Ray Cooney OBE
returns to Southend as Patron of amateur drama group, Lindisfarne and attends the matinee performance of their production of
It Runs in the Family
returns to Southend as Patron of amateur drama group, Lindisfarne and attends the matinee performance of their production of
It Runs in the Family
Ray Cooney is world renowned as the ‘Master of Farce’. His plays have been put on in over 40 different languages around the globe and in 2005 he was awarded the OBE. As well as being an actor and director. Ray Cooney has earned an international reputation as the finest living writer of this form of theatre, and professional and amateur artists have hugely benefited from his writing genius and influence.
One amateur company which has certainly benefited from Mr Cooney’s expertise is Lindisfarne Players. They have gained a good reputation within the Southend drama scene for putting on impressive productions, with farces being somewhat a speciality and in particular, those of Mr Cooney’s. They have also performed the Michael Cooney (Ray’s son) farce, Cash on Delivery.
Ray, who is now 84 years old, came along to see one of Lindisfarne’s rehearsals of Cash on Delivery, a couple of years ago, (click here to read all about it) and so it seemed a natural progression for Committee member and director of Lindisfarne’s farces, Steve McCartney, to ask the man himself if he would do them the honour of being their Patron. With huge delight from the Southend drama group, Ray agreed; with even more excitement ensuing when he asked if he could come along to see their latest production of It Runs in the Family, booking tickets not only for himself but for his wife and no less than 12 members of his family.
With Ray attending the Saturday matinee performance of the show, Steve was put into a dilemma as to whether to tell the cast that he was going to be there. Would it make them more nervous? Perhaps it would encourage them to learn their lines quicker? But, if he didn’t tell them, would they suddenly look out into the audience, catch the eye of the man who was literally putting words in their mouths and be rendered completely dumbstruck!? After a lot of humming and hawing, Steve decided to keep quiet and right up until the week of the production, no-one in the cast had any idea that Ray was going to be coming to see the show. However,just at the last minute, the ‘cat was let out of the bag’ by an unwitting box office clerk on opening night and very soon the whole cast were in the know.
With the popular Cooney plays always pulling in large audiences, it was unsurprising that the matinee performance was a sell-out and I wondered if the cast were feeling rather more of the pre-show nerves than one usually does, knowing that the playwright was going to be in the audience. Almost all of them assured me that they were feeling fine, although I can't be certain that some of it may have been false bravado, if the truth be told.
Ian Morton, who played the lead role of Dr Mortimore, told me, “I’m just going to do it exactly the same as I have done for the rest of the run; although it will be strange knowing that Ray is sitting in the audience watching.” Carol Hayes and Belinda Belt, who played Nurse Tait and Matron respectively, were also in agreement. Nick Jacobs, who played Hubert Bonney did have to admit that he’d had an early night the previous evening, just to make sure he was in tip top form for the matinee and evening performances.
I had the opportunity to chat to Ray before curtain up and congratulated him on his recent success as producer of the West End show, Showstoppers, which recently won the Olivier Award for Best Entertainment/Family. Ray was absolutely delighted that the show had won such a prestigious prize, telling me, “It’s such an amazing show. They improvise the whole show from scratch. It starts with one of the members of the cast getting a phone call from someone called Cameron (wonder who that could be?) informing them that he needs a musical production by the end of the week. And then, by the end of the evening with the help of the audience throwing out suggestions for musical genres, songs etc, they have a whole musical put together." "It’s quite unbelievable how they do it. They are all extremely talented actors and musicians.” he told me, proudly. He also expressed how much he enjoys going to see musicals, having recently seen Mrs Henderson Presents, "I'm a big fan of Tracie Bennett, who plays Mrs Henderson" he confided. He had also seen Motown the Musical in the West End and told me how impressed he was with the spectacular of the singing and dancing in the production.
With 2.30pm approaching, it was time to escort Ray and his family into The Dixon Studio and once they were all comfortably seated, the production kicked off to a cracking start, with the audience laughing consistently throughout the fast-paced production.
The cast showed no signs of nerves at all and sailed through the performance with great reactions from a very appreciative audience. I even overheard one of Ray’s family say how professional the actors appeared.
Being such a relatively small company, Lindisfarne readily admit that they don’t have a huge budget to lend to their productions and Ray confessed, “If I were to put on this production in the West End right now, it would probably cost at least £80,000!”
Kevin Lehane, Roy Turner, Jack Byrne, Donna Lehance, Carol Hayes, Donna Gale, Chris Scott, Maggie Hooper, Nick Jacobs, Elliott Bigden, Ian Morton, Keith Chanter, Ray Cooney, Mervyn Howell, Belinda Belt, Steve McCartney, Leah-May Keeble, Ben Smerdon, Jacquee Toll
During the interval, I asked Ray what it’s like to hear his words coming back at him from the stage; and does he ever think that actors say things in a different way to how he hears them when he’s writing them. He told me, “Not really, they usually get it right. What can be frustrating is when they sometimes don’t pause for long enough to get the joke across and you think, ooh, you should’ve just waited a second longer there.”
He went on to say, “What’s really amusing and quite extraordinary is seeing my shows being performed in different languages.” He chuckled, “You can’t understand a word they’re saying but you watch the audiences laughing at all the same points that they would if it were in English. It’s all to do with the timing and the physicality of it. It’s great to see.”
He went on to say, “What’s really amusing and quite extraordinary is seeing my shows being performed in different languages.” He chuckled, “You can’t understand a word they’re saying but you watch the audiences laughing at all the same points that they would if it were in English. It’s all to do with the timing and the physicality of it. It’s great to see.”
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One member of the audience, Beryl Hosker, told me “I kept looking at Ray’s face to see if he was enjoying it but he wasn’t really giving much away. He looked quite engrossed in it though. I thought it was excellent.” Beryl and her friend Christine Smith had come to see the show, being fans of farce. Beryl explained that she had seen quite a few of the Whitehall farces with Brian Rix during the sixties. What did they think of Lindisfarne's production? They both agreed, "We really enjoyed it. It was very funny." (picture right: Beryl with a copy of the 1958 Whitehall farce Simple Spyman starring Ray Cooney) |
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And so, as Lindisfarne’s production of It Runs in the Family came to its conclusion and with the cast still on the stage after their curtain call, director, Steve McCartney, made the announcement to the audience that the author of the play they had just been watching was actually sitting in the audience amongst them. He then invited Ray to come and say a few words at the same time presenting a beautiful bouquet of flowers to Linda, his lovely wife of 54 years. It was clearly a thrill for a lot of the audience to realise that one of the most famous comedy playwrights in English history had been watching the performance too. Thanks were also given to the fabulous backstage crew who had obviously put in a lot of hard work throughout the run of the production.
Ray told the audience, “They did really well. You can see that they are a really tight cast and work well together, which is very important. They also gave a natural performance which is exactly what you need with farce.”
Having to dash off for a meal with his family, Ray had just enough time for us to take a few photographs as well as having a brief chat with some of the cast, generously autographing their scripts - something I’m certain will be very much treasured by them.
Ray told the audience, “They did really well. You can see that they are a really tight cast and work well together, which is very important. They also gave a natural performance which is exactly what you need with farce.”
Having to dash off for a meal with his family, Ray had just enough time for us to take a few photographs as well as having a brief chat with some of the cast, generously autographing their scripts - something I’m certain will be very much treasured by them.
Ray autographs the cast's scripts
Chairman & Director anxiously watching the monitor during the show
I asked Steve McCartney afterwards, what the best part of having Ray coming to see the production was. “For me, it was watching the performance and knowing that the man who had written the play was actually watching it too!” Could he tell me what the next Cooney play will be for the group? “I would think our next one will be the very fine Funny Money,” he smiled.
As for Kevin Lehane, Lindisfarne’s newly appointed Chairman, his memories will be of a day full of excitement, laughter and hard work from the entire cast and crew. He told me, “Ray Cooney bringing family and friends to see our production and to chat with us was such a delight.”
However there was one moment that had everyone going into a slight panic. Kevin explained. “It almost went a little flat when Ray appeared to have gone, as the cast were waiting in costume for photos and a chat. However as I went outside the door of the Dixon who should appear but the humble and lovely Ray with the disarming words "I believe the cast are expecting me for a few photographs". I led him back through, much to the delight of the assembled cast and he happily gave us his time for photographs and autographs before I escorted him back to the foyer. He shook my hand several times and said how much he enjoyed the production.”
Kevin went on to say, “Ray’s wife, Linda, thanked me for the flowers and informed me that she had reminded Ray that he was going to see the cast after the show. A thoroughly delightful couple who gave us all a lift before a memorable final performance. As Chairman of Lindisfarne it was an extremely proud and joyous occasion!
As for Kevin Lehane, Lindisfarne’s newly appointed Chairman, his memories will be of a day full of excitement, laughter and hard work from the entire cast and crew. He told me, “Ray Cooney bringing family and friends to see our production and to chat with us was such a delight.”
However there was one moment that had everyone going into a slight panic. Kevin explained. “It almost went a little flat when Ray appeared to have gone, as the cast were waiting in costume for photos and a chat. However as I went outside the door of the Dixon who should appear but the humble and lovely Ray with the disarming words "I believe the cast are expecting me for a few photographs". I led him back through, much to the delight of the assembled cast and he happily gave us his time for photographs and autographs before I escorted him back to the foyer. He shook my hand several times and said how much he enjoyed the production.”
Kevin went on to say, “Ray’s wife, Linda, thanked me for the flowers and informed me that she had reminded Ray that he was going to see the cast after the show. A thoroughly delightful couple who gave us all a lift before a memorable final performance. As Chairman of Lindisfarne it was an extremely proud and joyous occasion!
Ray on stage with the cast just after their curtain call
Watch some clips of Lindisfarne's productions of Ray Cooney's farces below
Written by Kim Tobin
Main cast photos: Dave Hannington
Additional photos: Jacquee Toll
Main cast photos: Dave Hannington
Additional photos: Jacquee Toll