Peter Bridgmont

Peter Bridgmont (January 1929 - 24 June 2019)[1] was an English actor, acting professor and author who has had an extensive career on stage, film, and television spanning over 60 years. Bridgmont, who is a Guildhall School of Music and Drama graduate,[2] was mostly known as one of the former members of the Theatre Workshop and one of the original cast members of the very first West End production of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap opening in 1952 at the Ambassadors Theatre which went on to become the world's longest running stage production.[3] On screen, he notably appeared in The Great War (1964) narrated by Michael Redgrave[4] and the British television drama series Z-Cars (1962–1978) directed by Christopher Morahan (CBE, 1929–2017).[5] He founded the Chrysalis Theatre Acting School in London in 1975 and has long taught 'voice' and 'gesture' at the Shakespeare's Globe.

Peter Bridgmont
Thespian Peter Bridgmont on the set of Álvaro Ramos' "The Magic Box" (2011).
BornJanuary 1929
Died24 June 2019(2019-06-24) (aged 90)
NationalityBritish
EducationWynstones School
Alma materGuildhall School of Music & Drama
OccupationActor
Years active1950–present
SpouseBarbara Brown (Bridgmont)
ChildrenRichard, Andrew & Nicolas Bridgmont.

Early life

Bridgmont grew up among actors, singers, dancers and clowns. His father Leslie Bridgmont was a pianist for the silent movies, his mother was a cellist and both also worked for the BBC where Leslie Bridgmont produced 4 episodes of The Goon Show. Bridgmont used to attend his parents' pantomimes as a child including one during which English musical theatre and operettas actress Jean Colin (28 years old at the time; 24 March 1905 – 7 March 1989) ironically promised him that she would marry him. He was educated at the Wynstones School, a Steiner Waldorf school in Gloucestershire, in the Cotswolds.[6] Peter went on to compete in order to win a Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festivals as he was completing school. Bridgmont came second but the then festival director, Mr Robin arranged for Peter to go to the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, which he did.

Career

Bridgmont starred alongside Baron Richard Attenborough (CBE, 1923– 2014) in the first West End production of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap opening in 1952 at the Ambassadors Theatre, which went on to become the world's longest running stage production. Bridgmont met his wife Barbara Brown (Bridgmont) while they were both former company members at the Theatre Workshop whose long-serving director was Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts graduate Joan Littlewood (1914–2002) and fellow members included Richard Harris (1930–2002), Nigel Hawthorne (CBE; 1929–2001), George Sewell (1924–2007), David Scase (1919–2003), Victor Spinetti (1929–2012), John Thaw (CBE, 1942–2002), Barbara Windsor (DBE, 1937–2020), Yootha Joyce (1927–1980), Sheila Hancock (CBE,1933–), Dudley Foster (1924–1973), Marjie Lawrence (1932–2010), Stephen Lewis (1926–2015), Ewan MacColl (1915–1989), Murray Melvin (1932–), Frank Norman (1930–1980), John Junkin (1930–2006), Roy Kinnear (1934–1988), Diana Coupland (1928–2006), Shelagh Delaney (1938–2011), Glynn Edwards (1931–2018) and Howard Goorney (1921–2007). Many Theatre Workshop productions were transferred to theatres in the West End and some such as Oh, What a Lovely War! and A Taste of Honey, were made into films.[7] Peter was introduced to and worked with one of the pioneers of modern dance in Europe, Rudolf von Laban (Hungarian: Rezső Lábán de Váraljas; 1879-1958) through his Laban Movement Analysis, Labanotation (Kinetography) and Laban Movement Study. The couple relocated to Vence (Occitan: Vença) in the hills of the Alpes Maritimes department in the French Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region between Nice and Antibes, formed their own Mime Company and collaborated with modernist theatre practitioner, director and scenic designer Edward Gordon Craig (CH OBE 1872–1966), the son of actress Dame Ellen Terry (GBE, 1847–1928). After three years of touring they came back to the United Kingdom.

The Boundary Theatre Group

Peter and Barbara modelled their new company on the Theatre Workshop of Joan Littlewood in October 1961 [8] The eight actors in the group were Peter Bridgmont, Barbara Rowen (Bridgmont), Margaret Freeman, Paul Piercy, Carol Robby, Gillian Cater, David Scobie and Beryl Swinscoe.[9] For their first production they chose three one act plays: The Flageolet by Maurice Sands, Ruzzante Returns by Angelo Beolco and The Interior by Maurice Maeterlink.[10] The performances took place in a converted Spiritualist building which the group converted with 50 salvaged seats from the old Haymarket cinema.[11] The Group performed many live improvised shows as well as plays in their own theatre in South London and around England at Festivals and colleges. Their repertoire included Antigone by Sophocles. Now called The Boundary Theatre Company, Antigone was performed at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art LAMDA Theatre in 1966. The cast included Barbara Rowen as Antigone, Peter Bridgmont as Creon, Gillian Cater as Ismene and Paul Piercy as Haemon and the Guard, the set designer was Tony Leah.[12]

Chrysalis Theatre Acting School

The couple studied the formation of the art of dramatic speech and gesture created by Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect and esotericist Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925). They started the Boundaries Theatre Company which became their own drama school in 1975, the Chrysalis Theatre Acting School in the same London building they had bought in Balham. The theatre' venue had been used by the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain until then. The students who came from all over the world such as Japan or certain African countries included Spanish actress Luz Altamira or Sir Mark Rylance. The school lasted for thirty years. In the 1990s both of them gave training in voice and gesture to the professional company of the Shakespeare's Globe. Peter also gave courses in both the United States and throughout Europe during the same period.

La Crisálida

Bridgmont supported the La Crisálida Studio, the first school focused on the 'Art of Speech' in Spain, founded by his pupils speech artist Luz Altamira and Goya Awards-nominated thespian Álvaro Ramos as well as actress and author Pilar Altamira member of the 'Anthroposophical Society of Spain'. This place also hosted seminars and conferences that Peter Bridgmont regularly offered between 1997 and 2003.[13][14]

Non-exhaustive bibliography
  • The Spear Thrower (javelin thrower), a Textbook of Ideas and Exercises for the Actor (1983) by Peter Bridgmont (ASIN: B000O8RJIY)[15]
  • The Liberation of The Actor (1992) by Peter Bridgmont (ISBN 978-0904693331).[16]

Quotes
  • English actor, theatre director and playwright Sir David Mark Rylance Waters (born 18 January 1960) who long collaborated with Bridgmont declared:

"Peter and Barbara Bridgmont made a profound difference to my persona as an actor with their teaching about voice and speech. I use the word 'persona' carefully, as they taught me how to move with sound, through sound, persona. In our visual-material age, sound is the great undiscovered or forgotten land for actors and audiences. Reason and Emotion are all very well in speech, much needed, but with Peter and Barbara I learnt of the limbs of speech, the feet, the legs, the arms, the great will and beautiful spirit to move with speech. Just as a marvellous javelin thrower wills his spear down the pitch to the winning distance and harnesses every muscle necessary in perfect balance to achieve his aim, so, when appropriate, we speak in space and silence. It was a lucky day for me when I met them; they know some great secrets and forgotten pathways."[17]

  • "Readers who are interested in the Art of Drama may also wish to refer to The Liberation of The Actor (1992) by Peter Bridgmont"[18]

British Film Institute Archives

A répertoire of Bridgmont's voice work for the year 1966 is available at the British Film Institute archives as follows:

Honours
  • The documentary on Peter and Barbara directed by Spanish actor and director Álvaro Ramos which was eponymously titled The Chrysalis (2009) won the Best Documentary award at the High Desert International Film Festival in Nevada, United States.[20]

Personal life

Peter had three sons with Barbara: Richard, Nicolas and Andrew Bridgmont who is also an accomplished actor himself who notably starred in Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), James Marsh's The Theory of Everything (2014) or Penny Dreadful (2014–2016).[21]

Sources
  1. team, Maxime Le Roux, Nathan Querido, Das Goetheanum Wochenschrift. "Goetheanum | Peter Bridgmont, in memoriam". Goetheanum (in French). Retrieved 12 April 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. "Chrysalis". liberationofacting.com. 14 February 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  3. Saunders, Peter (1972). The Mousetrap Man. London: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-00-211538-4.
  4. Ramsden, J. A. (2002). "The Great War: The Making of the Series". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 22 (1): 7–19.
  5. Down and Perry, Richard, Christopher (1997). The British Television Drama Research Guide, 1950–1997, with Full Archive Holdings, second revised edition. Bristol: Kaleidoscope Publishing. pp. DZ1–DZ5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. team, Maxime Le Roux, Nathan Querido, Das Goetheanum Wochenschrift. "Goetheanum | Peter Bridgmont, in memoriam". Goetheanum (in French). Retrieved 12 April 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. Coren, Michael (1984). Theatre Royal: 100 Years of Stratford East. London: Quartet Books. ISBN 978-0-7043-2474-9.
  8. The News Balham 24 August 1962. ′On the Boundary′ Scene No. 9 by B S Johnson 9 November 1962
  9. South London Press 7 November 1961; Evening Standard 9 November 1961
  10. The News 17 November 1961
  11. The Evening News and Star, 8 November 1961
  12. The Times 29 March 1966 and Evening Standard 24 November 1967
  13. team, Maxime Le Roux, Nathan Querido, Das Goetheanum Wochenschrift. "Goetheanum | Peter Bridgmont, in memoriam". Goetheanum (in French). Retrieved 12 April 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. Leigh, Portia (27 January 2018). "Dynamic Spanish Actor Alvaro Ramos Makes his Mark Across Several Mediums". Medium. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  15. Bridgmont, Peter (1983). The Spear Thrower, a Textbook of Ideas and Exercises for the Actor. London: An Grianan.
  16. Bridgmont, Peter (1992). Liberation of the Actor. London: Temple Lodge Publishing. ISBN 978-0904693331.
  17. Rylance, Mark (27 August 2015). "FOREWORD by Mark Rylance". Liberation of Acting. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
  18. Steiner, Rudolf (1998). Rhythms of Learning: What Waldorf Education Offers Children, Parents & Teachers. London: SteinerBooks. ISBN 9780880104517.
  19. "Voice work 1966 Bridgmont". British Film Institute (BFI). 1 January 2017. Archived from the original on 25 January 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  20. "Alvaro's work". Clandestino de Actores. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  21. team, Maxime Le Roux, Nathan Querido, Das Goetheanum Wochenschrift. "Goetheanum | Peter Bridgmont, in memoriam". Goetheanum (in French). Retrieved 14 April 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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