Christopher (Chris) Channing (born 14 April 1962) is an English performer, designer and director of theatre, physical-theatre and of theatrically styled dance-based events. He has been based in Britain, France and Italy.
Early life Channing was born in Preston, Lancashire, England, and grew up on the Moray Firth coast of Scotland.
At age 13 he became a resident student at the Royal Ballet School.Jessel, Camilla. Life at The Royal Ballet School. Methuen. 1979. pp80. His direct contemporaries at the school included Alessandra Ferri and Jonathan Cope, choreographers Michael Clark and Russell Maliphant, actress Caroline O'Connor, director of the Royal Ballet Kevin O'Hare, and academic Deborah Bull. He graduated in 1980, aged 18.
Biography
UK In 1980 he joined the Northern Ballet Theatre. Under artistic director, Robert de Warren, and choreographers, André Prokovsky, Geoffrey Cauley, Michael Pink and Christopher Gable, he danced in the corps de ballet and as a soloist until the end of the summer 1984.
After leaving the Northern Ballet Theatre, Channing worked as a freelance commercial dancer in feature films, live events and television with choreographers Arlene Phillips, David Taguri and Gillian Gregory.
He later worked as an actor, choreographer and stage designer at important region theatres including the Liverpool Everyman, York Theatre Royal, The Contact Theatre in Manchester, The Manchester International Festival of Expressionism, and the Dundee Rep Company and in fringe, community and prison based work.
During the academic year 1990/1991 he attended the Blackpool and The Fylde College at Lytham St Annes and completed the General National Vocational Qualification Teacher/Training Qualification: Certificate in Counselling Skills in the Development of Learning.
Paris In autumn 1992 Channing moved to Paris to study at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, at École Philippe Gaulier and with Ariane Mnouchkine at Théâtre du Soleil.
He appeared in, and created numbers & shows for the theatre/variety shows at 'Piano dans la Cuisine' and 'Scaramouche'. He worked in close collaboration with Philippe Planquois, the artistic director of cabaret-restaurant 'Chez Madame Arthur' on numbers and production ideas both within the 'Madame Arthur' shows and for outside events.
During his time in Paris he started to work as an independent performer producing his own work. Thomas, Dana. “Mona Lisa with a hairly chest. Paris's new Mona Lisa.“ The Washington Post. 19 August 1994. pp G1 G2.
Italy Channing moved to Castelvetro di Modena, Emiia Romagna, Italy in Autumn 1994 and was based there until 2017.
He directs and devises physical-theatre shows and performances in the worlds of theatre, performance, recital, circus, fine arts, corporate events and arts-festivals. He writes theatre scripts and adaptations and translates opera and pop songs. As artistic director or event consultant he has taken performance teams to Africa, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Croatia, France and Austria.
He was the artistic director and curator of six editions of the 'International Biennale of the Absurd',Dal 3 al 5 giugno a Castelvetro torna il festival dell'assurdo. Nel centro storico del borgo in programma performances stravaganti, spettacoli surreali, installazioni di opere visionarie, il mercato di oggetti inconsueti e il Mercurdo Night Party. including 'The International Competition for the Arts in Absurdity'.
For ten years he specialised in 'Living Paintings' as performance art and theatre. With the 'Living Paintings' performances he was also a guest on some 50 television programmes.
He is master of ceremonies (and staging collaborator) annually at Il Ballo del Doge (The Doge's Ball) in Venice.
He was master of ceremonies at the 70th birthday party of tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
Channing was defined by critic and curator Alberto Masoni as "...One of the artists who manages best to blend or fuse the artistic experiences of theatre, mime, music and visual arts".
Schools and training
Theatre: UK & France Royal Ballet School, London, 1975 - 1980. Age 13 - 18 L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, Paris, 1992- 1993. Age 30 - 31 École Philippe Gaulier, London, 1993 - 1994. Age 31 -32 Théâtre du Soleil with Ariane Mnouchkine, closed workshop. August-November 1994.
Non theatre Blackpool and The Fylde College, 1990/1991. GNVQ Teacher/Training Qualification: "Certificate in Counselling Skills in the Development of Learning", covering among other practices: Carl Rogers: Person Centred Therapy Fritz Perls: Gestalt Therapy Albert Ellis: Rational Emotive Therapy Eric Berne: Transactional Analysis George Kelly: Personal Constructs
UK theatre performer Northern Ballet Theatre Paradise Lost. Choreographer Geoffrey Cauley. Role: Serpent / Nuba Tribesman.Parry, Jann. “It is a pity he (Christopher Channing) has to spend much of the ballet in shackles since his introductory dance to flute music is delightful... He came across as an engaging personality.” The Observer. Paradise Lost. Northern Ballet Theatre. 1983. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Choreographers Robert de Warren and Geoffrey Cauley. Role: Francis Flute / Thisbe.“The Mechanicals come into their own in the final scene when Christopher Channing swans around amusingly on points.” The Guardian 15 October 1981 Midsummer Night's Dream. Northern Ballet Theatre.Sorley Walker, Katherine. “The rustics' play is greatly enlivened by Christopher Channing's admirable witty Thisbe.” Daily Telegraph. 31 October 1981. Midsummer Night's Dream. Northern Ballet Theatre. Italian Tour with a British cast (Clive Carter, Anita Dobson, David Cardy, Martin Duncan). Dir Hugh Wooldridge The Rocky Horror Show. 1984. Understudy Frank'n'furter, Riff Raff & Brad Majors UK tour The Rocky Horror Show. 1984-5. Role: Riff Raff. London fringe Leonardo the Musical. 1984. Role: Niccolò Machiavelli.Hepple, Peter. “Where 'Joseph' has a Presley like Pharaoh 'Leonardo' has a Presley like Machiavelli sung extremely well by Christopher Channing.” The Stage and Television Today. 20 September 1984.. Leonardo The Musical. York Theatre Royal James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. Musical by Herbert Chappell. Directors Andrew McKinnon and Tim Supple. Musical director Charles Miller. 1985. Role: The Centipede.“Best of the bunch musically is the finger clicking, leg kicking "Pinch of Grime" making masterful use of the silky voice of Chris Channing.” The Times. 4 July 1985. James and the Giant Peach. York, Theatre Royal. Stags and Hens by Willy Russell. Director Ian Forrest. Dundee Repertory Theatre. August 1985 to March 1987. Annie. Director Robert Robertson. Role: Rooster Sailor Beware. Director Alan Lyddiard. Role: Daphne Pink. This all-male production was set on a British Army base during the Suez Crisis of 1956.“All male revival of 1950's farce. ...Christopher Channing is the glamorous Daphne in a very successful transition across the sexes.” The Scotsman. 7 October 1985. Sailor Beware. Dundee.Brennan, Mary. “In a cast with no weak links David King gives exceptional value as Emma Hornet, so too Christopher Channing, the knowingly arch Daphne.” Glasgow Herald. 5 October 1985. Sailor Beware. Dundee. Moby Dick—Rehearsed. A two-act drama by Orson Welles. Director Alan Lyddiard. Role: Quee Queg.“Apart from immersion in the legend of Orson Welles and his work the cast have rehearsed the play as a radio broadcast, a ballet, a studio piece and a concert.” Dundee Courier. 8 November 1985. Moby Dick Rehearsed. Dundee. Treasure Island. Director Robert Robertson. Role: Blind Pew. The Threepenny Opera. Director/Designer Neil Murray.Neil Murray The Snow Queen. Director/Designer Neil Murray. Adapted by Stuart Paterson. Role: title role.
UK theatre design Designer of set, costume and lighting. Cracked Actors Company. 'Rule 43' by Kevin Fegan. Two British theatre tours and a tour of 25 prisons. 1989. Liverpool Everyman Theatre at the Unity. Hard Times by Charles Dickens. Director Noreen Kershaw. 1991archive database Liverpool Everyman. Example, a play about the crime and hanging of the teenager Derek Bentley. 1991< Manchester Green Room/Lancaster Literary Festival. Dorothy Parker. Tiptoe through the Tombstones by Richard Gallagher. 1991Richard Gallagher Manchester Green Room. Not About Heroes by Stephen MacDonald. A play about World War I poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen at Craiglockhart Hospital.
UK other arts work Liverpool 2008 DaDaFest in Liverpool City of Culture. Channing conceived and directed Horizontal Heroines: Sleep, Death and Madness in Opera, Poetry and Popular Music. Themed recital. Soprano/performer Denise Leigh. Accordion/piano Stefano Andrusyschyn.Other responses to DadaFest
Manchester 1992 He was a venue designer for the 'Manchester International Festival of Expressionism'.
Work in France He devised a theatrical combination of dance and enigmatic mime for small restaurant cabaret-theatres such as, 'Piano dans La Cuisine ', 'Scaramouche ' and 'Chez Madame Arthur', the historic dinner-show painted by Toulouse-Lautrec and frequented by Jane Avril, which was under the artistic direction of Philippe Planquois. He staged Planquois' fashion collection catwalks at various events and together they worked on concepts and numbers for Planquois' himself who in turn made new numbers for Channing’s own cabaret acts. The late Philippe Planquois was the basis for Charles Aznavour's song "What Makes a Man/Comme ils disent".
A street performance as the Mona Lisa, performed by the steps of the Musée d'Orsay was the inspiration for a series of 10 different Living Paintings he created for festivals, galleries and private entertainments after moving to Italy. It also financed his flat near the Marais and gave him the stability he needed to move to Italy.
Italy performances Living paintings performancesGallavotti, Eugenio. “Elle meets Chris Channing. Veri Capolavori.” Elle. March 1999. pp 308.Grampelli, Emanuela. “3 minutes inside the head of Chris Channing.” Marie Claire. February 2002. Leonardo da Vinci - Mona Lisa Vincent van Gogh - A self-portrait, the performance compiles various elements of V. Gogh's self-portraits from 1887/8 and uses 'The Starry Night' 1889 as a background. Vincent van Gogh - Portrait of the postman of Arles, Monsieur Roulin Pablo Picasso - Au Lapin Agile (At the Lapin Agile) Leonardo da Vinci - Lady with an Ermine René Magritte - The Son of Man Georges Braque - Portrait of a Man, in the cubist style explored and developed by Braque and Picasso during the 1910s Henri Matisse - Green Stripe (Portrait of Madame Matisse) Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) - Young Sick Bacchus Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - The Englishman at the Moulin Rouge, a portrait of William T. Warrener, the English painter
The Matisse, Caravaggio and Toulouse Lautrec performances were all created as commissions for RAI television.
The Leonardo 'Lady with Ermine' was commissioned by actress Ottavia Piccolo as a parlour performance on her birthday.
These performances were seen, in their pure form or adapted for clients or atmosphere, at private parlour events, at corporate events (BMW, Selfridges, Samsonite, Rolex, Agent Provocateur) in seminar/educational settings and gala evenings, in galleries and museums and as television guests: Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science, Milan, The Uffizi Galleries, Florence, United Nations Climate Summit, Milan, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, The Verona Arena (Private party for Zeffirelli), Castle Ambrass, Innsbruck (Portrait exhibition opening), Dress Circle book-shop, London (Book press-launch), Louvre Museum, Paris (Art prize prize-giving). And at arts festivals in Croatia, Switzerland, Austria, Brazil, Sicily.
Performances. character pieces Faun - a self-contained performance based on the 'exhibition 'and explanation of a rare beast.Il fauno è prigioniero e ci guarda in silenzio