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Never one to say no to the sniff of a new idea, I’ve often found myself led down some pretty unexpected artistic tracks – some fruitful… others not quite so fruitful.

Robert Stanston performing Henry V - Lion of England

One rewarding avenue that I stumbled down was my introduction to the world of theatrical production. A one time girlfriend of mine was very keen on amateur dramatics.. aka AmDram. As a result I ended up being subjected to a variety of amateur theatre productions. Some were OK, others (dare I say, the majority) were painful. Amateur theatre is a strange world where the loudest voice often occupies the lead role regardless of ability. That said, many of our finest thespians have cut their teeth in amateur productions.

As is almost seemingly inevitable, at the first mention that I had artistic skills I was unwittingly recruited into producing some artwork for posters. I had managed to keep way away from becoming a member of the AmDram community but I agreed, for a very small fee, to produce a design for each play in the season. Part of the Am Dram bunch was an aspiring director called Nick Hennegan. Nick had already achieved a certain amount of fame locally as a radio jock on BRMB so, when he stepped forward to direct the theatre’s pantomoime version of “Worzel Gummage”, he was welcomed with open Arms. My lady friend was enlisted into the cast and I was introduced to Nick. The production was… erm… interesting but it was evident that Nick’s ideas were far more ambitious that Am Dram could really accommodate.

Nick and I were on nodding terms for a couple of years and I produced a poster for his first attempt at theatre production.  Nick knew of me as more of a visual artist than musician but as time went on we got to know each other a bit better and I helped him out once or twice in his promotions company which specialised in doing big electrical store openings around the country. And so it was for a while – I’d go around to parties at his place and the odd social gathering at the Billesley Pub in Brum. We had an abortive attempt at starting printing business together but it soon became apparent that it wasn’t meant to be, but we did seem to spark creatively when together.

All went a bit quiet and then,  over Christmas 1991 Nick caught the better part of Kenneth Brannagh’s “Henry V” on TV. He’d missed the first part which included chorus’s “oh for a muse of fire” intro, but he saw enough to have his imagination fired. He sat down at his word processor and wrote a draft version of a play called “Heny V – Lion of England”.  It was based on the Shakespearean classic but had a twist. Whereas Brannagh’s film had a cast of hundreds.. Nick’s was a one man show.

Nick excitedly rang around a few people and eventually rang me to ask about producing a poster. Intrigued by the idea of a one man adaptation, I asked him to tell me more. His original idea was to use various chart songs to bolster up the acting with “just an Illusion” by Imagination playing as chorus walked. I seem to remember commenting politely that that seemed like a good idea, and then asked if he’d considered using some original music… and before I knew it I’d volunteered my services. Nick said he’d pop around for a chat so I sat down at my keyboards and composed a theme that I thought might work. By the time that Nick and his partner in crime, Keith, appeared at my door an hour later, I’d got a fully orchestrated version of the theme. Nick and Keith looked at each other and big beaming grins appeared on their faces. They liked what they heard. Nick planned to produce Henry for Keith’s Rear Window theatre company and before long we had an actor in Robert Stanston, and The MAC’s Hexagon theatre as a venue. I nievity carried us through and, together, we created a stonking good show complete with my music and sound effects and rock’n'roll lighting perfectly complimenting Rob’s acting Tour de Force. I created moods to unpin the action and really let rip with a thunderous battle theme to act as supporting cast with battle arrows panning front to back to further enhance the experience. We were convinced – would the audience be?

The Hexagon was a tiny theatre but it had an great intimacy. We had a mixture of friends and family, many of whom had witnessed their fair share of Hennegan cunning plans, and a smattering of paying audience. I think we surprised everyone that night in 1992, probably even ourselves. Nick, Myself, Rob and, the ever reliable techie, Tom Popley rocked the place. A fair smattering of theatrical ignorance meant that we didn’t know what you could and couldn’t do in theatre, so we just went for it andgot ourselves an instant hit . We hit the bar for a celebratory pint and Nick was approached by John Starkey who, it turned out, was Jasper Carrot’s manager, and he had a very interesting proposition. He just so happened to have a vacant slot in a venue at the Edinburgh festival and did we fancy filling it? Not a bad start considering this was my first attempt at theatre – this theatre lark was easy!

Of course we grabbed at the chance and before we knew we were struggling up the very big hill from Brum to Edinburgh in Rob’s clapped out old van which required almost as much oil as it did petrol lol. John had also sorted out a flat for us.. and oh boy, what a flat! Overlooking Meadow park, this was a luxury 4 bedroom apartment complete with pool table. We shared a venue with, amongst others, cult comedian John Ottway and legendary singer Sam Brown – this Edinburgh lark was fun!!