Laura Jane Matthewson - A Star Is Born

STOP PRESS NOVEMBER 30 2014

This article was originally published on October 30 2014

Exactly one month later, Laura has won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for 2014 for her performance as Rose in Dogfight at London's Southwark Playhouse theatre. Read on to learn a little more about this sensational new talent to grace the stage...

This week the newest sensation to hit London's musical theatre scene, Laura Jane Matthewson was crowned champion of the Talent 2014 competition by Michael Ball. After winning all her heats Laura was thrilled to receive some top notch goodies plus a thousand pounds too. Not a bad haul - but for this young actress, the true spoils of her entering Talent 2014 had been gained some months ago, when heat-judge Danielle Tarento laid eyes on her for the first time and signed her up as leading lady for her London premier production of the off Broadway hit Dogfight.

Dogfight was always going to be a "marmite" musical. Tackling a troubling subject: the mysogynist, sexist and abusive antics of a group of US marines pre their Vietnam deployment, a small handful of critics hated it. But they were just a few. The morning after press night the reaction to the show was "rave" - and in the first time that I can recall for a fringe production, Matthewson  was repeatedly singled out for buckets of praise. Libby Purves formerly of The Times and now perhaps the most respected independent critic on the circuit devoted half of her review to Mathewson whilst other notable pundits such as Baz Bamigboye of the Mail and The Stage's Mark Shenton also waxed lyrical. As the ripples of amazement crossed the Atlantic, even The New York Times added their penn'orth in praise of Laura.

So - as Matthewson was only last week preparing for her competition final and as Sunderland FC had just been thrashed 8-0 by Southampton, (though albeit a proud Wearsider, she did confess, in a shrimp-like state of embarrassment, a total ignorance of that humiliating score-line, explaining that "football's not her thing") I grabbed the opportunity to ask her a few questions.

The reviews of Dogfight predominantly described you as a newly-graduated (from the Royal Academy of Music) arrival on the professional scene. Was that an accurate description?

Actually it's a bit far from the truth! Whilst I was certainly new to the London stage, for the last five years (in fact ever since winning The Panto Factor) I have had regular professional roles. My first part was in a Sevenoaks pantomime, opposite former EastEnders star Leslie Grantham (who was an absolute delight to work with) and since then I have done panto every year along with numerous TIE gigs and other out of town productions.

"Dog" is a vile description of a woman. At the core of Dogfight is how a group of young men get their kicks out of debasing women and labelling them as ugly. Putting the show's politics aside, how humanly challenging was it for you to play such a role?

It's never written anywhere that Rose (my character) or that any of the women in the show are ugly. Within the parameters of 1960's America they are required to to be perceived as unconventionally attractive. For Rose, the breakdown said that the role needed somebody a bit overweight and as I have never been a stick-thin leading lady anyway, that's fine. She is somebody "quite plain and reserved but with heart", a phrase that I loved.

Rose almost has a light from within. The more that you get to know and like her, the more that she becomes attractive, which is sort of what happens with everybody in real life. You know when you meet somebody that looks beautiful and then they turn out to be a horrible person and immediately become less attractive? I don't think that the Rose is an ugly girl, she is just not "stick-thin Miss America" and neither am I.

The show stirred up a hornets nest of reactions amongst some critics. Tell me about that.

I completely agree with one of the cast members, Ciaran Joyce who played a marine, one of the marines who said he didn't  understand why people were coming to see the show and complaining about the misogyny, suggesting it was like going to see Les Mis and then complaining that it's set in France.

I feel that Rose comes out as triumphant. The show doesn't condone the dogfights - it simply acknowledges that they exist amongst some of the armed forces, and continue today. A serving US serviceman saw Dogfight and commented on its authenticity.

What was it like to read the reviews of Dogfight and find some of the harshest critics in the land raving about your performance.

Before the show I didn't really care that much what people were going to say. I was already in love with the entire project and what Matt Ryan (the director of Dogfight) was doing with the show and I think that even if the reviews had been less favorable, it would have just gone over my head.

To have that praise though was like the cherry on the cake. I was feeling  like I'd won the lottery and I'd think that this is just hilarious that they think I'm this good! I would never be naïve enough, because of the five years that I have spent leading up to this,  to think "This is going to last forever" or "This is my big break. I have made it now" or "This is", because above all, I know that these moments come but that they can also disappear overnight. When the New York Times mentioned me in an article I thought"This is perfect. Thank you!", but really, as the notices came in I was like, "That's so lovely... I'll share that on my Facebook... My Dad will be dead proud."

And what for the future?

Dogfight has really opened doors for me and in addition to musical theatre parts I am now being considered for film and television work.

This sounds cheesy, and so often what I say sounds like a cliché, but I was thinking this the other day, about the appreciation I have for this job.  I was remembering some of the TIE I did, in particular a show about the history of Olympia. We were going around schools, doing three shows a day and setting up the set ourselves and taking it back down. There was one day, when I was with a cast of four people, where we all had to get changed in a Maths cupboard behind the stage. The central heating was on full blast and we were sweating and disgusting, and I was having the biggest laugh ever and I was like, "Guys, how lucky are we that we are being paid to do something that we love? This is just amazing."

I just think that just sums it up. If you can be happy doing that, then everything else is a bonus. Those reviews were like winning the lottery.

Feature: Andrew Keates and Robert McWhir

Encore: Andrew Keates and Robert McWhir, The Landor Theatre

Those familiar with The Phantom of the Opera will know that Paris’ fictional Opera Populaire in which the show is set, is run by two charming if somewhat pompous gentlemen, M. Firmin and M. Andre, forever attending to and fussing over the requirements and the budgets of their productions, the quality of which, courtesy of the Opera Ghost, was often outstanding. Remove the pomposity (and of course a good few years) from these Frenchmen, shift the location to a quiet suburban London street and you start to come close to the talents of the creative managing duo of the Landor Theatre that are Robert McWhir and Andrew Keates.

In recent years London’s fringe musical theatre has seen a number of venues mount very impressive productions, few more trailblazing and audacious than the Landor Theatre’s. Perched above the pub of the same name, the former Functions Room (complete with dumbwaiter from the kitchen and Guinness pipes emerging from a wall) has been transformed with two tiers of seating into a rectangular performance space that feels almost Tardis-like, such is the quality of the theatre’s output. Awards and rave reviews are commonplace to this establishment (it scooped four Off West End awards this year alone) and like the Olympian achievements of recent weeks, the theatre’s acclaim has been garnered through nothing less than the complete devotion and jaw-dropping hard work of Keates and McWhir. Between them, these two men have taken innovative scores and libretti, attracted the cream of theatre’s performing and creative talents and presented imaginative productions to hardened London audiences.

In the mid 1990s Linda Edwards, who worked at the Italia Conti stage school next door, was invited by the forward-thinking landlord of the Landor pub to start a theatre upstairs. Robert McWhir first came to the theatre in 1997 with the production City of Angels, and almost immediately felt a connection with the place. After discussions with Linda, he was invited to manage the theatre, and has since worked almost continuously at the Landor, performing in and developing numerous shows. His close working relationship with Keates is evident and Andrew would go as far as to say that in Rob he has found not only a best friend but also a father figure, in terms of his professional respect for McWhir. One of the reasons that Keates wanted to work at the Landor was simply to ease the burden on the McWhir, allowing the more experienced man to evolve into the role of the theatre’s artistic director.

At 28, Keates (who is by some years the younger of the pair), became entranced with the creative potential of the Landor whilst appearing in Into The Woods. The theatre’s affinity with Sondheim’s work appealed to Keates, with McWhir then mounting a groundbreaking production of Follies. Never before had this most challenging of Sondheim scores been professionally attempted by a fringe company. Sceptics said it couldn’t be done, but Josef Weinberger Ltd, the music publisher, took a supportive approach to McWhir’s plans and established West End names such as Claire Moore and Bryan Kennedy joined the cast. Eschewing an orchestra for the plain musical backing of just a piano, the Landor production went on to win the resounding support of its esteemed New York composer himself.

The simple space and dimensions of the Landor create a hothouse of creativity. In a world where theatre workshops are commonplace, Keates is adamant that the Landor is a theatre workhouse. The building sports very few showbiz trimmings or trappings; there is but one backstage loo, and that is to be shared by all the cast. Front of house, economies of both space and cash demand that all involved in a show are forced to be imaginative in their work. But this workhouse works. Howard Goodall and Melvyn Bragg’s The Hired Man, had struggled in its 25 year life to find a professional stage upon which it could flourish. At the Landor the show didn’t just take root, it bloomed. Using the simplest of props, barrels and bales of straw, an impassioned cast took the audience through Bragg’s vast landscape of northern Britain at the start of the 20^th century and on to the horrors of the Great War. Directed by Keates and up against stiff competition, the show scooped best musical at this year’s Off West End Awards. Such is the respect that has been earned, Howard Goodall has proposed that his new musical A Winters Tale, taken from Shakespeare, be premiered at the Landor, directed by Keates, later this year.

McWhir emphasises that whilst the Landor is no more than a “theatre above a pub”, he wants it to be the best such theatre. He knows the strengths and pitfalls of the place better than anyone and is a master of working productions around the constraints and features of the space. One such feature is an entry to the backstage wings that is literally a door, centre stage-back. Nothing fancy, just a door. This doorway typically becomes a scenic feature of Landor productions and even when shows tour, the “Landor door” is an integral part of the set design, as I observed during the premiere of Black Slap that they took to Edinburgh last year.

The pair are pleased with the extent to which bold musical theatre is being embraced by London’s fringe, and look warmly upon Danielle Tarento’s recent productions at Southwark Playhouse and the volume of work that emerges from the Union Theatre. Keates, however, observes with irony that in 2011, apart from London Road, he cannot recall a succesful new musical premiere in a mainstream, commercial London theatre. Whilst the box office draw of the jukebox musical is recognised as a source of employment and wealth across the industry, both he and McWhir are sad that it has becomes increasingly challenging for new or newly-discovered musical theatre to become a financial success.

Those whom they have directed or produced hold both Andrew and Rob in high esteem. Kim Ismay, a West End actress with more years as Mamma Mia’s Tanya than it would be appropriate to mention, recently took two weeks out from that Greek idyll to perform a one-woman show at the Landor. “The intimate and surprisingly versatile space suited the piece so well,” she comments, “although bigger pieces with larger casts seem to have just as much success. Andrew and Robert simply have such passion for their theatre.” Ismay is not wrong; the pair’s passion is infectious and widely regarded. Not many pub theatres would expect The Times’ Libby Purves to even attend the press night of their show; she gave the Landor’s recently opened Curtains an impressive 4 stars.

The Landor’s is not simply a stage that is frequently hired out for other touring companies to use; the team’s talents are focussed on the productions that they mount and the theatre that they manage. As the theatre’s income is insufficient to employ anyone else, this dynamic duo do everything from directing and casting through to box office, website maintenance and programme design, right on down to cleaning and hoovering the theatre areas - including that backstage loo. Keates acknowledges that they probably do the jobs of 30 people, in a 70-80 hour working week. “When I was directing The Hired Man, I would run from rehearsal, to box office, to publicity. There is a lot of give from us here and not a great deal to take, but the rewards are huge, just not in the financial sense.”

“Venues such as the Landor make theatre as accessible and affordable as it should be, without skimping on standards or the resulting experience,” says Kim Ismay. Keates and McWhir simply do not seem to recognise the concept of skimping on standards. They aim to work with the best and produce the best.

Like the Opera Populaire, the Landor has its history, and its ghosts. McWhir recalls the death of that visionary landlord, who peacefully passed away in the flat at the top of the building, even to the extent of remembering the man’s body being taken away from the premises. Keates adds that he occasionally sleeps in the theatre (though only if a production has a sofa in the set), and that on more than one occasion he has sensed a spiritual presence in the room with him. From the quality of the shows that the Landor produces, one wonders if perhaps such a spirit is bestowing a positive aura on the theatre.

Since I spoke to Andrew and Rob, Andrew has announced that Curtains would be his last show as theatre manager with the Landor, making our conversation even more poignant. He adds :"I've had an incredible two years at the Landor, filled with hard-work, passion and determination. The pay off has been seeing the theatre develop into one of London's most successful theatres, winning countless awards and critical acclaim for productions. It's an unstoppable little theatre and one that I have been very proud to have called home."

By Jonathan Grant

For more information on the Landor Theatre, visit http://www.landortheatre.co.uk/

This article was first published on The Public Reviews