Many thanks to Chris for sending us a series of documents covering his life in theatre. These documents, along with some wonderful photos, are in the Chris Arthur Collection.
Chris Arthur
Chris has provided an approximate Timeline
1937 Year of birth
1941 WW2 Bombed out. Temporarily evacuated until house patched up
1946. Built glove puppet theatre for kids puppet group at public library
1948 – c 1952 Partner in local touring professionally built marionette theatre
1954 – 1958 Student. Theatre Design. Wimbledon School of Art.
All aspects of backstage production work, stage & production management, with special attention to stage lighting on one of Robert Stanbury’s miniature stage lighting models, National Diploma in Theatre Design.
1957 First met Richard Pilbrow & Robert Ornbo at Goodwin’s Court.(they also had a Robert Stanbury lighting model)
1958 – 1960 National Service. RAOC. Official appointment Artist for the army, with own studio, Included a fair amount of theatre related work.
1960 -1960 Art teacher. Girls secondary school
1961 – 1961 Assistant Designer. Dundee Repertory Theatre. Set-building, carpentry, scene painting etc etc
Apr ’61 – Sep ’61 Designer. The Century Theatre at Preston. Scenic design, all set building, set dressing, prop making & scene painting etc
Designer. Summer season. The Century Theatre at Keswick. Scenic design, all aspects set building & scene painting as above
Nov ’61 -Jun ’62 The Mermaid Theatre. London. 2nd Elec Dayman. All aspects.
Afraid I can’t remember anything about the twin preset control desk.
Various plays. “Treasure Island’ with Spike Milligan. Musical ‘Lock Up Your Daughters’
I was almost blown up when the supply to a mercury arc rectifier developed a kink, shorted and exploded behind me.
Whilst connecting a ‘flash packet’ resting upon my fore arms, in a dark corner, somebody unintentionally threw the switch and it went off causing burns to my fore arms and temporarily blinding me.
Jun ’62 – ‘63 The Cambridge Theatre, London. 2nd Elec Dayman. All aspects of backstage & FOH engineering, heating & plumbing etc.
‘Signpost to Murder’ starring (40’s film star) Margaret Lockwood. Running performances on a Strand CD TH 2 lighting console.
This job served as an introduction to the West End Backstage ‘family’ so one got invited to help out on other theatres ‘get-ins’, ‘get-outs’and fit-ups and introduced me to lighting designer Joe Davis & H M Tenants Cyril Griffiths’.
The opening of the musical ‘Half A Sixpence’ with Tommy Steel.
’63 – ‘63 Rejoined the Century Theatre to move it down and set it up at Oxford with Hilary Young as general & FOH manager and myself as the one & only electrician & engineer for a short early summer season on ‘dry hire’= To Prospect Productions. Operated the Variac dimmer based control; desk for performances. In between, earned extra ‘pin money’ doing ‘get’ins’, ‘get outs’, station jobs ( for the D’Oyley Carte) and production weekends at the New Theatre in Oxford, Re-introduced to working with Joe Davis on the pre-London tour of the musical ‘“On the Town’. With Elliot Gould. This had a massive line-up Strand temporary boards in the wings. Also on what was intended to be the pre-London tour of the only musical eve directed by Peter Brook. It sank without trace after Oxford.(and is NEVER mentioned in his biogs.)
Following which we moved the Century Theatre back up to Keswick, where I designed (built and painted) the scenery for the Third KeswickTheatre Festival..
Subject to correction (date wise). At the end of that season I took part in the Century’s longest ever move down to Guildford in Surrey. My memories of which are recorded on a different document.
63 – 68 Finding myself back home in the south again and being possessed with a terrible need to eat, I managed to get a job at The Old Vic (details of which are recorded elsewhere) just as the National Theatre was about to kick off.(for more details see transcript of the NT interview)
Sean Kenny’s set for our opening show, Peter O’Toole’s Hamlet triggered a number of recurring mechanical problems which often centred around its mechanical, ‘hand wound’, revolve. The steel cable wound around it’s rim, was inclined to slip out of it’s groove, meaning that everyone who was available had to try and sneak onto the stage behind the big ramp on the revolve and push the damn thing around the correct position for it’s next scene. Invariably it ended up inches out, meaning anyone available had to then dive down under the stage and wrestle with the ‘grave trap’ so that it could be opened.
The ‘Iron’ had been replaced by a gigantic motor driven fireproof ‘reef curtain’ , which in order to comply with fire regulations had to be lowered during the interval. Whilst the lowering part of its operation was OK, its mechanism was prone to jam on attempting to raise the thing. This meant that from whoever was available, several guys had to scramble all the way up into the fore-stage roof void, and hand crank it up again. Because of the weight it was having to manage the hand crank was low geared and it took relays of guys winding frantically for 20 minutes to get it back up again. On such occasions the 10 minute interval became a 30 minute interval and led to record sales in the FOH bars.
Lighting control was by a Strand Electronic system with it’s desk in the control room at the back of the circle and its dimmer banks housed in a basement under the stage, just across the corridor from the LX workshop .
The dimmer room housed a long row of metal cabinets, one for each circuit. I can no longer remember how many there were, but it was a lot. (Probably in the region 80 to a 100 or so).
Each cabinet contained a circuit with three glass ‘bottles’ (valves) with anode caps.
The control room was linked to a ‘squawk box’ in the LX shop and dimmer room.
This control system could on occasion be unpredictably temperamental. There were two types of fault known as ‘bouncers’ and ‘stickers’. When a ‘bouncer’ occurred, regardless of that’s circuit level set on the desk or what cues were being performed, the lanterns on that particular circuit or circuits, would gently and repetitively rise to full before dimming out again. A ‘sticker’ happened when the board operator was trying to perform a cue, and one or more circuits simply stayed as they were and failed to respond.
In either case the board operators got on the ‘squark box’, called down the numbers of the circuits to the LX shop and the guys on duty would dash across to the dimmer room, and open the cabinet question to reveal its 3 thyristor valves, which would be pulsing and glowing electric blue. Ones first move would be to start gently stroking the sides of the glass bottles with one’s fingertips until the blue glow became less pronounced. If that didn’t succeed then you’d start to try and gently remove their anode caps.. Remember all this was on live equipment and with the show going on directly overhead
This control system was replaced by a new Strand one , chosen and specified by Richard Pillow sometime around 1965/66 ( for more details see transcript of the NT interview)
The FOH side bars in the upper circle, just below the gallery ceiling, did not follow the curve of the rows seating, and consequently required a relatively short 2 section adjustable a aluminium ladder in order to be able to re-colour and re-focus them during change- overs.The ladders had fixed hooks at the top which hooked over the bit of scaffy bar nearest the lanterns ones working on, before trying to adjust the lower section to fit between the curve of the seating rows where on was working. There were occasions( (often pretty tired by all-nighters or long production week-ends) when I didn’t get the lower section of the ladder securely placed and on climbing it discovered that the lower section suddenly slipped down trapping my feet and I found myself swinging out over the stalls many feet below.. On such occasions one hung on tightly, and tried jiggle things until I could get a foot free so that I could reach out with that foot to hook it over the gallery hand rail and pull myself back to safety before starting again.
The prosc booms were also part of my FOH territory for rigging, focussing, refocussing colour changing etc. One accessed them by means of a single element long aluminium ladder which wasn’t quite tall enough to match the height of the highest lanterns. I developed a method of threading my legs through its top rungs in order to be able to have both hands free to deal with my lanterns..
The stage was raked, one had to use the ladder across, rather than with the rake. We were always working against the clock, there were never sufficient crew members to deal with niceties, like footing ladders.
On the day in question, we were dealing with a matinee change-over. Having dealt with the rest of my FOH rig, I had moved on to the pros. booms and was at the very top of the said ladder, when without warning it’s foot slipped out and with my legs still still anchored to the ladder I fell the 4 or 5 meters to the stage.
The ladder went skidding out into the stalls and acquired rather interesting U shape. I was whisked off to hospital with 2 severely sprained ankles and was off work for three months.
(Summer 66) I was sent down to be Chief LX for the NT’s summer season at Chichester. The rig had been designed by someone (?) working from a ground plan (?), at TP who may (?) never have actually worked there (?). In consequence many lanterns high in the rig, were to be fed from sockets located as much as 40 to 60 feet away on the opposite side of the grid.
The lanterns and their leads came with me, there was sufficient time to do the job and I was under the strictest of instructions that there was to be absolutely NO Overtime during the rigging period.
As rigging progressed it began to resemble a big black spiders-web overshadowing the auditorium
My presence wasn’t exactly welcomed by it’s resident chief (Bill Beauvoir) who felt that his position was being usurped. The local local fire/safety inspector was summoned, and he declared the rig a fire hazard, unless all the leads were changed to ones sheathed in fire resistant butyl rubber.
I was obliged to communicate the news to “head office”a who, perfectly understandably, were not best pleased. Drums of butyl sheathed cable were acquired, and working night and day we set to re-making every single lead from scratch, which blew a sizeable hole in the budget.
Apart from which it was a pleasant place to spend a busy summer
By ’68 my photographic ‘side hustle’ had really taken off, and I was doing more photography for the firm than my job on LX, so with the support of my partner I left to do it professionally.
Theatrewise having acquired a fair bit of experience in scenic projection, I was often asked to devise prepare the images for it.
In terms of production and other imagery , my many productions have included, John Lennon’s “In His Own Write”, the Who’s ‘Tommy’, 4 years on the original production of ‘The Rocky Horro r Show’, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, Ian Mckellen’s 1971 ‘Hamlet’, The Sound of Music and 7 years with the notorious ’Oh! Calcutta!’, over 40 operas for ENO, several shows at the London Palladium, and a couple of Italian feature movies shot in both Belgium & London.
Corporate Theatre clients have included Crown Paints, Mazda cars, Woolworths , Mars, British Leyland, IBM, Mary Quant, Fiat, Ford and so on.
STEP-CHANGE As a result of my father’s death it became apparent that it was time for me to stop running around like an ageing teenager and get an ordinary local job in order to be able to support my widowed mother.
1994 – 2002 Theatre Technician. Kingston University.
Aside from designing building, painting, staging lighting and managing numerous student productions;In conjunction with John Faulkner and Theatre Futures, briefed and acquired a new modular ‘Steeldeck’ stage. Re-rigged entire stage suspension system. Briefed and acquired replacement ETC lighting desk. and some Source 4’s
Just when I thought that everything which could happen to me, had happened to me, one day shorty before the millennium, when rigging some FOH lanterns for a new production whilst standing on the top platform of the s/h telescope (which had been donated by another faculty of the university as being surplus to their requirements). Beyond belief, and with no warning whatsoever the floor of it’s top platform, with me on it, suddenly dropped away, fortunately I had the presence of mind to quickly grab onto it’s handrails otherwise I would have followed it to the deck some 6 or 7 metres below.
In 2002 I reached the age of 65, and whilst I could nether afford to nor indeed want to, found myself compulsorily retired because that’s what happened back then.
SUPPLEMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHIC & EXHIBITION STUFF
Amongst my many hundreds of portrait subjects have been Samuel Beckett, Elton John, Anthony Hopkins, Tommy Cooper, P J Proby, Laurence Harvey, Penelope Keith, David Suchet, Derek Jacobi, Michael Gambon, Baroness Maria Von Trapp etc. The collection also includes individual portraits of over 160 members of the NT’s early acting company and many of it’s backstage staff from that era.
My photographs have appeared in print many millions of times including countless magazines and colour supplements and although not a press photographer as such I’ve even front paged both the Times & the Daily Mirror on the same day. Examples of this work are in the collections of the Victoria & Albert museum. I was awarded Associateship of the British Institute of Professional Photography in 1990.
EXHIBITIONS
1966 The National Theatre at the Old Vic – One man show. Paintings, Drawings & Photographs
1967 The National Theatre at the Old Vic – One man show.Cartoons
1971 The Barbican Centre. London. Prophoto 71”. Photographs.Curated
1991 The Association Gallery London “Introducing” Photographs
2005 The National Theatre “The Jocelyn Herbert Exhibition” Photographs.Curated
2007 Brighton Museum “Stagestruck” a history of The Theatre Royal. Curated 2009 Portland, the Gallery “Exhibition of Richmond” fine art prints. Curated
2010 The Association of Photographers – Fine art prints selected for the Association’s permanent print sales collection.
2013 The National Theatre “Chris Arthur. Scenes from National Life” One man show. 260 images Photographs and fine art prints. Curated
2016 Millennium House. Canary Wharf AOP50. Curated
2018 The Baxter Gallery Fine Art prints. Curated
2020 The Art Gallery. Kingston Museum One Man Show. Fine Art Prints
2022 The Art Gallery. Kingston Museum “18 Months in Solitary”. Fine Art prints