Good Mourning Mrs Brown - 'divides opinion like Marmite'

by Patrick Astill

It really is no surprise that the TV show Mrs Brown's Boys divides opinion like Marmite. It certainly isn't one for the faint-hearted.

The programme has proved a surprise ratings hit for the BBC despite going down faster than the Titanic with the critics.

It's a traditional comedy staple in that the leading lady is Brendan O'Carroll in drag playing who is now – in the lamentable absence of Dame Edna Everage - the nation's favourite old dear.

But there the similarity ends. I saw the cultured, witty Aussie 25 years ago at the Theatre Royal when she was at the height of her powers, and I've now witnessed O'Carroll's foul-mouthed Dublin Mammy at the height of hers.

There's no doubting the show - and the performance - are a successful modern classic but its weakness, some might say its strength, lies in the toilet humour and toddler-level willy and wind gags.

Having said that, the stage version, Good Mourning Mrs Brown, quickly found its level with an adoring Concert Hall crowd and it's a sell-out for the whole run this week.

Every nuance, every thought, and much of the action is a well-sculpted joy as we share Mrs Brown's take on love, death and homosexuality.

This two-and-a-half-hour treat is an amalgamation of several plotlines from the television series, so in many ways there's nothing new – and some of the gags were prehistoric anyway.

Yet it's a warm and winning performance with a smile, a knowing glint in the eye and a well-practised cackle to get us all on-side.

Three main strands include grandad pretending to be dead so that he can find out what people really think of him, one daughter's love-life with a new boyfriend, and the son's efforts to ensure there's enough cash to put a deposit down on a new home for him and his pregnant wife.

It helps that O'Carroll surrounds himself with family and friends on stage as they all clearly relish the nightly challenge of getting through the show without giving in to too much laughter themselves, although it must be a struggle.

The comedy veteran clearly slips in many unexpected lines which work wonders with the audience and also have the cast in stitches.

A sample gag (and one of my favourites), is when the doctor says: "We'll need a sample of urine and a sample of his stools"; Grandad: "What did she say?"; Mrs Brown: "She wants your underpants!"

Perhaps the comparison should be less Edna Everage and more Les Dawson...

But it's a winning mix and one of the biggest cheers of the night was when O'Carroll promised at the curtain call that the cast would be back with the sequel – the second of a five-part trilogy.

'I think my days of glamorous dolly bird roles are over!'

A galaxy of stars from stage and television visited Lincoln’s Theatre Royal for the comedy drama, Five Blue Haired Ladies Sitting on a Green Park Bench.

The hilarious – and moving – story by John A Penzotti, concentrates on five wonderful women and is guaranteed to make you laugh ... and cry.

One of its big stars, popular actress Lorraine Chase, says she loves Lincoln and its theatre and is looking forward to her visit along with household names Shirley Anne Field, Anita Harris, Anne Charleston, Christopher Beeny, Frazer Hines and Tom Owen.

She said: “When the Campari adverts took off years ago I’d already been booked to do panto and had to come out of the West End and come to the little Lincoln Theatre, much to the chagrin of my co-star Kenneth Williams, who chastised me!

“That was for Chris Moreno, who ran the Lincoln theatre 33 years ago. I love that theatre and Chris too, who is one of the reasons this cast came together.

“One or two of the ladies had done the play before, and we have some lovely men including Chris Beeny and Fraser Hines, who’s also local to Lincoln.”

Lorraine has enjoyed 32 years in the business, with roles ranging from Dolly Clothespeg in Worzel Gummidge, to working with Roland Rat, having her own TV comedy series The Other Arf and later being a star of Lame Ducks, with John Duttine.

Her TV work in between a prolific stage career includes roles in Casualty, The Bill, Lock Stock and My Family.

More recently she had a prominent role in Emmerdale, playing the unpredictable Stephanie Stokes for six months. She ended up staying for four and a half years, leaving the soap in 2006.

“It’s a different form of acting,” she says.

“When you’re in a soap you can’t get into detail. You get your lines, learn them the night before, then you go in the next day and play it.

“I was just a working actor in a soap. I left because I didn’t want to become too entrenched. If you stay there 25 years, it’s retirement. You don’t have time to do other things. You don’t even have time for panto!”

She said actors have to strike a balance between regular money and living in one place with keeping fresh and moving forward.

“I lived in Yorkshire for four years and the people there were lovely, but my mum and dad – who aren’t getting any younger – and my friends live in London,” she revealed.

You may remember that working as a successful model, The Londoner came to fame in the acclaimed Campari TV commercials when her catchphrases “Nice Ere Innit” and “No, Luton Airport” became nationally quoted moving her on to celebrity status and her highly successful acting career.

But she says: “There’s some confusion now between celebrities and working actors. Once you get into acting you go into TV shows to tell people what you’re about to do.

“Now they make celebrity out of personal lives. If you’re a working actor in rep you’re not on television selling it because you’re at the theatre.”

Her new role in Five Blue Haired Ladies is “a nice little character”, contributing to the pathos and the laughs of the show, which focuses on the sixty-somethings’ well-lived lives and fears for the future.

“I think my days of glamorous dolly bird roles are over,” confides Lorraine, who qualifies for her bus pass later this year. “You have to go with your age, sadly – I’d be able to get into the clothes but it wouldn’t be a good look!”

Discovering the real Dan Clark

by Patrick Astill

Dan Clark is one of the country’s brightest comedy stars, best known for his portrayal of loveable rogue Don Danbury in the BBC3 hit sitcom How Not To Live Your Life.

He writes and produces the show, and you might also have seen him as Johnny Two Hats in The Mighty Boosh.

There’s a chance to see him in the flesh at the Drill Hall, when he visits Lincoln with his new stand-up tour.

And even though it’s a critically-acclaimed show, Dan’s under no illusions about his appeal.

“People are not coming in because of some stand-up,” he tells What’s On. “They are coming because of the television show.

“The audience is made up 95 per cent with fans of How Not To Live Your Life and they expect me to be a bit more like Don.

“We’re both quite similar, but I’m not quite as much of an idiot as Don is.

“He’s neurotic, self-effacing and lacks a huge amount of self-awareness.”

Dan – definitely not to be confused with his comic creation Don, then – is no stranger to live comedy, previously performing in the sketch group Electric Eel and then returning as a solo artist to Edinburgh in 2005 and 2006. In 2007 he went on to tour the UK, selling out around the country.

“I talk about being a victim of awkward situations,” he says of the latest show, which is in town on May 4.

“I look at the awkwardness of mistaking someone in a shop, or of being on public transport, or how we interact on dates.

“The difference is that Don is the cause of the awkwardness and he is unable to understand social etiquette. By the second half of the show they are warmed up and by then it’s a bit ruder, a bit edgier.

“Sometimes I have to elaborate on the truth – there are one or two situations where I have spotted the potential for something to happen. But some stories are 100 per cent true.

“I talk about relationships and about being on the internet all the time – the way we are addicted to checking messages, having about 20 different e-mail accounts and almost not living my life through being so social.”

He enjoys the success of the television series and has other projects in the pipeline.

Dan says: “It feels very much like a cult show, something that’s hidden, that people tell their friends about.

“Writing a sitcom on your own is a tall order, there is a part of me that asks what I want to do next? I wouldn’t want it to be in a corner of the BBC, I’d like it to reach a wider audience.”

After doing sketch comedy in his early 20s, acting and writing plays, he took the plunge to do stand-up in 2004.

He is now working on scripts in development for two television projects, so keep your eyes peeled to see what comes to fruition.

Dave sounds The Alarm against commercialism in music

Dave Sharp from The Alarm (68 Guns, Where Were You Hiding) is on the road, performing his own acoustic solo gigs around the UK.

He says the events rail against the commercial and engineered music that he feels is thrust upon the public.

“More people are saying they are fed up with it,” he said.

“It’s understandable that music doesn’t seem to be reaching out to people how it should be.

“There seems to be a growing appetite for a kind of music that has a human spirit to it, something that speaks on a human level to people.

“And it’s good that venues like the Jolly Brewer stick their neck out to promote music that will reach out to people.”

After The Alarm’s huge success in the 1980s, Dave spent a big part of the 90s in America, touring and making records.

In 1996, he recorded the album Downtown America, before returning to the UK in 2002 to record his third solo album, The Power of Soul, which re-introduced him to British audiences and earned him solo recognition across the UK with the critics.

Dave’s solo albums have received positive critical recognition on both sides of the Atlantic and over the past decade and a half he feels he has been fortunate to work alongside many of the artists he has long respected.

He’s worked with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and others in a period he says helped him “mature as an artist”.

His solo music has been described as everything from folk and blues to rock, country and punk.

And now, during breaks from the current tour, work in Manchester on his new album is progressing, with backing tracks complete.

His series of tour dates are designed to "challenge his electric guitar playing skills in a live format".

“I’m taking a break from recording at the moment and previewing new material,” he added.

“It’s really encouraging that up and down the country a lot of venues are starting to move away from the engineered media products.”

Dave recorded his first solo album, Hard Travellin' with record producer, Bob Johnston in 1991.

He is playing Lincoln and some other dates before embarking on another trip to Scotland - including his first appearance at brand new Glasgow alternative venue Pivo Pivo.

Jon Gomm - catch him on YouTube, he doesn't mind!

Acoustic singer-songwriter Jon Gomm has been hailed as one of the world's “most gifted and inspirational” guitar players.

He actually laid hands on a guitar aged two, wrote his first song at six and went on to accompany his father to watch gigs in his home town of Blackpool.

Touring musicians would often stay at their family home, which meant he regularly enjoyed expert tuition from some of the greats.

Nowadays he has a cult following of his own.

If you can get along to his gigs you’ll see how he combines a deeply personal performances with his natural wit – and a characteristic two-handed guitar style!

Using just the one instrument, his technique brings drum beats, bass lines and sparkling melodies to the audience, all at the same time.

A master of the art, some of his musical creations are something never heard anywhere else.

He says: “I’ve got a cult following and I’m really well known among guitar players in particular – and there are a lot of people playing the guitar these days!

“It’s mostly down to the Internet now. There are lots and lots of videos of my work on YouTube that people have watched.

“I’ve got loads of friends and followers online and that’s how people find out about me now.”

Early on he turned down a place at Oxford University studying English to attend The Guitar Institute in London. He paid his way through college playing jazz in café-bars, recording as a session guitarist, and playing country music for line dancers.

Nowadays he spends much of the year on the road, touring Europe and playing at festivals from Rome to Athens.

And he loves the Jolly Brewer – where the atmosphere is “amazing”. He’s looking forward to their first outdoor gig of the season.

He says: “I play a few covers in my set and they are the ones people will remember and request.

“Once the album had been out a while all the requests I get at gigs are songs from that record. It’s quite humbling when people are shouting out for songs you’ve written yourself!”

Jon’s independent approach to the music industry means his albums are home recorded and released on the label he owns.

His presence on myspace and YouTube are key to his appeal, with his debut album Hypertension selling over 10,000 copies with no industry backing.

He’s not keen on putting songs online that aren’t produced and published for people to buy for themselves.

“Every gig I play gets filmed – and some of the quality is amazing,” says Jon.

“I really don’t mind. The reason people want to do it is because they want to help me. They are aware that the way people find out about me is by people telling each other. They realise they can tell thousands like this and their spreading the word
is really flattering.”

The brand new album, Don't Panic, sold out on Amazon within five days.

A right royal knees up for you?

by Patrick Astill

What will you be doing on the big day then?

Maybe a nice breakfast in bed, followed by an easy morning pottering around the house and then settling down for the greatest show on earth?

It’s plain that the great British public seems distinctly under-whelmed by the prospect of a royal wedding.

Even David Cameron did his bit this week with a rallying call for anyone who wants to have a street party.

“Go ahead, flout the regulations – get out there and enjoy!” he said. Or words to that effect.

I don’t know of any street parties around our way. One school is opening up on the Saturday for a big party for all the local children and it’s going to be very well attended.

And why not? There’s little else to celebrate as a nation at the moment.

We’re hardly likely to see a Nobby dancing around the edge of the Wembley pitch with a football World Cup any time soon. Gone are the days when I‘d welcome a general election result with champagne (it has been known, you know). And I can’t see Forest being promoted to the Premiership either.

So given a choice between being fashionably cool about the whole wedding thing, which is what I believe many people are striving for, or having a bit of a knees-up, even if it’s only in the back garden with the neighbours, I know which I‘d rather do.

I can still remember a clutch of royal weddings, a few royal babies and can even recall the fuss from when Diana was still working at the nursery and the rumours had started about her and Charles. It was the wedding of the decade and was watched by many more millions around the world than anyone could be bothered to count. I’ll stick my neck out and guess that interest is still out there.

OK, so I won’t be getting paid for my extra day off – but that’s all the more reason to enjoy it in my book, to take the “pain” away!

I can’t think of anyone, even among the ones who say they don’t care, who won’t want to sneak a look at Kate’s dress, or the Queen’s hat, even if it takes them a couple of days to peek in the Sunday papers.

If you’re one of those who say they can’t bear the royalist celebrations, I‘d bet that you’re in the minority.

First published in the Lincolnshire Echo. 

Tony Christie on tour at 67!

by Patrick Astill

He's probably best known now for that hit charity video with Peter Kay miming to his music, but that’s only part of the story for Tony Christie.

Its seven weeks at number one serves as a reminder of Tony’s longevity.

Celebrating 50 years in the business, he’s done the lot.

He’s also woven his career in and out of the public eye, and only last year achieved a long-standing ambition to appear in a West End musical.

Lincoln audiences will get a chance to appreciate his full range when he steps on stage at the Theatre Royal.

His current wave of popularity started as far back as 12 years ago, when Jarvis Cocker sent him a new song with the same title as an old Christie album track, Walk Like A Panther.

Tony told What’s On: “Walk Like A Panther reached the top ten.

“I did all that and went back to Spain where I was living and the radio started to play it and it became a hit so I had to come back to do Top of the Pops.

“Then Peter Kay came completely out of the blue and that got me to move back to the UK.”

Tony saw Max and Paddy singing (Is This The Way To) Amarillo to some bemused Asian elders.

He said: “I nearly fell of my chair laughing. Then the phone started ringing…”

Three years after the Comic Relief hit, the critically-acclaimed Made In Sheffield was released, putting Tony well and truly in the public eye.

He said: I’d collaborated with Richard Hawley. I wanted to do Coles Corner, the song. I never realised that six years before he had written a song specially for me to record.

“He’d put it on his album. I heard it again while I was driving home one night and thought I’d quite fancy doing that song. He pointed out he’d already done that six years before.

“I contacted him to ask if he’d like to produce that track on the album but he said he wanted to record an album with myself doing purely music from Sheffield. Sheffield songs, Sheffield artists, Sheffield writers.

“It was obviously a fantastic idea because the result was a hit and also critically acclaimed.”

And Tony hasn’t looked back!

“I did a musical last year, and I’m trying to find time to write my autobiography this year.

“One of the boxes I hadn’t ticked was the West End musical. I did a run in Dreamboats and Petticoats and really enjoyed it.

“The year it was set was 1961, the year I started out in showbusiness!”

A new album of all new songs, Northern Soul, Philadelphia blues, is in the making, “quite an eclectic mix and a brilliant album” he says.

“It’s my 50th year in the business and that’s why I’m doing this tour.”

It’s a 50-date tour. So how does he keep young-looking and young-feeling?

Tony reveals: “By just constantly working. People say if you retire, you die. I always embark on a strict fitness regime. I stopped drinking alcohol – I did that two months ago and it’s not easy to start with, particularly as I go to so many functions. I do a lot of walking and I’m ready for ten weeks of hard work. I’m a workaholic because that kind of living keeps you young.

“I perhaps see myself differently in a mirror. I’m only 67, going on 68, although I feel 20 years younger than my body!”

Jenny Eclair on growing old gracefully

Jenny Eclair has been an accomplished stand-up for more years than she’d care to remember.

She started out with a first gig at Manchester Poly, moved to London to seek her fortune and ended up being the first woman to win the coveted Perrier Award, scooping the accolade in her 13th appearance at the Edinburgh Festival.

Among her early TV work was Packet Of Three, which she wrote and acted in alongside Frank Skinner.

She’s come a long way  and is back on the road with her tour Old Dog, New Tricks, which comes to Lincoln Performing Arts Centre on April Fool’s Day, appropriately enough.

Having seen Jenny’s show, I know there’s a lot of pacing up and down, so is there a lot of nervous energy inside?

“I prowl,” she says. “I’m basically working to burn off some calories. You play lots of different styles of theatres and you want to give everyone a go at seeing you.

“They will find a lot out about me, and they will find out a bit about themselves because they will recognise chunks of their lives. It’s about looking in the mirror

“There’s a real streak of teenage rebellion there for people that are still growing up. Everyone’s 17 at the core, they show off, fall over – all that kind of thing.

“But you have to acknowledge the passing of time. If I was still on stage standing there just being filthy it would be unbearable. And a little bleak.

“Your audience grows old with you. A lot of them are the same age as me. There’s definitely no one under 16,  because its too traumatic for them.”

And yet tales of middle-age, true life and the facts of life prove a popular draw for the audiences, with many venues selling out.

“It’s a combination of experience, writing, and getting the right audience.

“Put me in front of the wrong audience and I’ll die on my arse on stage.

“Most people know what they are coming to see. I’m usually quite welcome on stage.

“But it’s a low-pressure tour, I’m going to some nice medium-sized theatres. There’s a huge amount of competition and everyone’s so skint.”

You’re as likely to see Jenny on Grumpy Old Women, This Morning or Loose Women as on the comedy circuit these days.

And away from touring and being on the box, she’s carved out a niche as a successful writer, both as a columnist and with a couple of novels. A third is on the way. Her theatre roles have included the Vagina Monologues and she was also in I’m A Celebrity, trapped in the jungle – a performance she admits “opened some doors”.

Finally, playing within the university campus, and with a daughter at uni, I  checked if she’s a cool mum.

“She’s a bit too old to be impressed,” said Jenny. “I rarely get young and trendy people in. If there were, they’d be there with their mum for their mum’s birthday treat.”

The experience of a lifetime - priceless

Tickets for the London 2012 Olympic Games went on sale this week.

But will you be splashing out on the spectacular?

For one thing, you’ll need a Visa card to pay – as they won’t accept anything else online.

Secondly, the money will go out of your bank account before you know what you’ve been allocated, so if you’re trying to second-guess what might be popular and over-book as an insurance policy, it may and up being rather costly.

And if you get too many tickets, you can’t get a refund. You can sell them on in a specially-licensed website.

Getting there may be tricky – and if you want to stay over, the hotels are already getting booked up.

But it will be the experience of a lifetime and with so many tickets on sale for a choice of dates over more than two weeks – some events free and others from £20 – you’d be kicking yourself if you didn’t take a trip down the A1 for the experience.

Six million tickets went on sale with 500 days to go.

I feel as though I’d be doing my children a disservice if I didn’t at least try to get some.

They’d love to see Becky Adlington swim to gold, because their swimming teacher coached her when she was starting out. Or perhaps Lincolnshire Olympian Kate Haywood in the pool going for a gong in the breaststroke.

That would be between £50 and £450 per seat, depending on where you sit and  the session runs from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.

The opening ceremony would be the memory of a lifetime, even if it really will be the austerity games, done on a budget.

We might be able to get some of the 2.5 million tickets which are on sale for the minimum £20.

But they’re probably for early morning shooting or fencing, or something that wouldn’t mean that much to the under-eights.

If we wanted to stay for the day that might involve three sessions though, with the later ones coming in at £70 or more. So we could be looking at about £500 for a day out, excluding travel, food and an overnight stay.

It is true that many of us are worried for our jobs nowadays but this WILL be the memory of a lifetime.

As the credit card that isn’t Visa would say: “Priceless”.

Five minutes with Graham Gouldman, 10cc

Art rock band 10cc visit The Embassy Centre in Skegness on Friday, March 25. Founder member Graham Gouldman spoke to Patrick Astill ...

Were you propelled to stardom with 10cc?
10cc just kind of evolved. We were like the house band at the studio, working on different projects.
When the studio wasn’t working we wrote and performed together. We recorded a B side, Donna, and that was that!


I have Deceptive Bends and Bloody Tourists at home – do you have a favourite project?
The most pleasurable album for me was Sheet Music. I’m particularly proud of Deceptive Bends, though.
It was the first that Eric [Stewart] and I did after Kevin [Godley] and Lol [Creme] left the band. We kept the name on and there was expectancy. Half the team had left.

So did you fear for the future after the departure of Godley and Creme?
There was no fear for the future. It was more whether we had the right to keep the name. We had something to prove.

People know you best from the 1970s. Do you feel as though you are trapped in time?
There’s no point in looking back. We want to create something different.
At the beginning you have your influences, then you hear things and you want to bring those styles into your work. I don’t think anyone cares about persona with 10cc. People care about the music.
That’s held us in good stead.

How easy is it to work with the band you’ve got touring? A couple of them have been with you for many years now.
People should have the best, if it’s possible. Paul Burgess has been with us since 1973 and Rick Fenn since 1976, so it has not been thrown together just for the tour.
Mike Stevens, who’s on keyboards, is the musical director for Take That and as soon as our British tour is finished, he’s going to get into that.
Mick Wilson is a fantastic singer and multi-tasks. People always say we’re a fantastic unit.

You started off your career as a writer in the 1960s, penning hits for the Yardbirds, the Hollies, Herman’s Hermits and Jeff Beck. What work have you got on after the tour?
There’s still writing. I’m working on a solo album as various other projects, some of which will reach fruition and some won’t. There’s pleasure in the attempt, and that’s always good.