Margaret Chute and Gary Cooper
Margaret Chute and Lilian Gish
Richard Dix and Margaret Chute
Twenty years after Margaret Chute was first seduced by Hollywood in 1926, her conscience has stopped her sleeping. Another cocktail might help…
Can she muster the courage to finally expose the truth and admit her guilt – whatever the price?
Beckman Unicorn presents the remarkable true story of Margaret Chute, a struggling actor on the London stage, who reinvented herself in the 1920s to become Hollywood's first female freelance film journalist.
Developing intimate friendships with Joan Crawford, Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland, Bette Davies, Gloria Swanson, Mae West, Douglas Fairbanks Sr and Jr, Lilian Gish and Gary Cooper – whom she met when they both witnessed a murder – the ‘indefatigable’ Margaret soon gained an international reputation for both her trailblazing writing and stunning, candid photographs of the stars – only to be destroyed by the very industry to which she dedicated over 20 years of her short life.
A courageous, independent woman who travelled on her own across the Atlantic from England to the exciting new world of Hollywoodland, Margaret defied social norms, finally exposing the tragic cost of the pursuit of fame and choosing to pay the ultimate price.
Her history has been deleted from Hollywood history due to her outspoken position on the way young women were treated within the movie industry – perhaps the earliest exponent of the #MeToo movement with her explosive article published in 1935.
With unique access to the private family archive, Picture Perfect allows Margaret’s fascinating story to be told for the first time…
‘I hope Margaret is given her rightful place in the History of Hollywood.’
MARIA COOPER JANIS, daughter of Gary Cooper
Beckman Unicorn is passionate about ensuring that its audience reach is truly democratic.
Picture Perfect will be recorded live in a theatre space and presented with screenings in digital cinemas and then distributed across the globe on digital platforms including AppleTV, iTunes, Amazon FireTV, StagePlayer+ and Digital Theatre who are all partners on the streaming of the industry-first international live broadcast of Beckman Unicorn's critically acclaimed West End première production of Great Expectations - click here to view.
They build upon this expertise with appropriate productions within their slate of new projects, allowing an international audience to participate in the very best of British Theatre, ensuring
their productions reach a wide and diverse audience beyond the physical theatre space.
Janie Dee is an award-winning British actress celebrated for her extraordinary versatility across stage, film, television, and radio and multiple winner of Olivier, Evening Standard, Critics’ Circle, Obie, Theatre World and TMA Theatre awards.
She won Best Actress in Alan Ayckbourn’s Comic Potential (Lyric Theatre / New York) and Best Supporting Performance in Carousel (National Theatre) both Olivier Awards.
Also Olivier nominations for Follies (National Theatre), My One and Only (Piccadilly) and NSFW (Royal Court). She won Best UK Performance for Hello Dolly (Curve, Leicester) and the Evening Standard Best Actress and Critic’s Circle Best Actress for Comic Potential.
Extensive Theatre credits include: Laughing Boy (Jermyn Street - Offie nomination), Old Friends (Gielgud, BBC - What’s on Stage Award Best Theatre Event), The Motive and the Cue (National - Best New Play Critics Circle Award), The Grass is Greener (Theatre Royal, Windsor), An Hour and a Half Late (Theatre Royal Bath), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Theatre Royal Bath, Charing Cross), Pinter 4 - Moonlight / Night School (Pinter), Monogamy (Park), Follies (National), Hand to God, The Seagull (Regent’s Park), Dream Queen (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), Shadowlands (Wyndhams), The Women of Troy (Wyndham's), Johnny on a Spot, Ah, Wilderness! (National), 84 Charing Cross Road (Salisbury Playhouse), A Little Night Music (Palace), All’s Well that End’s Well (Globe), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Russia, China Tour), Cleopatra (Hollywood Bowl), Blythe Spirit (Gielgud), Putting It Together (St James), Noises Off (Old Vic, West End), Private Lives (Nottingham Playhouse), The Seagull, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet (all Regent’s Park), Old Times (Theatre Royal, Bath/National tour), Orinthia in the Apple Car, Design for Living, Much Ado About Nothing (all Theatre Royal, Bath), Betrayal (Duchess).
Television credits (Netflix, Channel4, Paramount, BBC): The Burning Girls, You&Me, Chimerica, Crashing, Harold Pinter: A Celebration, The Murder Room and Death in Holy Orders.
Film credits include: Official Secrets, The Trouble With Dot and Harry, Dare to be Wild, Me and Orson Welles.
Radio credits include: BBC's James Bond series On Her Majesty’s Service, From Russia With Love, Dr No, Thunderball, The Man with the Golden Gun; also The Performance of My Life, Mrs Watts Goes Missing, Delphine de Vigan, Skios, Carousel, Finian's Rainbow, Eric the Skull, Man of the Moment.
Janie founded The London Climate Change Festival producing Song for Nature for SkyArts at the London Coliseum; she produced Wayne Sleep’s 75th Birthday Concert (Royal Opera House ), a farewell to Angela Lansbury A Marvellous Party (Café de Paris), Concert for Peace (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane), Putting it Together (Salisbury Festival of Voice and Playground Theatre). Also produced and directed Beautiful World Cabaret to critical acclaim and sell out audiences (Edinburgh Festival 2024 and London) leading to a season at Crazy Coqs, Zédel: Beautiful World Cabarets 25.
She is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Royal Theatrical Fund and supports a number of charities including Stop the War Coalition, St Mungo's, Medecins Sans Frontières and Amnesty International.
janiedee.com
David's writing has been published in English, French, Lithuanian and Turkish. His books In the Shadow of Crows and Limitless Sky received international acclaim.
He is co-founder of Sarva, a charity that works in India with communities ostracised by the stigma of leprosy. He has also been a representative of Diversity Role Models, a charity that challenges homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools.
David ran his own puppet theatre company before training on stage at the Old Rep’ Theatre School, Birmingham, and The English Theatre, Frankfurt. The final composition of his music degree was a commissioned string quartet for Matthew Bourne’s Deadly Serious.
As a set and costume designer, David created five productions for Matthew Bourne’s Adventures in Motion Pictures, and the first Italian translation of Bernstein’s Candide for Graham Vick at Batignano.
David worked for 14 years as massage therapist and yoga teacher at Glyndebourne, English National Opera and the Jerwood Young Artists’ Programme.
Other plays include Here At Last Is Love (winner NODA Best Show Award 2023), The Queen of Madagascar, The Lessening of Difference and Little Wonder.
David was awarded an British Empire Medal in the Platinum Jubilee Birthday Honours 2022.
Picture Perfect is the inaugural work for his company BallyBest Productions.
davidcharlesmanners.com
Ken Alexander is an established Scottish theatre director working across the UK, Ireland, Austria and USA.
He was Associate Director (Nuffield Theatre, Southampton), Artistic Director (Byre Theatre, St Andrews) guiding the theatre through a major programme of artistic and state-of-the-art building development, Artistic Director (Perth Theatre) taking the theatre through one of its most prosperous periods in recent years with record box office results and widely recognised artistic success, Artistic Director (Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool), Consultant Director (Borderline Theatre).
He has directed thirteen productions at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, including The Grapes of Wrath, Bus Stop, Good Things, Outlying Islands, Passing Places, Dr Angelus, Noises Off, Stepping Out, the premiere of Whisky Galore – a Musical (Best Director nomination - Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland).
Other notable productions include Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, The Glass Menagerie, the Scottish professional premieres of A Passionate Woman, Into the Woods, Master Class, The Secret Garden (all Byre Theatre), Oliver! by Lionel Bart (Nominated for CATS ‘Best Ensemble’), Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off, The Deep Blue Sea, The Slab Boys, Little Shop of Horrors, A Sense of Justice, Sabina! (all Perth Theatre), Ladies Day, Lucky Numbers, the premiere of Laurel and Hardy’s Sons of the Desert (also adaptation) (Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool). On tour, Bondagers, Tally’s Blood, Misty’s Magical Adventure, The Odd Couple, A Happy Medium, the sketch shows Hormonal Housewives, Sex in Suburbia and Parking Lot In Pittsburgh. Ken has developed new work with the internationally recognised ‘A Play, A Pie and A Pint’ including Ae Fond Kiss, Rachael’s Cousins, Death Story, Paring Off, the mini musicals Wee Free, Melania and the box office smash Aye, Elvis.
Creative Producer and Director: Jack and the Beanstalk, Jamie and the Unicorn, the digital series The Scunner That Stole Christmas, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and a new version of Mother Goose (all co-written with Fraser Boyle) leading to record-breaking box office sales (Gaiety Theatre, Ayr). Ken also directs regularly for Michael Harrison and Xroads Pantomimes (formerly QDOS Pantomimes) including Richmond Theatre, Nottingham Theatre Royal, Plymouth Theatre Royal, the Derngate & Royal in Northampton and the New Theatre in Cardiff with a host of top British entertainers.
Recent work includes the highly successful Scottish tour of Tally’s Blood, the award winning premiere of The Signalman (‘Best New Play’, ‘Best Actor’, ‘Best Production’, nomination 'Best Director' - Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland). In Austria, Ken has directed the European premiere of A Doll’s House, Part 2, Dial M for Murder, the European premiere of Outside Mullingar and Corpse.
Ken also regularly works as a guest director for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland; productions include the musicals The Addams Family, Urinetown, 9 to 5 and Little Women.
Annie has designed extensively both sets and costumes for the theatre in the UK and internationally.
Designs include: Jack Whitehall: Stood Up (UK Arena Tour and Australia) Clive Anderson: Me, Macbeth and I (Edinburgh Festival and UK Tour), Dazzling Divas (Jermyn Street Theatre and UK Tour), 100 Hearts (London Palladium), A Crag Path Christmas (Aldeburgh), the award-winning productions Darktales, EuroBeat-Moldova (both Edinburgh), EuroBoat (Finland + Stockholm), Great Expectations (Vaudeville Theatre, National Tour and Film), Noel Coward’s Christmas Spirits (St. James’ Theatre), The Billie Holliday Story (Charing Cross Theatre), The Critic (Blenheim Palace, dir. Adrian Noble), The Once and Future Plays by Mark Ravenhill, Philip Ridley, Nick Dear (Port Eliot Festival) and the world première of Never Such Innocence (Australia House).
For the National Theatre: Sparkleshark (Lyttelton and National Tour), The Olivier Awards, The NT’s 21st Birthday Party, The ABSA Awards, The Prudential Awards for the Arts, Tributes to Arthur Miller and Samuel Beckett, Lloyds Bank Young Theatre Challenge, Snakehips Johnson (all Olivier Theatre). Annie is a founder of, and the designer of 10 cycles of National Theatre Connections.
Other theatre includes: The Taming of the Shrew, Wilton’s Vintage Christmas (Wilton's Music Hall), Riverside Studios, Criterion and Kings Head (Invade My Privacy), Little Shop of Horrors (Westminster Theatre), Crimes of the Heart (Man in The Moon) and also at The Lyceum Edinburgh, Bristol Old Vic Theatre Royal and New Vic, Hampstead Theatre, Colchester Mercury, Derby Playhouse, Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Scottish Opera, Watford Palace, Hampstead Theatre Festival, and overseas in Copenhagen, Epidaurus, Bari, Florence and Los Angeles.
Film includes: Spoofiquette (@spoofiquette), Trashcan Carmen Miranda, Great Expectations, Orange Juice, The Words on the Window Pane.
Charity events for The Rainbow Trust, Terrence Higgins Trust, The National Aids Trust, The Almeida Theatre, Amnesty International, Gala Evening for 100 Hearts (Adelphi Theatre and St Luke’s, Old Street) and A Source of Life: 25 Years of the Ian Charleson Day Centre (The Actor’s Church Covent Garden).
Winner of the prestigious Charles Landstone Award, and a BFI Award for Best Live Broadcast: Great Expectations.
Beckman Unicorn is an independent commercial theatre producer. Our aim is to embrace the unique live experience of the modern stage, whether that be through the spoken work, dance, light, music, song or sound.
We believe that today's audiences demand not only a high level of production values, but also exciting, thrilling and dynamic story-telling. We revisit classics and also commission scripts that engage and utilise the magic of transporting audiences to new sights, sounds and story-telling.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and adapted by Jo Clifford, toured the UK opening at The Vaudeville, Strand, London as the culmination of the Dickens Bi-Centenary celebrations. For the first time in West End history, Great Expectations was broadcast live via satellite into digital cinemas across the world on the Gala Night. The HD recording is now available on VOD from iTunes, Apple TV, Digital Theatre, VUDU and other platforms.
Eurobeat Moldova opened to critical acclaim at Pleasance Edinburgh with a release of Lee Latchford-Evans' club favourite My People Know How To Party.
DarkTales by Tim Arthur celebrated its 21st anniversary continuing to terrify audiences. The play was nominated for 4 awards and released the original single O Death
beckmanunicorn.com
Austin Shaw is an Emmy award winning producer, and director of theatre, television and film.
He has produced more than 30 films of theatre shows, including An American in Paris, 42nd Street, The King & I, Anything Goes, Red and Kinky Boots.
Most recently Austin produced and directed films of John & Jen, Titanic The Musical and Next to Normal. He also produced the star studded Rodgers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, which was filmed for cinema and television. He produced Beckman Unicorn's West End première Great Expectations.
As Managing Director of Liberator Film Services, Austin oversees the distribution of the films produced, working closely with broadcasters such as PBS, BBC, and Sky Arts, as well as working closely with cinema and streaming platform partners.
Prior to setting up Liberator, Austin set up and managed Really Useful Films for Andrew Lloyd Webber. During his seven year tenure, he produced the 2004 Oscar nominated film of The Phantom of the Opera, starring Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum and Patrick Wilson.
liberatorfilmservices.com
STARLET
Tim Barrow, Gigi Burgdorf, Calum Byers, Ted Dove, Richard Farnsworth, Dominique Gerrard, Wyn Griffiths, Elisabeth Grindall, Pat Hayden, Kirstie Johnstone, Hazel & Ian Jow, Aarthi Kumar, Emma Laidlaw & Matt Lanigan, Tamara Leggett, Anastasia Lunyk-Gousev, Lynn Matthews, Toyah Morath, Rosa Myers, Ben Nathan, Giusi Pezzotta, Kenneth Price, Alison Purdie, Neil Sellman, Sally-Ann Soulsby, Geraint Steyn, Pam Strachan, Lesley & Matthew Somers, Matt Turpin, Sam Woodhams, James Wright
FAIRBANKS
Jimmy Beacham, Jeremy Carpenter, Faye Channon, Nicholas Dakin, Meghomala Das, Louise Day, Claire Deas, Sarah Gales, Dominique Glatt, Morgan Gosling & Lynne Jessop, Paolo Giuseppe Guarneri, Marlo Haas, Julia Hardcastle, Juliet Heacock, Paul Houghton, Darren Howard, Glenn Hurst, Clive King, Sinead Kirwan & Mike Simons, Suzanne Locklin, James & Sarah Manners, Scott Maxwell & Chris Lynch, Peter Mould, Elaine Paget, Keith Paterson, Daniel Regelous, Joanne Roberts, Jenny Slater, Sarah Smith, Emmie Spencer, Louise Stewart, Poppy Sumrall, Matt Turpin, Nadine van der Westhuizen, Philip Woodford
GARLAND
Lorraine Brunning, Sue Buckle & Phil Huckin, Chris Burns, Jeremy Carpenter, Gourab Choudhury, Kim Criswell, Joanna Gardiner, Tony Hardcastle, Charlotte Harvey, Colin Faulkner & Kevin Lynch, Kimberley Johnston, Marc and Shona Pass, Satish Pillai, Nigel Planer, Michael Punter, Christine Quigley, Graham Seggie, George Sim, Smith Family, Brian Strachan & Paul Douglas, David Weale, Mike Weale
CRAWFORD
Morag Arbuthnott, Jaap Buitendijk & Jane Sandeman, Simon Callow, Tina & Stewart Cockett, Andrew Comrie & Ken Alexander, Simon Cooper, Neil Cunningham & Nick Gulliver, Simon Dawes, Louise Day, Fiona & Rod Dyce, Diana Good, Michael Davidson & Brendan McCormack, Michael D Dionissiou, Melvin James Haskins, Toby Hawks & Simon Munro, Sarah Hopkins-Edwards, Paul Jordan & David Blake, Lesley & Richard Kingsbury, Jo Landells, Alan Ewen MacKinnon, Christina MacKinnon, Peter Manners, Paul Martin, Arabella Niekerk, Ginette Nye, Caroline Sansome, Annie & Jim Scanlon, Austin Shaw, Margo Singleton, Emma & Irvine Welsh, Peter Williamson, Heather Wilson, Steven Wren
CHAPLIN
Michael & Shirley Freist, Annie Gosney & Tim McInnerny
SWANSON
Dave & Jo-Anne Mackie, Melanie McFadyean, Neil Pearce, Claudia Petretti
COOPER
Bernard Davies, Margaret-Ann Splawn, Jonathon Wackett
STUDIOS
Jill & Bob Kempshall