Art of comedy

WHEN award-winning playwright Alan Plater joked there were now more art galleries than shipyards on the Tyne, it was the obvious starting point for his latest comedy concerning contemporary art.

Jarrow-born Plater recruited two of the North-East's best actors, Trevor Fox and Joe Caffrey, and launched the new work called Charlie's Trousers from the perfect site this week - the Quayside-based Live Theatre.

The two actors jumped at the chance to perform for the man who created the Beiderbecke Trilogy and The Last Of The Blonde Bombshells for TV. It also celebrates the fact that Fox and Caffrey have just been given Artist In Association bursaries by Live - which will see the pair create their own play.

Caffrey, who achieved West End stardom in Lee Hall's musical Cooking With Elvis, is a huge Plater fan and says: "I was quite lucky that Alan Plater wrote this piece with Trevor and me in mind. When you get a writer of Alan's calibre saying 'I'm going to write you a part in this' you think 'Christ almighty, most actors would bite your hand off for that kind of chance'. He knows me and Trevor well and tailored the characters to suit us. I've worked with Alan previously on Close The Coalhouse Door and then done a couple a radio plays and Trevor has worked with him on All Credit To The Lads with Tim Healy and the NE1 monologue project.

"Alan created the draft several months ago and he wanted ideas on what we thought about it and we put our two-pennoth in. He's been back to re-write and spend the last three days up to Monday's opening working on the play. That's the exciting thing about working at somewhere like Live Theatre because you get to work with people like Alan Plater, Lee Hall and Peter Straughan because they don't just deliver the play and leave." There are shades of a certain car insurance advert about the production with Fox playing gallery security guard Kev, Caffrey as old mate Kev, an artist called Bev (Helen Coker from Gateshead) and Bev's mum Rev (Judy Earl).

Caffrey laughs and says: "Alan Plater did his first draft of the play about a year ago, so he may not have seen the advert.

"My character is not that bright really because he's a bit of a waster. After spending a night in the art gallery he does start to think about things. He does say 'I've never really thought any thoughts before... I'm not used to thinking thoughts unless it's shall I have another pint? Or when is Bobby going to do something about the back four?'"

And is the play poking fun at the Baltic, just the other side of the river in Gateshead?

Caffrey replies: "I don't think it is. I think it's taking an interest because the Baltic is there. I'm all for contemporary art, but I don't particularly understand everything. When we went to the Baltic for a visit I had a look around and there were a few things that caught my eye. I wouldn't pay thousands for Tracey Emin's unmade bed, I've already got one of my own. You get a lot of 'what a load of old rubbish' brigade no matter what it is, but I went to the Tate Modern when it first opened and things make you stop and think, but other things are rubbish.

"In my line of work, you can't just say you're an actor, you have to prove you're an actor. Trevor and I saw some work in the Baltic which wasn't done particularly well and you feel if the person can't execute ideas professionally, then they aren't much of an artist.

"It's a bit like standing in a corner with a sign around your neck which tells people you're an actor."

He's not frustrated by Trevor Fox and himself finding their acting opportunities still fairly limited outside the North-East.

And all that might be about the change thanks to Lee Hall's film Billy Elliot being turned into a musical by Elton John. The music maestro and Hall are currently working together on the songs in Las Vegas.

Caffrey and Fox are in the running for parts in the production which is 90 per cent certain to have its world premiere at Newcastle's Tyne Theatre, according to director Stephen Daldry. Caffrey has been discussing the singing role of Billy's older brother while Fox's flair for straight-faced comedy may see him play the boxing coach.

"We played those parts in a workshop last summer and it went very well. They are talking about launching the show in the autumn, but it's proving quite difficult to find the boy to play Billy. You need an all-singing, all-dancing and all-acting kid and it will be remarkable to find someone who is a wizard at all three at such a tender age."

At the workshop, the production team used a dancing Billy and a singing Billy to test out scenes, but the youngster to follow Billingham's Jamie Bell into the role remains as elusive as an art tribute to Tyneside from Brian Sewell.

* Charlie's Trousers runs at Live Theatre until March 27. No performances on Mondays. All evening performances begin at 8pm. Matinees at 2pm on March 11 and March 20. Box office: 0191 232 1232. Tickets £8-14.

Published: 04/03/2004