Top of the Potts: Jason Manford Talks to Vicky Edwards

Currently starring as Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Jason Manford talks to Vicky Edwards about musicals, being a dad and why ibuprofen is his new best friend…

Photo: Alastair Muir

Photo: Alastair Muir

There’s more to Jason Manford than being funny. Warm, articulate and astute, he also happens to have been born into a family of talented singers. Trilling for longer than he’s been cracking gags, the 8 Out of 10 Cats star has notched up some impressive credits, not least playing Pirelli in Sweeney Todd with Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton, and Leo Bloom in The Producers with Phill Jupitus, with whom he also stars in a brand new touring version of the classic musical story Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

 

 

 

“My family are all folk singers and we have been singing together for a very long time,” Jason explained. “I was always interested in musicals; I was always in productions at school, then at university I directed shows like Bugsy Malone. I wrote a musical, too.”

Offered the role of Caractacus Potts, Jason says that while he didn’t want to over-think the characterisation, he nevertheless gave careful consideration to what he could bring to the role.

“I re-watched the film and what I saw was someone who was not dissimilar to me: a dad who would do anything for his kids. He keeps trying and failing and he’s reached a point in life where he thinks that something just has to go right for him. He really is that heartbroken, lonely, lovely man that Truly Scrumptious sings about.

“The setting is 1919 and my idea of him was that he was in the Navy but that he had to leave when his wife died to look after his kids. I like his journey. He’s optimistic, although he has his darker moments, and he’s a man who doesn’t like confrontation. But then suddenly the kids are taken by the Childcatcher, Grandpa is kidnapped and the car is stolen – everything that he knows and loves about his life is gone. He has to man up,” said Jason, who while mindful of driving himself bonkers by fleshing out a complex character history, knew that he needed to give Caractacus a back-story. (“You need that weight otherwise it’s just a musical about a flying car.”)

Although Jason is perhaps better known as a comedian than he is for his musical theatre talents, in terms of being the source of all things comedic, Chitty gives him a bit of a breather.

“What’s nice for me is that no one is counting on me to be funny. If I’m funny it’s a bonus, and Caractacus does have some funny moments, but you’ve got the spies and the Baron for laughs. I just have to play the heart and soul of the piece to keep it interesting and I love that.”

As for Chitty’s enduring qualities, Jason cites the film rather than the original book as being responsible for inspiring such huge affection across the generations.

“The biggest thing for me isn’t the Ian Fleming story, but the Roald Dahl film adaptation. The original book is actually quite linear; quite similar to his writing for James Bond, and there was no Childcatcher or Truly Scrumptious. But the film is much more magical and for many the Childcatcher was probably the first time you were scared by something on the telly. Nostalgia and magic is what I think does it for people.”

It is a highly physical show for Jason and he confessed that the number Me Ol’ Bamboo, in particular, is a bit of a killer. Part manic Morris dance and part frenzied tap routine, it is certainly breath-taking to watch and, one suspects, leaves even the fittest dancers out of breath.

“I’ve lost a stone and a half – it’s unbelievable!” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. Joking that he has thought about releasing an exercise DVD based on Me Ol’ Bamboo, he added: “It takes a lot of work but it’s so spectacular and to get it right is just brilliant. It’s the one moment of the show when I take the applause and let the audience clap until they stop.”

Does such a frenetic routine result in a few aches and pains? A heartfelt groan said it all.

“My poor knees and lower back! Ibuprofen is getting me through and I have to go for a swim between the matinée and evening shows because if I sit down I seize up,” he sighed.

And when he staggers off the stage and back to his digs he’s got fellow cast member Phill Jupitus [who plays Baron Bomburst and Lord Scrumptious] to look out for him and, it transpires, to rustle up some top-notch grub.

“We’ve been pals a while and we enjoy each other’s company. He’s also a great chef and cooks some brilliant meals. We look after each other. You need that when you’re away from home.”

Talking about being away from home, with a partner, and five children, Jason’s got plenty to miss.

“The thing about this show is that it’s all about family and the kids in the show [three pairs of Jeremy and Jemimas tour with Chitty] are roughly the same height as my two oldest girls. At the end when I’ve rescued them and they run over to me for a big hug there’s that moment every night when my kids flicker into my head.”

And it’s home and family that is part of the reason that Jason is taking a well-earned break from Chitty between 4 May and 18 September, when Lee Mead will be playing the part of Caractacus Potts.

“Having young children you can’t be away too much, but as well as the children I’ve also got to write my own tour for 2017 and then I’m writing a sit com and also a musical. It’s lovely to know that I can do all that and then come back to Chitty.

Touring the country, working on several writing projects and keeping his successful comedy career on the boil, not to mention family life – it is certainly an impressive juggling act. How does he find the energy and stamina to sing and dance his heart out at every performance of Chitty? Shrugging, he referred me back to his friend ibuprofen, although just being in such a stupendous show seems to be the real spur. Even if it does mean that his joints creak like an old banger in need of the oil can.

“A lot of effort goes in but it’s a great show so it’s really worth it,” he told me as we said goodbye.

And so it is. Prompting standing ovations wherever they go, the audience reaction is unified: “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang we love you!”

For more information, visit www.chittythemusical.co.uk

Facebook: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang The Musical       

Twitter: @ChittyMusical / #chittymusical

Vicky Edwards

Not just a pretty ‘chu-chi, woo-chi, ooo-chi, coo-chi’ face

Kicking up her heels in Vulgaria rather than kicking people out of The Rovers, Michelle Collins tells Vicky Edwards how she loves playing alongside the most famous flying car in history…

Photo: Alastair Muir

Michelle in Chitty Chitty Bang Pic: Alastair Muir

Michelle Collins should be in a musical about an express train, not a flying car. Currently on tour with a brand new production of the family favourite Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, in which she plays Baroness Bomburst, her passion for the show and life in general is so animated that it’s hard to keep up.

“The Baroness is such an iconic role, but initially I wasn’t sure,” admitted Michelle, as we chatted in her dressing room. “But it is a really great fun part and I see myself more of a character actress now, so it was a chance to reinvent myself a bit.”

Any concerns she had about the show “going down the panto route” were swept away when Michelle discovered who the production’s creative team and other cast members were. A co-production between Music & Lyrics Limited and West Yorkshire Playhouse, the show had already been a smash-hit in Yorkshire. With Phill Jupitus, Martin Kemp and Jason Manford (and Lee Mead in Jason’s place for a section of the tour) also signed up, Michelle was instantly reassured and set about throwing herself into the role. Or rather roles. Plural.

“In the first half I play Mrs Phillips, secretary to Lord Scrumptious,” explained Michelle. “She’s quite passive-aggressive and is secretly in love with him, I think. The Baroness, in the second half, is quite clever. I’m not going to tell you who I based her on, that would be unfair, but it’s someone in the public eye,” she teased, adding: “To me the Baroness and the Baron are George and Mildred [of 70s TV sit com fame], but she’s always got the upper hand. He’s just a child who abuses his power and wants to be mothered.”

Agreeing that Chitty bears all the hallmarks of a traditional musical, for Michelle there’s a particular ingredient that makes it extra special.

“It’s the wonderful songs,” she sighed. “Some musicals don’t have memorable songs, but in Chitty every single one is unforgettable.”

But song and dance is not something she has huge amounts of experience in.

“I am definitely not a West End Wendy type,” she laughed. “I did a few tap classes as a kid but I gave it up because I didn’t like it that the lessons took place above funeral directors in the Holloway Road.”

Even though her CV includes a couple of musical credits (Daddy Cool and The Take That Story), for Michelle, neither entailed the epic, high-octane production numbers that Chitty demands.

“I have had to work really hard and I’ve found joints in my body that I never knew I had,” she said, with a playful grin. “But I’m 53 years old and I’m prancing around the stage in my fishnets and heels, so life could be a lot worse.”

When it comes to having sufficient stamina for a show like Chitty, an experience earlier this year made her realise that she’s tougher than she thought: the TV show Bear Grylls: Mission Survive.

“It was seriously hard-core,” she said of her time in the South African Bush. “It was beautiful, but weather-wise it was extreme and we lived off soldier’s rations. For me to even be in it was a challenge, but I definitely found out that I am more courageous than I thought I was.”

Best known on TV as conniving Cindy Beale in EastEnders and feisty landlady Stella Price in Coronation Street, Michelle also has a clutch of impressive film and theatre roles to her name. Not bad for a girl who at 17 was turned down by every single drama school in London.

“I went to quite an academic grammar school. My mum was a single parent and we didn’t have much money, so stage school was out of the question. I started at the Cockpit Youth Theatre when I was 15. That’s when I realised that I really wanted to act.”

Joining the pop group Mari Wilson and the Wilsations at 18, Michelle hasn’t looked back. Of being rejected by drama schools she shrugged. Having achieved success under her own steam it’s not something that troubles her and, typically, she uses the experience as a silver lining to encourage others.

“I always tell young people that positives can come out of failure and not to let it put you off.”

That determination and focus is still much in evidence.

“With two shows a day I have to conserve my energy, but I’m trying to use the time when I’m not on stage constructively,” she said. “I’ve just produced a short film which I’ve written and I’m acting in, and I’ve written a kids’ book that I hope will come out later this year.”

There’s also her ‘Women in Media’ networking group that she created and runs with comedian Brenda Gilhooly. “We set it up as a forum where women can share ideas, inspiration and expertise. We meet monthly and have breakfast, listen to a guest speaker and chew the fat,” she told me.

A real no-nonsense grafter, given her schedule there’s not much time for relaxation, but when she does snatch some free time her needs are pretty low maintenance.

Michelle reflects that touring does bring home how much she misses her daughter, now away at university, her mum, her boyfriend and little pooch, Humphrey.

“Walking my dog in the park with my boyfriend, seeing my mum and catching up with my daughter – simple pleasures are what I love most,” she said.

“I thrive on being busy and being busy makes you appreciate the simple moments more.”

Putting the finishing touches to her make-up ahead of curtain up, we returned to chatting about the enduring success of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

“It is a show that has heart, honesty and truth,” she declared, giving a smile as wide as Chitty’s wingspan. “I’m so excited by how popular it is – we have packed houses at every performance!”

The success is well deserved. The entire cast and crew work their socks off.

As for the Baroness, she’s marvelously minxy. Michelle, on the other hand, with her infectious enthusiasm, husky laugh and determination to work hard but enjoy the ride, is a delightful tonic.

For more information, visit www.chittythemusical.co.uk
Facebook: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang The Musical
Twitter: @ChittyMusical / #chittymusical

Vicky Edwards

On International Women’s Day FEMALE ARTS launched Friend Scheme as a #PledgeForParity

female, arts, feminismFemale Arts magazine launched a friend scheme on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2016.

The online arts review magazine, headed by Editor-In-Chief Wendy Thomson is based at South Street Arts Centre, Reading and reviews events across the UK.

“The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is #PledgeForParity where business leaders from Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group to Mark A. Weinberger the CEO of E&Y have made the pledge. We’re inviting everyone to make the pledge by joining our friend scheme so that we can continue our work to promote gender equality in the arts.”

Female Arts magazine annually reviews hundreds of female led performances, exhibitions and events and has a dedicated volunteer team of writers headed by an editorial team including London editor Michael Davis and Interviews Editor Amie Taylor.

Female Arts also produce events. Wendy Thomson said, ”As part of this year’s International Women’s Day celebrations we co-produced the launch of a new award for emerging female playwrights at the Greenwich Theatre in London – RED Women’s Theatre Award on Sunday 6th March 2016. We have also organized events at The Southbank Centre and The Bread and Roses Theatre, working with other advocates for gender equality including Gender and Performance (GAP) Salon and the So and So Arts Club.”

The Female Arts friend scheme is available to join from £30 a year at www.femalearts.com/friend where the benefits include a profile on the Female Arts website and networking opportunities.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/femalearts Twitter www.twitter.com/femalearts

International Women’s Day #IWD2016  #PledgeforParity  http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

 

 

Caitlin Moran Interview

Caitlin Moran InterviewHow did you find the whole experience of making series one?

Oh God, it was amazing! I’ve always worked on my own, so first of all working with my sister, who I’d always suspected was a genius, and indeed turned out to be – not least because about two weeks into the process I realised I had no idea how to produce a plot or use the script-writing software. She knew how to do it all, having written plays for years and had loads of stuff on up in Edinburgh. And then bringing it to a team and making it happen. In a way, it was always obvious that me and Caz would work together, and do something about our family, because that’s what we used to do when we were kids. We’d have Sindys and play Sindy games, and write scripts, and making clothes for the Sindys by wrapping bits of tinfoil around them and putting pins in their ears to make little stud earrings. And when you make a TV show, you don’t have to at any point wrap Rebekah Staton in tin foil and put pins in her ears, because they’ve got a wardrobe department who actually put clothes on them. You’ve suddenly got all these resources.

Sometimes you come up with an idea that people look very scared about. In series one, we just wrote the sentence “The dog is having a poo” and it turned out to take half-a-day to film. You have ten fully-grown professional people standing around in the cold in Manchester, watched by passers-by, waiting for a dog to drop its biscuits. Such is the awful, evil power of a writer that you can just sit in the warm and write “The dog is having a poo” and suddenly you’ve ruined someone’s day.

 

Having worked in front of and behind the camera, which do you prefer?

Oh god, no question. You may have noticed that I’m not on television at all now. I presented a TV show when I was 18, and at the time, and I only did that because if you’re offered a TV show when you’re 18, of course you’re going to say yes. But I knew I was a terrible presenter. And this posh voice that I’ve got now – I just started speaking in it as soon as I went on camera, because I was so nervous, and I’ve never been able to break out of it since. Literally, before I went on camera, I had a very broad Wolvo accent. I felt I couldn’t be me on television, and there was a very posh girl on set called Isabel, and she seemed really confident, so I just copied Isabel’s voice. And I’ve literally not been able to shake it since, so you can tell how traumatic an incident it was that it still marks my voice almost 30 years later. It’s just horrible; I don’t know how actors do it. The whole thing of a room going silent and everyone waiting for you to do a thing on camera, and every minute is money. My job is the exact opposite of that. I sit on a chair, nobody has a clue what I’m doing, I’m in my pyjamas, eating sardines out of the tin with my fingers, chain smoking and singing and wandering around talking to myself. That’s my preferred working environment

Do you prevaricate an enormous amount, working from home?

I know a lot of writers who will sit in front of a blank page, or spend all morning hovering between the keys in their keyboard, but I’ve always had so much work I just can’t do that. I’d go mad. I run on anxiety anyway, I’ve always got five or six things on the go, and I’ve worked since I was 13. I come from a poor place, and I’m running from a nameless horror. So every day, I have something to do, and if I haven’t done that then I’m fucked, because I have to do twice as much the next day. I’ve never missed a deadline. I file early.

Were you pleased with the reception of the first series of Raised By Wolves?

Oh God yeah, it was amazing. I’m always waiting, with everything I do, for someone to come up and kick me up the bum and say “Get back to Wolvo.” And it was just across the board amazing reviews. The cover of the Guardian Guide was me and my sister and the two people who were playing us. That’s a pretty surreal moment. Then it broadcast in Canada a couple of months ago, so we started getting all these messages from Canada, asking what all these British slang words meant. And we’re in the process of doing it in America now as well, which is incredibly exciting. It kind of makes more sense there, because home education is much bigger there, and that whole prepping for the apocalypse thing that Della is doing, that’s massive there.

You mentioned getting tweets from Canada. How did the show go down in the bear pit that is Twitter over here?

When the show was on, I just couldn’t go on to Twitter – that’s just a short way to madness – but my husband was filtering it every night, and I had literally four bitchy comments, which, as a woman on Twitter is extraordinary. Given that you can be a woman on Twitter and come on and say “I love you all, here’s a pound, everyone,” and someone will just go “Shut up you fat bitch #mensrights”. So I was astonished.

We did it out of so much love. We love those girls. We want it to reach families like that, working class matriarchs, weird teenage girls, fat teenage girls, angry ginger lesbian girls, weird freaky Goth girls. They never get served anywhere. As a woman, it just does your eyes so much good to see people who look like that on your telly. Often on telly even something that’s really edgy has got women on it who are really toned, and if they’re really stressed, they’re in a little vesty singlet and tiny pants and they’re sitting on their bed with their hair in a bunch and glasses on to look intellectual but still looking hot. And to see someone who’s just dressed in rags and talking about wanking is just so different. Big girls, both in personality and stature, doing stuff and not really doubting themselves and being triumphant. We still don’t have enough of that.

You bust quite a few taboos in the series. Do you enjoy that?

I’ve never seen a taboo that I didn’t want to grab and pull out into the open whilst banging on a pan with a spoon and going “Here’s a taboo, let’s talk about the taboo.” What are taboos? They’re just things that we’ve decided, for whatever reason, we don’t talk about. To which I would add the word “…yet.” Why don’t we? It’s insane that American Pie has gone through eight iterations, an entire franchise based on a man having a wank in a pie, and yet female masturbation is never spoken about. And if you look at teenage girls in this generation, and how fucked up they are sexually, and the majority of their sex education is coming from porn, and it’s all from the male viewpoint, there’s nothing about what you want, you’re just some cock-vessel for some horrible porn star. So to have a teenage girl who looks like that, waking away her grief, trying to encourage her uptight sister to follow suit in a graveyard at a funeral – no, sex is funny!

Are you very conscious of the responsibility you have to younger female viewers when you’re writing the series?

Oh God, constantly. I was raised by media and culture, which is why I’m so hyper-aware of what there is and what there isn’t. And when I wrote How to Be a Woman, I thought it would maybe sell to women of my age, but it was all teenagers who bought that book. It was an astonishing array of girls – really fucked up girls, girls who’d self-harm, girls with eating disorders, girls with anxiety, girls with depression, and then really brilliant beautiful girls who didn’t know what to do with their energy, girls who were ashamed of their sexuality, just this massive parade of girls who didn’t see themselves anywhere, and felt incredibly vulnerable, and would grab on to one thing – one book or CD or film – and that gives them the first tiny platform they’ve got to start building their personality. And I think so much of what women see on television or in magazines makes them feel awful or hectored or lectured to or that their life is a massive fucking to-do list. I’m so conscious of the need to make jokes about it. And when we’ve finished laughing about it, we need to plan the revolution, because I’m not going to have another generation of girls growing up feeling as fucked up and unhappy about themselves as I did.

 

After the success of series one you’ve got you’re the difficult second album syndrome. How did you find writing series 2?

Actually a lot easier – because we knew things like don’t write ‘a dog has a poo.’ We tried to write a scene with a swan and were told not to. Basically, don’t do anything involving livestock. That’s probably a good rule for life anyway. And we knew how to plot things; we became better at that, mastering the technical side so that it worked as a drama as well as a comedy. But whenever anyone gives an answer like that in interviews that I read, I think “That’s incredibly boring, tell me a funny anecdote about you going out and doing a shit load of poppers on Canal Street and falling off a table.” And I did that as well.

So what can fans expect from the series?

Their dad is back, so we get to see how he and Della met, why they broke up, why their kids are how they are. He’s not in it that much, he’s like a wandering albatross that floats into the series but floats back out again, revealing a couple of interesting things. Otherwise – Germaine has become worse! The revelation at the end of the last series that not only would she not have to pay for sex, but that people would pay her for sex, that she could be a prostitute – this has been the bolt of good luck that is all Germaine needed to become truly insufferable. In episode one, she does something so disgusting that everyone presumed it was me, but it was actually Caz’s idea. Germaine has come up with a life hack for attracting boys that is appalling. Aretha has taken her destiny into her own hands and realised that being educated at home is not going to get her out of that house – particularly for the two jobs that she really wants, which is either to be a hermit or a lighthouse keeper. So she goes out and finds a mentor who becomes really important to her. And the person we have in to play that role is such a hero of ours; we are so thrilled to have her on the show. And we also see where Della works, and her boss, who is the other person we are so excited to have on the show. He is amazing, it was his first TV, and we immediately went away and wrote him a bigger part. In three years he’ll have his own sitcom.

Della is an amazing character, beautifully played by Rebekah Staton. When you wrote her, did you mean her to be so sexy?

No! We’d written her as someone quite small, angry and compact, just scrubbing her front doorstep and hating everyone and being very proper at all times. And then Bex came in for the audition and said “I’m just going to drop this in – I’ve just done a film with Clint Eastwood, and I want to play Della like Clint Eastwood.” Her dad was a preacher as well, and I think she plays Della as a cross between a preacher man and a cowboy. And she just brought this incredible physicality to it. To have her to write for is a true, true privilege. She’s amazing. You can just throw anything at her. She has such talent. On set she’s amazing. I’ve visited a lot of sets in my time. The king of being on set has always been David Tennant. On Doctor Who, he knew everyone, was talking to everyone, he’d bring the whole mood up, he’d have lunch with everybody, he’d be joking the whole time. Bex is the only person I’ve ever seen who’s even better than David Tennant. In between every take she’s so funny; it’s like a proper stand-up routine. And she goes round hugging everyone, and she’s looking after all the kids at the same time, she’s like a mum to them. And she’s messing about, and then suddenly she’s standing up delivering these huge speeches, and she’s word-perfect every time. I don’t know how he does it.

 

How important is Wolverhampton in the show. Could it take place anywhere else?

No. It’s a very specific humour that the Midlands has. A friend of mine told me that people from Wolverhampton are what Scousers think they are – very dry, very downbeat, resilient, with a wry humour.

 

You took press on a tour of Wolverhampton before series one. What was that like?

That was amazing. There was one main highlight. Wolverhampton has a massive chapter of the Hell’s Angels – I think the biggest one in the UK. They had a huge club house on Penn Road, it was a terrifying big gothic house with huge gates. And I was explaining to people on the tour bus about this big scary house, and we pulled up opposite, and they’d taken the gates down, had a really lovely sculpted garden, a netball court and a tennis court. It had all been done up. So I explained that it must have been sold, and the guy who worked for the local paper went “no, no, they still live there!” The Hell’s Angels were gentrified. Sarah Beeny must have been in there and given them a lovely colour scheme, all Farrow and Ball.

So do you fancy yourself as a tour guide?

Yeah, it was really good fun. But it’s made easier by the fact that Wolvo has the biggest concentration of characters anywhere. We had a tramp who loved on the roundabout, and had a tent there, and he was there for so long that the council wired him up to the mans, so he could have a fridge, a telly and a satellite dish there. When he died, people found out he’d been a Polish airman in the war, and had been in a concentration camp, where he’d been terribly traumatised, so he didn’t want to be around people any more. So he lived on this roundabout. And there are loads of Sikhs in Wolverhampton, and their philosophy is that anyone who decides to be a hermit is a holy man. So people from the Sikh community would leave him food every day, which he hated, because he didn’t like spicy food, so he complained about it. That’s so Wolvo. Then there was a guy called Barry the God, who walked around with a gold cup on a chain, and who had apparently seen God; there was The Cowboy, who walked around dressed as a cowboy at all times; there was The Preacher Man, who wore a bowler hat and would get on the buses and start reading the bible to everyone. It’s a very interesting place, is Wolvo.

Interview with thanks to those at Channel 4.

 

From Both Ends of the Stethoscope by Dr Kathleen Thompson Book Launch

From Both Ends of the Stethoscope  by Dr Kathleen Thompson Book Launch
Frost was exceptionally pleased to be invited to the launch of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope by Dr Kathleen Thompson. Yes, we had champagne, and yes, the eats were fantastic, and most of us wore masks, but it it was the occasion. It was such fun, and the ideal way to launch a book – a book which after all, could be life changing.

From Both Ends of the Stethoscope  by Dr Kathleen Thompson Book Launch4
Frost’s Margaret Graham, duly masked meeting those waiting to buy a copy of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope

If you haven’t yet readthis guide which Dr Thompson wrote to help those with breast cancer, you should do so. She  explains the ins and outs of treatment, the questions to ask, and includes wise words on helping to prevent a recurrence. All this alongside her own journey to recovery from the disease.
From Both Ends of the Stethoscope  by Dr Kathleen Thompson Book Launch1 From Both Ends of the Stethoscope  by Dr Kathleen Thompson Book Launch2
Dr Kathleen Thompson signing copies of her books.

Frost is proud to include a further excerpt from this truly fascinating book.

Chapter 1

Let’s face it, cancer is what happens to other people. Poor souls, with the sword of Damocles swinging on a fraying thread over their heads, these are people who are inevitably going to die, and soon. Of course we feel sorry for them — we’ll send them a card, a basket of fruit, some flowers, but we certainly don’t have plans to join their exclusive club.

Well guess what? All of us have cancer cells in our bodies on a fairly regular basis, and more than one in three of us in the western world will experience some form of cancer during our lives. So I’m afraid there’s a fairly high chance of ‘us’ becoming ‘them’. Maybe you’re reading this because you’ve already joined the ‘club’.

The good news is, our bodies are very capable of fighting cancer. Indeed, most of the time cancer cells are destroyed as soon as they develop, much in the way that our immune system hunts down and destroys bacteria or viruses. Other times, the cancer sneaks through our defences, but even if it does, it can still be overcome. I say ‘can’ because despite all efforts, some people do succumb. To keep things in perspective though, many cancer sufferers live to a very respectable old age, and eventually fill up completely different columns in the ‘cause of death’ statistics.

Cancer is on the increase, and there are many theories as to why. So, what steps can we take to reduce our chance of getting cancer, or to help fight an existing cancer? I have some ideas for you inside this book.

But first, who am I? What qualifications do I have that would permit me to offer you advice in what could be an extremely traumatic time? I’m a medical doctor. I’m on the wrong side of fifty and divorced. I have two fabulous children, a loving extended family and some good friends. I’d always worked hard, but I was starting to ease off, take up more hobbies and enjoy myself — when my life changed.

Like you, I never thought I would get cancer.

As a doctor, I would sympathise with cancer patients and offer them encouragement from within my armour-plated white-coat. They were the patients, I was the doctor. Simple.

Even when my developing cancer crept into my consciousness, I ignored it, and my own advice.

Maybe it would just go away.

But it didn’t, and I had to face the realisation that my life might be cut very short. Then, on top of that, I had to negotiate my way through complicated highly-specialised medical treatments and, on occasions, challenge medical decisions. I found this extremely hard, even as a doctor, because I was also a vulnerable patient, and I was depending on other doctors for my survival.

Cancer taught me a great deal. Primarily it taught me that diagnosis is not a death sentence. People can and do survive cancer, most of the time. However, being forced to face the possibility of my imminent demise, I gradually learned not to fear death either. I also learned to appreciate every day of this wonderful thing called life.

I have a lot to share with you, so welcome to Cancer Club —whether you have cancer yourself or you know someone who has.
From Both Ends Of The Stethoscope by Dr Kathleen Thompson

Available from: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Both-Ends-Stethoscope

 

 

 

Spandau Baddie: Martin Kemp Meets Vicky Edwards

Martin Kemp tells Vicky Edwards why his musical theatre debut is going with a bang-bang…

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Photo credit: Alastair Muir

From gangster Reggie Kray to evil control freak Steve Owen in EastEnders, Martin Kemp is extremely good at being bad. Currently on tour in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang playing the Childcatcher, arguably one of the most iconic villains of all time, Martin is drawing on his previous roles for inspiration, but admits that there’s unchartered territory to explore when it comes to the character that regularly tops the polls of movie monsters.
“The Childcatcher is an exaggerated version of everything I have ever done before, but it comes from a completely different angle,” explained Martin. “He’s a step away from reality; all the characters are really, especially in the second half when we go to Vulgaria.
“In the first half I play a character called the Junk Man, but in the second half that kind of Alice in Wonderland thing happens and the Junk Man becomes the Childcatcher. Robert Helpmann did an amazing job [in the film], but my physicality is not the same as his; I don’t have his ballet background, so instead I try to bring a bit more horror to the role.”
Judging from the booing that fills the theatre before he has even set foot on the stage, he’s clearly doing that very effectively.
“Kids are scared of the name: Childcatcher. When the Baron says “Call for the Childcatcher!” I can feel the tension in the theatre and then I hear the boos,” he laughed, adding, “But that’s part of the whole experience. If you haven’t laughed, cried and been scared then you haven’t seen a good show. You need to be taken to all those places.”
And with cheers at the curtain call almost taking the roof off the theatre, it seems that it’s a journey that audiences of all ages are delighted to undertake. A co-production between Music & Lyrics Limited and West Yorkshire Playhouse, this brand spanking new reimagining of the much-loved Sherman Brothers musical is winning critical acclaim as well as standing ovations.
“Ten years ago I saw the show in London and the main thing I remembered about it afterwards was the car,” said Martin. “But now it’s very much about the story. It amazes me, but every night I walk out of stage door and people are there saying how much they loved the whole show. From old people who saw the movie on their first date to kids meeting Chitty for the very first time, the demographic is extraordinary. Yes, it’s changed from the book, and then again from the film and again from the original stage musical, but it really works. We’re sending people home with big smiles on their faces.”
As for his fellow cast members, mention them and it is Martin with a big smile on his face. “It’s a great cast,” he enthused. “I’ve worked with Michelle [Collins] before and it’s lovely to work with her again, but they are all brilliant performers.” And so they are. Funny men Jason Manford as Caractacus Potts and Phill Jupitus as Lord Scrumptious and Baron Bomburst are joined by Martin and Michelle, as well as Andy Hockley of Phantom of the Opera fame as Grandpa Potts, and West End leading lady Amy Griffiths as Truly Scrumptious. Add to that a world class company of singers and dancers and you have a show that is dazzling, star-studded and that absolutely lives up to the ‘fantasmagorical’ praise.
But while the story of Chitty might have been knocking around for a good while, musical theatre is a new challenge for Martin.
“One reason I am here is that I have never done a musical before and I thought this might be a nice way to dip my toe in. I love trying new things and I love working with new people.”
That happy-go-lucky, have-a-go attitude wasn’t always there, however. In fact, as a child he confesses that he struggled with crippling shyness.
“I’ve been doing this a while now but at the age of eight I was incredibly shy, so my mum sent me to Anna Scher’s drama workshops,” said Martin, who knows first-hand what an advantage drama classes can be to children.
“What drama clubs give you is a small amount of this magic dust called charisma. I always say that I owe everything to Anna Scher because she formed my personality as a kid.”
Pointing out that whether you become an actor or join a band or you just use that acquired confidence to get through interviews when you’re 16, Martin is certain that drama clubs are a fantastic way of developing both character and life skills.
As for children watching live theatre, absorbing stories close up rather than on a screen, Martin loves the way they get totally involved.
“Adults watch, but kids believe and become part of the world they see unfolding; they just dive in,” he nodded.
“For Chitty we recently did what is called a ‘Relaxed Performance’ for children with disabilities and conditions like Autism. The show was adapted around the audience’s needs and it was a wonderful thing to be part of.”
A member of one of the most popular bands of all time, star of movies, TV and now a musical, Martin certainly can’t complain of always doing the same old same old.
“I have always changed it up a bit and I like never knowing what’s around the corner,” he laughed, although actually this time he does know what is coming next.
“I have just finished a year on tour with Spandau which was wonderful, but it’s this great big machine that needs five artic trucks and a 100-strong crew. When you play huge arenas the size of Wembley you know that to people at the back you’re just a speck of dust in the distance and that you’ll never get to meet those people. So in May I am doing the sort of antidote to not meeting people with a show that’s going to tour called An Audience with Martin Kemp. I’ll be travelling around England chatting about my life and career and taking questions from the audience. Yeah, it’s going to be different and fun,” he grinned.
With such a busy professional life, relaxation, he says, comes in the form of painting.“That’s my down time. Sometimes it shuts me off from the world and I lose myself completely.” Asked what he paints and the smile that stole my sixteen-year-old heart lights up his face again. “I paint rock ‘n’ roll,” he says with a chuckle.
Super-talented, funny, warm and with rock ‘n’ roll artistic flair to boot, however brilliantly nasty he is as the Childcatcher, in real life Martin Kemp is a total sweetie.
Vicky Edwards

 

Mind the Journey, Rose Colored Glasses | Music News

Mind the Journey %22Rose Colored Glasses%22Band/Artist: Mind The Journey
Location: Boston, MA
Styles: Psychedelic Rock, Alternative, Synth Pop, Neo-Psychedelia
Similar to/RIYL: Tame Impala, Ariel Pink, Flaming Lips, Neon Indian, LSD
Soundsystem
CD: Color In The Gray Machine

Members/Instruments: Creator of albums and records: Spencer Sabo.
Plays live shows with an assortment of musicians (usually 2-3).

Production: Produced by Spencer Sabo in his makeshift basement studio. Mastered by Tom Waltz.

Tracklisting:

1. Falling Asleep
2. Desserts
3. Interdimensional Romance
4. Dancing On The Sun
5. Oneironaut (Interlude)
6. Rose Colored Glasses
7. Dream Demon
8. Atmintis (Pass The Haze)
9. Egophoria
10. Boats
11. Noise Gate
12. Delta Wave

 

Websites:
http://www.mindthejourney.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mindthejourney
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MindTheJourney/

 

 

 

A gentleman and a scholar: Vicky Edwards Meets Stephen Boxer

About to play the great author C.S. Lewis, Stephen Boxer takes a break from rehearsals to talk to Vicky Edwards about touring, making an ass of himself and his own connection with Narnia’s creator
Having played everything from soap opera to Shakespeare, as well as appearing in movies such as The Iron Lady, Stephen Boxer is packing his suitcase and hitting the road with a new national tour of Shadowlands. Arguably one of the best plays ever written, Stephen plays Narnia creator C.S. Lewis and, he reckons, the story’s central themes of grief, belief and love will resonate with audiences.
“It’s a beautifully structured play and it’s very poignant, so we can Stephen Boxerall relate to it. But it is also very entertaining; very witty with some real belly laughs,” he said.
Having cleaned up on the awards circuit (the subsequent film version also collected gongs) William Nicholson’s play charts the developing relationship between Lewis, an Oxford don and author of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters, and feisty American poet Joy Davidman. Finding his peaceful life with his brother Warnie disrupted by the outspoken Davidman, whose uninhibited behaviour is at complete odds with the atmosphere and rigid sensibilities of the male-dominated university, Lewis and Joy show each other new ways of viewing the world. But when Joy is diagnosed with cancer Lewis’s long-held Christian faith becomes perilously fragile.
But, Stephen pointed out, Lewis’s struggle with his faith resulted in the beautiful book A Grief Observed, an extraordinary collection of the author’s reflections about bereavement.
“It is a kind of bible for both religious and non-religious people,” said Stephen. “It rises above religion and belief and talks about how we deal with loss and how a theory of life is tested by reality.”
As for the relationship between Lewis and Davidman, Stephen explained that while there were some fundamental differences between their characters and life experiences, there was also a definite meeting of minds.
“Their intellectual acuity was an absolute meeting place for them both – they could both spar in the same intellectual boxing ring and they enjoyed that; they enjoyed the cut and thrust of intellectual debate. That’s how their relationship started,” said Stephen, adding:
“He was a classically repressed quite conservative thinking Englishman who lived a classic ivory tower life. Part of his emotional repression, I think, was that he was sort of cushioned by the Oxford life you could live as a don. She was an ex-communist Jewish American who told it how it was and shot from the hip. Yes, they were very different, but mentally they were perfectly matched.”
As for his own connection to C.S. Lewis, as a direct result of being an ex Oxford choir scholar and school boy (“I wasn’t an undergraduate but it was my academic home for eight years from 1960 – 1968”) he is in the position of knowing exactly where he was the night that the World lost two great men.
“I was at Magdalen college school, the school that was related to C.S. Lewis’s college. It was the evening of the twenty-second of November 1963 and I was walking back from chapel, in my gown and mortar board, having sung a service. An undergraduate stopped me, which in itself was quite unusual. He told me that President Kennedy had just been killed. It was the same night that less than a mile away C.S. Lewis died, so not only do I know where I was when President Kennedy was shot, but I also know where I was when C.S. Lewis died because I was right on his doorstep.”
Admitting that the insight into Oxford life has proved useful in preparing for the role, what appealed most to Stephen about the play?
“Firstly it’s a whacking great part – I’m never off the stage. In rehearsal I’m finding that a bit daunting,” he laughed.
“At the moment I’m at that stage of running before I can walk and falling over a lot, metaphorically, but that’s a necessary part of the process. Making an ass of yourself and feeling like a fool in rehearsals is a prerequisite.
“Another reason I wanted to do it was that I’ve just done a year of television. I’ve done some lovely stuff which I really enjoyed, but there’s no real rehearsal culture in television and I was dying to get back into the rehearsal room and that organic way of creating on the shop floor.”
Thoughtfully, he added: “And getting to know people, too. You develop very warm relationships in theatre and after a year I missed that.”
With the tour of Shadowlands he is certainly going to have plenty of time to bond with his fellow cast members. Not that life on the road bothers Stephen one jot.
“It’s a great way to catch up with friends, but touring is also a great way to see the country. I visit the galleries and museums and do the walks and whatever else there is to do or see. It’s part of the fun and I’ve seen the world that way. I love working and travelling at the same time.”
Playing opposite him is Amanda Ryan (The Forsyte Saga, Shameless) as Joy. “She was made to play the part,” said Stephen, who doesn’t look too far into the future when it comes to his own career.
“I don’t really plan and the things that come along always surprise me. I wasn’t expecting to play Titus Andronicus at the RSC for instance. It was a play I didn’t know but I loved doing it; it was intriguing, absorbing, and demanding. I think I’d like to play Lear when I’m about seventy,” he mused, before laughing and saying: “Not that long to go then!”
But for now this charming gentleman and scholar is delighting in Shadowlands. Go to see it and you will too.
Official website: www.shadowlandstour.com
Twitter: @shadowlandstour
Facebook: shadowlandsthetour