B-bye bye, Billy…

I’ve written and re-written this opening sentence about seven times now. I have no idea where to begin. The problem is simply this: nothing I write now will convey in even the slightest way the feelings and experiences that we went through last week. Nothing will capture the essence of the responses that we got from the audience, or how that made us feel up there on the stage. Nothing I type will fully resonate like the sheer thump to the stomach that I felt when I woke yesterday and realised that there would be no more performances of this beautiful and complex thing that we had lovingly and carefully built, month by month, week by week, hour by hour while the rest of our lives happened around us. In some way or another we wanted this to go on forever. But there were no six month runs on the West End for us. Just a modest four days in the East Midlands that seemed to end as quickly as they had begun. But what a four days they were.

I’m going to write a fuller blog to round everything off in a week or so when I’m able to properly digest last weeks events. I’m still in a bit of a daze about it all. If any of the cast, crew or production team have any memories of that show-week that they’d like me to include, then please let me know. I could even do a top ten moments of show-week, or something like that.

I do however have something else to share with you instead. Yesterday I was hideous. Completely hideous to be around. My poor, poor Mum. I went to the gym in the morning to try and sort myself out and snarled at the equipment, sweated all over it and came home feeling righteous but still mortally pissed off that there was no show left to put on. I carried on in this ridiculously drama-queen-esque fashion until the evening when I started to realise that I should just get over myself. Every show comes to an end, but the friendships and memories remain. Simple as. I had a sandwich. I had a glass of wine. I scratched my arse. I watched a documentary about George Harrison.

Then this happened.

It’s for everyone who was involved in this wonderful show and everyone who came to see it from near and far(London, Kent and Cornwall no less!). It’s for everyone who wanted to come and see it, but weren’t able to make it. It’s for everyone who has supported us as a team and individually. It’s for my poor dear sweet lovely wonderful amazing Mum, who has to put up with my crap because I’m not Billy Bibbit anymore and I hate my left leg. It’s for the greatest experience I’ve ever had on stage and it’s for a good job well done by everybody.

Hey presto. Instant catharsis.

(but to see the video – you’ll have to email me! derbycountyfan77@hotmail.com)

The Cuckoo Launches In One Week…

Hoo-wee! Here we go – the final straight. The home-run. This is it. Well, almost. We now have a handful of rehearsals left before we hit the stage at the Derby Guildhall. It’s been a heck of a ride so far: cast members have come and gone, injured players have been miraculously healed, sets have been built on one side of Derby before magically re-appearing on a farm some fifteen miles away in the opposite direction, costumes have been sourced, adjusted and then adjusted again (just to make sure) and a wheelchair has been sprayed in silver paint. Add to that a bunch of actors in the middle of it all striving away at rehearsals to locate the correct level of insanity and marble-loss, and we think we’ve almost got it. If you haven’t already seen it, here’s our little teaser trailer.

And thankfully you guys out there are sticking your hands in your pockets to ensure that we have a full-house to perform to. We’re incredibly grateful and hope you’re looking forward to it as much as we are. Ticket sales have gone from a pleasant trickle to something a little more ferocious so you’d be well-advised to get yours as soon as you can if you haven’t done so already, or remind that chum of yours who’s still mulling it over. The remaining tickets can be snapped up by popping down to the DerbyLIVE box office in the market square (just by the Assembly Rooms), or you can book online by clicking here. Failing that, get your phone out and dial 01332 255800 and tell the lovely person on the other end that you’d like tickets for the best show in town. And if they turn out to be the nicest telephone operator you’ve ever spoken to, why not make their day and buy them a ticket too? You never know, it could be the start of something truly magical.

And if the teaser trailer hasn’t served to whet your appetite enough already, here’s a few ‘sneaky peek’ images from recent rehearsals. We look forward to seeing you next week…

Sandy Lane as Nurse Ratched and Jason Parker as R.P. McMurphy

(l-r) Ian Jones as Dale Harding, Ross Lowe as Billy Bibbit, Sandy Lane as Nurse Ratched, Craig Bridges as Dr. Spivey, Steve Rees as Antony Martini and Terry Stevenson as Frank Scanlon

(l-r) Steve Rees as Antony Martini and Terry Stevenson as Frank Scanlon

(l-r) Jason Parker as R.P. McMurphy, Mik Horvath as Aide Williams, Ian Jones as Dale Harding, Gemma Blake as Nurse Flinn, Ross Lowe as Billy Bibbit, Ronnie Frost as Charlie Cheswick, Marie Stone as Aide Warren and Sandy Lane as Nurse Ratched

Phil Stanley as Chief Bromden

Sandy Lane as Nurse Ratched and Ross Lowe as Billy Bibbit

Ronnie Frost as Charlie Cheswick

Laura Fovargue as Candy Starr

Heath Parkin as Ruckly

Lucy Heath as Sandy

Gary Lever as Aide Turkle

Let’s Get Seminal

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls. Sit yourselves comfortably, have a stiff drink handy and take a deep breath. Fourblokes are about to go all seminal on your ass.

Or something like that. Yes. This November, we bring to the lucky blighters of Derby a theatrical experience which will blow their ruddy socks off. But be warned – this is no ordinary play, hoowee no sir! By the time Act 1 Scene 1 of ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ gets under way on the stage of the Derby Guildhall in November, it will be almost 50 years since the seminal novel which spawned a Tony Award winning play and an Oscar-busting film first hit the bookshelves. Y’see? Seminal.

Make no bones about it, this is no ordinary story. The novel was voted one of the top 100 English Language books of the 20th Century by Time Magazine. The play won a Tony Award. The film swept off with five Oscars at the 1976 Academy Awards  including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress for Jack Nicholson (McMurphy) and Louise Fletcher (Nurse Ratched) respectively. Randomly, it was shown continually in Swedish cinemas for almost 11 years between 1976 and the winter of 1986/87, a record which still stands. Gotta love those Swedes.

So where did the lunacy begin? Take a step back to 1959.

You there yet? Good. If you take a look around you you’ll see what looks like some crazed hippy scribbling furiously into a notebook. There are bits of dialogue here, disturbing-looking doodles there, and every now and again a reference to something big, mechanical and sinister, known only as ‘The Combine’. The weirded-out bloke in the middle of all this is Ken Kesey, although he had good reason to be a little ‘on-the-edge’. This guy had seen some things. While studying Journalism at Stanford University (near Palo Alto in California) Kesey got some work as a night-porter at the nearby Menlo Park Veterans Hospital. During his time here he volunteered to get involved in a project financed by the CIA to test the effect of psychoactive drugs – drugs which can cause changes in the perception, thought, emotion and consciousness of the subject who takes them. Among the dazzling array of drugs tested were LSD, mescaline and cocaine. Far out, maaaan.

Ken Kesey. Dat ain't no cuckoo.

As his time at Menlo Park progressed, Kesey talked to and got to know the patients there, often while he himself was under the influence of the hallucinogenic drugs that he had volunteered to experiment. It was here that his ideas for what would eventually become ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ began to germinate. It was Kasey’s opinion that the inmates were not insane – rather that they were being punished by society for not ‘fitting in’ with what were perceived as the conventional ideas of how to act and behave. His novel was eventually published in 1962. The story, centred around the arrival of a new patient at a mental hospital and told through the eyes of fellow patient Chief Bromden, was a masterpiece both in style and content and was an immediate hit around the world.

A year after the release of the novel, a stage-adaptation appeared on Broadway. This was penned by Dale Wasserman, a playwright from Wisconsin who had been orphaned at the age of nine and had received no formal education – something of which he was very proud. Starring Kirk Douglas as McMurphy and Gene Wilder as Billy Bibbit the play was as successful as the book – if not more so. Ken Kesey remarked to Wasserman that were it not for the play, then the book would have been largely forgotten. The play has successfully been revived a number of times since, and returned to Broadway in 2001 with Gary Sinise as McMurphy.

B-b-b-b-b-BROWN HAT!

But more was to come. If Kesey thought the play alone would guarantee his novel immortality, then he was mistaken. Kirk Douglas, who had so successfully portrayed McMurphy onstage, held the rights for a film version, but was unable to find a film studio willing to take it on. Eventually he handed the rights over to his son, the actor Michael Douglas. He had more success and managed to secure a deal, with Czech-American filmmaker Milos Forman in the director’s chair. By this time a decade had passed, and Kirk Douglas was deemed too old to take the lead role. Step forward Jack Nicholson.

The rest as they say is history. The film swept the boards at the Academy Awards and is without doubt a cinematic triumph – despite Kesey’s misgivings. He pulled out of the project after only two months, angered that Nicholson had been chosen to play McMurphy over his own preference of Gene Hackman and that the screenplay no longer saw things from the perspective of Chief Bromden. Nicholson’s outstanding performance was well-matched by Louise Fletcher as the tyranical Nurse Ratched and the cast included a young Danny DeVito as Martini and future ‘Doc Brown’ Christopher Lloyd as the belligerent Taber.

THE FOUR FACES OF McMURPHY (l-r: Kirk Douglas, Jack Nicholson, Gary Sinise and Jason Parker)

So where now? The journey is not over yet. Rehearsals have gone up several notches since when we last spoke. The brilliant Kirsty Brammer has been brought in as Costume Manager, Terry Stevenson’s elaborate and exciting set is taking shape and the scripts are down. Tickets are selling well, with the Wednesday matinee almost sold-out.

Performances take place at the Derby Guildhall every evening from Tuesday 15th – Friday 18th November at 7.30pm, with the matinee on the Wednesday kicking off at 2.00pm. Tickets are available from the Derby Live box office in the square just outside the Assembly Rooms, or by calling 01332 255800. Or you can book your tickets online by clicking here.

Get your tickets before they run out. Get seminal with us!

(c) Bellobuff/Flaposhine 2011

Straight From The Cuckoo’s Beak

I make no apologies for this week’s blog being a little brief, as I’m racing against time to be ready and packed for my flight to Rome – provided we haven’t been shafted by the Italian Worker’s Strike. Italian Worker’s Strike? Where’s Super Mario when you need him? You never saw him shirking from his plumbing responsibilities – heck, he’d even fight off dragons and turtles in cars to ensure that he got Wario’s boiler fixed. And besides that I had my Fantasy League team to sort out and oh, the stresses and strains of the modern world…

Anyway, we have a new video on Fourblokes TV for you to enjoy – so this week I’ll keep nice and quiet (because I’ll be in Rome – did I mention that?) and hand over to some of the cast and production team of our forthcoming show, ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’. I must remind you that tickets are already on sale and shifting nicely – so don’t hang about. If you haven’t got yours already then I advise you to do so quick-sharp. We like it best if you pick them up from the Derby LIVE ticket office in Derby and pay cash – it’s in the square outside the Assembly Rooms. The reason that’s so good for us is that we don’t get charged a credit card fee – which unfortunately we do if you book online or via card on the phone. However, we know that’s not practical for everyone so the Box Office number is 01332 255800 or you can find your way to the ticket website via www.fourblokes.com

Enough! Click on the link below and have a listen to what the Fourblokes gang have to say when asked “What is Fourblokes?”

Ciao!

Exciting Loud Video Thingy

You can draw analogous parallels to almost anything when it comes to football. Or at least, I’ve spent far too much of my life trying to do so. Teaching, cooking, World Wars – you name it, there’s always an appropriate football reference you can tie-in, no matter how tenuous. For instance, right now the town of Derby is buzzing thanks in no small part to the current efforts and resultant success of the local team, Derby County. Yesterday (Saturday 20th August 2011) the team completed a terrific feat by winning their fourth game in a row since the season began a few weeks back. No Derby County team has achieved this in 106 years. 106 years!! Crumbs, chief.

In the run up to this game there were all sorts of facts, figures and permutations being quoted (us football fans love that kind of thing) and the sense of expectation began to grow and grow. However, throughout Derby’s history we’ve witnessed our fair share of ups and downs. Founder members of the Football League in 1888, we flirted with glory by coming second in the top division a number of times and FA Cup runners up on three occasions. Then we endured years of mediocrity as the club was relegated, only to surge back and eventually win the first post-war FA Cup Final in 1946. A few years later and we were relegated to the Third Division North (which sounds a very bleak place) before a certain man named  Brian Clough came in as manager in the late 60′s and took Derby to their first of two league titles and the semi-finals of Europe. You can imagine what happened next. Ten years later and we’re in the Third Division and within hours of going bankrupt. A few years later and we’re fifth in the First Division, which becomes the Premier League and in which we spend a number of years in before being relegated again. Yo-yo, yo-yo, yo-yo (and not in the Snoop Dogg sense).

Nigel Clough thought 'Our Country's Good' worthy of a standing ovation

We’re now joint-top of the league. We should be happy. We should be dancing in the streets. But no – we’re Derby fans and we live in constant terror of the wheels falling off.  However, we should look at the facts. Manager Nigel Clough (son of Brian and born and raised in Derby himself) has assembled a marvellous squad of talent – all ‘local’ in the sense that they come from England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland. They are all pulling together and producing some terrific results – working hard for themselves and one another during the week to produce entertaining football for the folk of Derby at the weekend.

So – where’s the parallel? It’s not that hard to spot once you think about it. Tracksuit-director Barry Taylor has assembled his squad of actors, technicians and production team from local sources – all thoroughly scouted and approved before being deemed fit enough to make an appearance. Each week he’s been putting them all through their paces in the rehearsal rooms at RTC in Derby (situated bang-inbetween the site of Derby County’s former home The Baseball Ground and their new stadium at Pride Park) and has instilled within them a sense of ‘team’ – supporting one another and pushing each other to improve. Ok, so the isotonic sports drinks in the gymnasium have been replaced with pints of Pedigree down the pub, but you get the gist. And all of this so that we can put on another solid and entertaining performance for the people of Derby come November. The wheels will definitely not be coming off. Our fans can be safe in the knowledge that once again we’re aiming to be top of the league for local theatre.

And while Derby County have been simultaneously reflecting on the past and breaking new ground, it gives me a perfect opportunity to do likewise with Fourblokes. Our sexy new website is now up and running (and growing and improving day by day)  so be sure to have a peek and keep coming back as it grows ever more laden with treats as the days and weeks progress.

And not only that but tickets are now on sale and going like the clappers. You can book yours by clicking here or by calling the Derby Live box office on 01332 255800. Don’t hang about, they really are going as quickly as Theo Robinson into the penalty box.

And a couple of final things. Here’s a quick dip into the Fourblokes archives. If you happen to be in the unfortunate position of never having seen a Fourblokes show before, here’s a little taster of what you can expect. And if you have, see if you can spot who’s who and which show is which. Check out the funky Michael Jackson moves at the end…

More videos to come in future weeks. And here’s a bit of fun for you all. Have a look at the rehearsal photo below and see if you can come up with a good caption for it. Add your entry by writing in the ‘Leave A Reply’ box below, or on our Facebook or Twitter pages. The winner will be announced in the next blog-post. First prize may include a half-eaten kebab courtesy of Heanor Balti.

Send in your caption using the box below...

Two Flew Out Of The Eagle’s Nest

Evening all. We don’t like to blow our own trumpets too often as it’s very bad for the eyesight, but we’ve got a bit of good news to share with you all. ‘Our Country’s Good’ was good. Very good. Very very good. So good that, to go with our NODA award for ‘Best Production’, we came away from the 2011 Derby Eagle Awards with two further trophies to put in our cabinet. Congratulations go to the cast and production team as Barry Taylor took home the award for ‘Best Production’ and Phil Simcox and Marie Stone swooped off with the award for ‘Outstanding Achievement’, awarded in recognition of the superb souvenir programme that they put together for the show. On top of that, Sandy Lane was also nominated for ‘Best Performance’.

Two eagles. No pressure on the cuckoos then… We’re all really choughed that the quality inheronant in our company has been swiftly recognised. Nice swan. It was our tern. We’ve broken our duck. Let’s celebrate – get the bunting out. Especially after all the huffing and puffin during the hard work that goes into every singull rehearsal. It’s more than just a hobby.  We’re not larking about here. We’re as high as kites. Two awards – it’s nice to avocet. Anyway, eider better stop with all the bird references before I make a tit of myself…

Winners at the Eagle Awards 2011 - front row from right to left: Barry Taylor, Phil Simcox and Marie Stone

Rehearsals for ‘Cuckoo’ continue at a furious lick. Admittedly, that’s an odd way of doing things but it does wonders for bonding amongst the cast. Already we have Act I blocked out and we’re well into Act II – one or two of the more daring cast members (myself certainly not included) have put scripts to one side and things are developing well. The news of the awards is something we’re all very proud of and it’s a massive incentive to push on and make this show even better than the last one – something we’ve always aimed for. Our very first show ‘Bouncers’, way back in 2006, was a huge success – more than we could ever have hoped for. As we began rehearsals for the next show ‘Welcome Home’, there was a palpable feeling of ‘how do you top that?’ amongst us all. Baz, ever happy to deliver a musical analogy, foretold that the play would be ‘the difficult second album’, the one where you have to prove to the world that you’re as good as you say you are, that you’re not just a one-trick pony. By my maths that makes ‘Cuckoo’ our difficult seventh album – in Beatles terms that makes it a ‘Revolver’. Yikes. No pressure, no pressure…

Cheerio.

Posh bird.

Balls

Never promise what you can’t deliver. Now there’s a maxim I should pay more attention to. I love to help out and get stuck in – always have. And if you want to get the most out of drama, that’s the spirit you need. Go in with both feet. In fact, I’m such an advocate of this policy that I took the drastic ‘step’ of breaking my leg so that I could get myself a sexy pair of NHS crutches and go in with all four feet. That’s how much I live to give.

Ok – that’s not strictly how or why it happened, but when I’m bored my mind wanders (which, since the injury, it has  done successfully all too often – wandering out the door, down the road, onto the motorway, hitting heavy traffic at the Leicester turn-off (and believe me, Leicester is a turn-off), stopping at Newport Pagnell Services for an expensive coffee and a slice of brioche, wandering back onto the – ooh look, a heron…) and I like to believe that’s why and how it happened. But no. What did happen is far too hideous to recount to you naive and gentle souls, but suffice to say I buggered my leg up good and proper, meaning I couldn’t work or afford to stay living in London anymore. So I then had to beat a very slow and cumbersome retreat back to Derbyshire. Once there my mind wandered all the way to a pub in Dale Abbey, and I felt duly obliged to follow it and retrieve it. Upon doing so, I found the one they know as Barry Taylor sat there on a seat, offering me a pint and telling of his woes at not having managed to completely cast Fourblokes’ latest show. I showed him that I now had four feet. He said “stand up”. I then showed him that I had five feet and eight inches. He said “you’ll do” and I was back in the team. So if they ever tell you size doesn’t matter, they’re lying.

Anyway, to make a long story even longer, remember that you shouldn’t offer what you can’t follow-through with. Yes. That was going to be my point. When rehearsing a scene for the first time last week, it became evident that we needed a prop or two. One of the scenes involves the ‘residents’ at the mental institution playing a game of basketball. Believe me – we have the tools in the bag for this one, a real lean mean sporting machine of a team. Step forward – oh, sorry no, you can’t – Ross ‘Fourfoot’ Lowe. Broken limbs are no barrier to this wizard of the courts. Swiftly following behind (he likes the view from there) we have ‘Magic’ Ian Jones as Dale Harding, a man who possesses ball control of such skill and dexterity that we shouldn’t really talk about it until after nine o’ clock. With a whoop and a roar the crowd go mad for the introduction of Ron ‘Nothing But Net’ Frost as Charlie Cheswick, the secret weapon of the team. So secret in fact that the last we heard Hans Blix was looking for him underneath an Iraqi palace.  ‘Don’t Take The’ Mik Horvath is next, spinning the ball upon the top of his finger like a seasoned pro (sage and black pepper) before pirouetting and throwing it to Stevie ‘The Legs’ Rees, five-times player-of-the-year for the Spondon Globetrotters. Team coach Jason ‘I’ve Run Out Of Nicknames’ Parker as Randal P. McMurphy watches on with pride as his boys stretch and ready themselves, safe in the knowledge that there is not a team of such might and power within at least a twenty yard radius.

Nothing But Net.

What a team. There’s nothing they can’t do. Except maybe play basketball… as we don’t have one to play with. Ah. Slight problem there. We might be acting types, but miming a basketball game does look a bit… daft. But not to worry – as I’ve got one at home, something I eagerly tell Baz and offer to bring in to the next rehearsal. Problem solved. Like I say – I love to get involved in any way I can and help out. Trouble is, it’s only at the point when Baz sends me a text an hour prior to that next rehearsal that I realise that, actually, I threw it away during a ‘no-mercy’ clear out of my room a few weeks prior.

So, in order that things don’t get too disrupted and disjointed, I go for my plan B and turn up at rehearsal feeling pleased with the best alternative I could find. A juggling ball. Yep. The way I figured it, this colourful little beauty would at least give us something to throw around and practice catching with, so we could start to feel the rhythm of the scene. Unfortunately I overlooked a few very important points, namely:

a) A juggling ball is many, many, MANY times smaller than a basketball

b) It doesn’t flipping bounce and

c) It’s not a basketball, Ross. It really isn’t.

The fact that it’s small makes it a bit more difficult to catch and the fact that it doesn’t bounce means that, if you drop it, it stays there. Add to that the fact that we have scripts in one hand, one of us has a crutch in his other and we’re all simultaneously trying to maintain the characteristics of people with varying strengths of mental problems and you’re rewarded with, well… put it this way, the coach was not looking impressed. Bloody funny though…

It all goes to prove however – only make promises if you can deliver on the goods. One thing’s for sure though, this show is looking like it has all the potential to do exactly that come November. We’re all really excited with how things are going and what we’ve achieved so far – everyone is working very hard at all levels of production and there’s no resting upon laurels awarded to previous Fourblokes shows. And other props are already having a more positive effect than my juggling ball did in rehearsal time. I leave you with the words of Phil Stanley, who’ll be playing the part of ‘Chief’ Bromden when we hit the stage in November. Nothing helps an actor get into character more than when he or she gets to use something which alters their appearance accordingly, be it a costume, prop or, as in this case – wig. Phil was trying on his long, dark Red Indian locks and struggling manfully with them – however they were a bit skew-whiff and Baz had to interject to try and rectify things. Phil’s apology – “I’m sorry Baz, I’m not used to hair” was a corker. And if you’re not sure why – please see below. Cheerio.

This stuff... it seems familiar...

PS. One final thing – a special ‘Happy Birthday’ to Sandy Lane (who’ll be playing Nurse Ratched) and who celebrates her big day on Tuesday. We popped out for a few drinks after rehearsal on Sunday to celebrate – and some of us are here below.

(left to right) Phil Stanley, Sandy Lane, Ian Jones, Jason Parker, Ross Lowe, Becky Lane and Gemma Blake.