Author Archives: Nick Hennegan

Writer and creator of The London Literary Pub Crawl.com. and a few plays. BohemianBritain.com. Event and Theatre Producer. Done quite a bit on the wireless too!

The Bloomsbury Festival, Central London.

Nick Hennegan talks to Festival Director Rosemary Richards about the Bloomsbury Festival – celebrating its 20th anniversary in the centre of London.

BohemianBritian.com

The Bloomsbury Festival

After the show…

A quick hello after the success of our production ‘Winston and David’ in London. Trying to take a few days off in a place I’ve never been to before. And I’ve not opened the work laptop for TWO days! That’s a first for a long time!

A new play is born!

A group of four performers reading from scripts on a stage, with a dark background and wooden flooring. One performer is seated, while the others stand at music stands. There are drinks and props on small tables.
Actors David Calvitto, Angela Bull, Nicholas Collett and writer Tim Marriott. Oh… and Eyore. The Donkey

Any new work of art is hard. Plays maybe more so. So it was a real privilege to be one of a handful of people to be invited by the lovely and talented Tim Marriott to a FIRST rehearsed reading at the Tabard Theatre in Chiswick, London. It’s the first public read through of Don Quixote (or the man that thought he was) and even at this early stage, it’s a comedy with an emotional heart. Watch this space!

Review: ‘Mettle’ by Nick Collett.

Tabard Theatre, Bath Road, London W4.

🍷🍷🍷🍷 – 4 out of 5 glasses of fine claret! (Or Woods Navy Rum!)

(Oh.. 🍷… they’re our ‘bohemian’ version of Stars! ⭐️)

It’s a massive, tiny story is Mettle. And a true story of a bloody conflict in the middle of a vast ocean. Which like all bloody conflicts throughout history is executed by individuals… just normal people like you and me. And like actor Nick Collett’s ex Sheffield steel-worker Dad. He served on the Atlantic convoys in the Second World War and saw active service. They were protecting unarmed merchant ships bringing crucial supplies to an embattled UK. The German U-boats were horribly ruthless and effective.

Mr Collett served on board the HMS Vanessa during WW2 and like many of that generation didn’t talk much about it after the event. I have some personal experience of this; my Dad lied about his age in WW2 and ended up in 2nd Parachute Regiment, dropping at Arnhem… you know the film – A Bridge Too Far. A bit like Nick, I did a bit of research into Dad… and it was a pretty gory story. I completely understand why that generation of heroes had no desire to share their horrors with beloved children.

However, one of the delights, perhaps unexpected, from this story, is that that there isn’t actually too much gore! In one sense that makes this a far more moving story. It’s not a massive battle, it’s not a bridge too far, it’s an everyday story of a ‘normal’ man who served his country in the second world war.

In one sense it’s quite a strange show, with mainly storytelling rather than acting. But the drama and emotion seeps through, aided by some clever props, lighting and sound all sensitively directed by Gavin Robertson.

It’s a moving hour, is Mettle. Go see it and learn about Mr. Collett. He would be proud of you. And his son, Nick.

Tickets https://www.tabard.org.uk

We’ve Sold Out!

Glad but sad (given I’m committed to access to theatre!) that we’ve SOLD OUT! The rest of the run of ‘Winston and David’ in London is returns only!

Latest Maverick Theatre News…

Hello friend,

Just a quick reminder our first ON-LINE Literary Pub Crawl around London and Edinburgh is happening tomorrow, Tuesday 25th August at 8pm. We’d love you to join us from the comfort of your own home! (Or local Pub!) Details here.  

And we were on BBC Radio Four last week on The World Tonight with our Edinburgh Fringe hit play ‘Winston and David’. We’re about 20 minutes into the show.

And if you are in London and want to see the final few performances of Winston and David (We finish this Saturday, 29th August) there are still a few tickets left.   

 

We’re back from Edinburgh now and Nick Hennegan’s musings and reviews can be read on his blog, www.BohemianBritain.com  

Thanks so much for your support. Hopefully see you soon!

Love/manly hugs,

Nick and the Maverick Team x

www.MavericktheatreCompany.com 

Edinburgh Fringe Review – Eleven And A Half Angry Men.

🍷🍷🍷🍷 – 4 out of 5 glasses of fine claret! (Or iced water!)

[Oh.. 🍷… they’re our ‘bohemian’ version of Stars! ⭐️]

I wouldn’t normally start a review with a comment about the venue, but wow! What a venue. As an Edinburgh regular there aren’t many Fringe shows I’ve seen in modern, 600 seater, air conditioned venues like the EICC Pentland Theatre at Pleasance.

But it’s a big show, with a cast of twelve. Or at least, eleven and a half! It bills itself as being a spoof of 12 Angry Men – a classic play that Director Guy Masterson presented to great success at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2003, using comedians instead of actors. And it seems to have split critical opinion a bit! But that might be marketing it as “an hilarious spoof of 12 Angry Men.” Perhaps fortunately for me, I didn’t see the original play. I’ve never even seen the film. So I speak as I find with this production… and it’s not perfect, but it’s a clever, original show with some lovely moments.

The Eleven and a Half men are of course jurors in a murder trial in the USA. And of course the half is a short juror! Not knowing the original, this version by Owen O’Niell is set in the jurors room of a court in America in the 1950’s. And in fact, it’s quite a serious affair. They must decide if a sixteen year old boy murdered his Father. If they find him guilty, he will be sent to the electric chair and die himself.

It’s not completely black humour, but the distance of the piece – the fact it is set in the USA in the 1950’s, allows the characters to talk about a range of social mores and behaviours that would – fortunately – be difficult today. And it is character driven. Of course, as jurors they are all very different characters. They all have their own reasons for wanting to get the process finished. And there’s almost a reality show feel to the voting as to who finds the boy guilty or not.

And there are some wonderful moments. Joe Pasquale in his first ever Fringe ends up tap dancing on the tables and there is some fabulously mimed skipping too! There are a few problems with diction too but as comedians, the cast does remarkably well.

Do they find the boy guilty of murder or not? I shan’t spoil it. But it almost kind of doesn’t matter. It’s an entertaining, often ridiculous example of humanity, presented in all its humorous extremity. Oh… and vegetarians beware!

More details and booking
The jurors:
Stephen K Amos,
Joe Pasquale (Fringe debut!),
Tom Stade,
Spencer Jones,
Mark Maier,
Glenn Wool,
JJ Whitehead,
Ian Coppinger,
Terry Alderton,
David Calvitto,
Phil Nichol,
and Owen O’Neill.
Director Guy Masterson.