Page 12 - Phonebox Magazine September 2014

The Buzz
“You feel the pressure on every single performance”
Seen by more than a million people across the world, the juggernaut show of One Man, Two Guvnors arrives in Northampton this month, and Buckinghamshire actor Gavin Spokes knows all about the pressure to take on the coveted starring role.
At Christmas, enjoying a break at home before his next acting job, Gavin Spokes got a call saying
the part of Toad had come up last minute at the Royal & Derngate. “It was just down the road, so I thought it would be great to do,” he explains. Northampton is a home away from home for the Leighton Buzzard based actor, who grew up playing cricket at county level in the area, and remembers the time fondly.
This month, he’s back once more in a starring role once played by James Corden and Rufus Hound in One Man, Two Guvnors. The award-winning comedy features Francis Henshall who becomes minder to two bosses, but he has to keep them separate.
Speaking on a stifling hot day from Greenwich, Gavin is racing for the train to Dartford, all in time for the afternoon’s performance. And he’s running slightly late too.
“I’m so sorry!” he gasps, “I was on the phone to my agent and it was quite important. When I got off the phone I thought ‘oh there’s something I’m supposed to be doing now.’ ”
It’s a busy day for the performer, but he happily chats about his current role as the confused, loveable Francis. “I played it in the West End too, but
I originally auditioned for James Corden’s understudy. It went to Owain Arthur and then he got the part, then me. It’s like a conveyor belt of actors.” And the tour itself is just as long, with shows in dozens of cities and towns across the UK lasting until March 2015. Gavin laughs: “It’s a long time, but it’s good because you get to take the show to so many different places, places that don’t necessarily see a show like ours otherwise.”
Roughly eight shows a week for nearly a year is a serious amount of work for all involved.
“It’s ridiculously hard, I’m on stage for about two hours and I’m running into things all the time, getting beaten up, lifting luggage, lifting people. It’s pretty manic, but it’s a lot of fun. It’s hard because it’s so technical.”
It may be a comedy, but the pressure to perform is no less. With glowing reviews and more than one million people having seen it, carrying on the show’s legacy is not a walk in the park. Gavin adds: “It’s a great show with a good team but you feel the pressure on every single performance.”
One Man, Two Guvnors is at Northampton’s Royal & Derngate from September 22-27. Tickets from £12 on (01604) 624811 or go to royalandderngate.co.uk.
Emma Barton (Dolly) and Gavin Spokes (Francis Henshall) in One Man, Two Guvnors
Tales of glamour, murder and musicals
With tapping toes songs and dizzying dance routines, Top Hat is holding its residency at the MK Theatre until the 6th. The following week, and back by overwhelming public demand in its 15th year, Beyond the Barricade will return to the theatre (9th). With hits including Halfway to Paradise and Last Night Was Made For Love, The Billy Fury Story graces the stage on the 13th. Two more iconic singers will be remembered with The Eva Cassidy Story on the 14th and Jackson Live in Concert on the 29th.
From the 22-28th, a tale of murder, suspicion and horror will engulf a country manor as a murder most horrid is committed in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. Elsewhere in the city, MCTOC (Milton Keynes Theatre of Comedy) will pay a visit to the court of Queen Elizabeth I with their version of Richard Curtis and Ben Elton’s Blackadder II. At the Chrysalis Theatre from 16-20th, the production will cover three episodes of the British comedy.
A co-produced Made in Northampton production, Regeneration marks the centenary of the First World War by dramatizing Pat Barker’s Booker-nominated novel. At the Royal & Derngate, the play runs until the 20th. Celebrating Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, New Jersey Nights will be performed from 15th-20th and, now seen by more than one million people across the planet, the National Theatre’s One Man, Two Guvnors will take centre stage from 22nd-27th.
Murder, passion and peas all feature in Splendid’s adaptation of George Buchner’s Woyzeck at Bedford Theatre on the 22nd. Based on Daphne du Maurier’s 1952 short story, The Birds will be presented by the Swan Theatre Company at Bedford’s The Place from the 24th-27th.
New Jersey Nights
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