INTERVIEW
MARK STEEL
EVERY LITTLE THING’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT
UK Tour 2018
Palace Theatre, Westcliff
16th March 2018
MARK STEEL
EVERY LITTLE THING’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT
UK Tour 2018
Palace Theatre, Westcliff
16th March 2018
Mark Steel is remarkably chipper when we meet to talk about his new show, even though it’s about a miserable period in his life when Donald Trump won the White House, Nigel Farage seemed to be running Britain, and to cheer him up his wife decided to leave him.
But as the show’s title, Every Little Thing’s Gonna Be Alright, suggests, the comic isn’t a man to be defeated by what life throws at him on either a personal or political level; our conversation is punctuated by laughter, and he talks about his optimism for the future.
Because Mark is an avowed Left-winger who writes a political column in The Independent, he is sometimes seen as a political comic, but he demurs. “I’ve got loads of burning issues to talk about on stage, but the first thing you start with is, What are the things I think are funny?
“There’s great comedy in things not turning out as you expect. For example, regardless of your politics, you have to be amused that someone so magnificently confident calls an unnecessary election and mucks its up. Now Theresa May can’t even make a speech at her own conference without spluttering like a really useless kid in a Nativity play. And they [the Conservative government] don’t know what they’re doing from one day to the next. That’s funny, isn’t it?”
The show also charts his wife of 11 years divorcing him. They underwent “mediation” to divide their financial assets and Mark vents his spleen. “The way that marriage, or rather divorce, is organised in this country is mad. You’re better off under some sort of Sharia system,” and then hoots with laughter at the thought.
Some of his wife’s grounds for divorce lend themselves to comedy: he never cut the privet hedge (not a euphemism); he hadn’t trained the dog; he went on tour (he is a comic after all); and he is obsessed with sport. So is he?
“Guilty as charged,” Mark admits. “There was one night I said, “I’m coming up to bed in a minute, but then realised, ooh the fencing is on.” He deadpans in his defence: “It wasn’t just any old tournament, it was a regional final – Hungary versus Italy.”
I ask if everything is material for a show. “No, that makes it sound mercenary. But everything in life has a funny side to it. It doesn’t cheer you up or make you laugh, but you know it’ll make an audience laugh because they recognise the truth of it.”
The show is not about him putting his side of things. “That would be unfair. It’s about the process of what happens when a marriage goes wrong. It seemed idyllic, our suburban life living just outside Brighton, and then this happened; someone’s furious with you and everything falls apart.”
He melds the personal and the political in the show. “In mediation, everything is brought down to the cost of things. It encourages people to be unpleasant and greedy, and it struck me that it’s the same philosophy that’s driven the world over the past few decades. So education, libraries, health and social care all have to have a financial worth; everything is reduced to whether it has a value that can be worked out on a calculator.
“The kind of people who say, ‘Why should I pay for a fire brigade when I’m not on fire?’ or ‘Why should I pay for someone else’s dialysis if they can’t be bothered to keep their kidneys scrubbed?’; have had everything their own way for decades.
“But if you think the railways ought to be run for the people who use them rather than making a failed balloonist extremely rich, this is an exciting time. Ideas that have been on the back burner for 30 years are now on the agenda. Young people really do believe that we should look after the old and sick, and I think that’s optimistic and encouraging.
“I’m not trying to win people around, but I think the demonisation of Jeremy Corbyn is so mental that it’s funny – I struggle to come up with worse things in the show than the right-wing press say about him, like he’s going to introduce women-only gravity, so men are forced to float, or something.”
But as the show’s title, Every Little Thing’s Gonna Be Alright, suggests, the comic isn’t a man to be defeated by what life throws at him on either a personal or political level; our conversation is punctuated by laughter, and he talks about his optimism for the future.
Because Mark is an avowed Left-winger who writes a political column in The Independent, he is sometimes seen as a political comic, but he demurs. “I’ve got loads of burning issues to talk about on stage, but the first thing you start with is, What are the things I think are funny?
“There’s great comedy in things not turning out as you expect. For example, regardless of your politics, you have to be amused that someone so magnificently confident calls an unnecessary election and mucks its up. Now Theresa May can’t even make a speech at her own conference without spluttering like a really useless kid in a Nativity play. And they [the Conservative government] don’t know what they’re doing from one day to the next. That’s funny, isn’t it?”
The show also charts his wife of 11 years divorcing him. They underwent “mediation” to divide their financial assets and Mark vents his spleen. “The way that marriage, or rather divorce, is organised in this country is mad. You’re better off under some sort of Sharia system,” and then hoots with laughter at the thought.
Some of his wife’s grounds for divorce lend themselves to comedy: he never cut the privet hedge (not a euphemism); he hadn’t trained the dog; he went on tour (he is a comic after all); and he is obsessed with sport. So is he?
“Guilty as charged,” Mark admits. “There was one night I said, “I’m coming up to bed in a minute, but then realised, ooh the fencing is on.” He deadpans in his defence: “It wasn’t just any old tournament, it was a regional final – Hungary versus Italy.”
I ask if everything is material for a show. “No, that makes it sound mercenary. But everything in life has a funny side to it. It doesn’t cheer you up or make you laugh, but you know it’ll make an audience laugh because they recognise the truth of it.”
The show is not about him putting his side of things. “That would be unfair. It’s about the process of what happens when a marriage goes wrong. It seemed idyllic, our suburban life living just outside Brighton, and then this happened; someone’s furious with you and everything falls apart.”
He melds the personal and the political in the show. “In mediation, everything is brought down to the cost of things. It encourages people to be unpleasant and greedy, and it struck me that it’s the same philosophy that’s driven the world over the past few decades. So education, libraries, health and social care all have to have a financial worth; everything is reduced to whether it has a value that can be worked out on a calculator.
“The kind of people who say, ‘Why should I pay for a fire brigade when I’m not on fire?’ or ‘Why should I pay for someone else’s dialysis if they can’t be bothered to keep their kidneys scrubbed?’; have had everything their own way for decades.
“But if you think the railways ought to be run for the people who use them rather than making a failed balloonist extremely rich, this is an exciting time. Ideas that have been on the back burner for 30 years are now on the agenda. Young people really do believe that we should look after the old and sick, and I think that’s optimistic and encouraging.
“I’m not trying to win people around, but I think the demonisation of Jeremy Corbyn is so mental that it’s funny – I struggle to come up with worse things in the show than the right-wing press say about him, like he’s going to introduce women-only gravity, so men are forced to float, or something.”
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The comic’s audience is a broad church. Many listen to his long-running Radio 4 show, Mark Steel’s In Town, but he also has a younger following from the short films he posts on YouTube, and his amusingly waspish Twitter feed.
Twitter is both a vexation and a source of amusement. “There is not one single selection of words that you can put on Twitter that someone wouldn’t go berserk about. If I tweeted, ‘Im enjoying a beautiful sunset in Dorset’, I can guarantee someone would reply, ‘Not so beautiful if you suffer from sunset aversion in Dorset syndrome. Have a thought for SADS sufferers, Mark.” He doesn’t get into Twitter spats – “You’d be there all day if you did” – but enjoys seeing “the large number of faux liberals on it moaning because someone uses the wrong word for trans people, or Benedict Cumberbatch said something offensive to otters”. Some of his views may surprise you – “I don’t condemn people who voted for Brexit, as some do. I don’t think they’re all idiots and I can see why they came to that conclusion” – and even admits to a certain regard for the Queen after learning of her disagreement with Margaret Thatcher over apartheid. “I don’t wish ill on anyone, but Philip’s not going to go on for ever, is he?” he says with a grin. “And if she needs a shoulder to cry on...” |
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Mark is now living in London with his son, Elliot, 21, who is also a stand-up, and his 17-year- old daughter. “I’m quite chirpy at the moment. I rang home the other day and Elliot was doing the washing and I thought, ‘Ah, life’s nice, isn’t it?”
Interview By Veronica Lee
Interview By Veronica Lee
Further information & tickets for Southend go online to www.southendtheatres.org.uk or call the box office on 01702 351135
For other venues: www.offthekerb.co.uk www.marksteelinfo.co.uk
Twitter: @mrmarksteel @offthekerb
For other venues: www.offthekerb.co.uk www.marksteelinfo.co.uk
Twitter: @mrmarksteel @offthekerb
TOURING SCHEDULE:
FEBRUARY:
Friday, 9 February 2018 Loughborough Town Hall 01509 231914 www.loughboroughtownhall.co.uk
Saturday, 10 February 2018 Poole Lighthouse 01202 280000 www.lighthousepoole.co.uk
Wednesday, 14 February 2018 Shoreham-by-Sea Ropetackle Arts Centre 01273 464 440 www.ropetacklecentre.co.uk
Saturday, 17 February 2018 Hertford Theatre 01992 531500 www.hertfordtheatre.com
Monday, 19 February 2018 Newcastle-under-Lyme New Vic Theatre 01782 717962 www.newvictheatre.org.uk
Thursday, 22 February 2018 Chesham Elgiva 01494 582 900 www.elgiva.com
Friday, 23 February 2018 Newbury Corn Exchange 0845 5218 218 www.cornexchangenew.com
Saturday, 24 February 2018 Bangor Pontio 01248 382828 https://www.pontio.co.uk
Sunday, 25 February 2018 Kettering Lighthouse Theatre 01536 41 41 41 www.lighthousetheatre.co.uk
MARCH:
Thursday, 1 March 2018 Swindon Wyvern Theatre 01793 524481 www.swindontheatres.co.uk
Friday, 2 March 2018 Nottingham Playhouse 7.30pm 0115 941 9419 www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk
Thursday, 8 March 2018 Andover The Lights 01264 368368 www.thelights.org.uk
Saturday, 10 March 2018 Oxford Playhouse 7.30pm 01865 305305 www.oxfordplayhouse.com
Thursday, 15 March 2018 Bury St Edmunds The Apex 01284 758000 www.theapex.co.uk
Friday, 16th March 2018 Westcliff-on-Sea Palace Theatre 01702 351 135 www.southendtheatres.org.uk
Sunday, 18 March 2018 Southampton NST Campus 7.30pm 023 8067 1771 www.nstheatres.co.uk
Wednesday, 21 March 2018 Chorley Little Theatre 01257 264362 www.chorleytheatre.com
Thursday, 22 March 2018 Glasgow Citizens Theatre 0141 429 0022 www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com
Friday, 23 March 2018 Stockton ARC 01642 525 199 www.arconline.co.uk
Wednesday, 28 March 2018 Northampton Royal & Derngate 01604 624 811 www.royalandderngate.co.uk
Thursday, 29 March 2018 Dorchester Dorchester Arts (Corn Exchange) 01305 266 926 www.dorchesterarts.org.uk
APRIL:
Thursday, 5 April 2018 Norwich Playhouse 01603 598 598 www.norwichplayhouse.co.uk
Friday, 6 April 2018 Norwich Playhouse 01603 598 598
Saturday, 7 April 2018 Harrow Arts Centre 0203 773 7161 www.harrowarts.com
Monday, 9 April 2018 Bristol The Lantern , Colston Hall 0117 203 4040 www.colstonhall.org
Tuesday, 10 April 2018 Bristol The Lantern, Colston Hall 0117 203 4040
Wed, 11 April 2018 Bristol The Lantern, Colston Hall 0117 203 4040
Thursday, 12th April 2018 Pontardawe Arts Centre 01792 863 722 www.npttheatres.co.uk
Friday, 13 April 2018 Bradford on Avon St Margaret's Hall 0800 411 8881 www.bathcomedy.com
Saturday, 14 April 2018 Redruth Regal Theatre 01209 216278 www.regaltheatre-redruth.co.uk
Sunday, 15 April 2018 Exeter Corn Exchange 01392 665938 http://www.exetercornexchange.co.uk/
Thursday, 19 April 2018 Peterborough Key Theatre 01733 207239
www.Vivacity-peterborough.com/key-theatre
Friday, 20 April 2018 Chipping Norton Theatre 01608 642350 www.chippingnortontheatre.com
Friday, 27 April 2018 Tunbridge Wells Trinity Theatre 01892 678678 www.trinitytheatre.net
Saturday, 28 April 2018 Monmouth Savoy Theatre 01600 772467 www.monmouth-savoy.co.uk
MAY:
Saturday, 5th May 2018 Frome Cheese and Grain 01373 455420 www.cheeseandgrain.co.uk
Sunday, 6 May 2018 Coventry Warwick Arts Centre
(The Goose Nest Theatre) 024 7652 4524
www.warwickartscentre.co.uk
Thursday, 10 May 2018 Lincoln Drill Hall 01522 873894 www.lincolndrillhall.com
Friday, 11th May 2018 Stamford Corn Exchange 01780 766455 www.stamfordcornexchange.co.uk
Saturday, 12 May 2018 Barnard Castle The Witham 01833 631 107 http://thewitham.org.uk
Sunday, 13 May 2018 Northallerton The Forum 01609 776230 www.forumnorthallerton.org.uk
Wednesday, 16 May 2018 Hull Truck Theatre 7.30pm 01482 323 638 www.hulltruck.co.uk
Thursday, 17 May 2018 Lancaster Grand Theatre 01524 64695 www.lancastergrand.co.uk
Friday, 18 May 2018 Kendal Brewery Arts Centre 01539 725 133 www.breweryarts.co.uk
Saturday, 19 May 2018 Darwen Library Theatre 0844 847 1664 www.darwenlibrarytheatre.com
Sunday, 20 May 2018 Shrewsbury Theatre Severn 01743 281281 www.theatresevern.co.uk
Wednesday, 23 May 2018 Milton Keynes The Stables 01908 280800 www.stables.org
Thursday, 24 May 2018 Chelmsford Civic Theatre 01245 606505 www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres
Friday, 25 May 2018 Margate Theatre Royal 7.30pm 01843 292795 www.theatreroyalmargate.com
FEBRUARY:
Friday, 9 February 2018 Loughborough Town Hall 01509 231914 www.loughboroughtownhall.co.uk
Saturday, 10 February 2018 Poole Lighthouse 01202 280000 www.lighthousepoole.co.uk
Wednesday, 14 February 2018 Shoreham-by-Sea Ropetackle Arts Centre 01273 464 440 www.ropetacklecentre.co.uk
Saturday, 17 February 2018 Hertford Theatre 01992 531500 www.hertfordtheatre.com
Monday, 19 February 2018 Newcastle-under-Lyme New Vic Theatre 01782 717962 www.newvictheatre.org.uk
Thursday, 22 February 2018 Chesham Elgiva 01494 582 900 www.elgiva.com
Friday, 23 February 2018 Newbury Corn Exchange 0845 5218 218 www.cornexchangenew.com
Saturday, 24 February 2018 Bangor Pontio 01248 382828 https://www.pontio.co.uk
Sunday, 25 February 2018 Kettering Lighthouse Theatre 01536 41 41 41 www.lighthousetheatre.co.uk
MARCH:
Thursday, 1 March 2018 Swindon Wyvern Theatre 01793 524481 www.swindontheatres.co.uk
Friday, 2 March 2018 Nottingham Playhouse 7.30pm 0115 941 9419 www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk
Thursday, 8 March 2018 Andover The Lights 01264 368368 www.thelights.org.uk
Saturday, 10 March 2018 Oxford Playhouse 7.30pm 01865 305305 www.oxfordplayhouse.com
Thursday, 15 March 2018 Bury St Edmunds The Apex 01284 758000 www.theapex.co.uk
Friday, 16th March 2018 Westcliff-on-Sea Palace Theatre 01702 351 135 www.southendtheatres.org.uk
Sunday, 18 March 2018 Southampton NST Campus 7.30pm 023 8067 1771 www.nstheatres.co.uk
Wednesday, 21 March 2018 Chorley Little Theatre 01257 264362 www.chorleytheatre.com
Thursday, 22 March 2018 Glasgow Citizens Theatre 0141 429 0022 www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com
Friday, 23 March 2018 Stockton ARC 01642 525 199 www.arconline.co.uk
Wednesday, 28 March 2018 Northampton Royal & Derngate 01604 624 811 www.royalandderngate.co.uk
Thursday, 29 March 2018 Dorchester Dorchester Arts (Corn Exchange) 01305 266 926 www.dorchesterarts.org.uk
APRIL:
Thursday, 5 April 2018 Norwich Playhouse 01603 598 598 www.norwichplayhouse.co.uk
Friday, 6 April 2018 Norwich Playhouse 01603 598 598
Saturday, 7 April 2018 Harrow Arts Centre 0203 773 7161 www.harrowarts.com
Monday, 9 April 2018 Bristol The Lantern , Colston Hall 0117 203 4040 www.colstonhall.org
Tuesday, 10 April 2018 Bristol The Lantern, Colston Hall 0117 203 4040
Wed, 11 April 2018 Bristol The Lantern, Colston Hall 0117 203 4040
Thursday, 12th April 2018 Pontardawe Arts Centre 01792 863 722 www.npttheatres.co.uk
Friday, 13 April 2018 Bradford on Avon St Margaret's Hall 0800 411 8881 www.bathcomedy.com
Saturday, 14 April 2018 Redruth Regal Theatre 01209 216278 www.regaltheatre-redruth.co.uk
Sunday, 15 April 2018 Exeter Corn Exchange 01392 665938 http://www.exetercornexchange.co.uk/
Thursday, 19 April 2018 Peterborough Key Theatre 01733 207239
www.Vivacity-peterborough.com/key-theatre
Friday, 20 April 2018 Chipping Norton Theatre 01608 642350 www.chippingnortontheatre.com
Friday, 27 April 2018 Tunbridge Wells Trinity Theatre 01892 678678 www.trinitytheatre.net
Saturday, 28 April 2018 Monmouth Savoy Theatre 01600 772467 www.monmouth-savoy.co.uk
MAY:
Saturday, 5th May 2018 Frome Cheese and Grain 01373 455420 www.cheeseandgrain.co.uk
Sunday, 6 May 2018 Coventry Warwick Arts Centre
(The Goose Nest Theatre) 024 7652 4524
www.warwickartscentre.co.uk
Thursday, 10 May 2018 Lincoln Drill Hall 01522 873894 www.lincolndrillhall.com
Friday, 11th May 2018 Stamford Corn Exchange 01780 766455 www.stamfordcornexchange.co.uk
Saturday, 12 May 2018 Barnard Castle The Witham 01833 631 107 http://thewitham.org.uk
Sunday, 13 May 2018 Northallerton The Forum 01609 776230 www.forumnorthallerton.org.uk
Wednesday, 16 May 2018 Hull Truck Theatre 7.30pm 01482 323 638 www.hulltruck.co.uk
Thursday, 17 May 2018 Lancaster Grand Theatre 01524 64695 www.lancastergrand.co.uk
Friday, 18 May 2018 Kendal Brewery Arts Centre 01539 725 133 www.breweryarts.co.uk
Saturday, 19 May 2018 Darwen Library Theatre 0844 847 1664 www.darwenlibrarytheatre.com
Sunday, 20 May 2018 Shrewsbury Theatre Severn 01743 281281 www.theatresevern.co.uk
Wednesday, 23 May 2018 Milton Keynes The Stables 01908 280800 www.stables.org
Thursday, 24 May 2018 Chelmsford Civic Theatre 01245 606505 www.chelmsford.gov.uk/theatres
Friday, 25 May 2018 Margate Theatre Royal 7.30pm 01843 292795 www.theatreroyalmargate.com