INTERVIEW Paul Young

MENTION 80s music to anyone of a certain age and there will be a few bands and solo performers whose names are bound to come up as favourites.

And Paul Young would almost certainly be on the list. After going solo following stints in bands such as the Q-Tips, the now 60-year-old took the charts by storm during that decade with hits such as Love Of The Common People, Wherever I Lay My Hat, Every Time You Go Away and Come Back And Stay.

His debut album, No Parlez was released in 1983 and not only reached the top spot in the album charts but it also went triple platinum in the UK and in the process turned him into a household name. 

With the release of his second album, The Secret Of Association, which also reached the number one spot, his status as a world star was confirmed and in 1985 he won the Best British Male award at the Brit Awards.

However although he faded somewhat from the public scene during the 90s he never went away and has certainly never been idle as his nine solo studio albums including the most recent, Good Thing, released in April this year is testament to. 

Then of course there is his foray into Tex Mex music with his band Los Pacaminos and the two albums that have come from that union which he started in 1993 not to mention the 15 plus live and compilation albums and numerous TV appearances - including BBC Celebrity MasterChef, ITV’s Hell’s Kitchen and The Wright Stuff.

In short, he’s not a man to rest on his laurels. And at the moment he’s gearing up for a tour in March next year alongside other 80s stars Toyah, China Crisis and Martika.

The 80s Invasion Tour takes in venues across the country and includes a date at the Indig02 on March 17 and in a chat as tickets were put on general release, Paul says he couldn’t be happier.

“I have done concerts such as this in the past and the promoter of this particular tour said he was putting this one together and I jumped at the chance to be part of it,” he tells me.

“The final points are being ironed out at the moment but it’s going to be a lot of fun with each of us doing a set of about 30 minutes.

“So, it will be a chance for people to hear all the greatest hits - although the arrangements might be slightly different,” he adds.

“I have updated some, lengthened others and stripped others right back.

“I’ve not played the Indig02 before although I’ve seen bands there over the years, but I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a lovely venue, nice and intimate and you get to see the audience close up which is great.

“I have fans who have followed me for 30 years and over that time I’ve got to know them so it will be great to look out and see familiar faces as well as new generations. 

“What’s lovely is that I’ll be singing these songs and the crowd will be singing them back at me. It’s a reminder that they have a special place in peoples’ hearts and minds.

“It’s really nice.”

Paul says he has fond memories of the 80s and his career at that time. These memories are part of the reason he continues to enjoy playing live and performing his songs which were for many the soundtrack of their youth.

“The 80s was very like the 60s in that it was born out of freedom,” he says. “For us at that time it was that we could do anything because of the technological advances in music. There were synths and drum machines, CD and digital recordings - it was amazing really.

“I was, and am glad, to have been there at that time as it shaped the sound of my first album.

“My idea when I went solo was to be an RnB artist but also to add the synths and drum machines. It was a very experimental and exciting time to be making music.”

As well as achieving number ones, and pin up status, Paul’s highlights of the decade included some of the major concerts he performed in, most notably Live Aid at Wembley in July 1985, the Nelson Mandela Tribute concert in 1989 as well as opening the BandAid charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas.

“Live Aid was the most amazing experience,” he says. “I was in America touring at the time and had to fly back for it so I was a bit jet lagged on stage! I flew back to America and then found I was number one - it was pretty special.

“I’ve not toured America since about 1990 and would love to have another crack at it.

“The Freddie Mercury Tribute concert was great too and both these gigs happened within a few yeas of each other. 

“I remember having to get out of the dressing room as all the guys from Queen were using it!” he laughs.

Inevitably the music industry has changed markedly in the last 30 years not least in the way music is now distributed and sold.

“I remember going on tour and doing performances of Wherever I Lay My Hat and all the while watching it creep up the singles charts,” Paul remembers. 

“It absolutely crawled up there! Then it took a leap - and ended up being number one. It was all about promotion and to begin with I didn’t have a big promotional budget.

“Back then you either bought a single or an album but now you can download ad buy three singles and then can buy another track that’s not a single as such and you might end up with an entire album - but it’s not registered as an album sale. It’s a very strange structure these days and of course there are a lot more things to spend your cash on so although music is much cheaper these days it’s more competitive.

Despite this he says he’s been lucky, citing and praising his “loyal fans” and he says he still gets a kick out of writing new material and performing live.

And this has extended to forming his band Los Pacaminos and indulging in his love of Tex Mex music.

“It is one of the many music genres I love,” he explains. “It’s very happy music and really used to cheer me up so I thought it would be good if I could learn to play it. It was also to challenge myself a bit, play guitar and write songs and instrumentals in that style and play with my friends. 

“Besides it’s nice to do something different. Los Pacaminos is a cowboy band - we dress up in all the gear, boots, jackets, hats, the lot, which is a lot of fun of course!

“The plan was to do it for a little while but it never ended! And in fact we are still together and this summer I’ve been doing quite a few shows with the band. It’s great to still be able to do this - I’m very grateful.

“Ultimately it’s fun and it’s a bit kitsch and I love it - so now I wear my hat for one band and take it off for another!”

Paul Young will be performing as part of the 80s Invasion Tour at the Indig02 on Thursday, March 16. Visit www.axs.com or call the box office on 0844 856 0202 for full listings.

FOUR STAR REVIEW - Lunch and The Bow Of Ulysses

FOUR STARS

Human relationships are under the microscope in a new revival of two of Steven Berkoff’s short plays - Lunch and The Bow Of Ulysses.

In Lunch we see a woman sitting alone on a bench on a pier watching the sea. She is soon joined by a salesman who having spied her as he walked past decides to chat her up. This does’t go well as the man is nervy, nerdy and crass and to begin with he makes a dog’s dinner of it.

Incredibly given his vulgarity, she responds although throughout they veer between lust, hate, rage and excitement, not just for each other but for life itself.

Their exchanges are both aggressive and vulnerable - and in the case of the man, it is very physical - and it’s clear they are both lonely and desperate to be wanted and needed. The poetry in the dialogue is superb and takes the audience on a rollercoaster of emotions as the couple’s exchanges take place.

Fast forward 20 years and Berkoff revisits this couple in The Bow Of Ulysses. They are still together but wondering what on earth it is that keeps them so.

In fact given the language of the first play it is a wonder they didn’t just leave after the first encounter. However as they sit on the same bench where they met all those years before and with some distance between them, we discover their relationship has produced children and a loveless marriage in which they both felt they had to “save” the other - presumably from the drudge, boring and lonely lives they previously led.

The pace slows right down, both in the physical nature and the words. They sit on the bench throughout, pouring scorn on the other in a series of monologues and using some pretty hateful, vengeful and spiteful words, not only to describe their partner but their lives and what “could have been”.

It is here particularly that the cramped and confined space of the Trafalgar Studios really comes into its own adding to the claustrophobic nature of their relationship and the feeling that neither can escape.

It is beautifully and skilfully acted by both Emily Bruni as the woman and Shaun Dooley as the man. The man’s physicality contrasts perfectly with the woman’s languidness with both actors letting Berkoff’s poetry shine through.

And while it may be a somewhat intense 90 minutes it is a powerful, honest and fascinating piece, well directed by Nigel Harman.

Lunch and The Bow Of Ulysses is on at the Trafalgar Studios, Whitehall until November 5. Tickets from £19.50. Visit www.atgtickets.com or call the box office on 0844 871 7632 for full listings.

INTERVIEW Miles Jupp

Miles Jupp doesn't really need an introduction. For younger members of the family he is Archie the Inventor in the hit Cbeebies show Balamory and for adults he’s a comedian, actor and presenter - think Rev, The Thick Of It, Have I Got News For You, People and Rules For Living at the National Theatre and most recently as the new host of the BBC Radio 4 show, The News Quiz.

But he started out as a comedian back in 2000 and quickly won recognition for his self deprecating wit and beautiful comic timing with the So You Think You’re Funny and Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year awards in 2001.

This autumn he has gone back to his comedic roots with a tour of his new show, Miles Jupp: Songs Of Freedom, which makes a stop at Bromley’s Churchill Theatre on October 26.

Affable and chatty he tells me that he’s looking forward to making his debut at the venue and musing on all manner of things including hipsters, manners, astronauts and social media and basically “skipping around the stage having fun and getting a load of nonsense off my chest”.

However, my first question revolves around the press release announcing the show which states that he will be wearing a freshly ironed shirt and “robust trousers”.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I ask what robust trousers are and what’s special about them.

“Ah well they really just a solid pair of trousers, no more to it than that really,” he chuckles. “They only have to last two hours a night which is perfectly reasonable.

“The shirt thing though is something that has become somewhat of a ritual of mine. I have a routine before I go on stage in which I iron my shirt. It’s a chance for me to focus on the show and is  something I picked up in Edinburgh. It’s also my way of reminding myself that although walking out on stage and having fun is what I do and what I love, it is also about going out to work. It is a way of rooting and reminding myself to be professional and to put the effort in.

“I also iron it again in the interval as I like it to be fresh,” he adds laughing.

“As for the trousers, I have a few and so far they are standing up pretty well.”

All this is good news because the tour, which began last month, is a good six months long although it is interspersed with other projects including the News Quiz.

Indeed when Miles and I chat he’s in town and taking a lunch break from recording said show. But it’s clear he’s enjoying being back on the road and is as easy going and laid back as you might expect.

“I did a my last tour about two years ago and after a while you get the itch to go out again and get in front of an audience so here I am,” he tells me.

“It’s nice to go to towns and venues that are familiar as well as to visit places I’ve never been to before and meeting people I don’t know. So far it’s been going very nicely.

“I’ve never been to the Churchill Theatre though. I’ve been to Bromley many times, mostly to get my Volkswagen car serviced at Beadles Garage - they have great people and great prices but that’s the only reason to be there so I have no idea who comes out at night in Bromley. 

“So I’m looking forward to it - it sounds like a nice theatre so hopefully we will have an audience that is varied and interesting and wide awake.

“It’s not going to be a wild and crazy night though, nor is it going to be sedate - I rant and rave a bit but the audiences tend to be pretty nice people.

“This time the show is about a variety of nonsense - peoples’ perceptions of each other, incorrect signage, being unable to find things, going on TV programmes that I shouldn’t go on, children copying what I do, restaurant reviews…. it’s all bits and pieces really and stuff that I’ve found funny over the course of the last two years. So something for everyone!” he laughs.

One of the things that has happened in the last few years is that he and his family uprooted themselves from Peckham where they had lived for a number of years to rural Wales.

“Peckham is prime hipster place,” he muses before adding diplomatically, “I’m sure people there are nice but they are a bit fabulous aren’t they? I find it’s damaging to a person’s self confidence as there is a feeling you are being judged by these people. So I have a chat about that. 

“South Wales is lovely and it’s been a good move - it’s really good for the children.”

The move was prompted he tells me by needing more space for his large brood - he has five children aged seven and under including a set of twins - who he also admits offer plenty of material for his shows.

“I did a show which included talking about the complexities of having four kids and then I found I was going to have another one,” he remembers.

“In this show I talk about how kids copy you, how you can see yourself in their behaviour and how I am often incapable of answering their questions. Then there is the fact I have to get them to go and do stuff for me - all this technology for instance. The way they engage with screens, know how to make videos and selfies and so on is extraordinary.

“They are a constant though and the reason you do everything.”

And in a moment of semi seriousness he says it is for them that he works so much and one of the reasons for going out on tour.

However he acknowledges that it’s tiring travelling up and down the highways and byways of the country when he’s on tour or recording any of the many TV and radio shows he’s involved with, and like all working parents, trying to find the balance between work and homelife is not always easy.

“It’s hardest for my wife really,” he says. “It just takes planning though and having stuff mapped out so we all know what we are doing.

“Having five children is a bit bonkers but now they are a bit older it’s nice when they get on with stuff and thrilling to see them having fun together, watching them being creative and making stuff from nothing.

“We have got a set of twins and being a twin looks like a lot of fun. The key thing is to spread yourself around make sure they get enough attention.”

With all those mouths to feed Miles says he needs to keep working but it’s clear he enjoys what he does.

He started acting about two years after becoming established on the stand up circuit and since then has gone “back and forth” between the two. Indeed he loves the variety it offers citing roles at the National Theatre and in Rev and The Thick of It as “extraordinary experiences”.

“I’ve done a couple of things at the National,” he says. “It’s a really interesting place to work and I love Rufus Norris who runs it.

“Rules For Living was pretty intense and very technical so I had to make sure I knew what I was doing. Then I also did People there with Peter Egan. I’d never seen him in [TV show] Ever Decreasing Circles so I had a great time with him.

“I remember we were back stage chatting away, talking about espionage and other things and drinking wine when everyone else was on stage - it was great!” he chuckles at the memory.

“I’d like to do more theatre although I also really enjoy doing TV - being in Rev was a tremendous slice of good fortune. 

“It was glorious and I worked with a really nice team of people - it’s that kind of thing that’s great and I love it. The Thick Of It was also fantastic and three of the best days of my working life. Just to be doing it was amazing - it’s the kind of work you compare everything else to.

“But I’m happy to work anywhere though really.”

And of course he’s now added presenting to his impressive CV. Not only that he’s currently writing a book and has just finished recording an adaptation of Watership Down in which he voices Blackberry the rabbit.

“It was fun but a bit lonely though,” he admits. “It was just me in a booth focusing on one voice. 

“I don’t know how they will knit it all together - I am not up on all the technical stuff.

“But I have never been a rabbit before …… so that was a new experience!”

Miles Jupp: Songs of Freedom is at the Churchill Theatre Bromley on October 26. The show tours nationwide until February 2017 including the London Palladium on February 25. For more details, visit www.milesjupp.co.uk

From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads

THIS year has been typified by the loss of a great many people of which one of the most notable was David Bowie. 

The Brixton-born singer, songwriter, artist and entertainer passed away on January 10 in New York prompting an outpouring of grief and tributes from around the world.

Now a celebration of his life and music is coming to South London in the form of a play, From Ibiza To The Norfolk Broads.

Written by Londoner Adrian Berry it will be performed at the Waterloo East Theatre between Tuesday October 18 and Sunday November 6.

It is an updated version of a piece Adrian wrote a few years ago which was performed in both London and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It follows the story of Martin, a David Bowie obsessive, with an illness no one can understand, a head full of sound and vision, and who receives an unexpected gift on his 18th birthday. 

It propels him on a surreal and thrilling journey to London in the footsteps of Bowie and in which he finds himself performing on the stage where Ziggy Stardust was born, in Bowie’s bedroom and then taken on a treasure trail to discover the truth about himself and his family. What follows is set to change his life forever.

Performed by one man, Alex Walton, the 60-minute play is a powerful and touching story set to a blistering soundtrack with a nod to Bowie’s heroes and influences. It also features videos as a backdrop and the voice of comedian Robert Newman as Bowie.

And although it is certainly a homage to the great man, Adrian stresses it was not written as a result of Bowie’s death.

“I’d been writing and developing it for about two years,” he tells me. “I started off when I was staying at a friend’s house in Florida and was actually writing two plays. However I realised after a while that I was writing the same play so I amalgamated them.

“When I had finished I sent the original version to Bowie and to which he gave his blessing, sending me a nice email about it.

“Although it had been staged before, when he died I thought I couldn’t put it on again. However a huge amount of people who knew Bowie thought it would be a good tribute. So I carried on developing it and now here it is.

“Initially the idea came about because I am a huge fan of Bowie’s and wanted to celebrate his art, music and indeed his legacy and to take the audience on a journey to where it all began.

“It’s a tribute of course as he was such an important figure in our popular culture but it’s not a biography of him. 

“It’s set about four years ago or so before he died. I wanted to keep him in the present rather than lament his passing.

“Essentially there are three stories running through the piece - it’s a love letter to London, it’s about Bowie and his London, the city that formed him and created many of the unique characters he showed us not to mention his astonishing music. 

“Alongside that is the parallel of a boy who has an eating disorder, whose father left him when he was two and how he goes on a journey to find him.

“Through the narrative the audience is taken to all the places that were important to Bowie in some way - his homes in Brixton and Beckenham as well as venues he performed in and other places he lived in.

“And although it’s a solo piece it feels fuller because of all these strands. I did start off by bringing in other people to play the other characters but it felt wrong whereas this feels quite liberating. It’s the mark of what a good actor Alex is that he’s able to conjure up all the people who appear in the story.”

The voice of Bowie has been done by comedian Robert Newman and he provides a mix of a voice that Martin hears in his head as well as a commentary.

“I thought Robert would say no initially,” says Adrian. “However, I wrote to him and asked if he’d do it and he said yes. So we went to a studio in Kentish Town near where he lives and we spent a day there working on it.

“Some of the things we recorded were things Bowie had said in the printed press but never on audio such as TV. So to have these words recorded brings the quotes alive. It was quite special and sent a shiver down our spines!”

As well as the video projection and the words there is of course plenty of music which Adrian admits will be a big draw for Bowie fans.

But he hopes the play will also appeal to those who may not know much about Bowie or his music.

“You don’t have to be knowledgable about him to enjoy the play,” says Adrian. “It’s a story that people can relate to on any level, whether or not they know about Bowie and his music, so I hope people will come along and go on the journey with the boy. I hope as many people come to see it as possible - anything that brings in new audiences is great.

“It’s funny and moving and quite dramatic so I think there is something there for everyone.

“It was fascinating to write. I’m a huge Bowie fan although I came rather late to him, but had to do a lot of research even so. I talked to a lot of people who knew him including his former landlady, Geoff Marsh who curated the recent David Bowie exhibition and childhood friends who were all lovely and very helpful. 

“They were also very respectful in the way they shared the information with me.”

Unfortunately Bowie never saw the original production but Adrian hopes he would have liked it and that he would give this updated version his blessing too.

And although he won’t give too much away, he says that the ending will be poignant.

“There is a glimmer of hope,” is all he will say. 

After the run in London the play will go out on tour and take in some towns and cities that Bowie had connections with including Norwich where he played a gig in 1973.

“It’s going to be really interesting to see what audiences make of it,” says Adrian. “I’m very excited about it because it’s created a lot of interest and if it brings in younger audiences that will be great.

“Bowie had such an impact on people - through his music, art and words - that I hope people enjoy this tribute.”

From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads is on at the Waterloo East Theatre between Tuesday, October 18 and Sunday, November 6. Tickets cost £15. Visit www.waterlooeast.co.uk for full listings.

FOUR STAR REVIEW - Travesties, Menier Chocolate Factory

FOUR STARS

It may have been written 40 years ago but Tom Stoppard’s play Travesties with its ponderings on art and politics, their functions and attributes, seems as relevant now as it ever was.

A new production of this somewhat wordy play has just opened at the Menier Chocolate Factory and it is a joy from start to finish.

Indeed it is a shame that it is a play not more often revived because when it’s done this well it’s an absolute joy.

It has a somewhat complicated plot but suffice to say that it centres on a retired, aged and somewhat vain British diplomat, Henry Carr.

Switching between the present and the past he muses on the meetings he had in Zurich during the inter war years with the likes of avant grade artist Tristan Tzara, novelist James Joyce and Lenin. 

Interspersed with this are his memories of staging a production of The Importance of Being Earnest, in which he was “not Earnest but the other one”.

As is a feature Stoppard’s plays, Travesties is full of discussion and debate, much of the time tending to be quick and complicated. 

Here it is Henry Carr’s contact with the three men, particularly Tzara and Joyce, with whom he has a war of words and which romps along at quite a pace - in fact sometimes dizzyingly so.

However, in many ways you really don’t need to understand what they are discussing, rather just sit back and enjoy these gloriously fresh and frisky exchanges.

And as well as these wordy debates Stoppard treats us all to whole scenes made up entirely of either limericks, song, dance and even a brilliant verbal sparring between Cecily and Gwendoline.

The set too deserves special mention because of the attention to detail including a stuffed beaver hiding behind the arm chair. 

Directed by Patrick Marber, and boasting a stellar cast, led by Tom Hollander, fantastic as Henry Carr, and with Freddie Fox who dazzles as Tzara, it is a production that fizzes with energy, pizzazz and laugh out loud comedy. In short, a real treat.

Travesties is on at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Southwark Street until November 19. Tickets cost  from £29.50. Visit www.menierchocolatefactory.com or call the box office on 020 7378 1713 for full listings.