Notes on the Portraits

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Cesc Gelabert is a choreographer and dancer whose original work is one of the most important influences in contemporary Spanish dance. Between 1978 and 1980 he worked in New York performing at La Mama, The Kitchen and other venues. The Gelabert Azzopardi Dance Company has presented over twenty five productions on international tours and has been a resident company at Teatre Lliure and the Hebbel Theatre, Berlin. He has worked extensively with many significant figures in the performing arts including choreographing the solo ‘In A Landscape’ for Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Lydia Azzopardi is a dancer and costume designer who, with her partner, Cesc Gelabert, co-founded the internationally acclaimed Gelabert Azzopardi Companyia De Dansa in Barcelona. She taught contemporary dance at the Zurich Opera House and Maurice Bejart’s Mudra School in Brussels and choreographed A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Rome in association with Lindsay Kemp. She has collaborated with many distingushed practitioners and her work includes theatre, cinema, video and opera. She performed a solo as Tortola Valencia for the opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Kika Markham started acting when she was 12 in a melodrama, The Drunkard, with her father, David Markham. After drama school she played Viola in a modern dress production of Twelfth Night which led on to Time Present by John Osborne, Tribes by Nina Raine and, recently, Escaped Alone by Caryl Churchill all at The Royal Court. Special roles were Hilde in Song At Twilight by Noel Coward for which she received an Olivier Award nomination for best supporting actress, The Homebody in Homebody/Kabul written for her by Tony Kushner and the Queen in Handbagged at The Tricycle Theatre. Her television work includes The Basement by Harold Pinter and two plays by Dennis Potter, Double Dare and A Blade on the Feather. She also played Helen Jarvis in Channel 4’s A Very British Coup and Margaret Thatcher in the BBC’s A Line of Beauty. Other television work includes Ken Russell’s Clouds of Glory, Poirot, Call the Midwife, Secret State, Holby City and Mr Selfridge. Her film roles include Anne in Anne and Muriel directed by Francois Truffaut and Eileen in Wonderland directed by Michael Winterbottom. She has recently finished working in Mike Bartlett’s first play at The Arcola, Not Talking. Kika Markham has also written a memoir of her life with her late husband, Corin Redgrave, entitled Our Time of Day.

Ray Winstone’s long film career includes many iconic roles such as Carlin in the 1979 Scum, Will Scarlet in Robin of Sherwood, Ray in Nil By Mouth, Gary ‘Gal’ Dove in Sexy Beast, ‘Vincey’ Dodds in Last Orders, and Tubal-cain in the 2014, Noah. As well as the tough characters he has also provided voices for Soldier Sam in The Magic Roundabout and Mr Beaver in The Chronicles of Narnia and he played Henry VIII in the television film, Henry VIII. He won British Independent Film Award for Best Actor as Ray in Nil By Mouth, San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor for Captain Stanley in The Proposition and has been nominated for many other awards including the Baftas. From the age of 12 he had a successful boxing career winning 80 out of 88 bouts and was twice London schoolboy champion at welterweight, representing England on two occasions.

Zoë Wanamaker CBE is one of the most distinguished and distinctive actresses of her generation. Zoë has won two Olivier Awards, received four Tony nominations and been nominated for three Baftas.

Karl Johnson is an actor who has appeared in many stage, film and television roles. His extensive work at The National Theatre includes Glengarry Glenross, The Mysteries, Mean Tears, The Seafarer and Frankenstein. In the West End he played Selsdon Mowbray in the 2011 Noises Off at The Old Vic, Vassily in Fathers and Sons at The Donmar, The Ghost and The Gravedigger in the Barbican Hamlet and Gloucester in the 2016 King Lear also at The Old Vic. For television his work includes Cato the Younger in the BBC’s Rome, ‘Twister’ in Lark Rise to Candleford, Reg in Mum and The Fool in Richard Eyre‘s 2018 King Lear. His film work includes the title role in Derek Jarman’s 1993 Wittgenstein, Colin in Close My Eyes, PC Bob Walker in Hot Fuzz, Captain Booth in Mr Turner and Lord Sidmouth in the 2018 Peterloo for Film4 directed by Mike Leigh.

Kenneth Cranham’s distinguished stage career stretches from his early work with Joe Orton and Harold Pinter to his recent Olivier Award winning performance in The Father by Florian Zeller. His career in film and television takes in the 1968 Oliver, Prospero’s Books, Shine on Harvey Moon, Brideshead Revisited, The Murder of Stephen Lawrence, Made In Dagenham and the 2016 War and Peace. He has also worked on many radio productions for the BBC such as the 2007 adaptation of Dicken’s Hard Times. He was also nominated for an Olivier Award for his role as Inspector Goole in An Inspector Calls.

Jehane Markham is a poet and dramatist who has worked in radio, television and theatre. She collaborates closely with musicians and performs her poetry in the context of a theatrical soundscape with The Jehane Markham Trio. She has adapted classics for radio including The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and Frost In May by Antonia White. Her original work for radio includes the drama documentary Lawrence and Frieda. She also wrote the libretto for On The Rim Of The World, music by Orlando Gough, at The Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, and The Welsh National Opera 2009. Other work includes the BBC Play for Today, Nina, Thanksgiving, More Cherry Cake, One White Day and the jazz opera, Hermes. With her late husband, Roger Lloyd Pack, she presented many readings of her poetry and other works. Her ongoing series of monthly poems can be enjoyed at www.jehanemarkham.co.uk.

Roger Lloyd Pack was known with affection as Trigger in the TV sitcom Only Fools And Horses but he was also a highly respected stage and screen actor. His long career included many screen roles from The Magus and The Go Between to The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, Made In Dagenham and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. His stage work included Pinter’s The Caretaker and The Homecoming, Alan Bennet’s Kafka’s Dick, ‘Art’ and Dealer’s Choice. At the time this portrait was painted he was playing Buckingham in Richard III and Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night at The Apollo Theatre.

Andy Smith is a London born IT professional now retired and living in Norfolk.

A Young Indian Woman seen against forest trees in Kerala.

Audrey Sharp is a former Head of Human Resources.

His Honour Judge Peter Rook KC has recently retired as a Senior Circuit Judge (Central Criminal Court). He is a leading authority on the law relating to sexual offences and co-author of the foremost textbook relating to this aspect of law. He is also an enthusiastic dramatist who regularly co-writes and stages the entertaining Trial And Error plays which are performed at The Old Bailey by a cast of talented barristers and a sprinkling of professionals in aid of the charities Pan Intercultural Arts and The Old Bailey Sheriff’s and Recorders Fund. While at Cambridge he had the distinction of turning down the Prince of Wales who was auditioning for a Giraudoux play. He also has a keen interest in the life and work of Daniel Defoe.

Elspeth Barker is a writer and literary critic. She is the author of the prize winning novel O Caledonia and the short stories Dog Days. She has written extensively for many periodicals such as The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Harpers and Queens and The Literary Review. She taught at The Norwich School of Art and Design and was visiting professor of fiction at Kansas University. She was married to the poet George Barker and her five children include the novelist Rafaella Barker and the photographer Sam Barker. In the portrait she is seated in George Barker’s writing chair that he used throughout his life.

Alison Wilson experienced the hardships of wartime London, then trained at Guy’s Hospital as a physiotherapist. She was invited to remain as a junior physiotherapist at the end of her training having been awarded the Manley Memorial Prize from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists. After meeting her husband she found herself in the Sudan as a District Commissioner’s wife; unexpected but very interesting, and they later occasionally used Arabic to speak during mealtimes when they needed their three daughters to be kept in the dark. An even greater change was finding herself as a Vicar’s wife in her late 30’s. Rising splendidly to the challenge, she contributed a great deal and, as a result, has many wonderful friends to see her through her 90’s.

William Zappa trained at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and worked at the Bristol Old Vic, Marlowe Theatre, Dukes Playhouse and The Theatre Royal, Stratford East before moving to Australia to take up the post of Head of Movement for The School of Drama, Victorian College of the Arts. He returned to the stage in 1981 and has become recognised as one of Australia’s finest actors playing major roles for Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare, Ensemble, Belvoir Street, State Theatre of South Australia and Griffin. His performances include Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, an award winning thirteen characters in The Government Inspector, Anthony in Anthony and Cleopatra, Max in Rock and Roll and Edward Damson in Gift of the Gorgon. He also won two awards for his portrayal of Thenardier in Les Miserables. Film work includes Dead Europe, Men’s Group, The Monkey’s Mask, The Rage in Placid Lake, Head On, Bootmen, Quigley Down Under, Mad Max 2, and an award winning performance in Crush. For television he has appeared in Rake, Magazine Wars, City Homicide, All Saints, GP and received The Penguin Award for Best Actor in Women of the Sun. William Zappa is also the author of the plays, Winter’s Discontent and The Greening of Grace and his acclaimed adaptation of Homer’s Iliad, Iliad Out Loud, was featured in the 2019 Sydney Film Festival.

Jack Rayner is the son of the actors, Adam Rayner and Lucy Brown.

The late Professor John Lindsay Smith was a Mechanistic Organic Chemist and founder member of the Department of Chemistry at the University of York where he worked until his retirement. His collaborative research with industry and other academics resulted in over 170 publications and he supervised a large research group including 75 successful PhD students.

Chris King studied at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama before teaching at Woodberry Down and later Walworth School in inner London. During this time he was an elected member of Islington Borough Council. After twenty years in teaching Chris co-founded TimePlan Education Group, the first teacher recruitment agency in the UK. After retirement he became actively involved in The Royal Philatelic Society, London and was president fron 2013-2015.

Birthe King studied teaching at The North London Polytechnic followed by a B.Ed. in History and Education. She has worked in private, public and voluntary sectors and shares her husband’s interest in philately. They are both eminent exhibitors at international level and their collections also include, among other things, fine pieces of Danish ceramics.

Morgan Jayne was born South Wales and after undergraduate and postgraduate studies at The University of East Anglia she lived for twenty five years in the city of Norwich. Having taught for twenty years in higher and further education she succumbed to her wanderlust and now lives aboard Narrowboat Sunbeam. Travelling the country’s canals, she divides her time between creating hand-sewn leather bags and books and occasional teaching.

Lucy Yates is a writer who was born in Manchester and now lives in London. She has been awarded Arts Council England funding and her short stories have appeared in anthologies including Parenthesis and Dead Languages. She also teaches Creative Writing for The Open University.

Melissa Booton is a horticulturist who studied at Otley College in Suffolk.

Ted Booton is a graduate of Manchester University and is training to be a Chartered Accountant.

Florence Booton is a Primary School teacher currently working in an international school in Bangkok.

Willow Major is an undergraduate at Manchester University. She and her brother, Hal, are the children of the lighting architect, Mark Major and the barrister, Riel Karmy-Jones KC.

Hal Major is a student at The Norwich School.

The late Sonia Markham was the sister of Jehane Markham and the actors Kika and Petra Markham, daughters of the actor David Markham and the poet Olive Dehn. She trained as a makeup artist with the BBC and worked on the earliest episodes of Dr Who. She later became active in women’s rights and health issues becoming joint founder of Balham Family Centre. She organised direct action protests against cruise missiles and helped form Wandworth Direct Action CND. Late in her life she published her first book of poems.

Petra Markham began her acting career in the 1960s. She appeared in films such as The Deadly Affair, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Get Carter and The Hireling. Her work in television began with the 1964, Children of the New Forest and went on to include roles in Emergency Ward 10, Z Cars, The Wednesday Play and Softly Softly. Other TV work includes Albert and Victoria, Bergerac, Eastenders, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Peak Practice, Doctors and the 2016 Tess and Coming Next. On stage she appeared in Brecht’s Drums in the Night at The Hampstead Theatre Club and Alun Owen’s A Little Winter Love at Stratford East. Her most recent work in the theatre has been Miss Meacham in Separate Tables at The Salisbury Playhouse and Miss Framer in Lettuce and Lovage at The Menier Chocolate Factory directed by Trevor Nunn.

Tim Woodward was an actor whose career encompassed theatre, television, film and radio. His many Shakespearean roles have included Claudius in Hamlet, Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew and Orlando and Jaques in As You Like It. His stage work also includes Anna Karenina at The Glasgow Citizens, The Dance of Death at The Tricycle Theatre, An Inspector Calls, UK tour and After The Fall at The Lyric, Belfast. He has worked in television since the 1970s including Wings, Prime Suspect, Clapham Junction, He Kills Coppers and Spooks. Film roles include Partonov in K19-The Widow Maker, Harrington in Some Mother’s Son, The Governor of Holloway Prison in Pierrepoint and Superintendent Cummings in Legend. His father was the actor Edward Woodward.

Jill Morgan is a Primary School teacher in North Norfolk. The portrait was commissioned to celebrate her 60th birthday.

Dr Suzanne (aka Zan) Edmonds is a retired GP and married to David Faulkner.

Florence Greffier is the daughter of Zara Gardner and Emmanuel Greffier.

Christopher Barker is a photographer whose work includes portraits of poets which are in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery. His subjects include Philip Larkin, Seamus Heaney, Lawrence Durrell, Norman MacCaig and many others. He is the son of the poet George Barker and the writer Elizabeth Smart. In mid life he suffered a car accident which resulted in the loss of his left eye.

Adam Rayner is an English/American actor whose film and television work includes Sensitive Skin, Mistresses, Waking The Dead, Hunted and Miranda. His stage work includes The Rivals at The Bristol Old Vic, Romeo and Juliet at The Royal Shakespeare Company, Much Ado About Nothing at The Novello and Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me at The Minerva Theatre, Chichester. For US Television he starred as Bassam ‘Barry’ Al-Fayeed in Tyrant, as Matthew Collier in The Fix and as Max Gilford in Notorious. For Netfix he played Simon Templer in the 2017 film, The Saint.

Lucy Brown is an English actress who has appeared in film and television including Sharpe’s Challenge, Malice Aforethought, North and South, Whatever Love Means and as Harriet Kilmartin in The Village. She played the dual roles of Claudia Brown and Jenny Lewis in the sci-fi series Primeval and appears as Olena in the feature film Bitter Harvest. She has worked as a co-writer with the actress Olivia Poulet and she currently has a TV series in development in the US. Lucy’s work also includes reading for audio books and Word Theatre events.