Here we go then!

Look everyone! An Actor! I spoke to Michael Shaw last week and asked if he minded if we used his image for a touring brochure - which he didn't. This was Michael when he performed my Henry V - Lion of England at the Waterside in Stratford-upon-Avon. We were there for 6 weeks, I think and I can't believe it was 1995!

Michael may be up for Henry again, but as he said, it's a VERY strenuous part and he's 12 years older now. But he is a great talent is our Mickey and even if his knees won't bear three months on the road as the Merry Monarch (and 12 other characters!) I'm sure we'll do stuff together again sometime.

Me ol' mate John Slater has knocked up a touring brochure and this week I've got it printed and so it looks like it's all systems go with the new Maverick. So gird your loins - Henry V - Lion of England is going to be touring the UK for the first time ever! In the autumn. How exciting! Although I did write it in 1992, so it's not as if it's not overdue. It's had brilliant reviews, fortunately, and I hope you'll like it. Watch this space for venues. I shall once again be knocking on the door of the Arts Council. And I've spent, literally, months trying to put a business plan together. Not my natural environment, loves!

And talking of the business plan, for some reason I seem to work quite well down the pub! It gets me out of the house, you see. If you find yourself in a pub in Kings Heath, Birmingham and there's a nutter with a notebook in the corner with a pint, chances are it's me. Although nothing makes much sense after the third pint, I have to say.

I'm trying to write a novel on the Two Pint Principal, too. I'm hoping it's a really good kids sci-fi adventure story. It's certainly a good excuse to take me notebook down the pub and have a pint and not look too much like a lonely, solitary, sad old man. A word of warning though. Usually, after a few pints of literary sparkle the curry house beckons and I owe many stones of weight and a rapidly increasing waistline to the Sylhet Spice in York Road.

Finally, another brilliant thing about t'interweb. I'm not supposed to talk about it, but allowing ads on this page earned Maverick 78 US cents on Monday. Rock On! And another brilliant feature is that you can comment on these posts. I didn't realize until I saw that Robb, our original musician and good guy, left a comment about the early days. I think you can see it too if you click the correct bit somewhere down below. And that's about as technical as I get especially as I've got to finish my 2008 turnover projections now for the Business Plan. Where's me coat? 3 pints, then I think it will be a Chicken Tikka tonight...

Sunday, 25 February 2007

Two amazing things happened yesterday. For the first time since about 1994, I didn’t switch the computer on all day! Not even to check e-mails. Although there are lots of benefits to working from home, leaving work is very difficult. Especially as I’m trying to get Maverick going again and rapidly running out of dosh! The temptation is always to go back to the computer and do a bit more. But today I didn’t. Instead I went with John, my spiritual father in law, and saw Moseley rugby club get beaten by Leeds Tykes. Now, I’m not much of a rugger bugger, but Moseley are now on the common by my old council estate and I love the idea of a traditional ‘old wealthy’ game being played in a council estate.

Then, another unique experience. I went and saw Ken Dodd at Dudley. A mate of mine, Brian, kindly booked a bunch of tickets so I thought I’d give it a go. A living legend is Doddy and some of his surrealism feels very contemporary for an old chap. But nobody warned us – although I’d heard the rumours – about the ‘longevity’ not just of his reputation, but of the show itself. Curtain up was 7.30pm. The interval finally came, much to the relief of a hot, thirsty and numb bummed audience nearly three hours later at 10.20pm!

As we fled to the door for some fresh air the doorman remarked,

“Keep your tickets if you want to come back. Although a lot of people didn’t last night.’

I wasn’t altogether surprised. The chairs were not that comfortable and I’d actually thought about not returning myself.

“What time did he finish last night?” I enquired.

The doorman shuffled a bit and looked vaguely embarrassed.

“Well…about… well… it was about one o’clock”

1AM! I was pleased to have seen the living legend and he truly is a great man and a fine comic, but it was time for the pub.

We alighted at the nearest hostelry which was ancient and attractive on the outside, but young, loud and louche on the inside.

As we dodged the occasional flying snooker cue and struggled to be heard above the bass beats and more frequent foul mouthed, mainly female obscenities, Steve, a writer mate of mine, summed up the whole Ken Dodd Laughter Show -or at least the first half - which included a musical interlude by a portly attractive young musician backed by Kens band, a keyboardist and rather bored drummer who bore an uncanny resemblance to John Prescott.

“It was like waking up at Butlins”, said Steve, “in 1955.”

Me Other Job.

I've had a few queries about my radio work. So here is my occasional office at The Arrow, the Rock Music Station owned by Chrysalis Radio, along with Heart, Galaxy and LBC. The Arrow is on DAB Digital Radio in 6 regions of the UK, from Southern Scotland to London and the South. It's also nationally available through your telly on Sky, NTL (Virgin?). Check out www.thearrow.co.uk. I'm currently on-air from 8am - 10 am Monday to Friday and 6 - 9pm Sunday. I've been presenting radio on and off since I was about 19. Keeps me off the streets, like! And I've the perfect face for radio...

Weekly going ons!

I’ve joined an exclusive club this week. ‘Which Club’, I hear you ask. ‘Groucho’s? Soho House? Blacks?’

Better than all the above. Birmingham Snooker Club. Being in the media means membership cost me £2.50. For a whole year. 2 pints and a bag of crisps for a fiver. And, of course, you can play snooker or pool if you want to. Which I won’t. And why is this club better than all the above? Simple. 1 – it’s in Birmingham, which is where I am and – 2- THE BAR NEVER CLOSES. No, really. It’s open 24/7. It’s not that I’m a boozer, but most people in theatre don’t finish work till 10.30pm and in spite of the so called 24 hour drinking, most pubs still shut at 11pm. Imagine you leave the office or your shop or factory at 5.30pm and say to a mate “fancy a pint?” and then all the pubs shut at 6pm. Not very convenient.

Also this week, me ol’ mate John Slater knocked up a touring brochure for me play Henry V – Lion of England which looks like will now tour the UK in the Autumn. And I found a brilliant printer in Erdington who’s going to print em up!

Still haven’t finished the business plan for the Brave New Maverick. It’s like swimming through treacle! Better be off now. I’ve a MySpace site to check out! So web.2, loves!

P.S. The club is not really called the Birmingham snooker club. I thought I should protect its identity!

Starting A Theatre Company - PART ONE

Don't do it!

PART 2. If you must do it, then pop back here every now and then and find out how I'm getting on, and if we make it!

When we first started the Maverick Theatre Company in 1994, after some amateur experiments, I wrote a short diary entry in our very first programme. It wasn't me being heroic, but a desire to share with our potential audience what was going on and how we came to be presenting theatre in a pub and why it had taken weeks of working 18 hour days. It also allowed me to get some perspective on the event. We presented Willy Russell's Educating Rita, partly because it's a very good play (commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, don't y' know!) and partly because the process of producing, directing and creating a new theatre venue was an Education for me. It was Educating Nick. The feedback from that little diary entry was so good, I made a mental note to do it again some time. Maverick Theatre was, and still is, all about dispelling some of the popular myths about theatre. Breaking down some of the traditional barriers. In our case saying “forget the telly for a night. Come down the pub for a pint and a pie and watch a play.”

In 1997 I wrote a play called A Ghost Of A Chance (dangerous title if the critics hadn’t liked it which, fortunately, they generally did!) It starred 13 year old Justyn Luke Towler and Paul Henry, a very smart actor who will forever be known for his role as ‘Benny’ in Crossroads. Although I’d had the very great pleasure of working with Sir Derek Jacobi on one occasion – yes, really, THE Sir Del. And what a star he was – there was great interest in a named actor like Paul supporting us little theatre gits. So I kept a production diary. It meandered all over the place and although occasionally a fag, was quite good fun. And because I did it daily as I went, I had no idea how it would end up. We made a number of copies and bound them and charged a fiver, I think, to cover the costs and they sold out. Again it was a desire to tell our audience what was going on. To encourage a greater sense of ownership, I guess. I couldn’t have a pint with everyone and let them know how we were doing, so the production diary filled this gap. And again the feedback from the book was very positive.

So now I’m starting again – another journey of discovery. But this time the technology has moved on. I can now BLOG! No need to charge for a book. The whole drama of trying to find money, sponsors, actors, and premises will be here for cyber-ever. I’ve got some big and unique ideas, some of which have never been done before. This time Maverick will be touring. Or at least that’s the plan. So join the soap opera that is Maverick! I’m doing some part-time work on Rock Station The Arrow, but unless I can find some business funding, we’re sunk before we start. Watch this space!

PART THREE.

Get yourself a home made logo. See above. Thanks Robb and John Slater.

Coming Soon. That Michael Palin thing.

In the Beginning...

... there was ME. This is my pic. Looking old and, yes, with a glass of red wine. And some 30 years after I came along, there was an idea for a theatre company. T'was 1992 and I'd been doing all sorts. Me and a mate Rob Vomit - the only actor I knew - did a one man version of Henry V wot I wrote. Called Henry V - Lion of England, we performed at the mac in Brum for 1 night. Another mate, Robb Williams, wrote an atmospheric soundtrack. Cost me fifty quid to hire the venue and I asked me family and mates along. Also present were Jasper Carrott's then managers and they took us to the Edinburgh Fringe which inspired me to start a company in Birmingham that would be true to the spirit of the fringe and be truly accessible. So we started Maverick at the Billesley Pub in South Birmingham on the edge of a council estate where, coincidentally, I was born. It was hard, artistically and financially and our last production was in 2003. Now, in 2007, we're kicking off again. Why? Mmm. Good question. NEXT TIME. Why I hate Michael Palin.