Happy Birthday, Sir Ed.

It's again been a busy few weeks. I'm bashing away at the new Maverick website - find it at http://www.mavericktheatre.co.uk/ And we may have Maverick's first full-time, part-time administrator. Watch this space.


I did a couple of extra radio shows this week too - filling in for Ian Danter. Best Seat In The House is an hour of live music at 11pm tonight and Rock with Laughter is a mix of comedy and music at 11pm on Saturday night. The sort of 'different' radio that gives The Arrow and DAB a good name!

I've also started a 'retail' bit on the website, called The Shakespeare Shop, with some great gift ideas and collectors items. It's been onerous, but quite good fun, finding stuff in shops and off t'interweb to sell on the site. And any profits will go to the theatre company. Warm glow all round! And it's tied up with pay pal, which is a great way to pay! Give it a go. Gooo onnn, you KNOW you want that Globe Theatre First Day Cover!

And it's Elgar's 150th Birthday this week. He's well tied up with the Midlands and interestingly, he went to London to try and make his fortune - but he failed and came back to Worcestershire with his tail between his legs. No comment.

I had the professional rights to produce the play 'Journey's End', by RC Sheriff a few years ago. I felt it was ripe for a production. But the size of the cast put me off. Not the size, but the cost! It had a very successful run in the West End not long ago. The production and the play are all tied up with Birmingham through a fairly convoluted route that involves Birmingham Old Rep theatre - the first Rep Theatre in the world! And the whole point of this rant is that we were planning on using Elgar's Nimrod at the end of the production. Glenn Bayes, a local actor who had obvious directorial skills, had worked out a lovely end to the piece. I won't say what it was, because I think we're going to use it in Henry V - Lion of England! But it was good.

Glenn is a Brummy Boy, who, unlike Elgar, went to London ten years ago and hasn't come back to Birmingham. In fact, thinking about it, many of the early Maverick talent is now down the smoke. Glenn's gone, Rebs ran and no more hangin' in Kingstandin' for our Andy.

I'd like to buy Sir Ed a pint. But he's 150. I think I might go to London.






An early amateur production of 'Brighton Beach Memoirs' at Hall Green Little Theatre, Birmingham, in about 1991 ish. Of the seven people pictured, four would be directly involved in Maverick Theatre. Three are now living in London. (Photo: Haydn Thomas)

Strewth Mate! What a tragedy!

Hot News. Funding crises in the Arts? The Olympics might actually bring some benefit to those OUTSIDE London? No. Worse. THE BBC ARE TO STOP SHOWING NEIGHBOURS! Yes it's BBC Curtains for the Aussie Soap!

It's some sort of bidding war, but they know not what they do, poor fools. For years presenting plays, mainly at the Billesley Pub in South Birmingham, myself and many of my fellow artistes would regail each other with tales of our regular breakfast television treat. It was a treasured routine for us pub thesps! Show, Beer, Curry, bed at 4 or 5am, then up with a spring in the step for our Breakfast Television - The 1 o'clock news on the BBC and then Neighbours. Real life like!

Sadly, with the current pressure of re-starting the Maverick, I now find myself getting up in the middle of the night... 9am, a ridiculous time, I know. But the old habit dies hard and I retire with a cup of tea and a marmalade sandwich come 1.40pm each day to luxuriate with my daily dose of Aussie bimbo's and blokeo's, laughable plots and vacuous characters.

So it looks like it'll be Neighbours with commercial breaks! BBC. Why oh why oh why! I am a license payer! And what about the health service. And immigration. The fabric of the country. And the youth of today! The worlds gone mad, I tell you...

Could be some exciting stuff goin' down...!

...but I can't really announce it to the world yet. It's not me being mysterious, it's just that it's not good to count your chickens before they've hatched, etc. And my eggs may have only just been fertilized, if you get my meaning...!

But here's a pictoral clue!


Well, slap my thigh and call me Roger, sirrah! T'is a Theatre most Globe-ish. And most Shakespearean.

And talking of London theatrical buildings, if you ever went to the Webber Douglas Academy, prepare for a shock. For now, in the best traditions of photo-journalism, here's a trail of pictures.

The Scene of the Crime! Clareville Street.


Bloody hell! Someone's nicked the Webber Douglas and left a skip outside in its place!




Yep, the hole in the ground behind the black gates is all that is left of a nearly hundred year old drama institution. Shame, innit. And I didn't even go there!

Elsewhere this week, I'm still working on the new website. I haven't advertised it anywhere yet as I'm still finding content and stuff. You can take a sneak peak at www.mavericktheatre.co.uk . I'd appreciate any comments. And the old website still lives, here.


Off to the City of Birmingham tomorrow to see if I can get any support for my Brave New Maverick World. Mmm. Watch this space!

Busy Website week

Maverick is about to get a new website. I've found a package I can do myself. Our current website was very kindly produced by a lovely bloke called Brian who was so bowled over by the Maverick Pub Theatre concept, he wanted to help and did our website for free. Or at least not completely free. The usual Maverick fee of a pint and a curry. Very kind of him, although if you look at it now, you'll see it's hopelessly out of date because Bri is no longer in the Midlands and the secret of how we update the friggin' site has dissapeared up the M6 with him. It's not SO crucial for a theatre company to have a website, but I really want to get as much as possible ready for when we hit the road with our small scale tour.

It's very odd really. In spite of my comparative lack of success so far with my Business Plan, I really do think we are going to make an impact on the national theatre scene over the next few years. It's not arrogance, I hope, or blind optimism and I'm not talking about being the next Cameron Macintosh or Bill Kenwright or Peter Hall, but just a belief that the stuff I like will rattle other peoples cages too. And if I can scrape a living out of it, that will be just fine by me. I've a GREAT idea for something about Tony Hancock! Watch this space!

Actually, I lied about Brian making our first website. The very FIRST Maverick website was produced by Justyn, who was 13 when we cast him opposite the talented Paul Henry in A Ghost of A Chance, a play wot I wrote and which won a Guinness Award through the National Theatre. After his acting duties Justyn used to hang around with me and Slater and came in to do various odd jobs during his school holidays. After the Billesley pub production we went to Edinburgh and I became very fond of him. But he wasn't allowed the usual web designers fee of a pint and a curry. I still owe him that. I haven't seen the lovely boy for some years now, but I gather he's doing very well and I shall invite him to our re-launch party. Re-launch party? Yep, but more about that later. It's back to the web-land of HTML for me. And when I finish the new website, it'll be time for my fee...!

Relentlessly Irish Business Curry.

I sent my Maverick Theatre Business Plan to my accountant and three friends who are in business. This week I saw the second of the three friends. Like the first - and my accountant - he was worried that my plan was more a theatrical dream than a hard nosed working document for finance. Lacks focus. Bugger. Fed up, I decide to download some spiritual Irish music from i-tunes. However, Belfast Child, Danny Boy, When You Were Sweet Sixteen, My Heart Will Go On (downloaded by mistake - the title on the song was Fields of Athenry, honest) did little to raise my spirits. I look at my rapidly expanding waistline and decide to go for a pint and a curry. That'll show 'em! Yeah, Ma. Top of the World!