An Die Musik - Sburnett

The Beginning :1974: How a Brummie Art Student Joined the Pip Simmons Theatre Group

How a Brummie Art Student Joined the Pip Simmons Theatre Group

Birmingham College of Art it’s 1969 a crowd of art students travel down to London which turns out to be great time to decamp. 1969 the year of free music concerts, The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park, OZ magazine, Suck magazine Time Out, man lands on the moon & jobs are plentiful. Rod Beddall (my significant other) and I fall in with a theatre crowd at the infamous Oval House. Pip Simmons Theatre Group re-invented itself and are looking out for candidates. Chris Jordan (actor, composer musician with Pip Simmons Theatre Group (PSTG) meets Rod Beddall who can sing, dance, play the fool so is invited to join the group, I tag along after having had a taste of Theatre at the Oval house, had this chance and took it.….

A new life begins in 1974 : Life on the road with The Pip Simmons Theatre Group

Pip Simmons and Rudi Engelander

The group that re-formed was, with one or two exceptions, a company of new recruits and I was one of them.The company had re-invented itself in 1974 with a residency in Rotterdam which produced two so-called horror shows. One was a version of Dracula, the other An Die Musik, a true ‘horror story’. An Die Musik a disturbing representation of the Nazi’s extermination of the Jews. This was perhaps The Pip Simmons Theatre Group’s best-remembered work, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the liberation of Holland from German occupation.

I performed with the group for 10 years. I had a camera. I took photos. I wrote postcards to my family, telling them what we were doing

Shows had no script, they were built out of improvisation, research and hard work.

Emil Wolk : a handstand on the roof of Milan Cathedral

Rod Beddall, the perfect candidate for Dracula, 6ft 2in a shaved head, he could sing, play guitar, piano and tin whistle. Rod was prepared to wear fishnet stockings & a leather jockstrap. The journey began, a couple of Art students from Birmingham in Rotterdam, a new company the re-invented Pip Simmons Theatre Group rehearsed & performed Dracula 1974 and for me, a leap in to the unknown….

L/R starting bottom row-Eric, Pip, Chris, Rudi, Olly, Sheila, Rowan, Laura, Rod, Emil, Nick, Fritz

12 Actors in Rotterdam :1974: An Die Musik and Dracula ☆ Rehearsals Begin

We are a group of 9 actors, one director, one lighting man, and one dramaturg, 2 Americans, 2 Brummies, and 1 Dutchman, 6 Londoners 1 German and 2 doves

Rehearsals start at an old warehouse in Zaargmolendrift down by the canal, we meet every morning at 10.30am no one is ever late ever even the mosquitos ! We finish at 6pm, every day apart from Saturday & Sunday, which we have off. Seven of us live in a place that used to be an office, we take it in turns to cook each evening. Five actors live in another place not too far from Central station. When we move in we have no furniture so all our furniture comes from the Theatre’s storage, relics from old productions. I write a postcard to my Mum letting her know all is fine.

Rod Beddall, shaved from head to toe in his Dracula outfit

I cut my teeth on Dracula the first of the 2 horror shows and my first stab at acting. I learned lots. I learned I could not sing & I could not remember lines. I was shy and self conscious, but I could scream and howl like a wolf, after all I was a vampire but this was not particularly impressive. If it wasn’t for a few kind words from the Mickery photographer Maria Austria, my fate with the Pip Simmons Theatre Group may well have ended here.

The next show the second of the 2 horror shows An Die Musik required no words so I made it through. Peter Oliver, father of the fringe who used to run the Oval House and myself, both none actors were finding our way so An Die Musik, the second of the two Rotterdam shows, suited us just fine.

Dracula Poster

Pip Simmons Theatre Group were well known for getting there kit off on stage so it had to happen at some point. I found the courage to bite the bullet to do it ! NUDITY ! the stuff of nightmares, the crossing of normal boundaries, but this theatre was not your normal theatre RADA style theatre, some would say this style of theatre was provocative and confrontational theatre, bold behaviour and commitment from all involved, sharing and caring especially An Die Musik’ the second ‘Horror’ show, an eye opener for me having led a sheltered life in the suburbs of Birmingham.

Fritz our German Actor improvising, with Rod as Drac behind

Chris Jordan wrote the music for every production, he had the patience of a saint teaching people like me to sing, only to ruin the beautiful songs he wrote. An Die Musik our second show totally different to Dracula began rehearsals, a disturbing representation of life in the prison camps, one of the SS troops amused himself by having an orchestra repeatedly play a melody while the other prisoners were forced to sing and dance. An orchestra had to be formed and it was Chris’s job to do this. He re-wrote Beethoven’s Ode to Joy for 2 tin whistles, an oboe, a tuba, 1 recorder, 1 guitar and 1 violin, me on the triangle and him guiding us all through it on the piano. It sounded strange and sad and piteous ! An Die Music was strange sad and piteous, we did our best to get it right. An die Musik And the Music began its long long long journey, I started to find my feet, I learned a lot in a very short time

An Die Musik poster

Rod Sheila & Rowan sharing skills in Zargmolendrift

An die Musik had an ending like no other, although I didn’t realise this at the time, this was only my second show. It ended with us playing the funeral march from a Beethoven Piano Sonata sitting nude on wooden boxes whilst the smoke enveloped us marking the end of the show. The director’s note when we rehearsed this last scene for the first time was simple: when you hear the hiss of the smoke machine, walk to the front of the stage, undress and fold your prisoner uniforms neatly (striped jackets with the yellow star) put them on the floor and go back to your place. If you don’t want to do that, thats fine, just walk offstage… no one person rehearing this show knew what the other was going to do, 8 of the 9 actors slowly undressed, returned to the wooden boxes sat down and played the funeral march in the nude, only one walked off and it wasn’t me.

Emil, Roderic, Pete backstage

This was a show of few props and few costumes. 8 beer crates, a piano, a bucket, a trapeze, 2 doves, an assortment of instruments, one Nazi uniform, an assortment of ragged black evening jackets, one Anne Frank dress and 8 shabby striped prison outfits each with a yellow star.

Sheila taking photo of Chris & Ben-dressing-backstage I.C.A London

All photos © Sheila Burnett

Le Festival d’ Avignon : 1975

An Die Musik goes to the Avignon Festival-Le Festival d’ Avignon 1975

& looking at this group photo you may well think we were on holiday, but it wasn’t so! We were working, we were there to perform An Die Musik. The Avignon festival was impressive, our dressing room is in a tent, this was the festivals 25th year. It was (and is) an international meeting place for the performing arts, Theatre, Dance, Music and… us.

Pip Simmons Theatre Group : An die Musik Avignon Festival 1975 Group Shot La Plage

Group shot on the beach-Emil, Olly, Rod, Ben, Pete, Pip, Roderic, Chris, Sheila and Rowan front

One the beach with Pete, Babette and Rod, with touring van in the background

Pete & Rod oggle Babette with touring van in the background

Paula, Roderic & Emil at breakfast with dove

Emil, Emil & Sheila, Roderic and Rod backstage, an actor prepares

Our festival stage is made of wood riddled with nails, our dressing room a tent with the mulchy aroma of damp grass, our show starts late about 9.00 we have a make-shift bar which is full every night, the festival audience are wild and young and exciting and I swear I saw Pierre Clementi. The nails in the stage wouldn’t usually matter except we have these carefully rehearsed ‘punishments’ & it is my turn to roll around in water on this improvised stage which tore my flesh. Next day Olly and I are sitting in the sunshine on the grass whilst he applied tiger balm to my shoulders to help them heal, a french couple walked by, they must have been in the audience, they spat out the words “so you call that theatre do you”

The so called ‘punishments’ are dolled out by our Nazi guard (Pete) The show starts with an an Air Raid Siren and a roll call. Everyone shuffles in to position and stands to attention. The set up is to entertain our audience, its Petes job as Nazi guard to make sure we do it well; a dance to Liszt’s Libestraum, a concert ‘Ode to Joy’ with a tin whistle 2 recorders and a Tuba, Rod did a strange routine bashing his head with 2 tin trays, Olly and Emil tell awful jokes, we all had our party piece; hang from a trapeze, endless buckets of cold water, we are picked on us for no reason, we don’t know who’s turn it’s going to be which creates the tension ! The physical demands are tough, we take it on the chin. Every one of us performing in this show realise the impact it has on our audience who feel culpable as they helplessly watch. This show is as hard to behold as it is to perform.

Avignon is beautiful, It’s no surprise that we take full advantage of every opportunity to visit the local wonders, The Camargue, The Pont du Gard, Orange … Ben was the person to be with, he knows all the best places to go. He has a map and we follow….

Peter Jon-field with Venus De Milo

We have a new Nazi guard played by a new recruit, Peter Jon-field a proper actor who had studied at E15, Fritz our original Nazi has left, he was German and didn’t want to be the Nazi guard, he argued with Pip …why me ! It was obvious to everyone why it had to be Fritz who could speak German, he made a great on stage guard, Pete Jon-field was even better, he scared us to death with his E15 training and kept us on our toes with our improvised punishments. We all decided on and carefully rehearsed these ‘punishments’ and took it in turns to do the really hard ones An Die Musik was a hard show to perform and even harder show to watch.

Rehearsals are in progress for the next show, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, an all singing all dancing show, we had to lighten up…..

Dream Rehearsals and Paradise on Brown Sea Island: 1975

London-Harrow Road-Rehearsals Dream of a Ridiculous Man with Paradise on Brown Sea Island:1975

The Dream of the Ridiculous Man is based on a short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The Ridiculous man is on his way to kill himself and has a chance encounter with a young girl which prompts a life-changing vision of paradise. Roderick is our Ridiculous Man and I the young girl. Try as we might, the scene for paradise eluded us all. We are rehearsing at The Factory on the Harrow Rd W9, a day out to Brown Sea Island is planned.

Roderic, Emil, Rowan & Pete. Rehearsals at the Factory

Roderic Emil Rowan & Pete at the Factory, note Wolk Sucks on the wall in Rod’s hand

The rules for that day’s impro are to be nice to each other all day long. Food, alcohol and substances are part of the plan and we all bring our offerings for the feast. I bake a cake, Rod cooks a side of pork, Chris brings avocado pears. Ben brings cream cakes and so on. We even dress up for the occasion. The cream cakes eventually ends up like the classic gag in someones face, mine, but it’s good to get out of London, not sure we found paradise.

Rod and Ben in paradise

Pip and Chris in paradise

Rowen Olly & Emil in Paradise

Chris writes Corruption a rollicking stadium epic about temptation, corruption and damnation. This goes down well, we all love doing it, me and Rowan dress up in fishnets and hi heels, we taunt Roderic whist Olly strangled a cockerel.The cockerel comes in handy for most scenes and travels with us along with the doves, his name is Dave, the doves don’t have names. I have progressed to a clarinet and am doing Tune a Day and Olly the trombone, also doing Tune a Day, we being the beginners are the only ones without musical skills. Roderic is let off because he is the Ridiculous Man apart from that, his singing is worst than mine which takes some doing

Pete Pip and Sheila rehearsing corruption.

Roderic, Ben, Rod, Chris, Olly, Emil, Sheila, Rowan & Pete in paradise at the Factory.

Standing: Roderic Rod Chris Olly & Emil Sitting: Ben Sheila Rowan & Pete finally get paradise in rehearsals at the Factory

This really is an all singing all dancing show full of props and costumes. Everyone has at least 3 changes I was in charge of costumes, Rowan props, Peter Oliver in charge of doves and fowl, Rod and Rod the drivers in charge of the van, Emil in charge of his own wardrobe 5ft stilts and a huge cape. We all have a job to do in prep for the long tour planned for Oct 1975 – May 1976