Productions.

More information to follow, but here's a taster from the Birmingam Mail

Ed Morris, Paul Magson and Caroline Coleman in a scene from PALS, by Nick Hennegan, directed by Julia Smith.   We are due to approach the Arts Council for a touring grant to take PALS to the rest of the UK after its phenomenal success in Birmingham.  

Aqua marina Pal!

WHAT THE PRESS SAID - 

"A quite remarkable production.  If you only make it to one play this year, make sure it's this one"

Enda Mullen, Solihull News.       

"You'll laugh your socks off and cry your eyes out"

Carol Hassall - Birmingham Evening Mail 

"Extremely well done, a rare example of Birmingham speaking with a theatrical self-confidence that seems to come naturally to Liverpool" 

Terry Grimley - Birmingham Post.

"This rites of passage for close 'pals' is beautifully realised... moments of glorious hilarity, others of poignancy and none of sentimentality."

Anne Fitzgerald - The Stage

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Programme Notes - Henry V – Lion of England.

A History of Maverick’s History by Nick Hennegan.

I’m not quite sure what moved me to write this adaptation of Shakespeare’s Classic tale.  I think it was the pub. I’d seen Shakespeare a few times and it had never really moved me. I was a council estate kid and the bard felt phoney, postured and out of date.  I think Branagh showed that the genius of Shakespeare can be served well by a modern emotion.  So I came in a bit drunk from the pub one night and sat down at my Amstrad pcw – remember the days before the internet and pc’s? – and wrote the first Chorus Speech.  “Imagine.  Forget the highs and lows of your current existence...” Keith, a drama teacher mate who was lodging with me thought it was okay and that was all the encouragement I needed to continue.

I thought I might do it meself for fifty quid a night, but I soon realised I’d need help.  I only knew one actor, Rob Stanson, so I called him up for a read through at my house.  By the end of page two, Rob stood up.  By the end of page five we’d pushed the furniture back.  Originally I intended to use contemporary music (opening song - Just an Illusion by Imagination!) then a mutual friend pointed out that Robb Williams was not only a brilliant illustrator but could also write music.  So we put the show together with the help of my girlfriend’s Dad and some am dram mates and invited a few friends to see it at the mac in Birmingham in the tiny Hexagon Theatre. I knew it had gone well when my mate Ron was able to last the whole show without nipping out for a fag!  And then in the bar afterwards Jasper Carrot’s manager who happened to be in the audience said he’d like to take us to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  So off we went and while at Edinburgh I fell in love with accessible, democratic theatre and after we came back from the festival Robb and I started a company.  We called the company the name we used a lot when talking about our potential projects.  Maverick.

The Merry Monarch has actually been quite good to me since those early days.  The newspaper reviews, fortunately were very good. But unfortunately the sort of theatre I wanted to produce – and still do – accessible, affordable, a new proposition for non-theatre attenders and high quality, means that since 1992 I have been mainly very poor financially.  Maverick didn’t easily fit any funding models and like most small showbusiness concerns we were better at the show than the business.  All of the original gang have since moved on, driven by the very real and understandable need to earn a living.  But in spite of the occasional return to radio and even a short spell at Shakespeare’s Globe in London, I’ve realised there is nothing else I can really do.  I’m a Brummie. And I’m a Maverick.  And I think I will be till I die.

I’ve been pursued by bailiffs and suffered the indignation of repossession orders.   I smoked tealeaves and didn’t answer the door for three years.  But I have met and worked with some of my heroes and walked down Broadway in New York for rehearsals.  I’ve performed in Kentucky and I’ve directed Sir Derek Jacobi.  I’ve filmed in Ireland, spent a summer in Stratford-upon-Avon and can now call Benny from Crossroads a friend!  I’ve seen a dozen middle-aged ladies weeping about their lives after one production at the pub and got to know a drug taking labourer who could tell none of his friends about his theatre attendance because they would question his sexuality!  If life is about the journey and not the destination, then this has been one heck of a ride.  And none of it would have been possible without Henry V.  Sadly, in the current world powerful national interests are still fighting over territory.  But thank you for coming and thanks to William Shakespeare. I have some great destinations planned for the next stage of the journey.  Hold on tight...

 

The Play

Chorus, our storyteller discovers something timeless.  The story of a great King of England, Henry V, written by a great storyteller, William Shakespeare.

The newly crowned King Henry V is considering taking half the church’s possessions from them and, maybe, asserting his right to rule in France.  The church decides the invasion of France would be a great idea because then people might forget the original grab of church property! When the Dauphin, the son of the King of France, sends Henry a gift of tennis balls – referring to the fact that when Henry was a Prince, he was a bit of a boozy, carousing lad, Henry’s mind is made up. He will invade France.

Before the fleet embarks at Southampton, he has to deal with treachery when it is discovered that three of his closest advisors – and one his very close friend – have plotted to assassinate him.

Meanwhile the French King, Charles, receives an English ambassador and seeks to make peace by offering his daughter Katherine’s hand in marriage, in spite of the Dauphins insistence that Henry is an unworthy opponent.  The offer is rejected and Henry’s forces besiege and, at great cost, take the port town of Harfleur, although Henry has to rally his battered troops, “Once more unto the breech dear friends...”

The English forces, faced with disease and bad weather decide it might be prudent to withdraw to Calais for the winter.  Intercepted and vastly outnumbered by the French army, Henry rejects the French Herald’s offer of ransom and the two sides prepare to fight.

On the eve of the battle Henry tours his camp incognito and, overhearing a sentry, is led to consider the responsibilities of kingship.  Rejecting a final offer of ransom from the French, Henry rallies his troops and battle is joined.

An English victory is confirmed, with miraculously small losses.  Chorus brings us back to the modern day with a few, some may say, controversial observations.

 

The critical hit that started the Maverick Theatre Company in 1994, Lion of England has been performed in Birmingham, Edinburgh and the USA.  This will be it's first tour of the UK.


ABOUT THE PLAY:

Arguably one of Shakespeare’s finest History Plays, this one-person adaptation features historical accuracy with much of Shakespeare’s original text.  A modern day Chorus takes us back to the dark dangerous days of 1415, when an insulting gift of tennis balls from the headstrong Prince Dauphin of France provokes King Harry of England.  These two young men eventually meet in a bloody war that climaxes with the Battle of Agincourt.  The subjects of provocation, invasion and who holds the moral rights to a just war are as relevant today as they were in 1415. This spirited production combines an innovative recipe of one actor and a ‘supporting cast’ of lights, sound, special effects and an evocative and original live music score.  The result is 80 minutes edge-of-the-seat excitement.


WHAT THE PRESS SAID.


“A Henry V to stir the imagination.  A truly vivid theatrical experience, comic, ironic and deeply moving.  The arrows hiss upwards and you chill inside… a miracle.  The battle sequence at Agincourt is a tour de force.”
Birmingham Post.   


     “A towering, quicksilver show… quite brilliant.”
Stratford-upon-Avon Herald  


 “The Battle of Agincourt with only one actor? Sounds crazy but I could almost smell the fear.  I was right there alongside the outnumbered English” 


 “Hennegan’s Henry is an adventure story for today… this will surely exorcise the ghost of schoolroom Shakespeare for good. Theatre at its best.  Cry God for Harry, Shakespeare and Nick Hennegan”
Birmingham Evening Mail


    “A tremendous story… a truly superb theatrical experience – a tour de force”
Edinburgh Fringe News