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!

Nick’s First Starting a Theatre Company Blog. And stuff…

In the Beginning…

… there was ME. This is my pic below. Looking old now and, yes, with a glass of red wine. Out of shot. And some 30 years after I came along, there was an idea for a theatre company. T’was 1992 and as a council estate kid I’d been doing all sorts of career rubbish. Me and a mate, Rob Vomit — the only actor I knew from an am-dram company I joined thanks to an older woman (that’s another story!) did a one-man version of Shakespeare’s Henry V wot I wrote. I called it Henry V — Lion of England. We performed it at the mac – Midlands Arts Centre – in Brum for 1 night. Another mate, Robb Williams, wrote an atmospheric soundtrack. Cost me fifty quid to hire the venue and I asked me family and mates along.

Unbeknownst to me, famous UK comedian Jasper Carrott’s then managers were also present. At the end of the night, I presumed everyone was running for the bar — but it turned out to be my first standing ovation! And Starward, Jasper’s managers, offered to take us to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival that night. I’d never heard of it, but said okay and so we went. I was BLOWN AWAY by the democracy of the event. But also HUGELY puzzled why my beloved home city of Birmingham — the UK’s Second City — hadn’t got a single fringe venue apart from the mac. So I was inspired to start a theatre company in Birmingham that would be true to the spirit of the Fringe and be truly accessible to non-theatre attenders. I was born and raised on a housing project council estate. Later I realised theatre-going was not down to intellect… but opportunity. No one on our estate went to the theatre… because no one invited us. So I started the Maverick Theatre Company at the Billesley Pub in South Birmingham on the edge of a council estate where, coincidentally, I was born and brought up, to attract other kids like I was!

It was hard, artistically and financially and still is. But we’re still going.

Why? Mmm. Good question.

NEXT TIME. Why I hate Michael Palin.

Review. ‘Appraisal’ at Theatre At The Tabard. (Part Deux!)

Rating: 🍷🍷🍷🍷 and a hidden Vodka!

The London Premiere of a tense, relatable, British thriller.

Theatre At The Tabard, 2 Bath Road, Chiswick, London W4 1LW.

There’s a kind of genius with this new, award-winning play, written and directed – and here performed – by Fringe stalwart, Tim Marriott.  And, full disclosure, not only do I now know all those involved with this production, I saw the WORLD premiere in a small container-case theatre on Princes Street at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival a couple of years ago.

Back then, I shockingly realised that I’ve led such a chaotic (bohemian?) life, I’ve NEVER actually had a work appraisal! Although judging from the knowing chuckles and laughs from the rest of the audience, I am very much in a very small minority. And I’m not SO excluded from ‘proper’ life that I couldn’t relate to the corporate jargon and H.R. ‘speak’. After all, I’ve had to do risk assessments for theatre!

But what Marriott has done is create a British Theatre piece that keeps us guessing. It’s not as dark as, say, Mammet’s Oleanna. And there isn’t the variety of situations we might find in Russell’s Educating Rita. But this is its genius, I think. We almost instantly know these characters! They are us. There’s a glorious, Brechtian theatricality to their non-theatricality. 

The play sees Jo, the line manager of Nicky conducting her annual work appraisal. No big deal, right? It happens every year to millions worldwide (apart from me..!) So what could go wrong with this routine occurrence? And that’s the clever bit. We’re in a theatre watching a drama but the drama forms from its inherent normality. And in this case, as the interview continues, there’s always a “But..”

Brilliant performances from Angela Bull (Coronation Street, etc.) and writer Tim Marriott (The Brittas Empire, etc.) allow us to relate to the characters like easy friends. In other plays and circumstances, when manager Jo stands uncomfortably close to Nicky, we’d be expecting an inappropriate, dramatic act. But here, Nicky feels uncomfortable and just moves away. Like we all would. No drama! We believe that Nicky is just going through the usual corporate game. And we believe that Jo genuinely cares about his employees. 

So when normality starts to deteriorate, gently and almost accidentally, the cracks appear. Things escalate and we’re horrified for these ‘normal’ people suddenly dealing with life-changing situations. 

And there’s a twist at the end. But is it the end?

True to its Fringe roots the production lasts about an hour, with no interval.

It’s dark, funny and another hit for the tiny Tabard. Go have your Assessment and you’ll see two top (acting) professionals at the top of their (acting) game. I hope my line manager agrees!

Nick Henengan.

Photographs by Charles Flint. The Appraisal runs until Saturday 13 April, 2024.

Appraisal

A Bohemian Briton – Actor and Writer Tim Marriott.

Best known for his role in the hit TV sitcom, ‘The Brittas Empire’, Tim Marriott took seventeen years out of his acting career… to be a teacher.

Now his original productions are acclaimed around the world and his latest hit – Appraisal is coming to Theatre at The Tabard in London.

He talks to Nick Hennegan about his bohemian story.

(To read a review of the original Edinburgh production of Appraisal, see https://bohemianbritain.com/2022/08/28/the-appraisal-edinburgh-fringe-22/ )

More information and tickets.

Appraisal