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!

Celebrating Oscar Wilde.

oscar wilde statue in merrion square park dublin
Photo by Heinz Klier on Pexels.com

Nick Hennegan celebrates the birthday of Oscar Wilde. Possibly the most quoted writer after Shakespeare, with Wilde’s Ballard of Reading Gaol and news about his relationship with the British Library!

Listen Here.

Autumn Requests.

Watercolor landscape of an autumn valley with winding river and distant hills
A winding river threads through richly coloured autumn hills beneath a dramatic, cloud-filled sky.

As Autumn (fall!) falls,Ā Nick HenneganĀ plays your literary requests on Resonance 104.4fm. (It’s a Rainy Night in Soho!)

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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. Itā€™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.

šŸ·šŸ·šŸ·šŸ· – 4 out of 5 glasses of fine claret! (Or Woods Navy Rum!)

(Oh.. šŸ·… they’re our ‘bohemian’ version of Stars! ā­ļø)

Itā€™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 individualsā€¦ just normal people like you and me. And like actor Nick Collettā€™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 didnā€™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 Arnhemā€¦ 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 isnā€™t actually too much gore! In one sense that makes this a far more moving story. Itā€™s not a massive battle, itā€™s not a bridge too far, itā€™s an everyday story of a ā€˜normalā€™ man who served his country in the second world war.

In one sense itā€™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.

Itā€™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