Chris Ward (born 1958) is an English-Canadian film and theatre director and
playwright.
Life and career
From 1979 to 1982, Chris Ward attended the
London International Film School. The school had no courses in screenwriting and so Ward began writing for the stage.
His play ''Demonstration of Affection'' was produced at the
Arts Theatre
The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London.
History
It opened on 20 April 1927 as a members-only club for the performance of unlicensed plays, thus avoiding theatre censorship by the Lord Chamber ...
in London in June 1981, starring the musicians
Richard Jobson (of the band the
Skids) and
Honey Bane
Honey Bane (born Donna Tracy Boylan, 1964, London) is an English singer and actress, possibly best known for her 1981 UK Top 40 single "Turn Me On Turn Me Off".
Early life and career
Honey Bane began her musical career at the age of 14 in 197 ...
(formerly of the band
Fatal Microbes
Fatal Microbes were an English punk rock band formed in 1978. The main line-up of the band consisted of Honey Bane on vocals, Gem Stone on drums, Pete Fender on guitar and Scotty Barker on bass.
The band's name is regarded as a reference to ...
). The play generated controversy for its supposed depiction of "live sex" on stage.
Starting in 1981, he produced and directed his own work with the Wet Paint Theatre Company in various fringe and pub theatre venues in London, as well as performing dramatic scenes at
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
concerts.
The company, often described as "punk theatre" (a label which Ward rejects),
was distinguished by its mixing of professionally-trained actors with musicians (often from punk bands) and other non-professional artistes.
According to Ward, "We began to recruit from bands and chance encounters at gigs, squats, anarchy centres, and sometimes even from casual conversations in the street." The ethos was collaborative and similar to
guerilla theater.
Ward chose to recruit these inexperienced actors as he found that trained actors had difficulty expressing the raw emotion of his work.
One reviewer described a performance as "rough, angry, unsubtle" as well as "not for the squeamish (nor for perfectionists)." In ''Demonstration of Affection'', the actors smashed real chairs and bottles onstage, a theme which was repeated in ''Plastic Zion''. Another play closed abruptly when its assistant director threatened the audience with a knife. Amongst the performers who passed through the ranks of Wet Paint were Jobson, Bane, Simon Tedd (Simon Scardanelli),
Beki Bondage
Beki Bondage (born Rebecca Louise Bond) is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the frontwoman of the punk band Vice Squad.
She appeared on the front cover of a number of influential music papers such as '' Melody Maker' ...
,
Max Splodge, Michelle Brigandage, George Cheex (from
!Action Pact!), Ruth Radish (from
Hagar the Womb
Hagar the Womb are an English punk rock band, originally active in the early 1980s and part of the anarcho-punk movement. In hiatus from 1987, members went on to form We Are Going To Eat You and Melt, with vocalist Julie Sorrell. A 2011 compi ...
), and
Jenny Runacre
Jenny Runacre (born 18 August 1946) is a South African-born English actress. Her film appearances include '' The Passenger'' (1975), ''The Duellists'' (1977), ''Jubilee'' (1978), ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1979), and '' The Witches'' (1990).
Caree ...
.
Ward's play about
Jean Vigo
Jean Vigo (; 26 April 1905 – 5 October 1934) was a French film director who helped establish poetic realism in film in the 1930s. His work influenced French New Wave cinema of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Biography
Vigo was born to ...
, ''Love's A Revolution'', was the basis of the 1998 film ''Vigo'', directed by
Julien Temple.
Ward's play was adapted from Paulo Emilio Salles Gomez's ''Jean Vigo''. Previously, Ward had collaborated with
Derek Jarman
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, gardener and gay rights activist.
Biography
Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing Home ...
on a number of unrealised film projects, including a film of Ward's play ''
Camberwell Beauty'' and a proposed television project on the life of Jean Cocteau.
''Plastic Zion'' was revived at the
White Bear Theatre in London in 2006. In 2008, Wet Paint Theatre Company revived ''Demonstration of Affection'' and ''Planet Suicide'' at the Foundry in London.
In 2008 Ward wrote and directed the short film ''What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor?'', based on the life of artist/model
Nina Hamnett
Nina Hamnett (14 February 1890 – 16 December 1956) was a Welsh artist and writer, and an expert on sailors' chanteys, who became known as the Queen of Bohemia.
Early life
Hamnett was born in Shirley House, Picton Road in the small c ...
, the self-styled Queen of Bohemia. The film stars
Siobhan Fahey
Siobhan Maire Fahey (; born 10 September 1958) is an Irish singer whose vocal range is a light contralto. She was a founding member of the group Bananarama, who have had ten top-10 hits including the US number one hit single "Venus". She later ...
(singer with
Bananarama
Bananarama are an English pop duo from London, formed as a trio in 1980 by friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when the trio became a duo. T ...
and
Shakespears Sister
Shakespears Sister is an alternative pop and rock musical duo based in the United Kingdom that was formed in 1988 by singer-songwriter Siobhan Fahey, a former member of Bananarama. Shakespears Sister was initially a solo act, but became a duo ...
), Clive Arrindel,
Donny Tourette (frontman with the punk band
Towers of London), and
Honey Bane
Honey Bane (born Donna Tracy Boylan, 1964, London) is an English singer and actress, possibly best known for her 1981 UK Top 40 single "Turn Me On Turn Me Off".
Early life and career
Honey Bane began her musical career at the age of 14 in 197 ...
.
In 2012, Chris Ward's script, ''Hound: Visions in the Life of the Victorian poet Francis Thompson'' was staged at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, and then toured London's churches including
St Giles-in-the Fields and in St Olav's (City of London) in May 2014. A film of ''Hound'' is in production with a cast including
Wayne Sleep
Wayne Philip Colin Sleep (born 17 July 1948) is a British dancer, director, choreographer, and actor who appeared on the BBC series '' The Real Marigold on Tour'' and ITV's '' The Real Full Monty''.
Early life
Sleep was born in Plymouth, D ...
,
Gary Shail
Gary Shail (born 10 November 1959) is an English actor, director, producer and musician.
Career
Gary Shail began work in TV and film in 1977 and is best known for his roles as Spider in the 1979 film ''Quadrophenia'' and as Steve, the punky teen ...
,
Toyah Willcox
Toyah Ann Willcox (born 18 May 1958) is an English musician, actress, and TV presenter. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Willcox has had eight top 40 singles, released over 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over 40 stage plays an ...
,
Hazel O'Connor
Hazel Thereasa O'Connor (born 16 May 1954) is a British singer-songwriter and actress. She became famous in the early 1980s with hit singles " Eighth Day", " D-Days" and " Will You?" She also starred in the 1980 film '' Breaking Glass''.
Care ...
and Lex Stephenson. The role of
Francis Thompson
Francis Joseph Thompson (16 December 1859 – 13 November 1907) was an English poet and Catholic mystic. At the behest of his father, a doctor, he entered medical school at the age of 18, but at 26 left home to pursue his talent as a writer a ...
is played by Daniel Hutchinson.
The following year, 2013, he wrote and directed a feature film produced by Frank Schofield based on his play ''Camberwell Beauty'' with the performers
Jenny Runacre
Jenny Runacre (born 18 August 1946) is a South African-born English actress. Her film appearances include '' The Passenger'' (1975), ''The Duellists'' (1977), ''Jubilee'' (1978), ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1979), and '' The Witches'' (1990).
Caree ...
, Rachel Darq, Clive Arrindell, and
Lindsay Armaou
Lindsay Gael Christian Elaine Armaou ( el, Λίντσεϊ Αρμάου; born 18 December 1978) is a Greek-born Irish actress and singer. She is best known as a member of girl group B*Witched and for her roles as Sister Georgina in the crime thri ...
(from the girl band
B*witched
B*Witched are an Irish girl group consisting of twin sisters Edele and Keavy Lynch, Lindsay Armaou and Sinéad O'Carroll. Originally active between 1997 and 2002, they enjoyed success in both Europe and North America between 1998 and 2002, r ...
) taking major roles. The film was released in 2014.
Plays
* ''Vermouth'' (
Pentameters Theatre, 1980)
* ''Demonstration of Affection'' (Cockpit/Arts Theatre, 1981)
* ''Castles in Spain'' (
New End Theatre
The New End Theatre, Hampstead, was an 80-seat fringe theatre venue in London, at 27 New End in the London Borough of Camden which operated from 1974 until 2011.
It was founded in 1974 by Buddy Dalton in the converted mortuary of the now-de ...
, 1981)
* ''Plastic Zion'' (Wet Paint, 1982)
* ''Camberwell Beauty'' (Wet Paint, 1982)
* ''Love's A Revolution, the life of
Jean Vigo
Jean Vigo (; 26 April 1905 – 5 October 1934) was a French film director who helped establish poetic realism in film in the 1930s. His work influenced French New Wave cinema of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Biography
Vigo was born to ...
'' (Wet Paint, 1983)
* ''Amphibious Babies'' (Wet Paint, 1983)
* ''Cat Food'' (Wet Paint, 1984)
* ''Planet Suicide'' (Wet Paint, 1985)
* ''Furious Holiday'' (Wet Paint, 1987)
* ''Gods Drumming'' (Wet Paint, 1994)
* ''Ethel Lee and Grabs'' (Wet Paint, 1996)
* ''Hound: Visions in the Life of the Victorian poet
Francis Thompson
Francis Joseph Thompson (16 December 1859 – 13 November 1907) was an English poet and Catholic mystic. At the behest of his father, a doctor, he entered medical school at the age of 18, but at 26 left home to pursue his talent as a writer a ...
'' (Wet Paint, 2012)
Films
* ''Vosper's Boys'' (1981)
* ''What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor'' (2008)
* ''Camberwell Beauty'' (2013)
References
External links
Chris Wardat doollee.com playwrights database
*
Wet Paint Theatre CompanyPaul Lyne's letter to ''Maximumrocknroll'' about Wet Paint Theatre(archive)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Chris
20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights
Living people
1958 births
Canadian male dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Canadian male writers