Southwark News, Thursday March 16 2023
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www.southwarknews.co.uk/arts
ARTS 19
in Southwark
Director of Berlusconi tells all
Theatre director James Grieve started life living on the edge and seems to have tried to live his life that way ever since. And by ‘on the edge’, I mean being born in Folkestone on the Kent coast rather than anything riskier, but James, in his university years and without any prior training, decided, with friends, to set up a company to produce and direct plays. Now, that is a recklessness found
mainly in the young but actually set Mr Grieve on a course to be where he is today, writes Michael Holland...
I asked James when he first realised he wanted to become involved with the theatre, and he told this tale of horror: ‘My grandmother was an actress and one of my earliest memories is seeing her play the wicked witch in the local pantomime. When the wicked witch died I was inconsolable so my Mum had to take me
backstage to find my gran miraculously resurrected in her dressing room. From that moment I knew theatre was magic.’ An incident that could put most children off theatre forever. After his formative years spent in a dream world of being either a footballer or fronting an indie band James came to the realisation that he ‘probably wasn’t the new Eric Cantona or Liam Gallagher’. Instead, with his mates, he started a theatre company. This is how he tells it: ‘I figured going on tour with a theatre company was probably the next best thing to my fantasy careers. Like most directors, I started out as an actor but I soon found myself losing concentration on stage because I was looking around thinking about all the things I would do differently if I was in charge. Most directors are control freaks…’ He adds with no nuance. For five years the company were ‘producing and directing plays on a shoestring in fringe theatres and at The Edinburgh Festival. We had no idea what we were doing so we made it up as we went along and learned by making mistakes.’ Learning on the job gave James enough experience and knowledge to be noticed because it led to him becoming ‘assistant director to Josie Rourke and the late, great
Guernsey, Greenwich, Garfunkel’s and Ghosts While growing up in the Channel Islands, Paul Morrissey’s favourite TV show was Some Mother’s Do ‘Ave ‘Em. He then got to see Frank Spencer - sorry - Michael Crawford in the original Phantom of the Opera, and it was these events that set Paul on the path of becoming a theatre producer, writer and director, writes Michael Holland...
But life is never that straightforward. ‘My original intention was to be a performer and I was lucky enough to get a place at Bretton Hall College in Leeds studying Theatre Arts,’ he begins. ‘I then got in to the company of Blood Brothers and after two years with the show, I decided to further my training and got a place at the Royal Academy of Music in London. It was there, however, that I decided performing wasn’t quite right for me.’ Nevertheless, Paul met James Milton there and they decided to set up a theatre company. Those intrepid entrepreneurs went on to produce a number of UK and International productions including Cats, Chess the Musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and The West End Men, which toured China, Europe and the UK before playing a six-
week season at the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End - A ‘career highlight’. Paul is now based in Greenwich where he lives with his wife whom he met when producing a concert version of Les Misérables in the place where Victor Hugo wrote the book. He quite rightly counts that as a special time. He then revealed how lucky he feels to do this work: ‘It can be a bit of a rollercoaster, but having the opportunity to work on incredible plays, musicals and concerts is a real gift. And also meeting and working with some truly astounding people.’ But that rollercoaster means downs as well as ups. The man of many talents claims he could write a book about the times things didn’t go well, recalling when ‘my entire cast missed a flight to Switzerland because they were having breakfast in Garfunkel’s. Working on all those iconic productions ignited Paul’s love of writing, which he was able to spend more time on in lockdown. That means his latest play, When Darkness Falls, cowritten with James Milton, will soon open with Paul directing and the show’s illusions designed by John Bulleid, an Associate of the Inner Magic Circle. ‘It’s a spine-chilling ghost story,’ he
starts to tell me just as a bolt of lightning rattled our windows in separate parts of SE London and shook our Zoom screens! After I’d crept back out from under my desk, he continued. ‘Set on the island of Guernsey – the Island I grew up on – it tells the story of John Blondel, a history teacher who runs the local Historical Society. As part of the Society’s weekly podcast, a paranormal expert has been invited to give a talk on the island’s paranormal history. While John, a non-believer, listens to the speaker’s stories – many of which are based on true events – the night takes a dark turn revealing disturbing truths and unforgettable terrors…’ Now too scared to carry on with the interview I quickly finished up by asking if Mr Morrissey had anything he’d like to add: ‘Only that we are genuinely thrilled to see our own work on the stage - And what better way to do it than with an ‘edge-of-your seat’ thriller! We’ve worked hard to make sure audiences experience a first class show.’ I’m already on the edge of my seat! Churchill Theatre, High Street, Bromley, BR1 1HA Tue 4 – Sat 8 April 2023 Booking: www.churchilltheatre.co.uk Box Office: 0343 310 0020
Howard Davies which was incredible onthe-job training’. James now understood directing plays was an actual job you could do to make a living. James Grieve now lives in Bermondsey and has his production of Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical currently on a UK Tour. ‘It lands at New Wimbledon Theatre in May’, he wants me to add. And he has a new musical Berlusconi in rehearsals, which he was keen to talk about: ‘I met the writers Ricky Simmonds and Simon Vaughan almost four years ago when they approached me with a first draft and some demos. I was intrigued by Silvio Berlusconi as a subject for a musical and as soon as I heard the music I was hooked… What is so brilliantly accomplished in Ricky and Simon’s writing is that the serious message of this musical is delivered with such incredible wit and charm and so many laughs. It adds up to a prescient, utterly compelling, wildly entertaining new musical. It is a very special privilege to make a World Premiere of a new show and I am beyond excited to share it with audiences.’ The press release blurb says: ‘A hilarious, naughty, noisy expose of the original perma-tanned media mogul and populist politician told through the eyes of the formidable women ready to share their
side of the story and break the veneer of that million lira smile. As Silvio tries to enshrine his legacy by writing the opera of his life, his detractors are closing in…’ Which all sounds like a lot of fun. James was pleased to report that rehearsals are going well and that ‘I am fortunate to be working with a company of astonishingly talented actors who are bringing the material thrillingly to life.’ We had come to the end of our time together as rehearsals resumed, so I gave James the last word: ‘I’m hugely excited our show opens at the beautiful new Southwark Playhouse Elephant. It’s a fantastic space, a properly thrilling new addition to the London theatre scene and a major asset to Southwark. We are very lucky in this borough to have another wonderful new theatre on our doorsteps.’ I left with one of the show tunes ringing in my ears and am already looking forward to hearing it again at the new theatre. Berlusconi A New Musical is at Southwark Playhouse Elephant, The Main House, 80 Newington Butts, Dante Place, SE11 4FL from 25 March – 29 April. Times: 7.45pm, matinees 2.30pm. Admission: £7.50 - £28. Booking: https://southwarkplayhouse. co.uk/productions/berlusconi/
