23 Rob Fennah - Live theatre set to

Live theatre set to return 'more bold and glorious than ever'

SHANNON GARNER speaks to Rob Fennah about leading the way with the first announced tour since the pandemic and how he believes it won’t be socially-distanced

The uncertainties about when events can resume and whether there will be restrictions in place following lockdown has made planning tours of any kind particularly challenging. Understandably, many people in the industry are nervous about taking the next step as everything for the future is currently uncertain.

After being cut short last March after just three venues into a seventeen venue tour, the producers of the acclaimed stage production of Helen Forrester’s, By The Waters Of Liverpool have announced the continuation of their UK tour in Autumn 2021.

All being well, the tour will open this September in Lancashire at the Lowther Pavilion and writer and co-producer Rob Fennah said it is going to be ‘bigger, bolder and more glorious than ever.”

Co-producer Bill Elms added: “With the vaccine roll-out going so well, we can now see the light at the end of a dark tunnel for the theatre industry and we just hope people will feel safe enough to come back in their droves; embracing theatre and live performance more than ever before.”

Fennah noted that it is a gamble but they were determined not to give up. He said: “When we launched By The Waters Of Liverpool last year, the response was so overwhelming we were determined not to let the pandemic get the better of us. We have a mantra when things get tough, don’t give up - don’t give in!"

Despite having losses to offset from the shortly cut 2020 tour and not benefitting from the Culture Recovery Fund, Fennah feels like he is playing a leading part in bringing back confidence to theatre: “The best way to do that isn’t talking about it - it’s doing it which means coming back with a bloody great tour.”

He also noted that now was the best time to organise the continuation as tours take months of forward planning and venues can be booked up months in advance. He said: “If people don’t go for it now, there will be a lot of producers, actors and crew who haven’t planned to work, and so they’ll be sitting there for another year. It’s best to get your diary full now.”

By September, Fennah predicts tha 'the pandemic will be a thing of the past’ meaning that theatres can return in full with full audiences and no restrictions or safety measures that have been imposed over the multiple lockdowns since March 2020.

He also added: “People will be queuing up to get back into theatres. Maybe a holiday first, then theatre! Everything is going to be back to normal a lot sooner than we think.”

By The Waters of Liverpool is a stunning period drama produced by Bill Elms and both produced and written by Rob Fennah. Set in the 1930’s, the play is an adaptation of Helen Forrester’s four-part biography after Helen’s father went bankrupt during the Depression.

Touching on how the play came to be and on his relationship with the author, Fennah said: “I was given a book called Twopence To Cross The Mersey to read while I was waiting to go into a radio interview. In the book Helen referred to her father, a man who had lost his fortune during the Great Depression, as a ‘butterfly in the rain’, a beautiful image that inspired me to write a song of the same title for an album I was working on.

“Helen got to hear the track, really liked it, and asked if she could use it when promoting her books around the world.”

He also spoke about how he collaborated with Forrester artistically and adapted the best-selling volumes: “First and foremost, we got on. There was a picture taken on the day we met; it's a lovely photograph and says everything about the friendship that was to follow. We referred to it as ‘when leather met tweed’. “

Once we’d got to know each other, I asked if I could have a go at adapting her book. She agreed, but on the strict understanding she had final approval.

“During the writing process, she would tell me a lot more about the characters in her books and this really helped me bring them to life on stage. We had a lot of fun doing it.

"Although Helen is no longer with us, she is always in my thoughts. While I was writing By The Waters Of Liverpool, I imagined her looking over my shoulder to check if all the little details were correct and in order. It’s a real privilege to be entrusted with her most famous works.”

By The Waters Of Liverpool will be visiting towns and cities across the UK. For more information and tickets visit http://www.bythewatersofliverpool.com.

Top: 'When leather met tweed' and, above, Helen Forrester c. 1939 Opposite montage: Production images © Anthony Robling

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