Interview with Chris White of The Straits

SOUTH London boasts many famous alumni but surely somewhere towards the top of the list must be the legend that is Dire Straits. The band, who've enjoyed phenomenal success around the world, and had their fair share of staff comings and goings, played their first gig in Deptford back in 1977. They even have a commemorative blue plaque at the original birthplace of the group, Farrer House in Church Street, such is their fame.
Between 1977 and their split in 1995, they sold more than 120 million albums worldwide, played to packed out arenas across the globe, performed at Live Aid in 1985 and won numerous gongs including four Grammys and three Brit Awards.
Now they are back – albeit under a new name, The Straits, and with an altered line-up - and coming to the Albany in Douglas Way as part of a small UK tour.
Speaking ahead of the gig, saxophonist Chris White says the band is looking forward to coming home.
"It's great to be back in Deptford where it all began," he says. "We are really excited about it."
Appearing with Chris will be Alan Clark on keyboards, drummer Steve Ferrone, Mick Feat on bass, singer Jamie Squire, guitarist Adam Phillips and lead singer Terence Reis.
But what of founder Dire Straits members Mark Knopfler and John Illsely?
"Alan (Clark) was asked if we'd like to do a charity gig a couple of years ago at the Royal Albert Hall," explains Chris.
"Although we all still keep in touch, John was doing solo work and Mark didn't want to play Dire Straits stuff anymore so we put the band together without them, gave ourselves a new name, and did the concert.
"Afterwards we thought that was it but it went so well we've been together ever since playing across Europe and South Africa. 
"We're even working on some new material. 
"From one gig it's turned into quite a thing," he laughs modestly.
Originally from Bristol, the 57-year-old took up the sax by chance.
"I dabbled with the violin at primary school but although I could play I didn't really like it. When I was about 13 I remember seeing someone play sax on TV and I was sold. "I went to school the next day and said I wanted to play it and the teachers found one in a sack in a cupboard.
"My maths teacher gave me some lessons and within a month I knew that was it. I was so lucky I found it otherwise it could all have been very different for me," he laughs.
Leaving school he headed to college in London, eventually meeting Mark and joined Dire Straits in 1984 living for the best part of 20 years in and around Brockley and Sydenham.
The rest rest, as they say, is history and – in the 30 years since then - Chris has performed with virtually everyone who is anyone in music, including Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney and Ray Charles.
"I've been lucky to work with some great people," he admits.
"I played Knebworth with Robbie Williams. That was huge. I think he's a great entertainer.
"One of the highlights with Dire Straits was playing Romeo & Juliet in Israel at sunset and everyone got their lighters out. That was pretty special."
Live Aid too holds a place in his heart. "Going out on stage at Wembley to do Live Aid was amazing," he enthuses. "It was my 30th birthday and such a fantastic day. So many people were there and the feeling of goodwill was amazing.
"I was living in Sydenham at the time and I watched it on the TV before we went up to Wembley. It was a unique event."
Not only that, after their set they went to the arena next door and did another gig - as part of a tour the band was in the middle of.
"There were lots of people drifting in and out after they had finished their Live Aid sets. Sting, Francis Rossi, and Hank Marvin all dropped in and played with us that night. It was great." But now his thoughts are very much back with The Straits and their upcoming Albany gig.
"It's fantastic to be playing in Deptford again. I live in Berkshire now but still come back here quite a bit as it's such a great place to be, really buzzy and lively and I've got fond memories of living and working here.
"Being at the Albany again will be amazing, too. You are up close and personal and can see people's faces - it's quite nerve-racking!" And although they are now very much The Straits, fans will recognise most of the music.
"Mark wrote some stunning songs - Brothers in Arms, Romeo & Juliet and Telegraph Road - they are all amazing and we'll be doing them all - pretty much how Dire Straits did them back in the day. But there will also be some surprises.
"It's going to be fantastic," he promises.
The Straits played at the Albany in Douglas Way on Saturday, March 9, 2013.

Snow White

THERE are moments with pantos when you boo, hiss, shout, cringe, sing, cry laughing and dance.

And Snow White and the Seven Dwarves at the New Wimbledon Theatre had all these elements and more.

Boasting a star studded line up with the likes of Warwick Davis, Jarred Christmas and the King of rock 'n' roll's ex herself, Priscilla Presley, it ticked most of the panto boxes.

While it may have lacked a panto dame, it more than made up for this with silly, corny jokes, cheesy songs, a wicked queen, a prince charming and a beautiful princess and seven dwarves, one of whom is obsessed by British paralympian swimmer Ellie Simmonds.

It also had plenty of gloriously hammy acting, a few fluffed lines and a fair bit of add-libbing, not to mention the funniest Gangnam style dance routine I've seen on the panto circuit this season.

The costumes were amazing and the set was as sparkly as the stars in the show having had more glitter thrown at it than you would find in a children's collage set.

Priscilla was the wicked queen and although not always looking entirely comfortable in the role, particularly when hoisted in the air on wires and floating perilously over the stage dispensing wickedness, she delighted the audience with a rendition of Trouble from Elvis's repertoire.

Pacing the stage and sporting a fabulous dress which was cut to the thigh, she was adept at whipping up the audience with malevolent glee and attracted plenty of boos and hisses.

Jarred Christmas was hilarious as her right hand man Herman the Henchman and his attempt at a Geordie accent was one of the funniest things I've seen and heard.

Warwick Davis as Prof, self-imposed leader of the dwarves was brilliant and stole the show with his Gangnam song and dance routine.

But perhaps the best was saved til last when just before the curtain came down, the cast got the entire audience on its feet for a rendition of the Blues Brother's classic Everybody Needs Someone To Love. Fabulous!

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves is on at the New Wimbledon Theatre until January 13.

Tickets from £10. Call the box office on 0844 871 7646

Aladdin with Lily Savage

FOR organisers, housing panto Aladdin in a pop-up tent within the O2 in Greenwich must have seemed like a good idea at the time.

However, with tip up plastic chairs on gantry style seating, a severe chill running through said tent and one bar to serve all 1,900 audience members this supposedly good idea must have vanished as quickly as Aladdin's genie appeared from his bottle.

Fortunately, the show has Lily Savage as its star attraction to warm things up and from the moment Paul O'Grady's alter ego came on stage, was greeted by a cheer as loud as the concert playing in the nearby O2 arena.

The story is a familiar one. Lily Twanky's husband has died leaving her nothing more than a launderette in old Peking. To his brother he's left a ring. Lily heads off to Peking with her son Aladdin in tow and it's here he meets the emperor's daughter, falls in love with her and tries to make the feeling mutual. Along the way he encounters the genie, gets locked in a cave and has to defeat the evil Abanazar, brilliantly played by Darren Bennett.

With lavish sets, spectacular costumes, fabulous musical performances and a big cast this was a panto which was as much about style as it was substance and the flying magic carpet was a highlight.

Lily Savage is of course the main draw and she didn't disappoint giving a hilarious mini stand up routine at one point, a few ad libs sprinkled about and an unscripted wardrobe malfunction which left her face down on the floor with her shoes in Abanazar's costume, and the rest of us and the cast crying with laughter.

However, despite all this, it felt more like a West End musical rather than a traditional panto as although most of the classic ingredients were there including a baby elephant in lieu of Dobbin, it lacked the main one for me - laugh a minute silly, saucy jokes. And at three hours it's too long for even the most un-fidgety kids.

That said, Darren Bennett along with Issy Van Randwyck as the Slave of the Ring and Jon Lee as Aladdin put in great performances and it was a real treat to see Lily in all her acidic, bitter, eye-rolling, hilarious glory.

Aladdin is on until Saturday, January 5.

Tickets from £19.50. Call the box office on 0844 856 0202.

Robin Hood at Greenwich Theatre

ANDREW Pollard has done it again. The writer, actor and now director and seasoned dame has put together another barn storming panto at Greenwich Theatre.

This year it’s Robin Hood and from the moments the lights go down and a version of Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer blasts out, the atmosphere is electric.

The next two hours zip by all too quickly jam packed as they are with plenty of gags, live music, dancing, magic, silliness, mayhem, and a fair few ad libs to spice things up a bit.

The action is set in Sherwood Forest – although there are plenty of local and topical references including an obligatory nod to this summer’s Olympics.

Robin Hood (Michael Harris) is hiding out in the forest with his band of merry men including Friar Tuck (Paul Critoph) and Alan McDale (Garry Ellis) robbing from the evil Sherrif (Anthony Spargo) and dishing out the loot to the poor.

However things start hotting up when he realises his childhood sweetheart Maid Marian (Arabella Rodrigo) is staying at the Sherrif’s castle with her nurse Joan Germoline (Pollard).

Pollard’s script is terrific, full of slapstick and manages to produce not one but three love matches, and his naughty naughty nursie is both saucy and silly.

With lots of interaction between the cast and the audience, amazing sets, outrageous costumes, a fabulous cast – particularly Anthony Spargo and his pet vulture – and plenty of jokes to please everyone’s tastes, this is a crowd pleaser of the best sort and proves that you don’t have to have big names to put on a great family show.

Pollard has once again set the bar by which other pantos are judged. It’s an absolute belter of a show and will have you laughing out loud way beyond Christmas.

Robin Hood is on at Greenwich Theatre, until January 6.

Tickets from £19, concessions £16.

Visit www.greenwichtheatre.org.uk or call 020 8858 7755

Ken Loach

FILM director Ken Loach is known for his hard hitting, gritty films which depict ordinary people telling working class stories.

So it comes as a bit of a surprise to find he is actually very gently and softly spoken.

What is not in doubt are his life long socialist values and beliefs which are evident in his treatment of social issues such as homelessness, poverty and labour rights in the films and documentaries he has made throughout his long and illustrious career.

He also has a penchant for egg custard tarts as I found out last week when I spoke to him ahead of a discussion he is leading at the Bussey Building in Peckham tomorrow.

"I've just got a mouthful of cake," he laughs by way of an introduction. "It was one of those egg custard tarts and it was very nice!"

Cake aside, Loach's career, which spans more than 50 years, is peppered with classics such as his documentary Cathy Come Home and films Kes, Riff-Raff, and The Wind That Shakes the Barley which won the prestigious Palme d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

And despite his age - he's 76 - he is not about to go and collect his pension either. His film Angel's Share was in cinemas earlier this year and he is currently working on a documentary on the post World War Two Labour government.

He is also preparing to take part in a post show discussion of The Ragged Trousers at Peckham's Bussey Building tomorrow.

The play, written by Stephen Lowe, has been adapted from Robert Tressell's 1914 book which charts a year in the life of a group of painters and decorators as they renovate a three-storey house for Mayor Sweater.

It traces their struggle for survival doing backbreaking work for low wages and the themes within it chime very well with those Loach has featured in his films over the years.

"The issue of workers creating wealth for other people is still very relevant," he says. "I read the book about 50 years ago but have never seen the play so I'm very much looking forward to it.

"It was written at about the same time the Labour party was formed and is a classic piece of socialist and working class literature. I know so many people who have been influenced by it, myself included.

"It's about how the system works and has to if it's to function. It explores the issues facing working people and it exposes the mechanism of society and how the wheels go round.

"It also goes right back to the inception of the Labour Party which I don't think has ever been a socialist party," he says. "It was trying to make capitalism work for ordinary people and that was its fatal flaw.

"It has never stood for the ideas on which it was founded which makes this such an important book."

I ask him if it's significant the play is being performed in Peckham.

"Peckham is one of those areas where people feel so alienated and removed from the sense they own or have any share in how society is run and feel they have nothing to lose," he says.

"That's what was so evident about the riots. It was an inarticulate shout of rage. It certainly shows us something is wrong with the way we organise society.

"This book shows that very clearly. These are ordinary people who are faced with similar issues to us now - unemployment or a cut in wages or the dismantling of the Welfare State which was actually Labour's biggest achievement.

"The system now can't pay for it and people are faced with the reality of that in their daily struggle.

"What we need is a new mass party of the left - what Labour should have been."

I ask him if he wants to set it up.

"I think it's a bit beyond me!" he laughs. "But I will be there waving the flag!"