie Gold Medal. She has amassed a lengthy list of theatre credits including roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company and both the National Theatre of Scotland and the National Theatre in London. She is familiar to television audiences for numerous roles in popular series such as Casualty, The Chief, The Bill and Bramwell. In more recent years Miss Beattie has appeared in Vera, Outlander, Lewis, Deadwater Fell, Playing Nice, Fear and a Christmas episode of Doctor Who. She received a Saltire Outstanding Women of Scotland award in 2018 and was awarded an OBE for Services to the Entertainment Industry in 2020.
Miss Beattie first played Charlotte Charke in Acting Up – Tales of a Troublesome Trouper when it was staged for Glasgow’s Mayfest at the Citizens Theatre in 1997. Her performance received great acclaim from critics and the public.
The trustees of The Friends of Britannia Panopticon are exceedingly grateful to Miss Beattie for re-creating the role, gratis, in order to help raise funds for the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall.
THE AUTHOR
Frederic Mohr was the pen name of the late actor David McKail. As a playwright, he was celebrated for his series of six one person plays – of which Acting Up was the last example. Mohr’s one person plays have been seen throughout Britain and in the USA. Bozzy and Garden Notes have been broadcast on BBC Radio, The Admiral Jones has been released on video and Hogg: The Shepherd Justified played as part of the official programme of the Edinburgh International Festival. All six solo plays are closely based on the lives of actual historical characters and were scrupulously researched. However, Mohr reworked the material by imagining how his subjects spoke rather than recounting what they wrote. As a result, he created vital dramas rather than literary events.
REPRESENTATIVE REVIEWS
"Must not be missed… It is stunning… Maureen Beattie positively dazzles in this cracker of a one-woman show which is a powerful affirmation of the strength of the word, especially when given live representation by a talented, committed performer… Beattie positively revels in Mohr's beautifully turned script… The atmosphere generated becomes electric, as we witness one of Scotland's finest actors working at her best, getting her teeth into a meaty role." (The Scotsman)
"A familiar story, and one which Frederic Mohr's one-woman vehicle for Maureen Beattie invests with a passion borne out of his own acting experience… Beattie captivates one's attention." (The Herald)
"Her enthralling solo performance completely captivated the Mayfest-mad Citizens audience… Even if Miss Beattie was trudging on about the cost of a loaf I would still have been transfixed at her ability to make everything a theatrical occasion or event… Miss Beattie ensured it [the play] hit the top." (East Kilbride News)
“A spicy record… The writing has cockiness and ego… An intelligent script… You will be enthralled.” (The Stage)
"Hilariously, and at times quite movingly, brought to life by Maureen Beattie in a full-blooded performance that had the audience spellbound. It's a performance that deserves to repeated beyond Glasgow and MAYFEST." (Plays International)
PHOTOGRAPHIC CREDIT
The photographic material used in this publicity was the work of the late Sean Hudson. Every effort has been made to discover the copyright holder for his photographs but to no avail. If such a copyright holder were to contact us, we would be pleased to discuss the use of the photographs.
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