What a week it’s been. From Hew Edwards to Ryan Tubrity, from protesters at the Proms to the excitement of Wimbledon. The wheelchair tennis yesterday was truly riveting with Alfie Hewitt and Gordon Reid powering to win the finals and Alfie on course to win the singles today. Gordon said that some years ago they were playing on an outside court watched by one man and his dog, his mum and his sister. Yesterday it was Court One and it was packed although the presentation of the cups was underwhelming.
Dame Maggie Smith was in attendance for the men’s singles and she looked fantastic, quite different to the Lady in the Van, a great film I watched last week. A bag lady who lived in a broken down van parked in the drive way of writer Alan Bennet who was played by Alex Jennings.
Then there is the Huw Edwards debacle, what a nightmare for all involved. Although apparently his financial involvement with a young person, a teenager at the time, went on for three years it has just come to light, courtesy of the Sun newspaper, so no wonder he has had a meltdown with his depression and is now in hospital. It’s a tragic situation for him and for his family but what about the young person and their family, what about his colleagues who have suffered the trauma of being suspected and those who looked up to Edwards as a role model and come to that, the public. This story, as they say, will run and run.
The Ryan Tubridy/RTE affair is far from over and is moving fast. Isn’t it strange that North, South, East and West sees major troubles within broadcasting centres. BBC Radio Foyle is being threatened, upsets in BBC Broadcasting House in Belfast and London headquarters as well as RTE in Dublin.
And some sadness that the flying angels on the old Ulster Bank building in Shaftsbury Square have taken off with their aluminium wings and will land in their new home in the Ulster Museum. I worked in a public relations agency in the building which was opened in 1964 and we were very proud of our landmark, officially known as The Airborne Men, fashioned by artist Dame Elizabeth Frink. I wish I could remember the nick name we had for them although I don’t think I could repeat them!
There’s a new name in town, mysterious, handsome man offering a way to gain a place on the silver screen. Just who is Ripley Gant and what about his casting agency. The only person who is in the know is David Alexander Stewart the man behind the new organisation and I met with him to get the low down.
David is a seasoned ‘extra’ who has appeared on film, television, advertising features, even fashion modelling. “After a career in advertising and public relations, one day I was having a cup of coffee with a friend who asked me if I was in Game of Thrones! Although my answer was no, he went on to tell me that he was a regular on the set and enjoying every moment and advised I joined. There were about 400 extras required over the series and when I applied I was booked almost immediately and so began my life as an extra.”
What is an extra? “If you look at any production on television or film you’ll see, for instance, a pub or a restaurant and while the camera focuses on the leading actors it would be silly if the background was complete empty of people so extras are recruited from agencies to make the scene look natural.” Who are these extras? “Mainly people who are interested in such productions and have time and talents to offer. Although no experience is required, they must be able to take direction, have patience to wait for their call to the set and not expect to net a fortune.” It’s perfect as a serious hobby and while it isn’t going to become a full time wage, it offers fascinating opportunities, enjoyment, and a way to meet other people with a sense of adventure.
A CV To Envy
Since ‘Game of Thrones’ David has been a guest in a wedding scene in a church in Ballyhalbert, a footman in the sandhills of Dundrum during the filming of BBC series ‘The Woman in White’, an extra on ‘Emmerdale’, he’s been a professor, a piano teacher working in Chris de Burgh’s house in Bray Dublin and has appeared alongside Mel Gibson and Sean Penn. During ‘The Man Who Invented Christmas’ he had his hair permed and for over an hour a moustache was added to his upper lip – hair by hair.
So what of Ripley Gant and David Stewart? “I thought how interesting and varied is the life of an extra and I decided I’d open an agency to guide people through the process of contacting a film or television production company, to have a big picture book for companies to leaf through to selected the type of person they are looking for, be it young, middle aged or more mature, they can see a photograph and a list of details, gender, age, hair and eye colour, height, measurements, even down to shoe size and location. Also a list of interests of each member of the agency – TV, film work, theatre, fashion modelling even offering a pet to be auditioned! Being flexible and available at short notice is a plus as is having a driving license and a car. Some people provide a showreel and if it’s voice-over work being your choice, a reading of an ad is required.”
After only six months, Ripley Gant casting agency’s list of extras is building, some familiar faces but mostly men and women who simply want an additional interest in life. There’s a one off membership fee of £25; you must be 18 and the profile at the moment is 30 plus. However, you must be aware that you are self employed, responsible for your own tax situation and that David’s company will negotiate the fee with the production house and his agency retains 15% of that fee. As David points out this is not a career move and you won’t make a fortune but you might just be lucky and catch the eye of a producer or director who will want to take you on to higher things. The details of hopeful extras are sent to top production companies so the window of opportunity is vast.
You can get more information at www.ripleygantcasting.com
Music In The Sunshine
I know where I’d like to have been last Tuesday, – the village of Loggos on the Greek Island of Paxos where Belfast woman Kathryn Baird had gathered Irish and Greek artists together to present ‘Irish Wings’, the annual cultural exchange and dialogue between the two islands. In the past she has invited artists from Ireland including Paul Muldoon, Horslips, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Andy Irvine and Dónal Lunny. This year, sitting in the courtyard of the local school, Catherine Heaney remembered her father’s love of Greece. “Our main event was Catherine reading her father’s ‘Sonnets from Hellas’ together with music inspired by these poems which had been composed and were played by the Hellas Ensemble, a group of Irish and Greek musicians based in Derry.”
Kathryn added that this was the first time that the uilleann pipes and the Irish harp were played on Paxos.
In this unique gathering the group also played music inspired by one of Heaney’s translations of the work of Greek poet, Constantine P. Cavafy. Joining the many guests who gathered for the event was the Irish Ambassador to Greece, Ms. Iseult Fitzgerald and apart from the musical entertainment they also visited a ceramics exhibition in which six Irish ceramicists entered into a dialogue with seven Greek colleagues to exchange ideas and designs.
