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Arkwright's till rings again
Open All Hours, an adaptation of Roy Clarke’s sitcom, is coming to the Lichfield Garrick on Saturday and Sunday,20th and 21st, of September. It has toured around the Midlands, taking in Burton on Trent, Stamford, Redditch, Solihull and Shrewsbury.
Gary Longden caught up with
co-director Jane Aston to discover the background to this revival of an
evergreen show.
Q
Tell us a little bit about yourself and Gary Simmons who between
you have realised this show. Gary and I have acted in, directed and produced
shows for many, many, years. It’s always been a passion to take a flat
script and make it come to life, the journey a production takes is
always exciting, but Open All Hours has been the most wonderful
experience so far! We knew some of what we were undertaking as we had
directed other television classics in the past but nothing prepared us
for the magnitude of adapting a national treasure! Q. This is
billed as having been co-written with Gary Simmons who also stars as
Arkwright in the show. How have the writing duties been split between
the two of you? We worked side by side on the script, once we had
watched every single episode a couple of times we set about weaving
together the story lines that appealed to us and the iconic moments the
audience would expect. We are a true team and did it all together. Gary
taking on the role of Arkwright was not the intention during the writing
stage, nor did I have any desire to join the cast. Once the script was
written, and we had held a couple of casting read- throughs, it was
clear to me that Gary was most definitely the shows Arkwright, also I
couldn’t imagine anyone else directing our script, so I decided to
direct and I cast Gary as Arkwright. Q. Obtaining
permission from the television series script writer for a stage
adaptation is a remarkable achievement. What was the process, and how
were you successful in gaining permission? This I can not take any credit for, Gary did all
the leg work, he has always been a huge fan, and as the show celebrated
it’s 40th anniversary last year he tracked down Mr Clarke’s agent and
asked if we could do the show as a tribute. Roy came back and said yes
but there wasn’t a script so if we wanted to do it we would have to
write it, the rest is now history! Q. What was it
about the show which made you invest so much time into this project? The fact that it’s been a life long favourite. Q. How did you
recruit the cast? We were working with a society at the time and
just asked if any of them would like to audition, many of them had
worked with us before, they like how we work and what we bring to a
script and wanted to be part of the project, it took very little
persuasion, although you always encounter a few doubting Thomas’s I
think our track record gave people the confidence to trust us. Q. You and Gary
have a formidable reputation on the amateur dramatics circuit in the
Midlands, is this an amateur, or a professional, production? Oooh contentious question! Professional is the
simple answer, but what defines amateur or professional? It may sound
pompous, but I like to think everything we do carries an air of
professionalism, that’s certainly what we strive for, and what many
groups and societies achieve. We are all professionals, those who are
involved in theatre are dedicated to providing first class entertainment
just because some don’t carry equity cards or have to juggle other jobs
doesn’t make it less professional. Q What were the
main challenges in adapting the show for stage? The locations that the television episodes cover,
there was always a lot of outside location stuff so we had to think very
carefully how to stage it, I think being actors really helps you know if
something is practical. Q At what point
did you realise you could tour the production and do you intend to tour
it further afield? After the first trial run, we received so many
good comments, and so many people said we should tour, that we thought
why not? Yes, we do hope to go out again next year . As for further
afield, we’ve had enquiries from Australia! Q What is it
about the original television series which you think has made it so
enduring? The characters are so well drawn, if you look you
can see a little bit of us all in every one of them. Q So is this a “
greatest moments” compilation, or a new production in its own right? A bit of both, you have to meet the audience
expectation. With shows of this nature you can not mess around with the
fundamentals, people expect to see the man eating till, the bike, and a
string of strange customers, but there are a few surprises in there too. Q What are your
plans for future productions? That would be telling but watch this space…..
Tickets and further information are available
from the Lichfield Garrick and Open all Hours website respectively: |
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