Profiles

Playwright Willy Russell has returned to one of his greatest hits, done a bit of trimming and rewriting, and produced what he now calls Stags and Hens - The Remix, using an entirely Liverpool cast and production team in his home city’s theatre, The Royal Court.

The play is now a good twenty minutes shorter and has far more swearing in it than would have been allowed when it first started out and so make it a much tougher piece of work, although its basic theme of staying or leaving remains and is just as relevant.

"As always, I work right up to the wire and I’ve just been putting in one or two re-writes with the cast," the writer explained.

"While the play is still in the preview stage, its good just to tighten and tweak things that little bit more especially when you’re dealing with theatrical comedy, which is probably the art form I value more than anything else.

"Playing tragedy is easy, comedy isn’t, and its no accident that those moments that bore school children to death when studying Shakespeare, are the best moments in a play.

"Comedy doesn’t just happen.

"There is a craft involved and sometimes you have to make a young cast realise that.

"It’s great working with such experienced and talented people, but it’s a great learning curve for me too.

"Comedy doesn’t pull its punches and if its not working then its not working and has to go.

"So its at that point I go to my writing to see if its that aspect which isn’t doing what it should, or something else.

Stags and Hens

Stags and Hens is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary this year, so it might be natural to assume that this is the reason its creator wanted to return and update the play to fit the modern era.

"To be honest, I didn’t want to return to it, the theatre came to me and asked if they could put it on and I said I’d like to be involved.

"Its not an update in any shape or form though simply because I don’t think it would be possible to update this.

"The cultural map of the late seventies and now are so very different. Back then, men went to clubs specifically to pick up women and women went to clubs specifically to pick up men.

Russell's Blood Brothers has been a worldwide hit

"Nowadays, you can dance with your mate or even on your own.

"I’d have loved that.

"Clubs were old ballrooms with live bands on a stage, not purpose built venues and drink was the drug of choice.

"There was whole different vocabulary being used too, and a lot of attitudes have softened in many ways today, thank God.

"So, rather than update it, I’ve decided to tell it’s nineteen-seventies story in a very twenty-first century way."

New writing talent

Does Russell think it was easier to get work recognised now than when he started out.

"Not really, no.

"There are far more outlets today, with soap operas and drama series on TV.

"What there are far less of today is the opportunities I had to learn the craft of theatre.

"Once upon a time, producers would take a chance on an unknown.

"I used to be a commissioned by theatres back then and, if the plays fell short of the mark, it would never have been a disaster for anybody.

"Nobody would have been threatened with a cut of their grant or what have you.

"That opportunity to nurture young writers, to give them the experience of what it is to write for a live performance, doesn’t exist anymore.

"What happened then was there was this huge explosion of regional writing which was just phenomenal.

"It only lasted a very short time because, by the time Thatcher realised there weren’t any votes in the arts, in and around 1985, the suits moved in and so made it impossible to put plays on unless they either appealed to a constituency or if they ticked all the right boxes.

"To an extent, theatre almost became a division of social work.

"There is no way a writer today could start in the way myself and other writers of my generation did.

"In fact I very much doubt they would even get near the door let alone get a foot in it, which is just wrong on so many levels.

"You have to be a lot more determined now, a lot more hard faced and persistent and you shouldn’t have to be.

"The job of a writer is to write what he or she wants to write and not to be forced into what fits the current trend, because nobody can afford to take that chance anymore to see if a writer has what it takes.

Willy Russell

"So its somewhat ironic that a theatre like The Royal Court – which doesn’t receive a penny in public subsidy – is actually taking chances and giving emerging writers their break."

So, of the current crop, whose work does Willy Russell appreciate and see in it parallels of his own experiences? Before answering, there is a long pause.

"I can think of a few interesting writers, but because there isn’t a sufficient body of work there isn’t really any continuity.

"I’ve seen and liked the work done by Michael Wynne, Helen Blakemore, Nicky Allt and Dave Kirby, but what I don’t see from any of them is a body of work that’s building and building and building and, without meaning these writers alone, I think maybe its got a lot to do with finances.

"Thirty years ago, these guys would be commissioned left, right and centre and earn a wage they could live on and learn through their work.

"Today, it’s one play a year and he or she might find doors opening a little bit at a time.

"This is where soaps are on such a winner, because writers need to live and TV pays.

"Of course there are events out there that get writers some recognition.

"The 24/7 Theatre Festival in Manchester is one.

"I was asked to announce the nominations for the best play at the Manchester Evening News awards and there were a whole stack of nominees with 24/7 associations, so that’s good.

"Something on a region by region basis like that would be brilliant but, again, I suppose the dreaded “M” word gets in the way and puts people off. There are so few people in theatre willing to risk their money nowadays."

Excitement

After so much success, it’s refreshing to hear that Russell still gets the same buzz and sense of excitement when one of the shows he is directly involved in, like Stags And Hens, is being produced.

"You wouldn’t do the job if you didn’t feel that rush,’ he said, ‘although I no longer have the same sense of fear I once did, it’s still a wholly new experience.

"It’s the first time I’ve seen this version of the play on stage, it’s the first time an audience has seen this version and it’s the first time this theatre has seen this version, so there is a lot of excitement about it because you have to learn all the time.

"My last new play was Shirley Valentine and that was twenty-two years ago now, so getting involved here meant potentially there might be something new in the offing.

"I’ve never intentionally written for the West End or Broadway.

"I’ve only ever written for a theatre and a group of people and to an extent I’ve felt like I’ve not had a home for awhile.

"Now, that’s not the only reason I’ve not done anything new for all that time, but it’s certainly been a factor, and if I find things developing here at The Royal Court in the way I hope, then who knows."