L I V E R P O O L
L I V E R P O O L
the best christmas show
by a nile
27 Nov 15 16 Jan 16
TICKETS FROM ÂŁ13 BOX OFFICE 0151 709 4321 royalcourtliverpool.com
Hello and welcome to the Royal Court Theatre and this performance of John Godber’s Bouncers. I first saw a production of Bouncers at the Everyman back in 1985. I was working in London and a friend told me I had to get back to Liverpool to see this show. What a night. I had never seen theatre like it. Bouncers is a great piece of theatre writing but to be fully realised it needs a cast capable of delivering the play as it is meant to be. Back in 1985 the cast included John McArdle, Con O’Neill and Terry Melia. I knew we had to have a cast as good as them if the play was going to work here at the Court when we brought it here in 2013 and we put together one of our strongest casts with Mickey, Danny, Paul and Mark Womack. The show was incredible so we booked it in for another run in 2014. Mark was unavailable for so we turned to Louis Emerick to complete the quartet. This year Louis is off working elsewhere so it is Drew Schofield’s turn to join the crew! Each time we have done this show the thing that shines through is the camaraderie and friendship between the characters and you only get that when the cast get on well. You can see how much fun they are having every night! Bouncers is perfect for the Royal Court and by that I mean you the audience. The cast along with Bob Eaton the Director have reworked the script so we can set the nightclub in Liverpool and the language has the flavour of a night out in
Liverpool in the 80s. I think Bouncers goes some way to defining what we strive to do here at the Court. We have a quality play, we’ve connected it to Liverpool and we have a Liverpool cast. Not all our plays will follow the same formula but having that connection to this city is something we will always aim at. I’ve always believed it is important. It is how the Everyman worked in the 80s. And also like the Everyman in the 80s we build our sets here in Liverpool and we rehearse our shows here. Not all theatres in the city can say that. We are a great believer in “keeping it real” here at the Court and if you think that you recognise the doormen outside the theatre then it might be because some of them were on the door of the Grafton back in the day! So I give you Bouncers. A play that is set in the 80s, brings with it the spirit of Liverpool theatre in the 80s and helps define the Royal Court today.
Kevin Fearon Chief Executive
the most successful comedy play in Liverpool is back!
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by dave kirby & nicky allt • directed by bob eaton
29 Jan - 5 MAR 2016 TICKETS FROM £13 BOX OFFICE 0151 709 4321
royalcourtliverpool.com
John Godber was born the son of a miner in Upton, West Yorkshire. He trained as a teacher of drama at Bretton Hall College. Whilst he was Head of Drama at Minsthorpe High School, the school he attended as a student, he won every major award at the National Student Drama Festival between 1981 and 1983. In 2005, John’s 50th play Wrestling Mad marked his 21st anniversary with Hull Truck as Artistic Director. John’s plays are performed across the world and he has the distinction of being one of the most performed writers in the English language. He has won numerous awards for his plays including a Lawrence Olivier award and seven Los Angeles Critics Circle Awards. His plays include: Bouncers, Up ‘n’ Under, April in Paris, Teechers, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Cramp, Happy Jack, September in the Rain, Salt of the Earth, Passion Killers, Happy Families, Up ‘n’ Under II, Gym & Tonic, Dracula, Lucky Sods, Hooray for Hollywood, Weekend Breaks, It Started With A Kiss, Unleashed, Thick As A Brick, Big Trouble in Little Bedroom, Season In The Sun, on A Night Like This, Our House, Departures, Men of the World, Reunion, Screaming Blue Murder, Black Ties & Tales, Perfect Pitch Going Dutch, Christmas Crackers and most recently Crown Prince.
Within his extensive career in writing and directing in TV and Film, John also devised the BBC2 series Chalkface and his screenplay My Kingdom for a Horse starring Sean Bean was nominated for an alternative BAFTA award. John’s first feature film Up ‘N’ Under was released in January 1998. In 2005, he co-wrote Odd Squad for BBC2, with his wife Jane, which was shot in Hull using local actors. Odd Squad won two British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards in the Schools’ Drama category and in the BAFTA original writer section. John has an MA from Leeds University, an Hon D.Litt from Hull University, an Hon D.Litt from Lincoln University, a D.Uni for the Open University and was a PHD research student for five years at Leeds University. He is a Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Liverpool Hope University, a visiting Professor of Drama at Hull University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Kevin Fearon Ken Alexander Kevin Dunn Jess Bolger Iain Christie David Gordon Simon Collard Alison Ward Steve Smith Jamie Jenkin Katy Skidmore Marie Jones Mick Bawden
Chief Executive Artistic Director Finance Director Assistant Producer Marketing Manager Technical Director Head Chef Finance Officer Front Of House Manager Sales Manager Box Office Manager Costume Supervisor Resident Stage Manager
Box Office Assistants Simon Foster, Danielle Goodfellow, Laura Lees, Isabelle Litwin, Andrew McKay, Sarah Randle and Angela Varley Front of House Chris Kidd, Thomas Wright, Kathy Hutson, Michael Hutson, Melanie Lovett, Kathryn Heffron, Sophy Vicary, Louise Maloney, Emma Keig, Elizabeth Kendrick, Ste Briggs, Jake Jones, Lewis Edwards, Sean Coker, Christina Ann Wiggins, Yasmin Bahauddin, Hazel Bawden, Ricci Kinsella, Boston Walsh-Smith, Annie Wardale, Zara Schofield, Kane Phillips, Jennifer Tinsley, Michael Burton, Kayleigh Rogers, Faye Draper and Finnian Goulden-Jennings Kitchen Staff List David Assal, Billie Chisam, Carl Chisam, Debbie Chisam, John Hind, Robert Hughes, Mandi Lawler, James Maguire, George Schot, Doreen Uber Stage Door Allan Dodd, John Evans Cleaners Billie Chisam, Carl Chisam, Debbie Chisam, Gillian Stephenson, Doreen Uber And a big thank you to all of our security staff for their hard work throughout the year
Paul Broughton Danny O’Brien Andrew Schofield Michael Starke
Bob Eaton Richard Foxton Ian Scott Kate Harvey Beverley Norris-Edmunds Elizabeth O’Sullivan Dave Gordon Marie Jones James Haining Matt Weeks Mick Bawden Kelsey Moran
Lucky Eric Les Ralph Judd
Director Designer Lighting Designer Sound Designer Choreographer Deputy Stage Manager Production Manager Costume Supervisor Chief LX / Sound & LX Op Sound & LX Op Workshop Manager Assistant Choreographer
Moss Bros
PAUL BROUGHTON Lucky Eric
DANNY O’BRIEN Les
This is Paul’s 5th appearance at the Royal Court following on from Dave Kirby’s Council Depot Blues, Jim Cartwright’s 8 Miles High, the first run of Bouncers and Mark Davies Markham’s Special Measures. He is currently teaching drama students how not to do it at Arden School of Theatre in Manchester, in the language of Scouse…as a missionary.
Danny O’Brien has become a regular fixture at the Royal Court - this will be his sixth time here.
Other credits before he was rumbled as an Actor, included; Theatre: On the Ledge (Alan Bleasdale,) Democracy (Michael Frayn) – The National Theatre. The People are Friendly (Michael Wynne) – The Royal Court, London. Musicals: Billy Elliot, Closer to Heaven – West End, London Television: Brookside, Liverpool One Films: 51st State, Like it is, Awaydays
He has appeared in some of the Court’s biggest hits including: Stags And Hens, Lost Soul , Night Collar and The Salon. He has also been travelling around the northwest, most recently playing Bob in Rita, Sue And Bob Too at the Theatre Royal St. Helens. He has also just finished a run of the award winning and critically acclaimed Rainbow Connection at the Unity Theatre. Danny’s other credits include: The Long Shot, The King Of Edge Hill, The Wedding, House Of Anubis, Scrims and Good Cop. He is very excited to be back at the Court and would like to dedicate his performance to his two beautiful daughters Pearl and Edie.
ANDREW SCHOFIELD Ralph
MICHAEL STARKE Judd
Andrew has appeared in Blood Brothers in 1983 at the Liverpool Playhouse and in the subsequent transfer to the Lyric Theatre in London’s West End. He also appeared as George in Of Mice and Men at the Old Vic, London in 2005. Brick Up The Mersey Tunnels as Dickie Lewis; Smigger in Lost Soul in 2007 and 2008; Brian in Good Golly Miss Molly; Moey in the Alan Bleasdale comedy On The Ledge; Paul Sheldon in Misery; the Traveller in Eight Miles High; Danny in Council Depot Blues; Joe in Night Collar; JJ in The Flags and Mr Briggs in Our Day Out - The Musical. He performed all of these roles at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. Since then he has appeared in A Life In The Theatre, The Sunshine Boys (Life in Theatre Productions), Dreaming of a Barry White Christmas (Echo Arena).
Michael began his professional career at Liverpool Playhouse in the 1984 production of Cavern of Dreams by Carol Ann Duffy. The next few years saw him appearing almost exclusively at the Everyman in Liverpool, where he appeared in such shows as The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui, Hamlet, The Winter’s Tale, The Taming of the Shrew, She Stoops to Conquer, Three Sisters, and No Holds Bard. Michael was the first ‘guest star’ in the Olivier Award winning The Play What I Wrote, directed by Kenneth Branagh. Other theatre work includes Be Bop A Lula, Blood Brothers (Leicester Haymarket) Anything Goes (National Tour). Film work includes: No Surrender by Alan Bleasdale, Distant Voices, written and directed by Terrence Davies, The 51st State directed by Ronny Yu and starring Samuel L Jackson. Michael is probably best known to TV viewers as Sinbad, a role he played for fifteen years in Channel 4’s Brookside. He then spent six years playing Ken Hopkirk in Yorkshire TV’s The Royal, and was most recently Jerry Morton in Coronation Street. Michael also played Howard in the Manchester 24/7 Festival production of Dancing To The Sound Of Crunching Snails by Joe Graham and directed by Joyce Branagh.
Film- Sid and Nancy, Distant Voices, Still Lives, Three Businessmen, Hamlet, Revengers Tragedy, Under The Mud. TV: Scully in Alan Bleasdale’s Scully. He has also appeared in three more Bleasdale series, as Peter Grenville in GBH in 1991, Jake’s Progress in 1995 and in Melissa in 1997. Other TV credits include Maisie Raine, Sharpe, Murphy’s Law, Boys from the Blackstuff; Liverpool Nativity for BBC Three; Fifteen Minutes That Shook The World, Cilla, Moving On.
In 2010 Michael was one of the three Edna Turnblads in the national tour of Hairspray with Michael Ball and Brian Conley. He followed that with the role of Monsignor O’Hara in the Whoopie Goldberg produced national tour of Sister Act. Since his last appearance here in A Nightmare on Lime Street, Michael has done Special Measures and completed two films: Jack Ryan directed by Kenneth Branagh and a British film, Longtails, produced and directed by Elizabeth Arends.
BOB EATON DIRECTOR
Bob’s first job was in 1971 as Assistant Director at the Victoria Theatre Stoke. During the mid 1970s he was a member of Alan Ayckbourn’s Scarborough company as actor, director and writer. In the late 70s he was Associate Director of Contact Theatre Manchester and in 1981 became Artistic Director of the Liverpool Everyman. His productions here included Alan Bleasdale’s It’s A Madhouse, his own show, Lennon which subsequently transferred to The Astoria Theatre, London and the Entermedia Theater New York, winning the Sunday Times award for Best Musical of 1986, and the stage musical version of Our Day Out on which he collaborated with Willy Russell. In 1984 he became Artistic Director of the London Bubble Theatre and from 1996 to 2003 he was Director of The Belgrade Theatre Coventry. Bob has written many plays and musicals including Good Golly Miss Molly, Three Minute Heroes and the lyrics for Face. His many collaborations with Sayan Kent include The Good Companions, Limestone Cowboy and Silas Marner. Last year he directed a new musical Soul Sister based on the life and times of Ike and Tina Turner, at the Hackney Empire, which transfered to the West End and is now on a national tour. Bob is delighted to be back in Liverpool and working in the wonderful Royal Court where he has directed Brick Up The Mersey Tunnels, Lost Soul, Good Golly Miss Molly, Two, Stags and Hens – The Remix, On The Ledge, Council Depot Blues, Slappers And Slapheads, Merry Ding Dong, A Fistful Of Collars, Willy Russell’s Our Day Out - The Musical, the hugely successful revival of his own show Lennon, Scouse Pacific, You’ll Never Walk Alone, Little Scouse on the Prairie and Reds & Blues: The Musical.
RICHARD FOXTON DESIGNER
Previous design work for the Royal Court, Liverpool: Eight Miles High, Ladies Day. Design work elsewhere includes: And Then The Dark, Bedroom Farce, A Passionate Woman, Up on the Roof, Noises Off, Vincent in Brixton, The Price, Chimps, A Family Affair, Double Indemnity (New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich), Garage Band, Absent Friends, The Winter’s Tale, Beauty & The Beast, Jack & the Beanstalk, Aladdin (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), Takeaway (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Office Suite (Theatre Royal Bath & national tour), Brassed Off (Sheffield Theatres national tour), Blue/Orange; The Country Wife, Queen’s English (Palace Theatre ,Watford), Blonde Bombshells of 1943, Dumbshow, Deathtrap, Stepping Out, Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis, Return to the Forbidden Planet, Kes, The Sunshine Boys, Perfect Pitch, On the Piste, Good Golly Miss Molly (Coliseum
Theatre, Oldham), Equus, Macbeth, The Miser, Dead Funny (Salisbury Playhouse), The Rise & Fall of Little Voice, Jack & the Beanstalk (Harrogate Theatre), Kvetch (West Yorkshire Playhouse), All My Sons, Neville’s Island, Brassed Off (York Theatre Royal), Things We Do For Love, Death of a Salesman (Library Theatre, Manchester), Desperate To Be Doris, Hector’s House, The Importance of Being Earnest (LipService national tours); The Lighthouse on Shivering Sands (North Country Theatre, tour), Happy Jack, A Kind of Loving (John Godber Co./ Wakefield Theatre Royal), Loot, Pub Quiz is Life, Macbeth, The Flags, Ladies Day, Wuthering Heights, 1984, Toast, Up on the Roof, Under the Whaleback (Hull Truck); and over fifty productions for the Octagon Theatre Bolton including And Did Those Feet…, The Crucible, The Caretaker, Four Nights in Knaresborough, Saved, Blood Wedding, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Dancing at Lughnasa, The Pitchfork Disney. He has twice been nominated for the TMA Design Award & has won the Manchester Evening News design award five times, most recently in 2008 for Oh What a Lovely War (Octagon Theatre). His work was included in the British exhibit at the Prague Quadrennial (1995), he was a judge of the Linbury Prize (1997). Forthcoming work includes: Chicago (Oldham Coliseum Theatre), Sleeping Beauty (Harrogate Theatre).
IAN SCOTT
LIGHTING DESIGN Ian has designed the lighting for many shows at the Royal Court including A Nightmare on Lime Street, Our Day Out, Scouse Pacific, On The Ledge, Eight Miles High, Council Depot Blues and Ladies Day. In 2012 he designed the set and lighting for the Lodestar/Royal Court co-productions of Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other recent projects: Marco Polo (Bergen National Opera), Where The Wild Things Are/Higgelty Piggelty Pop (Aldeburgh Festival, Los Angeles Philharmonic & Barbican), The Victorian in the Wall (Will Adamsdale/Fuel), The Ugly Spirit (Fittings/South Bank), Touch Me (Coisceim Dance Theatre), Blok/Eko (The Wrestling School), The 39 Steps (Criterion Theatre) and Reasons To Be Cheerful (Graeae). As an Associate Artist with the experimental theatre company Suspect Culture Ian designed the set and lighting for much of the company’s work including Timeless, Mainstream and Lament.
KATE HARVEY SOUND DESIGN
I’ve been working in technical theatre for around 16 years and have spent most of that working specifically in sound after starting my career doing work experience in the sound department at Blackpool Opera House. After
working on a variety of events/productions in the past, I always love coming back to theatre design and mixing theatre shows. A list of credits include: Corporate/Outdoor : Labour, Conservative, NUT, TUC conferencing. Various exhibitions. Symphony in the Park – Hoghton Tower TV : Stan James World Match Dartsplay, Sky Sports broadcasts, Strictly Ballroom, Danny La Rue, Spirit of Shankly – Granada (DVD) Cruises : P&O World Cruises, Island Cruises, Celebrity
and Carmen (Stephen Joseph Theatre/New Vic); Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Three Sisters (Royal Exchange Manchester). Song of Singapore, Christmas Carol, O What a Lovely War (Nominated for an MEN award) (Bolton Octagon); Loves Labour’s Lost, The Tempest and Death of an Anarchist(Northern Broadsides). Eight Rock and Roll Pantomimes for Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse. Beverley has also choreographed numerous productions for West Yorkshire Playhouse, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Haymarket Theatre Basingstoke, Harrogate Theatre and Birmingham Rep.
Arena : Hot Ice – Stageworks Worldwide Productions, YNWA – Alterean Media
Television and film credits include: Coronation Street, Hollyoaks, CBBC’s The Agents, Fernando Torres Nike commercial and O’Jerusalem (Feature Film).
Music : The Christians, Chesney Hawkes, Sinita, Slade, Bad Manners, Toyah, Limahl, Cream UK Tour, Petula Clarke, Bobby Crush, East 17, Liberty X
Touring credits include: Carmen, Lisa’s Sex Strike, A Taste of Honey and Return to the Forbidden Planet (National Tour).
Comedy : Jason Mansford, Peter Kay, Roy Walker, Norman Wisdom, Jim Bowen, Brian Conley, Brendan O’Carroll, Paddy McGuiness.
Beverley runs Dolphin Dance Studios Performing Arts College in Liverpool and produces her own company.
Live Theatre : Jane McDonald – Empress Ballroom. Aladdin and Sleeping Beauty - King Georges Hall, Blackburn. Mystique - Stageworks. Original TV Comedians – Blackpool Opera House. Paul Zerdin – Paradise Room Blackpool. Flags – Manchester Exchange. Mam I’m Ere - Life in Theatre. Eight Miles High, Lucky Numbers, Council Depot Blues, Funny Money, Ladies Day, Scouse Pacific, Bouncers, Night Collar, Our Day Out, The Salon, Shirley Valentine, Sex in the Surburbs, Reds and Blues, Hitchhikers Guide to Fazakerley, Ladies Night, Lennon, Noises Off, Scouse of the Antarctic, Canoeing for Beginners – Royal Court Liverpool. Twopence to cross the Mersey - Pulse Records.
COSTUME SUPERVISOR
BEVERLEY NORRIS–EDMUNDS CHOREOGRAPHER
Theatre credits include; Nightmare on Lime Street, Our Day Out - The Musical (Willy Russell), Ladies’ Night, Little Scouse on the Prairie, You’ll Never Walk Alone, Scouse Pacific, Brick Up the Mersey Tunnels, Good Golly Miss Molly, Dirty Dusting, Merry Ding Dong, Slappers and Slapheads, Lucky Numbers, Council Depo Blues, Stags and Hens and Reds & Blues - The Musical (Royal Court Liverpool); Cinderella (Empire Theatre Liverpool). Most recent choreography credits include; Star Crossed Lovers, A Passionate Women, Satin ‘n’ Steel, Steppin’ Out, Sleeping Beauty (winner of the MEN Best Family Show Award 2010), Sweet Charity and Dick Barton Special Agent (Nominated for an MEN award) (Oldham Coliseum); Around the World in 80 Days, Stones in his Pockets, Christmas Carol, Where have I been all my life, Alice in Wonderland, The Rivals, The Admirable Crichton, Peter Pan, Sweeny Todd, Oliver, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Don Giovanni, The Glee Club, The Wicked Lady, Laurel and Hardy,Bouncers and Olympic Torch Relay 2012– Phoenix from the Flame. (New Vic, Stoke); Soul Man, Geordie Sinatra, The Pirates of Penzance, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Mikado (tour); Marlene
MARIE JONES
Marie studied fashion and then moved on to theatre costume interpretation at Mabel Fletcher College. Marie’s work as a freelance costumier has included costumes for Oldham Coliseum, The Royal Exchange, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Jimmy McGovern’s film Liam, Beyond Friendship for Mersey Television and the many pantomime dames who have appeared on the Everyman stage. She has worked extensively at the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse and has recently been employed as full time Wardrobe Supervisor. Most recently Marie’s work at the Everyman and Playhouse has included: Much Ado About Nothing, The Electric Hills, The Flint Street Nativity, The Tempest, Unprotected, Billy Liar, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe, Urban Legend, Fly, Breezeblock Park, The Entertainer, Still Life And The Astonished Heart, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Anniversary, Dr Faustus, The May Queen, Cruel Sea and All My Sons. Marie’s other credits include: Brick Up The Mersey Tunnels, Lost Soul, Good Golly Miss Molly, Stags and Hens - The Remix, On The Ledge, Misery, Eight Miles High, Council Depot Blues, Night Collar, Dirty Dusting, Shirley Valentine, Our Day Out - The Musical, The Salon, Funny Money, Merry Ding Dong, A Fistul Of Collars, Lucky Numbers, Lennon, Scouse Pacific, You’ll Never Walk Alone, Little Scouse on the Prairie, Reds And Blues - The Musical and Ladies Day for Royal Court Liverpool, Brouhaha International Street Festival, Working Class Hero on the recent Imagine DVD, Costume Supervisor for many shows at LIPA, The Splash Project at MYPT and Twopence To Cross The Mersey at the Liverpool Empire.
ALSO PLAY SUNDAYS AING 2PM AND 7 T PM