Ian Cheeseman presents Break-a-Leg on Tameside Radio, which is packed with great guests and theatre music. In his latest column, he talks about his interviews with a comedian and a Call the Midwife star.
I’ve been lucky enough to chat to some very creative theatre people in recent weeks, either virtually or in person.
During the last seven days I had a good old chin wag with comedian Steve Royle, who’s campaigning on behalf of the under threat Oldham Coliseum. Steve finished third in the lockdown series of Britain’s Got Talent and is that character you knew at school who could make everyone laugh in your class.
Frank Carson used to have the catch phrase, “It’s the way you tell ’em” and that fits Steve’s style perfectly. He could read out the phone book and make it sound funny. He was deadly serious when we chatted about the Coliseum though, “Stuart Wolfenden, Coronation Street’s Greig Hodge, who I first got to know at Oldham Theatre Workshop, has started a go fund me page to highlight the issues with the ultimate aim of trying to get the Arts Council to rethink their decision to withdraw their grant from the Coliseum.
“Oldham are not blessed with wealth or resources so it seems such a shame that one of the few jewels it has is going to be withdrawn from the town for no other reason that simply finances. The building is not run down or dilapidated. It’s doesn’t need a lot of work doing to it, it just needs the funding it has had for years.
“I started at Granada Studios tour, that shut down shortly after I left. I then moved onto Camelot Theme Park, that’s now shut down and I’ve been doing some work at BBC Radio Lancashire and the future of the BBC now looks a bit shaky. Maybe it’s me. I started at Oldham Coliseum and I get why it’s in trouble but why is it always the big venues that survive. It’s not just about saving that building, it’s about saving a part of history. I studied history at University, so I have a passion for these things.
“I started in a wakes workshop, during the two weeks in June when the town had holidays and they used to have a little drama workshop.”
I went on to chat to Steve about his experiences in theatre and his time on Britain’s Got Talent. The first part of the interview was played out during last week’s Break-a-Leg on Tameside Radio which you can still listen to on demand and there’s be much more from Steve in the next few weeks.
I also had the chance to chat to Laura Main, who you’ll know from Call the Midwife, though she’ll be starring as M’Lynn Eatenton, the character played on the big screen by Sally Field in Steel Magnolias, the highly successful film from 1989, which also starred Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts. The stage version has, alongside Laura, Harriet Thorope from the Brittas Empire, Lucy Speed who you’d know from The Bill and Diana Vickers from Dial M for Murder. Both versions are blessed with All-Star casts!
Laura agreed that the expectation will be high when they take to the stage at the Lowry from 21 to 25 February. “It does come with great responsibility, but once we were in the rehearsal room with that script the fears very quickly disappeared. What’s different about the play is that it’s entirely set in the beauty salon. It’s one of those iconic movies that’s in our culture. All the men are just spoken about, their lives are seen in the movie but on stage they come to life through the six women.”
It sounds fascinating! Just like with Steve Royle, I didn’t just talk to Laura about her upcoming appearance on stage so there’ll be more from her in a future week.
This week on Break-a-Leg from 7pm on Tameside Radio 103.6FM my guests are Gerard Kearns, who’s in “Beginning” at the Royal Exchange soon, there’s more from Kevin Kennedy who’s coming to the Opera House in “Rock of Ages” and Andrew Cochrane from Dukinfield Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Societies production of “Out of Focus” which will be at Hurst Community Centre from 16 to 18 March.
You can join Ian for Break-a-Leg on Tameside Radio 103.6FM every Sunday evening from 7pm to 9pm and Wednesdays from 9pm to 11pm. You can also catch up on previous episodes here.
