Duncan Noel-Paton [FOUND]
Moderator: Moderators
Amazing man
Last time I was thinking of him was with Mark Thomas, who used a very loving send up of DN-P in his stage act when discussing "a certain type of liberal".
Can anyone who has his address mail it to be, I have to contact him and think him for alot of great advice and help, while at Ch and after I left
Can anyone who has his address mail it to be, I have to contact him and think him for alot of great advice and help, while at Ch and after I left
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- LE (Little Erasmus)
- Posts: 62
- Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:51 am
- Real Name: James Bishop
- Location: East Devon
It's many years since I was last in contact with Duncan. As one of the early generation of Theatre "Techies" I've always been convinced that it was my A-level results that led to them employing a full time technician. This was a time when the theatre was shiny and new and we were allowed to push the hydraulic seating towers around unsupervised !
I'd love to get in touch with Duncan again so, please, if anyone has his e-mail address I would be very grateful to have it passed on to me.
I'd love to get in touch with Duncan again so, please, if anyone has his e-mail address I would be very grateful to have it passed on to me.
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- Deputy Grecian
- Posts: 474
- Joined: Tue Jun 14, 2005 5:01 pm
- Real Name: Andrew Loring
- Location: South Gloucestershire
It's nice to see that you all seem to have liked DNP, however, he wasn't universally popular and I found his insistance that everybody had to get involved with the bl**dy theatre when it opened a right pain in the *rse. Early 1974 when I was in the second form, the theatre company on which, I have no doubt, the 'League of Gentlemen's' Legz Akimbo was based came to visit, presumably paid for by the Arts Council Grant! The entire second form had to endure a workshop in which we did a version of 'Humpty Dumpty' all during the two periods before lunch on a Saturday when I should have been in 'double manual' doing metalwork with Mr Stratton. Over thirty years on it still rankles - but it taught me a useful lesson: never try and enthuse someone with something you enjoy whilst actively preventing them from doing 'their' thing. I also found his productions completely over the top and his directing and producing style put me off the theatre for years - even now I rarely go and I'm afraid this is all largely down to DNP. I don't doubt, however, that he was a nice enough chap in many ways and he is clearly well liked by many.
- Tim
- LE (Little Erasmus)
- Posts: 55
- Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:27 am
- Real Name: Tim Benjamin
- Location: London UK
- Contact:
well, maybe he'd chilled out by the time I was at CH. I mean, I wasn't even BORN in 1974, heh. The theatrical productions of my time were not so much OTT, but they were good fun to be involved in, whether as a star or as a lowly extra (always the latter in my case!).
In fact I'd say it swung the other way, where there was a "clique" involved in theatrical productions, with the usual suspects appearing in the lead roles. However I reckon this is more a symptom of the best people being picked for the job - this happened too in music (and also in sports, obviously) - it's a kind of elitism of which I whole-heartedly approve!
Or perhaps it was because there were so many extra-curricular things you could do, that the same people ended up doing the same things, despite the best efforts of the curriculum to force you to do things you weren't keen on (e.g. that silly rugger game, in my case! I STILL have a gammy knee and a thrice-broken nose...).
Drama became a GCSE subject in my time, something that wasn't met with universal acclaim from the more academic parts of the school.
In fact I'd say it swung the other way, where there was a "clique" involved in theatrical productions, with the usual suspects appearing in the lead roles. However I reckon this is more a symptom of the best people being picked for the job - this happened too in music (and also in sports, obviously) - it's a kind of elitism of which I whole-heartedly approve!
Or perhaps it was because there were so many extra-curricular things you could do, that the same people ended up doing the same things, despite the best efforts of the curriculum to force you to do things you weren't keen on (e.g. that silly rugger game, in my case! I STILL have a gammy knee and a thrice-broken nose...).
Drama became a GCSE subject in my time, something that wasn't met with universal acclaim from the more academic parts of the school.
what happened to that flop of a production he tried to take to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival? Bodyworks or something? He did it with someone rather famous as well, if I remember correctly.
I do remember his as favouring certain pupils and then using those ones ad nauseam. There was nothing wrong with his favourites (they were all good actors) but their skills grew stronger and stronger at the expense of the weaker actors. DNP was a great producer (albeit neoptism often played a part as well) but as a teacher, I'm not so sure.
I do remember his as favouring certain pupils and then using those ones ad nauseam. There was nothing wrong with his favourites (they were all good actors) but their skills grew stronger and stronger at the expense of the weaker actors. DNP was a great producer (albeit neoptism often played a part as well) but as a teacher, I'm not so sure.
- marty
- Grecian
- Posts: 835
- Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 1:29 pm
- Real Name: Marty E
- Location: Buckinghamshire
I had the misfortune to be in "The Bluebird" on my second form. All the characters were called Fire, Bread, Water etc (don't remember who was unlucky enough to get the part of 'Wind'). I had one line which went, "No, mine first, it carries all the secrets hidden in the moon," The shame! Oh the shame!!! Whoever wrote the stupid thing was clearly indulging in something stronger than Silk Cut - think "I am the walrus" meets Chaucer. DNP was always incredibly OTT during rehearsals. His favourite tactic was to pretend to be busy and stay quiet for a minute or two and then burst a gasket, screaming at everyone to 'just shut up and listen, OK!!!" I always found him amusing, but harmless and nice enough, even after he gave me that sh*tty line!!!
My therapist says I have a preoccupation with vengeance. We’ll see about that.
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- 2nd Former
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2004 10:41 pm
- Real Name: Mary Clare
- Location: Edinburgh/Oxford
I was on my UF when the towers were put on air pads, and so could be used again... DNP decided to do 'The Children's Crusade' to celebrate, and I was the DSM. Before the first cut there were no less than 16 tower changes that had to be done with about 150 juniors on stage.... An interesting experience...
Ba B 97-03/Gr E 03-04
"If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there"
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
"If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there"
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland