You will know from reading the Alumni Newsletter that we have an Obituary section. Due to space restraints on the Newsletter we are not always able to include the full account sent in, so we've added a section here, which contains a fuller version of the tributes.
The written tributes, sent in by Alumni, are a poignant reminder of the perpetual bonds of friendship forged at the School.
Please contact us on +44(0) 20 7449 1628 or email to alumni@cssd.ac.uk if you wish to send us any obituary information to be included in the Alumni Newsletter or added to the webpage.
- Trish Reading - 2009
- Natasha Richardson – 1963 - 2009
- James Bree – 1923 - 2008
- Harold Pinter – 1930 - 2008
- Bruce Kirle - 2007
- Jill Fraser 1946 - 2006
Trish Reading - 2009
I was fortunate to be a friend and colleague of Trish. As well as being close classroom pals, we were part of the same book club in the first and second terms, at a time when the learning curve was still very steep. I was privileged to share some wonderful conversations about voice and speech, theatre and acting with her in our meetings.
Trish was passionate and possessed a fierce sense of intellectual engagement with the subject. A voracious reader (perhaps her surname inspired her), if someone in the group hadn’t got all the way through a chapter, you could bet your bottom dollar that Trish had – and she would generously fill in the gaps for us.
Trish was an avid theatre-goer, making the most of her year in London to see most of what the West End and Stratford-upon-Avon had to offer. Later, we would (perhaps nerdishly) compare notes on the company’s voice usage, as well as the performances. These strong productions were nevertheless not beyond the reach of Trish’s theatrical insightfulness.
Trish was funny as well as brainy. Her dry sense of humour was never out of place in London. She had a wonderful ability to laugh at herself and her compatriots, seeing the lighter side of many issues that arose not only on the course but in world affairs too.
My last meeting with Trish was on 4th July 2008, after the taught elements of MAVS had been completed. The night before she left the UK to return to the States, a group of us met to bid her bon voyage. One of my brightest memories of that Independence Day evening, tempered as it was with poignant happiness, was taking a photo of Trish on the front steps at Central, beaming with joy finally to be on her way home after a year away.
We kept in touch; and it was characteristic of Trish that she continued sharing her extensive knowledge and opinion via email in the months before her death.
I learnt much from this powerful and extraordinary woman, and miss her vibrant presence hugely, as I know do many.
By Rebecca Root (MA Voice Studies 08)
Natasha Richardson – 1963 - 2009
Even now, writing all this time after Natasha’s death, I still have an overwhelming sense of incredulity. It doesn’t seem possible that such a rich life could be cut short so quickly and so cruelly.
Natasha was a remarkable student in every way. When she auditioned to Central she clearly hoped to be accepted on her own merits rather than on the family name, (she submitted an application form in which she’d made her mother sign as Mrs. V. Richardson - about as effective a disguise for Vanessa Redgrave as you could get). However, as soon as she stepped on stage, one immediately heard the unmistakable, slightly husky sound of her mother’s voice. And she very quickly made it clear that she, too, possessed a rare talent.
She arrived with a strong sense of theatre discipline and threw herself into every aspect of the training. She also threw herself into student life and was a great party girl. She had a great sense of humour of a self-deprecating kind and a terrific sense of comedy - not always the same thing.
Her final year saw her give a striking performance as the Duchess of Malfi, and I can clearly remember her Judith Bliss in Hay Fever, where she was convincing and very funny as a middle aged star with a grown up family when she was all of twenty.
Her success in the theatre came as no surprise and it was a delight to see her success as Ophelia and Anna Christie. Then when she repeated the O’Neill part in New York, America claimed her, and her career and her family life were centred there.
I saw her briefly last autumn, and she was as lovely and full of life as ever. It was a privilege to teach her, and all the staff and all her fellow students will remember her with great love.
By George Hall (former Director of the Stage Course)
James Bree – 1923 - 2008
James Bree was a British actor who played many supporting roles in film and television. After serving in the RAF at the end of the Second World War, he trained at Central where, in 1949, he won the Fogerty Prize for Best Performance in his final term. He was probably best known for playing Gumbold in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and for his role as Uncle Arthur in The Jewel in the Crown.
Alumna Laura Stevens wrote to us to say, “James loved people and made friends wherever he went – this love was returned at the end of his life in the care and concern shown to him by so many when he was incapacitated by a stoke. Even then, the spirit that always shone out of his eyes was as youthful as ever. James passed away in December 2008, aged 85, and will be sadly missed”.
By Laura Stevens (Stage 51)
Harold Pinter – 1930 - 2008
The Central School of Speech and Drama is mourning the passing of Harold Pinter, who had been its President for just six months before his death in December 2008. The greatest English dramatist of the post-World War II era, Harold Pinter began his theatrical career as a student at the School. When he became President in October 2008, he said, “I was a student at Central in 1950/1951. I enjoyed my times there very much and I am delighted to become President of a remarkable institution.”
Up to the last moment, Harold Pinter had intended to be present at the School’s graduation ceremony on 10 December 2008, at which he was made an Honorary Fellow. Sadly, his health prevented him coming. Proposing him for the Fellowship, Michael Colgan, Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre in Dublin, called him “the Picasso of literature and the true pathfinder of drama in the twentieth century, a man who has continually demonstrated extraordinary courage, a searing social conscience and the greatest integrity.”
The Principal of the Central School, Professor Gavin Henderson, comments: “We were so delighted that Harold Pinter accepted the role of President of Central, his Alma Mater. He did so with great enthusiasm and commitment, notwithstanding his poor health. In doing so he set a benchmark for the determination and breadth of theatre practice which will be an example for many years to come.”
Bruce Kirle - 2007
Bruce Kirle, Professor of Music Theatre Studies at the Central School of Speech and Drama, died suddenly in New York City on August 1. He was 59.
Kirle trained as a concert pianist and began his career writing musicals with Tom Eyen at La MaMa, the off-off Broadway theatre club. In recent years he returned there as a featured speaker with Ellen Stewart for La MaMa Coffeehouse Chronicles, a series about the history of international experimental theatre in New York.
He was a professional musical director in the US and Canada, including Broadway, Spoleto, national tours, and regional venues. Among the many actors he worked with were Elaine Stritch, Robin Williams, Bobby Morse, Ann Reinking and Jay Leno.
His credits included the nightclub act in which Chita Rivera introduced Kander and Ebb's songs All That Jazz and How Lucky Can You Get.
Kirle studied English at Columbia University and received his doctorate in theatre from City University of New York in 2002. He was awarded a prize by the Center for Gay and Lesbian Studies for an outstanding dissertation dealing with gender and identity issues.
Prior to joining the Central School in 2005, he was a tenured Associate Professor of Theatre at Roosevelt University (Chicago).
In a recent interview for ATHE (the Association for Theatre in Higher Education) Kirle explained that the loss of many friends and colleagues during the AIDS epidemic caused him to lose interest temporarily in production work. Around 1990, he began to reconsider his love of musical theatre and then to place the genre in historical context.
This led to the development of a ground-breaking work: Unfinished Show Business: Broadway Musicals as Works-in-Process (2005).
Most historical writing about musical theatre has focused primarily on libretto or text. This book, acclaimed as a key work in the field, placed the emphasis on the political and social environment in which musicals are created and performed.
In 2002, Kirle reconstructed the book and score for Cole Porter's 1943 musical, Something for the Boys (directed by Tony Stevens and choreographed by Mitzi Hamilton), for which he also did the musical direction and vocal and dance arrangement. Videotapes of this are held by estates of Cole Porter and Herbert and Dorothy Fields, as well as the Lincoln Center Library of the Performing Arts.
Kirle's other academic interests included nineteenth-century French theatre.
In 2006, he ran master classes and workshops at the Serbian National Theatre, Uzice, where he worked with guest actors from Belgrade, Kosovo, Montenegro and Novi Sad. Had circumstances permitted, he was looking forward to a long-term project on musical theatre as an agent for integration.
Well-known for his encouragement of young scholars and actors, Kirle was an innovator in training for theatre. In creating Central's pathway for Music Theatre on the BA Acting Programme, he brought together classical acting and training for the heightened emotion of musical theatre performance.
An extraordinarily dedicated and professional teacher, he will be hugely missed by students, colleagues and many friends.
By Caitlin Adams(Research Officer)
Jill Fraser MBE 1946 - 2006
Memories of a friend
Jill Fraser, Ruth Anders and I were on the CSSD Technical Course years 1964-66. On our first day at college, Frank Gearing our tutor told us that he would make no differential between sexes - he expected the girls to do exactly the same work as the men - with the inevitable result that the men stood back and watched us girls do the heavy work for the next two years; we did not dare complain.
Jill's mother, Guin, (Mrs. Fraser to us in those more respectful days), was like a second mother to us all. For most of us, living away from home was a new experience, and she was unfailingly good humoured and patient as we often took over her lovely flat in Englands Lane, slept on the floor, and ate her out of house and home.
When we had those "wonder what we shall be doing in 10 years time" conversations, Jill always single-mindedly knew she would be running her own theatre. The Watermill website has an excellent obituary of her work and legacy. Even as a student Jill demonstrated outstanding qualities winning the much coveted stage management prize.
Despite her own huge commitments she always had time for her friends. When my ex-husband walked out leaving me with three small children under four, Jill had Sam and Charley also both under four. It was she who came to my rescue; she understood the abyss in front of me, and helped me through the bad times.
During the four year ordeal of her recent illness she was the personification of 'indomitable courage', refusing to let the pain get the better of her, always looking forward, and constantly full of plans and ideas for her repertoire and the future of the theatre.
The last time I saw Jill, about a week before she died, we laughed our way through the first preview of Tartuffe together. Despite her frailty, she was bubbling with ideas for the forthcoming developments including new administration and technical offices for the Watermill, wanting the staff to be fully involved in deciding the final layout, who would sit next to whom, and how the space would function. The Appeal for the Watermill to be supported by a Trust is well under way and what better way to remember Jill than by ensuring that this project comes to fruition.
She was a much loved friend and an exceptional individual. Ruth Anders joins me in sending our love and sympathy to her husband James, children Sam and Charley, her mother Guin and her sister Trish.
Refer to http://www.watermill.org.uk/ and the Save the Watermill page and the Welcome page for their excellent obituary.
By Rosie Hoare and Ruth Anders (Technical 1966)
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