Theatre and Dance Previews

Brian Cant

Brian's still playing away!

He was THE face and voice of children's television for many years. In fact if you're anywhere between your late 20s and early 40s, you'll probably remember sitting transfixed in front of the TV while Brian sang you a song about shopping!

He spent some 18 years on Play School and was a key member of the Play Away team, the Play School "spin off" for older viewers. He also provided all the narration and sang all the songs in Trumpton, Chigley and Camberwick Green, speaking those immortal words, "Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew"!

Since those days, Brian has moved back into theatre - his career began in repertory - and has toured the UK with a number of plays, including "Run For Your Wife", "Doctor In The House" and "An Ideal Husband".

Cant also writes and in recent years has written and directed shows for Legoland and regularly reads his stories on TV's Teletubbies, thus encouraging a new generation of devotees.

Brian Cant

But now, encouraged by the audience response from a charity show that he did for the Tsunami, he and Play Away's musical director Jonathan Cohen have written a show to satisfy all those of us who remember him asking us to "Give him a P"!

So, if you are blessed with a rose-tinted nostalgia for children's TV, can still sing the theme tune to Play Away and hanker after going through the "round" window, you'll be delighted to know that together with Play Away's Jonathan Cohen, Brian can be seen in High Wycombe this month, prior to a national tour.

Can you tell us a bit about your new show - "Brian Cant and Jonathan Cohen Still Playing Away"?

Brian: It's been put together for those who enjoyed the work we did on TV and stage in the 60s, 70s and 80s such as Play School, Play Away, Hit the Note, Music Time, Dappledown Farm, Camberwick Green, Trumpton, Chigley, Bric-a-Brac and many more.

It's a bit of a toe in the water for us to see how it goes but there will be a tour which is being sorted out for us now.

It's directed by my wife Cherry Britton, who worked with us on our family shows about 30 years ago, and we thought it would be fun to resurrect those shows for the children who were that age then. It will bring you a mixture of music and mayhem as we meander down Memory Lane!

There's also some wonderful piano in it because Jonathan is a great pianist but we'll be singing, telling jokes and doing sketches and there'll also be a Q & A session so that the audience can ask us about our work at that time.

So will it be a bit like Play Away?

Brian:  Yes - it will be those sorts of items and we're also doing some of the stuff that we did on stage at the Old Vic because we did Play Away for a week at the Old Vic some years ago.

A lot of it we've worked before, I've done stuff in pantos etc, so we know it does work with adults.

It will be a fun evening. I hope it will go alright but you never know - there could be 30 people there - there could be 600!

Why did you decide to do a show like this - was it because you have such fun memories of the time?

Brian:  Yes - they were really fun memories. But last Christmas I was doing panto in Poole when the Tsunami happened. A group of us thought we could put on a show to raise money. In the end we did two shows, one in Poole and one in Bournemouth and the people from those two pantos and the Southampton panto joined in as well. We did a morning show in Poole, then our pantos then an evening show in Bournemouth.

Everybody was basically doing their party pieces. The stage was in darkness and I did the opening of Play School then went into Play Away and it got a HUGE reaction, so I began to wonder - could it work? Could we put something together?

Meanwhile, Jonathan (Cohen) was up north doing his carol concerts and he did a version of the Play Away song for full orchestra and choir and that also got a huge reaction so we both thought about putting something together at the same time.

Why do you think we look back at those days of children's TV with such rose-tinted nostalgia?

Brian: They didn't have so much choice in those days - it was either us or ITV and they couldn't keep changing channels but yes, they do seem to remember us very fondly.

On the Internet you are referred to as "much-loved", "legend" and even "a god"! How does that make you feel?

Brian: [laughs] It's obviously very kind and very rewarding to have that effect but I can't believe it was that important to everyone!

Brian Cant in Play Away

It was a nice feeling doing those sorts of shows. Parents would write to us and we'd also visit hospitals and things and got nice reactions there too. Recently one boy who had been in Great Ormond Street wrote to me to thanking me for visiting him all those years ago. He'd said he didn't know if I'd remember him, but he's now working at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford.

Were the shows as fun to do as they looked?

I was on a high while I was doing it. There was lots of good comedy and good stories to read (I also did Jackanory). I used to love it. I also enjoyed writing for Play Away and seeing it work. There were also great guests like Elaine Stritch and Robert Lindsay who came to see us, and they were keen to do it as well.

You started in the entertainment business quite late and used to be a lithographer. How did you get from printing to acting?!

Brian: I used to do amateur theatre in Ipswich. But then I got a girlfriend who was at RADA and got a printing job in London. I went to the Mountview Theatre Club which was amateur but there were also lots of pros there keeping their hand in so to speak.

I was doing a play there when an agent saw me and asked if I wanted to audition for a summer season in Buxton. I auditioned and got the job so I packed in my printing job and went from £23 per week to £3 10s per week doing weekly rep!

Luckily when the season finished we went to Peterborough and took over there. We were the Penguin Players and I spent two years there playing all sorts of parts. That's really where I learnt my trade.

So, was working in children's TV just another job or did you always want to do it?

Brian: No, I went for whatever was offered! I had been doing a lot of schools' programmes and in one of them I was being a Roman sitting on an urn. The PA or ASM on it was Cynthia Felgate who the producer of Play School. She said that she was setting up a new show [Play School] and I said "how do I audition?"!

And you never looked back?!

Brian: No! I did 18 years of Play School. I was in the first set of four couples that did it, and Humpty Dumpty was the first thing seen on BBC 2!

I remember it so well. What was the secret of its success do you think? Looking back, I always felt that you were talking only to me.

Brian: That was our aim. We had to think in terms of it just being for just one person watching - anyone - we had to have a feel for them. We never used the plural. We never said "why don't you ALL join in?". It was all spoken directly to the one child.

Was it scripted?

It was scripted but over time the producers got to know what we could do and we'd ad lib and I also wrote for it. It did have a nice free feel.

How did Play Away come about?

Brian: It was meant to be for a slightly older audience, a Saturday afternoon family show.

Brian Cant presents Play School

Gordon Murray asked Joy Whitby who was the producer of Play School at the time if there was anyone she felt could do it and luckily she recommended me.

Ronnie Barker used to watch it and said he enjoyed it and Eric Morecambe liked it too. It became more of an education programme and I think it could have developed and progressed but someone somewhere decided it should end.

You were also THE voice of Trumpton, Chigley and Camberwick Green, but I am very disappointed that you're not doing the voice overs for the current set of Quaker Oats adverts with Windy Miller?

Brian: So am I! I auditioned for it but they didn't like what I did!

That's outrageous - whyever not?!

Brian: I think they expected my voice to be exactly as it was then. It WAS 40 years ago but it's not that much different. And they'd gone to the trouble of setting everything else up as well. I heard it all back and I thought I sounded OK but ....

What do you think of children's TV Today?

There are some good programmes and some bad but I don't watch a great deal because my children are teenagers now.

I think things like Art Attack are very good and there's also good drama but there's a very big mixture these days. They are also a bit freer now - they can more or less do as they like in terms of dialogue and stuff.

Being such a popular person in children's TV, did you feel the pressure to entertain at your own kids' parties?

Brian: I'm actually not a very good children's entertainer! I tried it for a time and it was horrendous. It was awful going into their houses. They [children] are very inquisitive and won't laugh if they don't want to, but on stage you're safe! If I'd been a conjuror or something it might have been different!

But [children's entertaining] it's not for me!

You've gone back to drama - was it difficult to go back into that after being such a well known figure in children's programming?

Brian with Chloe Ashcroft and Humpty!

Brian: Yes - it took time. I had to wait while my agent phoned around. The problem was that a lot of people thought I was still doing it and I had to say "no I'm not working"!

Then I got a nice drama job in telly. I heard that Gerald Blake was doing a series so I phoned him but his PA said "who is it and what do you want?".

I said my name and she said he wasn't available but Gerald had heard her say my name and grabbed the phone off her.

I asked him if he had anything for me and he said was doing a serial in May so to call him in April. I did and got a second policeman role for six episodes. He said it [talking to me] was like talking Clark Gable - he was thrilled. It turned out he had children and had watched me!

Do you have any ambitions now?

Brian: I've no specific ambitions just getting jobs really. I'd like this tour to go well though. There's been a lot of work gone into it!