Biography
My first time at Edinburgh Fringe, 1994.
I was born in south Manchester in February 1964 and had a very happy childhood, (only occasionally very rudely interrupted by going to school!) I remember from an early age, thinking of characters and scenarios to make the war games, played with friends, more interesting.(I never minded being killed, dying in dramatic fashion!) I think I wanted to be an actor before I realised anyone could be one!
For as long as I can remember films always inspired me and powerful actors who were so real they couldn't just be mere actors! I remember from a very young age loving Kirk Douglas, an actor who is still one of my all time favourites. Also Peter Sellers and Charles Laughton, they captured my imagination inspired me hugely and I always wanted to be Richard Harris!
Although I'd fantasised about acting since very young, the first time I actually remember thinking I could be one was while watching the weekly instalments of an adaptation of Wuthering Heights on BBC in 1978, I remember the actor was Ken Hutchison as Heathcliff and he just made it all so real, that I really wanted to be him. I remember copying him, walking around the house, unkempt, with candle wax dripping down on my hand. I don't think the carpets ever recovered! At the time however I was terribly shy and this got in the way of showing anyone I was any good. I did Manchester Youth Theatre for 2 years, 1983/84, but because I was just rubbish, only got spear carrier type roles with just a couple of lines. I was depressed even though was quite fun.
Throughout my 20's I lived in Manchester and fell in love with The Royal Exchange Theatre and throughout the 1980's I watched the best theatre I have ever seen here and it was the Royal Exchange more than anything else that made me believe acting was for me, and although after those early failed attempts at acting I didn't do any more for at least 5 years, the belief never left me.
I worked on a succession of government schemes where no job lay at the end and in shops and then in 1989 I got a job at the Granada studios tour attraction, where I often did extra work in Granada programmes like Coronation street & Cracker.
It was at this time I became involved with a theatre group in Salford, The City Acting Studio ran by a theatrical agency called Laine Management.
It was this more than anything that gave me the confidence to act. I had a great acting teacher in actor Andy Devine and after a move of the agents, we took over an old bank building on Chapel street in Salford, calling it 'The Old Bank Theatre' we put on plays & showcases & even survived the big double doors of the old bank building being ram raided by a van mid performance one night!
After this finished tried my hand at forming my own theatre company called 'Mischievous Fools', with the intention of performing in gardens of stately homes & castles, a play I had written adapted from an old English folk tale about Robin Goodfellow.
I have always been interested in producing my own work and in 1994 I ended up performed a one-man, street show version of Treasure Island at the Edinburgh fringe. I had written the piece for me and a friend to do, but he'd had to drop out a the last minute, so I went ahead and played all the roles, which was chaotic, but still hopefully fun. Great compliment when the assistant curator of the National Museum of Scotland wanted me to perform it in the foyer of the museum, as their own Treasure Island readings to mark the centenary of RL Stevenson's death apparently weren't going down to well! Whilst in Edinburgh I was squatting for 2 weeks in the derelict old Scottish & Newcastle brewery, which was roughly where the Scottish Parliament and met many people living homeless, who'd sought refuge in the old brewery. Quite a few of them became like camp followers to the play, including strangely enough a guy with one-leg and another guy with a wooden parrot!
That year of 1994 I again auditioned for drama schools, 10 years on from when I had first done so and I was offered a place at two, one in London, but I decided as I had no grant or funding that Birmingham and it's School of speech & drama, (now Birmingham School of Acting). would be more affordable.
Memorable shows were 'Teechers' by John Godber. I loved playing Mr Nixon, based him on the best teacher I had at Birmingham, the best teacher I've ever had in fact, a great Welshman called Ron Williams.
Because we were in the first year, we weren't allowed to perform in the theatre, instead it was the old Georgian house's main room, known as 'The Regency Room', where the dimmer switch on the chandelier was the height of technical support!
I also loved playing Millwall football hooligan Billy in Nick Perry's 'Arrivederci Millwall' and in particular doing Billy's Henry V inspired, rousing speech calling the firm to arms, or in this case stanley knives! And as a final year play, the narrator Michael in Brian Friel's 'Dancing at Lughnasa' a production I found it as moving to act in, as people told me they found to watch.
I came to London in 1998 and performed my own self produced version of 'Silent Night', a new version of Steven Berkoff's solo play 'Harry's Christmas' performed at the Canal Cafe Theatre in Little Venice, at the time under the artistic directorship of Marc Wooton. After this I worked a lot on the fringe in London, performing shows at venues like The Etcetera Theatre in Camden. I also worked for Elephant Theatre in a new play, 1916, where I got to play for the first time a real person and what a real person, the legendary Irish socialist & one of the leaders of the Easter Rising, James Connolly. It was a bit chaotic, a cast of over 12 on the tiny stage at the Kings Head in Islington with lots of heavy artillery sound effects which often drowned out the dialogue, but I relished playing Connolly, even though the director Syd Golder wouldn't let me play him as the Scotsman he was. "Nah fuck off, they'll only think you can't do an Irish accent!"
Films that had so inspired me from an early age remained allusive to me. I was cast in a lead role in a very funny feature film, set in Liverpool it was a culture clash comedy about a disgraced peer of the realm, (me) who forms an unlikely friendship with a streetwise scouse teenager. Sadly the film ran out of money and was never completed. Over the last few years film offers have been coming my way again, most notably the central focus of the BBC film documentary 'The Man who loved the lakes' Alfred Wainwright and I have gained a lot of experience relishing the tiny details of small, but pivotal roles.
Looking back over the last 10 years, my most enjoyable role was playing Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh in the plays 'On Raglan Road' (2007 & 2008) and 'Kavanagh' (2009) particularly touring all around Ireland over 2 consecutive years. I would love to again play the farmer poet, who made Dublin, (or more correctly the Dublin pubs), his home. We even played the annual Patrick Kavanagh weekend in Inniskeen, with an audience made up of scholars from not just Ireland, but around the world who revere his work. If I'm honest, I think half the audience liked me, the other half hated me, which wasn't bad!
I have a great love for touring theatre and had a great time touring Italy with a new musical version of Treasure Island early in 2008. I was playing Long John Silver again, first time since Edinburgh in 1994. Hopefully I'll get to play old Long John again in the not too distant future!
In 2007 Alfred Wainwright, or AW, the fell-walker and guidebook writer, first came into my life! I was cast as him in the BBC drama documentary 'The Man who loved the lakes' I had once worked for the YHA, so was aware of the almost cult following AW's little guidebooks inspired amongst outdoor types! I ended up being asked to voice AW in the film as well as appearing as him, although was uncredited for the voicing. However this led to me voicing AW in a highly successful spin-off series of the Wainwright Walks, fronted by Julia Bradbury. This ran to 3 series broadcast between 2007-2009 and became best selling dvd's! In addition to this Cumbria tourism hit upon the idea of me recording podcasts, with myself as Wainwright guiding walkers, thereby coining the phraise: 'Flat-Cap Nav' ! I went on to record more for the publishers of the Wainwright books Francis Lincoln. Later I recorded AW's prose for a Radio 4 programme: 'The Man Behind the Mountains', The old fella's been good for me, though I'm sure he wouldn't be impressed with the programmes popularity inspiring many more walkers on the mountains!
Most recently I have performed in my own new one-man play about Beatles roadie Mal Evans, beginning at The Cavern in Liverpool, before 3 weeks at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in and then most recently on an 11 week tour of England & Ireland. I had wanted to play Mal, the Beatles best friend & closest confidante for some time & wrote a play with original music based around the Sergeant Pepper album tracks. I wanted to do something imaginative, as a homage to my favourite band and not just a run of the mill one-man play. The play received good notices & audience reaction was very positive, but regional touring theatre is sadly in the doldrums and the audiences were just not coming out for it. Leeds, Liverpool & Crawley were exceptions and had memorable nights in Ireland in Dublin, Wexford and Mayo.
The best thing about playing Mal was the reaction from Mal's family, his son, Gary and daughter Julie & her children, (Mal's grandsons) And I'm really happy to say I now count them as friends.
Dream jobs for me would be to act at the Royal Exchange Theatre, (I think then I'd really believe I was an actor!), To be in something like Happy Valley, Endeavour or Benidorm! In any good historical drama really, playing a rogue & villain! Oh and perhaps most of all to be a pirate in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie...oh yes that's what it's all about!
For as long as I can remember films always inspired me and powerful actors who were so real they couldn't just be mere actors! I remember from a very young age loving Kirk Douglas, an actor who is still one of my all time favourites. Also Peter Sellers and Charles Laughton, they captured my imagination inspired me hugely and I always wanted to be Richard Harris!
Although I'd fantasised about acting since very young, the first time I actually remember thinking I could be one was while watching the weekly instalments of an adaptation of Wuthering Heights on BBC in 1978, I remember the actor was Ken Hutchison as Heathcliff and he just made it all so real, that I really wanted to be him. I remember copying him, walking around the house, unkempt, with candle wax dripping down on my hand. I don't think the carpets ever recovered! At the time however I was terribly shy and this got in the way of showing anyone I was any good. I did Manchester Youth Theatre for 2 years, 1983/84, but because I was just rubbish, only got spear carrier type roles with just a couple of lines. I was depressed even though was quite fun.
Throughout my 20's I lived in Manchester and fell in love with The Royal Exchange Theatre and throughout the 1980's I watched the best theatre I have ever seen here and it was the Royal Exchange more than anything else that made me believe acting was for me, and although after those early failed attempts at acting I didn't do any more for at least 5 years, the belief never left me.
I worked on a succession of government schemes where no job lay at the end and in shops and then in 1989 I got a job at the Granada studios tour attraction, where I often did extra work in Granada programmes like Coronation street & Cracker.
It was at this time I became involved with a theatre group in Salford, The City Acting Studio ran by a theatrical agency called Laine Management.
It was this more than anything that gave me the confidence to act. I had a great acting teacher in actor Andy Devine and after a move of the agents, we took over an old bank building on Chapel street in Salford, calling it 'The Old Bank Theatre' we put on plays & showcases & even survived the big double doors of the old bank building being ram raided by a van mid performance one night!
After this finished tried my hand at forming my own theatre company called 'Mischievous Fools', with the intention of performing in gardens of stately homes & castles, a play I had written adapted from an old English folk tale about Robin Goodfellow.
I have always been interested in producing my own work and in 1994 I ended up performed a one-man, street show version of Treasure Island at the Edinburgh fringe. I had written the piece for me and a friend to do, but he'd had to drop out a the last minute, so I went ahead and played all the roles, which was chaotic, but still hopefully fun. Great compliment when the assistant curator of the National Museum of Scotland wanted me to perform it in the foyer of the museum, as their own Treasure Island readings to mark the centenary of RL Stevenson's death apparently weren't going down to well! Whilst in Edinburgh I was squatting for 2 weeks in the derelict old Scottish & Newcastle brewery, which was roughly where the Scottish Parliament and met many people living homeless, who'd sought refuge in the old brewery. Quite a few of them became like camp followers to the play, including strangely enough a guy with one-leg and another guy with a wooden parrot!
That year of 1994 I again auditioned for drama schools, 10 years on from when I had first done so and I was offered a place at two, one in London, but I decided as I had no grant or funding that Birmingham and it's School of speech & drama, (now Birmingham School of Acting). would be more affordable.
Memorable shows were 'Teechers' by John Godber. I loved playing Mr Nixon, based him on the best teacher I had at Birmingham, the best teacher I've ever had in fact, a great Welshman called Ron Williams.
Because we were in the first year, we weren't allowed to perform in the theatre, instead it was the old Georgian house's main room, known as 'The Regency Room', where the dimmer switch on the chandelier was the height of technical support!
I also loved playing Millwall football hooligan Billy in Nick Perry's 'Arrivederci Millwall' and in particular doing Billy's Henry V inspired, rousing speech calling the firm to arms, or in this case stanley knives! And as a final year play, the narrator Michael in Brian Friel's 'Dancing at Lughnasa' a production I found it as moving to act in, as people told me they found to watch.
I came to London in 1998 and performed my own self produced version of 'Silent Night', a new version of Steven Berkoff's solo play 'Harry's Christmas' performed at the Canal Cafe Theatre in Little Venice, at the time under the artistic directorship of Marc Wooton. After this I worked a lot on the fringe in London, performing shows at venues like The Etcetera Theatre in Camden. I also worked for Elephant Theatre in a new play, 1916, where I got to play for the first time a real person and what a real person, the legendary Irish socialist & one of the leaders of the Easter Rising, James Connolly. It was a bit chaotic, a cast of over 12 on the tiny stage at the Kings Head in Islington with lots of heavy artillery sound effects which often drowned out the dialogue, but I relished playing Connolly, even though the director Syd Golder wouldn't let me play him as the Scotsman he was. "Nah fuck off, they'll only think you can't do an Irish accent!"
Films that had so inspired me from an early age remained allusive to me. I was cast in a lead role in a very funny feature film, set in Liverpool it was a culture clash comedy about a disgraced peer of the realm, (me) who forms an unlikely friendship with a streetwise scouse teenager. Sadly the film ran out of money and was never completed. Over the last few years film offers have been coming my way again, most notably the central focus of the BBC film documentary 'The Man who loved the lakes' Alfred Wainwright and I have gained a lot of experience relishing the tiny details of small, but pivotal roles.
Looking back over the last 10 years, my most enjoyable role was playing Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh in the plays 'On Raglan Road' (2007 & 2008) and 'Kavanagh' (2009) particularly touring all around Ireland over 2 consecutive years. I would love to again play the farmer poet, who made Dublin, (or more correctly the Dublin pubs), his home. We even played the annual Patrick Kavanagh weekend in Inniskeen, with an audience made up of scholars from not just Ireland, but around the world who revere his work. If I'm honest, I think half the audience liked me, the other half hated me, which wasn't bad!
I have a great love for touring theatre and had a great time touring Italy with a new musical version of Treasure Island early in 2008. I was playing Long John Silver again, first time since Edinburgh in 1994. Hopefully I'll get to play old Long John again in the not too distant future!
In 2007 Alfred Wainwright, or AW, the fell-walker and guidebook writer, first came into my life! I was cast as him in the BBC drama documentary 'The Man who loved the lakes' I had once worked for the YHA, so was aware of the almost cult following AW's little guidebooks inspired amongst outdoor types! I ended up being asked to voice AW in the film as well as appearing as him, although was uncredited for the voicing. However this led to me voicing AW in a highly successful spin-off series of the Wainwright Walks, fronted by Julia Bradbury. This ran to 3 series broadcast between 2007-2009 and became best selling dvd's! In addition to this Cumbria tourism hit upon the idea of me recording podcasts, with myself as Wainwright guiding walkers, thereby coining the phraise: 'Flat-Cap Nav' ! I went on to record more for the publishers of the Wainwright books Francis Lincoln. Later I recorded AW's prose for a Radio 4 programme: 'The Man Behind the Mountains', The old fella's been good for me, though I'm sure he wouldn't be impressed with the programmes popularity inspiring many more walkers on the mountains!
Most recently I have performed in my own new one-man play about Beatles roadie Mal Evans, beginning at The Cavern in Liverpool, before 3 weeks at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in and then most recently on an 11 week tour of England & Ireland. I had wanted to play Mal, the Beatles best friend & closest confidante for some time & wrote a play with original music based around the Sergeant Pepper album tracks. I wanted to do something imaginative, as a homage to my favourite band and not just a run of the mill one-man play. The play received good notices & audience reaction was very positive, but regional touring theatre is sadly in the doldrums and the audiences were just not coming out for it. Leeds, Liverpool & Crawley were exceptions and had memorable nights in Ireland in Dublin, Wexford and Mayo.
The best thing about playing Mal was the reaction from Mal's family, his son, Gary and daughter Julie & her children, (Mal's grandsons) And I'm really happy to say I now count them as friends.
Dream jobs for me would be to act at the Royal Exchange Theatre, (I think then I'd really believe I was an actor!), To be in something like Happy Valley, Endeavour or Benidorm! In any good historical drama really, playing a rogue & villain! Oh and perhaps most of all to be a pirate in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie...oh yes that's what it's all about!
