The Matchseller Remembers - An Interview with James Haddrell, Artistic Director of the Greenwich Theatre.

James Haddrell is the Artistic Director of the Greenwich Theatre.  His creative choices have helped to diversify the productions staged within the venue.  On one day, you may see a touring production of a satire of a classic novel and on another, a singer performing the works of Piaf.  I was recently lucky enough to see his productions of the two Pinter plays, A Slight Ache and The Dumb Waiter.  His directorial work and support of both fringe and new plays in general have helped to rejuvenate the Greenwich Theatre.  This is the third time I have interviewed James Haddrell and each time I have learnt something new about the processes of theatrical production.  I interviewed him just prior to the end of the run of the Pinter plays, so without further delay… 

You are currently staging two of Harold Pinter’s plays in the Greenwich Theatre, A Slight Ache and The Dumb Waiter. When did you first become interested in Pinter’s work and what informed your choice of plays?

I have been interested in Pinter’s work for years, with some key productions informing that – Malcolm Storry in English Touring Theatre’s production of The Caretaker here in Greenwich and Keith Allen in The Homecoming come to mind. I have always wanted to tackle The Dumb Waiter. I’m a huge fan of Beckett too, and the links between The Dumb Waiter and Waiting for Godot are clear. I love the evocation of old comedy double-acts that sits within The Dumb Waiter, the blend of absurd comedy and the surreal. And of course, the final tableau is unforgettable. In seeking a suitable pairing for that, I wanted to find a piece that contrasted as strongly as possible, and when I read A Slight Ache I was immediately convinced. Set in a different class, replacing the real-time boredom of The Dumb Waiter with an existential treatment of time, replacing the psychological impact of casual violence with the psychological impact of anxiety, agoraphobia and class-riddled social convention, the play nevertheless does end with an astonishing, unforgettable reversal, and in that regard it partners with The Dumb Waiter perfectly.

I have seen many of Pinter’s plays before (several more than once) and I found your production of A Slight Ache to be revelatory. Your production subtly revealed to me a subtext involving class relations, which I had not really considered before when seeing the play. The rather insidious way that the couple feel the need to dictate the work of the match seller. Do you agree that this is one way of exploring the play? Also the play was originally a radio play, did this hold you back in any way or did it liberate you, in terms of set design etc?

I think you’re absolutely right. The couple’s casual disregard for the humanity of the Matchseller (whether he’s there or not – he’s there for them so their conduct towards him is telling in any case), the belief that they can buy him (Flora’s “can I buy your tray of matches?” devalues his trade in such a dismissive way), their colonial view of the world, whether talking about villages or continents – all of these come from the disregard of others and the sense of self-importance held by those in a position of economic strength.

The translation from radio to stage is something we tackled before when we staged four of Caryl Churchill’s short plays. There is an inherent challenge in the shift – radio drama needs a script that describes everything, which delivered on stage can seem over-written, dense and wordy. However, the biggest shift in this case is the presentation of the match-seller on stage. On the radio there is no presence, but I was adamant, whether the interloper proved to be real or not, that the audience should see what Edward and Flora see. Whilst that may seem to limit the audience’s interpretation of the nature of the figure, making a decision for them, for me the match-seller is absolutely there – whether in the flesh or as fantasy, Edward and Flora feel his presence so an audience should be invited to share in that.

Pinter’s plays offer a variety of challenges for actors. Personally, despite the fact that they loosely inhabit the so-called ‘Theatre of the Absurd’, I have always felt that they capture the routine practices and regular mundanity of the human condition in an often realistic fashion. Human conversations are often uncomfortably punctuated with moments of silence.  How do you as a director work with the actors to inhabit characters who quite often have back stories that are not fully developed?

I agree – mundanity, and the sinister overtones that can exist within that mundanity, sits at the heart of Pinter’s work. The question about back stories is an interesting one. Different actors like to tackle that in different ways, but I always invite actors first to draw out whatever is offered in the script and then to improvise and devise a back story from that. For The Dumb Waiter, the time it was set and the age of our characters meant that they had probably both fought in the war. For Edward and Flora we had to make decisions about family – there are no children mentioned but could they have had children? Could Flora have wanted them and been let down by Edward? I do think back story creation is an important exercise. Actors need to know what is driving their characters and what associations their characters are making in every statement, but as director I always make the creation of those stories a collective exercise. All of the actors along with the creative team in the rehearsal room have a place in devising each character’s story.

I have noticed that you often work with the same actors. For example, you have worked with Kerrie Taylor on a few occasions. Does the practice of working with someone whose methods you respect and understand add to the development of the shows? How much input would you allow an actor in creative decisions outside of the development of their character? If they offered suggestions based on mise-en-scene etc, have you in the past or currently, integrated such ideas into your productions?

Absolutely – working with the same actor on a number of occasions is valuable for a range of reasons. It creates a shorthand in rehearsal. It develops a deep sense of trust so if I need to push actors to explore difficult emotional ideas they are prepared to do that with me (Kerrie is tackling something very different with me now, moving from Pinter to Philip Ridley’s Vincent River in which she plays a mother whose son has been murdered). And yes, absolutely – I always take suggestions on all aspects of a show from cast members – particularly, I have to say, with costume, which can contribute to a character and to an actor’s ability to embody that character.

Additionally, you seem to have a strong supportive team working with you. How has working with the same Stage Manager, Cora Parkinson helped you in the development of your shows?

Cora is a fantastic young stage manager who I first worked with in 2021 when she was a first year technical theatre student. I immediately hired her to work with me on a professional basis, and Vincent River will be our tenth show together. When you have someone in rehearsals that you’ve collaborated with so many times, they become far more important than their job title would suggest. Cora understands the aesthetic that I’m looking for, the exercises I favour with actors, my sense of humour – and I always look to her to validate decisions I’m making – does this work, is this funny, impactful, appropriate? Those kind of collaborations are incredibly important for me, and I’ve never been a believer in the auteur approach. I always make theatre with a team.

You are shortly going to produce a new version of Philip Ridley’s Vincent River. I remember seeing the play some time ago with Louise Jameson in the role of Anita. I have noticed that you are pairing Kerrie Taylor in the role of Anita with a recently graduated actor called Brandon Kimaryo as Davey. I feel that the pairing will help to bring out the nuances of the play, the nature of experience and how perceptions of any event differ based upon time and involvement. From your past experience of working with actors at different points of their careers within the same production, do you find that a very special energy and rapport manifests as a result of the combination? Do both parties come away from the experience with new insights into the art of creating characters?

Working with actors at different stages of their careers is always exciting. It happened last year when we presented Mike Bartlett’s An Intervention with Lauren Drennan playing opposite newcomer Helen Ramsay, and as you say we’re doing it again this year with Kerrie Taylor and Brandon Kimaryo. It’s always challenging to work with actors who don’t share many cultural references – I’m always referencing films, plays, music, directors, performance styles etc in rehearsal, and often it means nothing to one of the two actors in the room – but that’s exciting. I love the discoveries that everyone makes along the way, and it’s definitely the case that all of the performers learn from each other. I always encourage that in any rehearsal room. No actor is a complete master of their craft, and clearly neither am I, and there is nobody with nothing to share.

Philip Ridley is one of those playwrights that I have noticed more as I have explored the productions of fringe theatre. As is the case with Harold Pinter, I have seen a number of his plays. His plays also cover an eclectic range of themes, relationships and their inevitable ups and downs, violence, drugs and their repercussions. Sometimes, they are shocking and at other moments, extremely tender. A number of his plays feature a small number of characters, which allows him to focus on character development. What attracted you to Philip Ridley and his works? There is definitely a continuing resurgence of interest in his work. What do you feel is contributing to his current popularity?

It’s such an interesting question. I’ve loved Philip Ridley’s writing for years, but he’s certainly in the ascendancy again. I think a lot of the things that his work deals with are of particular importance to young audiences – identity, sexuality, coming-of-age narratives, inter-generational power (which is not to say that those things don’t impact on all ages, but they feel particularly live for younger theatregoers) – and I think those audiences have become more important to producers in the wake of the pandemic. Younger audiences have returned to theatres, and to live performance, earlier than others, so venues need to present work that appeals to that audience. Also, I think that Philip’s work is fundamentally left-wing, and we’re living in a moment where the rise of the right is being felt ever more painfully – so many of the issues that he addresses have a renewed potency.

When you are producing the works of living playwrights, do you ever approach them if there are ever any textual or content issues that you wish to address that may be hindering certain aspects of the production of a play? Alternatively, do you prefer to see the play text as the starting point and that your job as a director is both to celebrate it but also to mould it into something that is uniquely the work of yourself, the actors and your production team?

I love having access to a playwright – Philip has been into rehearsals already and we have been in regular contact – but that said every new production has an obligation to recreate a play for the time, the venue and the audience for which it exists. Similarly when I take on a script I always strip out all of the stage directions and start again with the words spoken by the characters. Also, although I certainly don’t consider myself a writer, I often work with actors to write interior monologues or conversations, to bring those charged theatrical silences to life. In that way the script is just a starting point for the final production.

Returning briefly to the subject of your current Pinter productions, who designs your promotional images? The advertisement for The Dumb Waiter and A Slight Ache consisting of a gun and a wasp being forced backwards against a yellow background is one of the most powerful images I have seen in a while and it also succinctly captures the themes of the plays. The Vincent River promotional image is also strikingly indicative of the contents of the play. Do you offer input into the images that are used to promote the shows at the Greenwich Theatre?

Most of the posters for our in-house productions are designed by a company called Dragonfly Design. I have worked with them since about 2005 when I was the marketing manager for the venue. Their main designer, Malcolm Reid, also did all of the editing and production design for our online pandemic productions of Berkoff’s The Secret Love Life Of Ophelia and Caryl Churchill’s The After-Dinner Joke. With the posters, I always have an input but the final image is very much a collaboration between Dragonfly and Greenwich Theatre.

I have noticed through your articles in the South London Press that you often highlight and celebrate the works of other theatres. I feel a tremendous degree of respect for you for your support of other theatres. How often do you get to see productions outside of the Greenwich Theatre? Do you feel that in the current economic climate that theatre visits are often sacrificed owing to ticket costs? To me as an audience member and avid attendee of many productions, I feel that theatre is even more relevant during times of turmoil. Would you agree with that sentiment?

My theatregoing has reduced a bit in the past few years as I now have a young family, but I’m starting to rebuild that. I’ve had great visits to the Unicorn Theatre and the Park Theatre recently and I’m at Hampstead Theatre next week, and I obviously see a lot here at Greenwich Theatre. Once my routine is back to its usual rhythm I’ll be seeing 3-4 shows a week. I’m also planning to get back to the Edinburgh Fringe this year or next, and I would usually catch 50-100 shows at the festival each year. I do think that audience sizes are reduced at the moment, partly as a hangover from the pandemic and partly because of the cost of living crisis – and we’re also all finding that the audiences that are coming to see our shows are booking far later than they used to. Younger audiences make later decisions anyway I think, and more traditional audiences got so used to last minute cancellations or illness, and then train strikes and even horrendous weather, that I think they have been reconditioned to make later decisions.

And yes, I’d completely agree. Theatre is at its strongest, as all the arts are, in times of turmoil. Stories offer either escapism or intellectual challenge, taking audiences away from difficult situations or helping to confront them – I feel privileged to be a part of an industry with storytelling at its heart.

What are your future plans with the Greenwich Theatre? Will your theatre continue to offer a creative space for students and also continue to stage an eclectic range of productions for both adults and children?

Absolutely. We’re planning to maintain our recent run of in-house productions of work by important playwrights – the work is attracting attention across the industry and beyond, and at a time when the availability of touring theatre has reduced it is vital for us to fill the gaps with quality shows. At the same time, Greenwich Theatre occupies a really important position in the national theatre ecology. We are a mid-scale venue where young companies can step up from the fringe and try out new work without risking huge amounts of money, but where they can earn a good return if their show does well. We will continue to support and nurture those early career artists, in both the main house and the studio, and to present work for a wide audience. Our work for families and children also remains important to us. The 2023 Greenwich Children’s Theatre Festival was the biggest ever, and plans are well underway for this year’s pantomime, as well as a host of other family shows in between. It may sound like a cliché, but we really do strive to offer something for everyone at Greenwich Theatre…

Thanks to James for allowing me to interview him again and I recommend that you go to see Vincent River at the Greenwich Theatre (23^rd June 2023-15^th July 2023) if you can.

Afterword.

The Greenwich Theatre continues to offer an eclectic range of productions for all ages.  Please see the link to their website below:

Greenwich Theatre, London Off-West End Theatre

Any references to Harold Pinter’s plays are used to illuminate this blog and the Greenwich Theatre’s recent productions.  They are copyright to their respective copyright holders.  If you ever get the chance to see Pinter’s plays, please go and see them as his works are still amongst the most vital and important plays in modern UK theatre.

Also the works of Stephen Berkoff, Caryl Churchill, Samuel Beckett and Mike Bartlett are also worthy of your attention, if you like to see eclectic plays that touch on a myriad of themes and ideas.

Dragonfly Design have their own website, if you would like to see further examples of their work:

 Dragonfly (dragonfly-design.co.uk) 

James Haddrell is a regular columnist in the South London Press newspaper, which can also be read online:

South London News – South London Press & Mercury (londonnewsonline.co.uk)

Additionally, the Unicorn Theatre, Park Theatre and Hampstead Theatre are all theatres who produce essential works:

What's on | The Unicorn Theatre

Park Theatre

Hampstead Theatre | London

The term 'The Theatre of the Absurd' was coined by the writer, Martin Esslin in relation to the works of a number of significant playwrights writing during the 50s and 60s including Pinter, Beckett, Ionesco and Pirandello.  He wrote an excellent book on the subject entitled The Theatre of the Absurd which is still available and offers a good way in to Absurdist writings.  An edition is currently available from Bloomsbury Publishing.  Although, it can also be bought second hand too.

Photos and promotional images (Used with the permission of James Haddrell & the Greenwich Theatre).

James Haddrell directing at the Greenwich Theatre.

                                 

Flora and the Matchseller embracing a moment of possibility
and change in 'A Slight Ache'.
(Flora played by Kerrie Taylor and the Matchseller 
by Tony Mooney)

The Matchseller and Edward wishing for another moment
in 'A Slight Ache'.
(The Matchseller played by Tony Mooney and
Edward played by Jude Akuwudike)  

Gus and Ben waiting for their job in 'The Dumb Waiter'.  
(Gus played by Jude Akuwudike and Ben by Tony Mooney)

The brilliant promotional image for 'The Dumb Waiter'
and 'A Slight Ache'.

Kerrie Taylor and Brandon Kimaryo.  Also promotional image
for 'Vincent River'.

A promotional image for the forthcoming production of 
'Vincent River' at the Greenwich Theatre.

Barry Watt - 21st May 2023 and 7th June 2023.

                                           

Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles - The Aesthetics of Banality.

Last night, I went to the BFI to see Sight and Sound's choice of 'Greatest film of all time' based on their 2022 list.  The list is chosen by critics, so any surprise at the choice, is rapidly forgotten.  Critics are rarely likely to pick the conventional choices, in the midst of political and cultural changes, both positive and negative.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles was made in 1975 by the director Chantal Akerman, who also wrote the screenplay.  Now before I discuss the film and how it made me feel, I want to suggest that it is not a unique film thematically, Luis Bunuel's film, Belle de Jour (1967) explores the idea of a married woman who works as a prostitute in the afternoon and Agnes Varda's film, Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962) offers a very memorable female protagonist who awaits the results of medical tests to find out whether she has cancer.  I mention these two films, not to denigrate the impact of Akerman's film, but to reiterate that there are other films that feature strong female protagonists, which are also worth seeing.

The first thing that anyone ever mentions about Jeanne Dielman is the length of the film.  Its running time is 201 minutes.  Now historically, the longer films tend to be more action based (for better or worse) and the key to their appreciation lies in immersing yourself in their sense of spectacle and their character development, where it is apparent.  The actions in this film are primarily focused on a small apartment with occasional excursions into the environs around the abode of the mother and her son, Sylvain.  The static camera is set up and long takes of the minutiae of life are offered to the viewer.  The editing is minimal.

Now from my brief description of the cinematography, you could be mislead into believing that the film would be slow paced.  Well, the events of the film depict three days in the life of a mother and a woman who primarily lives and breathes in her apartment alone (her son comes in each evening after school or college and basically ignores her, but their companionship is apparent from the moment he first appears.  They are not enemies to each other, merely separate in terms of their needs and desires, although Jeanne is clearly interested in her son's academic work.  They also both have an interest in music and song).  

Jeanne Dielman spends the majority of her days doing housework and preparing meals.  Everything about her life is ritualistic, even the monetary transactions with her afternoon clients before they leave.  The director focuses exhaustively on the tiny details, the seemingly endless shot of Jeanne as she peels a handful of potatoes.  Also one particularly horrific shot of Jeanne kneading meat that I am sure would repulse most vegans and vegetarians (I eat meat and even I found it hard to watch).  She takes pride in her work and all of her daily rituals, provide her with some kind of security.  They never explicitly state it but her behaviour is largely resemblent of sufferers of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  Personally, I recognised the non-stop pattern of turning light switches on and off.  Also her life is so determined by an order of her own creation, it becomes painful to watch at times.

By the time, the viewer gets to day 3 of what eventually transpires to be her mental breakdown, all of the comforting rituals break down (she drops an item of cutlery whilst drying up, loses her grip on a brush as she polishes her son's shoes and arrives far too early for the opening of certain shops she regularly frequents).  In a film where many daily routines are shot in real time, it is telling that the most saddening sequence on day 3 involves Jeanne going to her regular cafe/bar, only to discover that her table has been taken.  She ends up shifting to the table adjacent to her usual one but is very uncomfortable seeing another person spread over her territory.  

Despite my descriptions of the events of the film, there are moments of humour in the film, particularly a scene involving a child Jeanne momentary looks after whilst a neighbour goes out and gets shopping.  Jeanne's maternal instincts are negligible to say the least as she picks up the child from the carry cot and the baby howls an almost primal scream.  Also a short discussion that Sylvain has with Jeanne about sex (Sylvain believes in an almost ideal notion of relationships.  You should only have sex with someone you love and also the act of sex seems to horrify him in some respects).

My enduring memories of the film will be informed by the diegetic use of sound.  The sound although regularly heightened or exaggerated is, as it would be in your daily life.  The viewer can hear the traffic noises from outside and the other sounds associated with the routines of life.  The boiling kettle reaches a high pitched note on the gas oven and the light switches click on and off audibly, whilst Jeanne's shoes tap repetitively across her apartment.  There is also an interesting use of light throughout the film.  The main living room has a wall that is rendered visually unstable by the neon lights from a building opposite and the lift from the ground floor to Jeanne's apartment is surrounded by a light show that helps to oppress her character, even more than the tight confines of the life.

By the end of the film, the viewer genuinely cares about Jeanne Dielman's plight, although we have only been privy to scant details about her personal life but have an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of her daily routines.  Her final act and its aftermath leave you wondering what next for the character.  Will the serving dish continue to act as a receptacle for money?  Will her son discover what has happened?  Also I left the cinema thinking, did it happen or did she imagine it?  To find out what I mean, you will have to see the film or read a synopsis of the plot but I do recommend you see the film.  I certainly don't think it warrants being number one in any list of 'Greatest films of all time' but it has an energy and fundamentally, if you view it as a film in which 'nothing much happens', I beg to differ.  Where 'nothing much happens', everything matters.  I think that is the most important lesson of all.  Sometimes, the big picture is so much less significant than the activities of the daily grind.  Life is in the detail.

                                                                                                 Barry Watt - 12th March 2023. 

Afterword.

The film Jeanne Dielman, 23, Qual du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles is available on DVD and Blu Ray.  Although, my blog entry has explored various aspects of the film, it's definitely worth seeing and significantly, I think it warrants seeing with an audience too.  As such, if it ever gets shown at a cinema near you, please go and see it.

The BFI (British Film Institute) has a website and as an organisation are very supportive of film making and film in general:

https://www.bfi.org.uk/

Sight and Sound is a magazine produced by the BFI:

https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound

Belle de Jour and Cleo from 5 to 7 can also be purchased on DVD and other formats.  They are both worth seeing for their intelligent and strong female protagonists.

                                                                                                                                 BW.

Photo.

A potato.  If you focus on the commonplace, it becomes extraordinary.

                                                                                                       BW.

           

The Importance of Being Honest - Eight days on, a review of types of Juliette Burton's 'No Brainer' at the Museum of Comedy.

It's 3.40am on Saturday morning, precisely eight days since I attended Juliette Burton's show, No Brainer at the Museum of Comedy in London.  My head is a mess of ideas that need to be focused in some way, hence this blog.  The show has been resonating in my head since I saw it and my overactive psyche has been motivating me to produce something about it.  As such, here goes...

No Brainer is a palimpsest of a show (I mean that as a compliment).  Juliette Burton has described it as a work in progress.  As a creative work, it is engaging, emotionally raw, funny and chaotic but it is also coherent and will by definition, change with every performance (long may it remain a work in progress).  If that brief summation sounds confused, go and see the show and see what I mean.

Juliette Burton has experienced mental health issues throughout her life.  I suspect that exploring statistics would reveal that many of her audience may have experienced mental health issues too.  Personally, I have and do.  But significantly, Ms Burton uses her mental health issues to explore herself and in doing so, holds up a metaphorical mirror and sign, reading 'You are not alone'.

No Brainer is the result of Ms Burton's extensive exploration of the brain from a variety of angles.  I felt honoured to hold a plastic brain in my hands and to realise that this organ is very likely responsible for everything I get up to in a day.  Not only does it generate and articulate thought but it also helped me to find the Museum of Comedy (okay, I walked in the wrong direction initially but that's allowed).  Scientific understanding and learning to love or at least, to attempt to come to terms with the aspects of your personality that cannot be quickly changed were some of the ideas that I took from this show.

Ms Burton offered various concepts such as the fight or flight model.  As a result of my job and my studies over the years, I have encountered the idea before, particularly in relation to moments of anxiety.  Interestingly for me, Ms Burton added freeze and fawn to the model.  I have noticed that I personally have frozen at various points of crisis.  I have wondered whether this has constituted indecision as a result of OCD on some occasions (in order to overcome recurrent negative cyclical thoughts or the possibility of them kicking in) or else the age old notion that bad things won't happen if I become invisible.

I froze during a certain key moment in the show that I cannot describe as I felt (and still feel) that it was one of the catalysts for this show and indeed for Ms Burton's continuing exploration of scientific and other theories for coping with mental illness and with life.  In many respects, the fact that I did nothing and nor did the other audience members worried me, although to rationalise the moment, it occurs within the structure of the show.  For me, it shows Ms Burton's consummate skills as a performer that she can channel the emotions connected with a key moment of crisis, represent the event yet come out of it with a smile and positive affirmation to let the audience know that she is okay.  I wanted to hug Ms Burton at that moment and I suspect that lots of the other audience members did too.

I think that Ms Burton's assertion of the idea that good and bad memories continue to exist even if they remain repressed or sidelined remains valid and vital for our everyday lives (certainly a fundamental tenet of quite a bit of psychoanalytic theory).  These memories can be triggered by a variety of stimuli such as an odour, taste or sound etc.  Memories can both help and hinder us but it's important to acknowledge their continuing existence especially if they represent something urgent that requires closure.

One thing is certain, No Brainer has resonated with me for eight days.  I did a short course the other day on emotional intelligence and thought to myself that Ms Burton is definitely a good example of a human being with high levels of emotional intelligence (I mean that as a compliment).  To continue to explore yourself, open yourself to others, whilst also retaining the wisdom to separate those essential ingredients that are yours alone demonstrates to me a performer that is not only growing, but also helping her audience to explore themselves in a safe and creative way.

In the distance, I can hear the Eurythmics song, When Tomorrow Comes.  It's a memory but also like No Brainer a point of departure.  Ms Burton, you have done it again, you have created a work that will continue to change over time but also allows the audience to take what they can or like and run with it.  But I am definitely not moving into Elm Street, despite the property prices.  Thanks for your emotional honesty and your inspirational show.

                                                                                        Barry Watt - Saturday 20th August 2022.

Afterword

Juliette Burton has an excellent website, which is regularly updated with future shows etc:

Juliette Burton | Comedian, Writer, Speaker, Actor

Eurythmics were a very successful band and their songs still mean a great deal.  When Tomorrow Comes has always inspired feelings of positivity whenever I hear it yet not in a contrived manner, the lyrics move me.  For more on the band and their music, please check their website.  The song is copyright to them:

Home - Eurythmics | Official Site

Elm Street is of course, the home to a serial murderer as depicted in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, which I surprisingly haven't seen:

A Nightmare on Elm Street - Wikipedia

Museum of Comedy puts on an eclectic collection of performers and shows.  Their website is below:

The Museum of Comedy - Showcasing comedy's biggest names and rising stars. Nightly shows in an eccentric independent venue on the edge of London's West End

Promotional Image (Used with the kind permission of Ms Burton.  The image is copyright to the photographer, Steve Ullathorne and Ms Burton)

Juliette Burton - No Brainer Promotional Image
Photographer - Steve Ullathorne

                                                                                                                                         BW

                                                                              

"My work is a one-man mission to trample down the fourth wall and break into people's hearts" - An Interview with Mark Farrelly, Actor and Playwright.

 

(Photos by Jacky Summerfield)

Some time ago, I went to see one of my favourite plays, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Trafalgar Studios in London.  It's a play that has always captivated me due to its sheer emotional intensity.  Also I greatly admire the actors who perform any of the four roles in the play as each of the characters undergo many transformations of mood and motivation as it heads towards its tragic denouement.  It was my first encounter with Mark Farrelly, who played the role of Nick, a biology professor caught up with his wife in the production, Honey played by Louise Kempton, in the psychological games of George and Martha who were played by Matthew Kelly and Tracey Childs.  Mark Farrelly's performance was subtle and I could see how he was fully engaged with the role he was very successfully creating.

Since then, I have encountered his work again in numerous theatres, where he has created his own plays based on four brilliant and unique personalities, Quentin Crisp, Derek Jarman, Patrick Hamilton and Dennis Heymer.  These works are beautifully written and performed, highlighting all aspects of the personas he has chosen to portray.  These works he has chosen to continue to perform in repertory, thus allowing you to see all four plays over time as he moves between venues.  I have seen all four plays and I can attest for their vitality and insight into the people he portrays.

Mark Farrelly has very kindly allowed me to interview him, so let's begin...

When did you first discover that you had an aptitude towards performance and how did you develop your skills?  Did you follow the academic route into acting?  

I began to enjoy acting at school and that really escalated when I got to Cambridge.  While I was there I played Hamlet on a month’s tour of North America, and at that point I realised I wanted to spend the rest of my life acting.  I didn’t go to drama school, but simply moved to London and started looking for work.  Thank God I didn’t know how hard it was going to be.

Please can you tell me more about your earlier acting career?  I saw you in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Trafalgar Studios with Matthew Kelly and I remember thinking how nuanced your performance was.  Do you find that certain playwrights are more in touch with the art of acting?  Are there particular playwrights whose works you enjoy performing?

The only playwright whose work I enjoy performing is me.  I’m not being conceited, I simply spent many years performing other people’s words, and gradually reached a point where I had to start writing for myself, expressing the things I really needed to say.  Now I’m committed to that and want to keep exploring further.  That said, I think Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is one of the best plays ever written, as it so brilliantly asks the question most plays are asking: how do we find a way to communicate authentically with each other?

Also when you were growing up, who were your influences?

Jeremy Brett and Timothy Dalton made me want to act.  They both had an incredible intensity and truthfulness to their work which still rivets me.

When you are performing, do you have a preference for acting technique or method or does your development of character largely depend upon the role you are playing?

I have no idea about acting technique… in fact for me, the more I think about and analyse it, the harder it gets.  I honestly couldn’t tell you how I act, I just do it.  Just tell the truth.

For some years, you have been working as a playwright and performer.  When did you decide that you wanted to write plays?

In 2012, when I went through a series of successive emotional shocks.  My girlfriend and I split after fifteen years, I ran out of work as an actor, my friend killed himself… on and on it went. I experienced an agonising loneliness, and a profoundly deep depression and hopelessness.  Out of that pain came the desire to create and connect, as the alternative was despair, and perhaps worse. I finally felt that I had something to say, because of course, people who’ve lived safe, unchallenging and emotionally avoidant lives don’t tend to write interesting drama.

What are the particular challenges that you face as a playwright who also performs his own plays? I have noticed that you work with different directors (most recently, Sarah-Louise Young on the play Jarman).  Does working with a director provide you with the mental space that you need to fully engage with the creation of a character in whichever venue you find yourself in?

It’s much easier, I think, if I’ve written it, because as the actor I know what the writer is intending!  But you still need a great director to bring out the fullness of the words, because even the writer doesn’t always consciously realise the full depths of what they’ve written.  That’s especially true of Jarman, where my brilliant director Sarah-Louise Young brought me and the play to life in ways I could never have envisaged.

Your plays focus on extraordinary personalities; creative, unique, occasionally flawed individuals but most importantly, they are based on real people.  How do you go about becoming these characters?  From observing your work, I can see that you must put a lot of work into their realisation and that a sense of kindness and empathy surrounds your development of the characters.  Have you developed your performance of the roles at any point after receiving the feedback of family members or friends of the personalities you portray?

Again, I try not to think about it too much.  I observe if the character has any distinctive mannerisms, and whether it’s helpful or not to adopt those on stage (sometimes they can get in the way).  Far more important is to see where one coincides emotionally with the character.  So for example when I began playing Quentin Crisp, I identified hugely with his loneliness and isolation, and that was my way in to playing him.  With Derek Jarman I identify with his emotional courage and love of fun, and that’s been the key.  Feedback from family and friends has always been hugely encouraging.

In the four plays that you perform in repertory, The Silence of Snow: The Life of Patrick Hamilton, Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope, Howerd’s End and Jarman, you directly engage the audience, incorporating them into the action.  I have been invited to read you questions on stage when you were Quentin Crisp and was given a spotlight/torch to illuminate the action when you were Derek Jarman.  How do you select the audience members that you use and what are the advantages of directly using the audience in this way?  Your engagement with the audience was slightly different when you were Dennis in Howerd’s End and when you were Patrick Hamilton but equally rewarding for the audience.

I always pick audience members at random… take the risk.  Another example of why it’s best not to over-think.  All my characters speak directly to the audience because I dislike the ‘fourth wall’ in theatre, and think it’s often a way for actors to hide from the audience emotionally.  Infinitely better to turn out front and address people, make them realise this is about them.  One of the reasons live music and comedy are more popular than theatre is because music and comedy engage the audience directly, and people love it.  Yet still theatre stubbornly refuses to recognise this, even though Shakespeare had characters talking directly to the audience four centuries ago.  My work is a one-man mission to trample down the fourth wall and break into people’s hearts.

Please can you talk about your motivations for producing works on the individuals that you have chosen?  Are they people that you have admired and/or do they represent aspects of your personality either now or in the past?

Yes they are all aspects of me.  Patrick Hamilton is my reckless, egotistical side (which I’ve tamed through therapy, but can still play on stage).  Quentin is my loneliness, my sense of being alone on the planet without companionship.  Dennis Heymer in Howerd’s End is my tenacity, my determination to connect with people who are closed-off emotionally and Derek Jarman is my passion for creativity, love, sex, adventure, colour, and my awareness of my mortality.  A human life is no longer than a lightning flash, so no excuses for not living it to the full.  Anything less is a straight-up tragedy.

You produce four of your plays in repertory, which enables the audience to see them all if they wish.  From the perspective of a performer, what are the advantages and disadvantages of staging the productions for short periods in different venues?  

To me there are no disadvantages.  It’s joyful!  You get to switch characters all the time, something actors rarely do now that the repertory system has died.  True actors are mercurial, so we love being different people at the flick of a switch.  Also when the challenge is so intense (especially with frequently different venues), there isn’t time to worry about your lines or your performance, you just have to get out there and be, and consequently feel all the more alive and spontaneous. 

Also does the size and style of the venue alter how you perform the plays?

Not remotely.  You can be intimate and up close in a room of a thousand people.  I’ve never understood why anyone thinks otherwise.

Your most recent play, Jarman encapsulates the life and works of a furiously creative individual who worked in many mediums including film, videos for bands such as Suede and The Smiths, art and sculpture.  Do you also produce art works outside of the world of theatre?

I don’t.  I can’t play an instrument, paint or draw.  All my passion and energy go into performing, and it’s something I want to continue doing for as long as I can.  When you perform, time stops for you and the audience, and you connect most fully with what matters in life: the truth of who you are.  The rest of the time people seem to spend merely avoiding themselves.

Finally, what are your future plans and are you working on any more plays?

I’ve got performance plans stretching a year ahead.  No new plays in mind at the moment.  I’m perfectly content if I never write another… maybe I’ve said all I need to say?  Equally, if a new idea occurs to me tomorrow or in five years’ time, I’ll engage with it with all the gusto as if it was my last day on earth.

Thank you for allowing me to interview you, Mark Farrelly.

                                                                                                            Barry Watt - 3rd July 2022.

Afterword.

Mark Farrelly has a website, which contains details of his work and performance schedule:

MARK FARRELLY |

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee and remains one of the greatest plays of all time (in my opinion).  A very successful film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton is also worth seeing.  I tend to try to see most London productions of the play.

Trafalgar Studios continues to stage varied and interesting productions.  More information about their history and past productions etc can be found on this website:

Trafalgar Studios - Trafalgar Entertainment

Sarah-Louise Young is another talented and eclectic performer/producer.  Please see her website and my previous blog interview with her:

Sarah-Louise Young (sarah-louise-young.com)

Suede are a band who rose to dominance in the 90s and continue to produce music that explores the myriad hues of the human condition.  Their website is below:

Suede

The Smiths were a band that produced music and in many respects, a sensibility that still resonates today.  They disbanded in 1987, although both Morrissey and Johnny Marr continue to produce their own music and tour separately.  The other members of the band, Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke have also continued to work within the music and creative industries over the years.

The lives of Quentin Crisp, Derek Jarman, Patrick Hamilton and Dennis Heymer can be explored through the works of Mark Farrelly and through their own works.  Please see below link to see an obituary for Dennis Heymer as he is slightly less well known than the other names mentioned:

Dennis Heymer; OBITUARY. - Free Online Library (thefreelibrary.com)

The photos at the start of the interview of Mark Farrelly as himself and as the aforementioned Patrick Hamilton, Quentin Crisp, Derek Jarman and Dennis Heymer have been kindly provided by Mark Farrelly and were taken by and are copyright to Jacky Summerfield.

Please check Mark Farrelly's website for the future schedule of his performances around the United Kingdom:

Mark Farrelly Schedule | MARK FARRELLY

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Photos (The below photos have been kindly provided by Mark Farrelly and were taken by Jacky Summerfield who owns the copyright to the images).

 

Mark Farrelly as Derek Jarman

Mark Farrelly as Quentin Crisp

Mark Farrelly as Dennis Heymer

Promotional image of Mark Farrelly as Patrick Hamilton

                                                                                                                           BW.

A work in progress with an empathetic eye - An Interview with Sarah-Louise Young.

Over the years, I have had the pleasure of attending lots of memorable cultural events. Sometimes, my memories of these events over time become transformed and condensed to just a feeling. Some performances have left me emotionally elated, whilst others have left me drained. My one persistent belief is that I always respect the creators of a piece of work even if I do not always understand their original intent or indeed, feel that the work has worked for me. It doesn’t matter because someone has made an effort to offer something of themselves to an audience. 

Now, quite by accident, I stumbled on the work of Sarah-Louise Young. I suspect that I may have seen her first as part of Roulston and Young with their catchy acerbic songs about relationships etc. I then saw ‘Julie Madly Deeply’, a beautifully resonant exploration of the work of Dame Julie Andrews and an equally touching engagement with her fans. I most recently saw her at the Soho Theatre performing ‘An Evening Without Kate Bush’ from my little table in the B row with a friend and was astounded that she brought out the hidden performer that lurks within, as ‘Wuthering Heights’ was sung and I began the dance movements. Sarah-Louise Young is a very talented and versatile creator touching on many mediums. She has very kindly consented to allowing me to interview her, so without further ado…  

In your current show, ‘An Evening Without Kate Bush’, you explore the works and life of Kate Bush and her impersonators. You also acknowledge borrowing a wig from the oldest (and now retired) Kate Bush impersonator.

I like to think the show explores Kate Bush and her fans, as opposed to her impersonators. We do pay tribute to her original tribute act, ‘Jaquie’, who sings ‘Wow’, but the heart of the show is about how each of us has our own relationship with her work and how we experience it or ‘pay tribute to it in our own way’.

What attracted you to Kate Bush as the possible subject for a production? 

I had always been a fan, but the original idea for the show came from my co-creator, Russell Lucas. We had already had international success with ‘Julie Madly Deeply’ (our musical loveletter to Julie Andrews which has played West End and Off Broadway). The two shows are very different, but that started us thinking about the relationship fans have with their icons, especially someone like Kate, who hadn’t performed live for over 30 years, since her 1979 ‘Tour Of Life’. 

Interestingly the first work-in-progress sharing of the show was as a two-hander, with the brilliant Matthew Jones (Mannish from Frisky & Mannish). We presented a 20 minute section at The Albany in Deptford as part of their try-out night, Cabaret Playroom. We spent a few days together in a rehearsal room but in the end decided to save our enthusiasm to collaborate on something else as he wanted to focus on his Richard Carpenter show and it felt like the best story-telling mode for this piece was for a solo performer. It was great fun to play together though and some of the ideas we had begun to explore still made it into ‘An Evening Without Kate Bush’.

After Russell and I had just started working on this version, Kate Bush suddenly announced her ‘Before The Dawn’ comeback dates at Hammersmith Apollo! As fans we were thrilled. But as theatre-makers we were concerned. We thought people might think we were just cynically trying to cash-in on her return by making our show. So we decided to shelve it for a few years. 

Cut to 2018 and we went to see the brilliant US tribute band ‘Baby Bushka’ at the Moth Club. Watching their audience leap about to ‘Hounds Of Love’ and enjoying old classics with guilt-free abandon, we knew we had to make ‘An Evening Without Kate Bush’. Our idea was too fun to ignore!

Also how did you go about learning the techniques and mannerisms of both Kate Bush and her impersonators? Did you interview them and/or watch a lot of performance footage?

I never set out to impersonate her. She is unique. It’s amazing how many people tell me I sound like her though. I perform all the songs in their original keys and I think part of it is that she chose such specific phrasing and wrote such intricate melodies, hearing them instantly hot wires you back to the original. I spent one day working with the amazing Tom Jackson Greaves, who is a director and choreographer. He had watched a lot of her videos and noted down similarities in her body vocabulary. We explored those in our session; again, never trying to ‘be’ her, more tap into her spirit. Quite by accident, the nicknames we came up with for them (The Pulse, The Champagne Whipcrack, for example) found their way into the show. That’s often how it happens with devised work - you become a sponge for every impulse and they jostle around your head during the making process until they either find a home or float off into the ether.

With the costumes too, we tried to evoke her, not copy her. We rub shoulders with themes (she uses a lot of nature and bird imagery in her work, hence the feathery headdress). The cleaner’s outfit for ‘This Woman’s Work’ is as much a nod to the cleaner’s story we mention at the start of the show, as it is to her TV special appearance where she sang ‘Army Dreamers’ dressed as a cleaner or archetypal vintage housewife. That’s one for the Super-fans.

We did of course watch a LOT of footage, interviews, videos, everything we could find, to get to know her journey as an artist and also how the world around her changed. Her early interviews are so uncomfortable. She is often being asked truly banal or overtly sexualised questions. She is so polite and accommodating but it’s great to see her later on her career take the reins and shut down lines of enquiry which show the interviewers have no idea what they are talking about. I also read the brilliant biography by Graeme Thomson called ‘Under the Ivy’. It’s the best music biography I have ever read and really lets you into her creative process.

When did you first become aware that you had a predilection towards performance? How did you develop these skills through your education? 

I come from a big family; I’m the youngest of five siblings and the only girl. Apparently that explains a lot! I always loved to sing but was quite shy away from home until I went to secondary school. I found doing silly voices helped me out of a tight spot at ballet once when the older kids were picking on me for wearing second hand clothes. It’s a common story amongst comedy performers that they find their voice under duress. We had the most brilliant music teacher at school, Miss Porrer, and she really nurtured me. I have been fortunate to have a lot of encouragement, from my family, my teachers and my friends. I met one of my closest friends, Paulus, at 13 and he shared his love of cabaret and variety with me (I distinctly remember him playing me a Fascinating Aida record in his bedroom, both of us surrounded in stuffed Garfields. I had no idea that 22 years later I would be guesting with them in the West End!)

You suggest that a teacher found your performance during your teenage years as Kate Bush a little risqué. Were other teachers more encouraging of your creativity? 

I wouldn’t take everything you see in the show literally if you don’t want to spoil the magic :-)

How would you recommend a student in school or college with creative leanings should develop their skills?

See stuff. Watch other performers. If you don’t have much money, like me growing up, talk to your libraries, your school, your local theatre - they may have resources and outreach projects. If you can get online there are SO many good shows available to watch. Also, just DO it. Don’t wait for permission. The Edinburgh Fringe is an expensive place but there are ways to do it more cheaply like the Free Fringe and it is an incredible learning experience. You have to try and fail and as Beckett said, ‘fail better’. There are no short cuts. With every new show I make I start again. Watch, devour, make, take risks, and study a bit. But don’t get stuck in an endless cycle of taking courses, DO! Also get some sleep, look after your body and foster your friendships with friends. You need a life too.

Who have your influences been as you have developed your own style and professional career? Have they varied a great deal from your childhood interests?

There are performers and creatives I saw when I was young who inspired me to want to act: Emma Thompson, Steven Berkoff (around the time of his incredible solo show, ‘One Man’), Linda Marlowe (who I finally got to work with and is now a friend), Kathryn Hunter, Mark Rylance. Also composers, Stephen Sondheim, Kurt Weill and artists as diverse from Edith Piaf to Joni Mitchell. As we evolve so the need for different creative nourishment evolves. I am most inspired now by my contemporaries, people making and evolving around me: Desmond O’Connor and Zoie Kennedy (as individuals and as part of Twice Shy Theatre), Amy G, Lucy McCormick, Gateau Chocolat, Peta Lily, Jordan Clarke, to name a few.

Also when did you first become interested in Julie Andrews? ‘Julie Madly Deeply’ still holds fond memories for me. I saw it twice in the same run at the Trafalgar Studios, both alone and with my mother and sister (who are big fans of Dame Julie Andrews). You successfully conveyed the emotional attachment of fans to their idols. Did you ever meet Dame Julie Andrews?

Thank you, I’m still very fond of that show and in fact we just did a two week run of it over Christmas (at the Park Theatre in London). I have not met Dame Julie but some of her friends have seen the show and loved it so that’s wonderful. I did invite her but she is a bit busy!

You work regularly with Michael Roulston and I have many happy memories of seeing the two of you performing your songs in various venues. ‘Please Don’t Hand Me Your Baby’ from ‘Songs For Cynics’ has always been a favourite. When did you meet Michael Roulston and how does collaborative working help you to develop your ideas? When Michael and your self are composing, do you find that one or the other of you tends to focus more on the lyrics of a song and the other person, the music?

We met on the Battersea Barge when it was owned by Peter Lewis who provided a haven for artists and clowns to try things out, develop ideas and experiment. Paulus, Dusty Limits and I put on a cabaret night called ‘Trinity’s’ and Michael played for us. We worked a lot in different configurations and then in 2006 I asked him to write songs with me for an ill-fated show called ‘Confessions Of A Paralysed Porn Star’. The title was the best thing about it. By the end of the run I was £8000 out of pocket but we had learned how to write songs and make a show. It took me another three years to try again and by then I had learned from some of my mistakes and we presented ‘Cabaret Whore’ in 2009 which catapulted me into the world of cabaret one-nighters, The Adelaide Cabaret Festival and being commissioned to make ‘Julie Madly Deeply’. At the start I was very much the lyricist and Michael was the music but now we have a more fluid working relationship. We still have our feet primarily in those camps but will work together on a lyric first and then on the music and it’s just as likely that Michael will solve a lyric problem as I might have an idea for a melody. It’s a true collaboration.

Also the idea of creating bespoke songs for individuals is a unique endeavour. How did the idea come about?

Like many creatives the pandemic wiped out all of our work for a year. We had already written songs with and for other people (including Marcel Lucont, Lili La Scala, Ophelia Bitz, Clementine Living Fashion Doll and TO&ST winner, Lynn Ruth Miller). We put the idea out on social media and the response was great. We’ve written songs and created personalised photo videos (with the lyrics so you can sing along) for birthdays, weddings, retirements, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day and even a song for a cat. We are still doing them now.

I recently saw the production of ‘Jarman’ that you directed.  How did you become involved with the playwright and actor, Mark Farrelly and can you explain to me some of the freedoms and restrictions that you experience as a director as opposed to those situations where you are solely responsible for your own work? 

I met Mark in the queue to see the brilliant Rob Crouch in his solo show about Oliver Reed, ‘Wild Thing’. He was about to make his Quentin Crisp show and I was about to start work on ‘Julie Madly Deeply’ so we were seeing as many solo shows as we could for inspiration. We became instant friends and big fans of each other’s work. When he asked me to read his script for 'Jarman' I didn’t know a lot about him other than the title of some of his films and as an activist. I fell in love with the script and the man and then watched his films and was delighted to be asked to collaborate on the piece. I don’t really think of directing as having restrictions - my job is to help the artists create the show they want to make. In the case of ‘Jarman’ the script already existed so my job was to bring the physicality and staging to it - a visual realisation. We made a few small adjustments to what was on the page but it’s mostly exactly as Mark wrote it. I absolutely adored working with him and found him endlessly open and available for play and exploration. I’m very proud of the show. I’m also working with Russell Lucas on a new show called ‘The Bobby Kennedy Experience’ where he is performing and I am the outside eyes. It’s a different process from the one I had with Mark - again, there is no template: sometimes Russell will work on things on his own and invite me round to give feedback. Sometimes we are coming up with ideas together. With ‘Looking For Me Friend: The Music Of Victoria Wood’, Paulus, Michael Roulston and I spent a few days listening to songs, playing with post-it notes and collecting stories and quotes. Then Paulus went away and wrote the script. So I had a bit more of a hand in its creation but my job as director is still to facilitate Paulus to make the show he wants to perform. The kind of work I make for myself often involves improvisation and flexing with the audience in the room - so that is in and of itself a different kind of freedom. As a director, once the show is out there, my influence is over - apart from sitting in the dark and feeling proud.

‘Je Regrette!’ was a very funny and in some respects, hard hitting account of an Edith Piaf style figure with her difficult upbringing. What paths lead you to create a figure based on the troubled singers of so-called chansons or torch songs?

La Poule was originally one of 7 characters in the ‘Cabaret Whore’ series of shows. She’s the only character who made it into all four incarnations. She’s my dark clown. She comes from the desperate human need to be loved, the narcissistic neediness in a lot of us. She’s inspired by real people and imagined people. The original premise of ‘Cabaret Whore’ was to look at the ego it takes to stand on a stage and tell a bunch of strangers your life story. Why should we care? It’s the question I start all making processes with. What are we asking the audience to connect with? Who or what is it in service to? Again, it’s less about trying to imitate or reference a specific singer. La Poule just happens to be a singer. Mostly she’s a human being who has found life hard and unfair. I think a lot of people can identify. I use extreme characterisation to amplify normal behaviour so that audiences can recognise aspects of themselves but feel reassured they are not THAT bad!

During your production, ‘An Evening Without Kate Bush’, you delve into a box of costumes and props? Was this something you used to do as a child? 

My childhood friend Charlie had a huge costume box I was very envious of and we used to get given huge bags of second hand clothes from well-meaning people because we didn’t have much money. I was always trying to create fetching outfits. At 14 I started dying my hair and playing with that, shaving it off, making it blue. Now I dress up for a living. I’m quite dull in my civilian life. I don’t wear make-up and I’m mostly in black. I like full transformations from simple changes.

Also following your work in ‘The Showstoppers’ improvisation group, do you think that improvisational practices are not only of use within creative endeavours, but also to explore personal issues or dilemmas?

Absolutely and to answer that question I refer you to Pippa Evans’ book ‘Improv Your Life’.

Please can you explain your work with ‘The Authentic Artist’?

The AA is a wonderful collective founded by Kath Burlinson who runs courses and workshops for people who want to explore their artistic process. She takes an embodied approach and I have found this invaluable in my work. Writers, singers, musicians, visual and digital artists, set-designers, she works with all manner of creatives: they do not all necessarily practice their art for a living. The group is not an official organisation, rather a gathering of like-hearted people who have all experienced a similar process and like to stay in touch and share work and thoughts from time to time. It isn’t a cult or a membership thing. It’s community.

Do you feel that there is a story within us all? If so, how would you encourage someone to develop it?

I think we are all creative and we are all story making creatures - we tell stories to ourselves when we sleep and we recount the day’s event with a beginning, a middle and an end. A lot of people have their creativity squashed over time and I advocate everyone being encouraged to invite in their creativity. Whether that’s how you arrange the furniture in your room, make a salad or write your Facebook post.

During ‘An Evening Without Kate Bush’, you were able to encourage through your charisma and empathy to get various members of the audience up on stage to both sing and dance. How can you determine who will and won’t be willing to perform with you on stage?

I hope after 20 years of performing I am a good judge of who will want to play. I can definitely tell who doesn’t want to be asked. I build into the show opportunities for me to investigate who might be a possible contender for later in the show. Most people self-select - you can read their body language and their faces (an interesting challenge through a mask!) I never invite a single person up unless they have someone waiting for them by their seat to make them feel supported when they return. I never humiliate people. My job is to elevate and celebrate the audience. So far, no-one has every refused!

Where do you get your ideas from and how do you distinguish the form that they should take (e.g. a song or performance piece)?

I’m constantly trying to make sense of life through my work. Everything is a potential inspiration and the form it takes is dictated by what mode (song, poem, play, tweet) will serve it best. It has to connect with an audience, so if it’s not going to resonate with someone else, I keep it to myself.

Has your creativity ever led you astray resulting in you creating something unlike your original idea?

I don’t think I have ever made a show with an exact version of it in my head at the start. If the story is solid then there is a direction of travel but it’s part of the creative process to wander off path from time to time. I am making a show now for Summerhall this August called ‘The Silent Treatment’. I was just about to share an early draft when Covid hit. During the past two years it has morphed into a different show, hopefully a better show than the one I might have presented in 2020. The world changed, I changed, so it changed too.

I haven’t read it yet but the ‘RSV People Book’ by Paul Chronnell and your good self sounds wonderful (the book is on its way to me now). The idea of contacting all of the requests for pen pals in one issue of ‘Smash Hits’ magazine in 1985 touches on a theme that seems to run through lots of your projects. Nostalgia seems to provide a rich vein for your creativity. What do you most miss about the past?

Flexibility and time. I don’t really miss the past but I long for more TIME - time to do nothing - life is full and I love it but I sometimes long for a few days with absolutely nothing to do but shoot the breeze… if I had it I’d probably spend it coming up with an idea for a show anyway! I also have to stretch and look after my body much more now than I used to. But honestly, each year I am learning - I wouldn’t want to go backwards.

Your work ensures that certain acts and movements are not forgotten, how would you like to be remembered?

As someone who cared and told good stories. Loyal and loving. Work in progress up to the final breath.

What are your future plans? How is your musical ‘Maxa, The Most Assassinated Woman In The World’ with Michael Roulston coming along?

There is a lot of promotion to do for the book. ‘Jarman’ and ‘Looking For Me Friend’ are off on tour so I will check in with those. I have one more week working with Russell on the 'Bobby Kennedy Show' before we open at the Town And Gown in Cambridge in April. After our Soho run I am on tour with AEWKB (‘An Evening Without Kate Bush’), I’m also in rehearsals for 'The Silent Treatment' and coaching several other artists on their solo shows and planning a wedding. Maxa is ready to go so now we need investment or a producer to take it on. It’s all go! 

Sarah-Louise Young, many thanks for allowing me to interview you and I look forward to seeing your next production.

                                                                                            Barry Watt – 9th February 2022.

Afterword 

Please see the below links for further information about Sarah-Louise Young and her endeavours/collaborations: 

Sarah-Louise Young’s website: www.sarah-louise-young.com 

Bespoke Songs: www.roulstonandyoung.co.uk 

An Evening Without Kate Bush: www.withoutkatebush.com 

The RSVPeople: www.thersvpeople.co.uk 

Maxa Musical: www.maxamostassassinated.com 

The Authentic Artist: www.authenticartist.co.uk

Also all of the projects/artists/magazines and books etc. are copyright to their respective owners.

                                                                                                                                            BW.

Photos (Kindly provided by Sarah-Louise Young.  The photographers are listed under the photos.  As above, the images are copyright, so please do not use without seeking permission or La Poule may come to visit with her knife!  ;-) )

                                           

Sarah Louise Young (Photo by Jamie Zubairi)

An Evening Without Kate Bush Main Shot

          (Photo by Steve Ullathorne)

Roulston & Young (Photo by Claudio Raschella)

Julie Madly Deeply (Photo by Steve Ullathorne)

La Poule Portrait (Photo by Steve Ullathorne)

La Poule With Knife
(Photo by Steve Ullathorne)