A play with its heart on its sleeve
MIKE KELLY REVIEWS THE GREAT JOE WILSON, WRITER ED WAUGH’S LATEST PLAY ABOUT THE LIFE OF THE BARD OF TYNESIDE
POLITICS, the Geordie music hall scene and a bit of social and cultural history all come together in North East writer Ed Waugh’s latest play.
Called the Great Joe Wilson, it details the life of the ‘Bard of Tyneside’ whose best known song is ‘Keep your feet still, Geordie hinny.’
However, singling out this one song does him a great injustice.
In all Wilson wrote 360 songs, around 20 of them showcased here, like ‘A row upon the stairs,’ ‘Sally Wheatley,’ ‘the landlord’s daughter,’ ‘The Gallowgate lad’ and ‘Nae work,’ to name but a few.
Listening to them you are struck by the cleverness and intricacy of the word play and stories they tell.
Humour, pathos and social observation mix easily, and bearing in mind Wilson period of fame lasted just nine years, his output made Catherine Cookson’s turn out of books appear a little tardy.
It is based on the new book Gallowgate Lad: Joe Wilson’s Life & Songs by Dave Harker, and feature’s Wilson’s words put to music by singer/songwriter Pete Scott.
To recap, Wilson was born to a working class family in Stowell Street – now Newcastle’s China Town.
A familiar face in Balmbras, where he made his debut at the age of 24, the concert hall performer became the superstar of his day.
To tell the tale the play runs along three time lines. It begins in the modern day with performers looking to put on a ‘Joe Wilson Night’ in his honour. It flits back and forth in time, first to Joe’s twin brother Tom telling the story of his recently deceased sibling and then finally back still further to bring to life the events he describes.
What could have been confusing is carried out with some aplomb by director Russell Floyd, a long time Waugh collaborator.
The three leads – Micky Cochrane as Wilson, Jamie Brown as Joe’s twin Tom and Sarah Boulter as Joe’s wife Isabella – are an impressive troupe, ably backed up by musician Jordan Miller.
The banter is strong, the songs memorable, the harmonies tight and well performed – a fitting tribute to the man.
It being an Ed Waugh play there’s a bit of politics thrown in for good measure. The first act ends with Wilson hot footing it back to the North East from Carlisle when he hears of the strike of Newcastle and Sunderland engineers working for Armstrongs fighting for a 54 hour week. The second act begins with their action’s success.
In so doing the strikers achieved more for the ordinary workers of the North East than Gladstone’s reforming government we are told.
Later a character describes the Liberals as the Tories in disguise. Another consoles everybody with the observation ‘one day there’ll be a party of the workers.’
Like his politics, Waugh wears his emotions on his sleeve. The second half, while keeping the song count and entertainment high, has an air of melancholy as we watch the downward spiral of Wilson’s health and fortunes to his eventual death at 33 from TB in poverty. Chillingly, in the grinding poverty of Tyneside at that time as elsewhere in the country, dying young – often very young – from TB was not a rarity.
Waugh, who has previously brought to the stage the lives of other local heroes like rower Harry Clasper in Hadaway Harry and Ned Corvan, also a musical favourite, in Mr Corvan’s Music Hall, describes his latest work as a play with songs. It is also a play with heart and well worth seeing.
The Great Joe Wilson tour dates
■ Whitley Bay Playhouse, Tuesday September 11, performances at 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Call 0844 248 1588.
■ Sage Gateshead, Wednesday September 12, performances at 3pm and 8pm. Call 0191 443 4666.
■ Alun Armstrong Theatre, Stanley, Thursday September 13 at 7.30pm. Call 01207 299 110.
■ Westovians, South Shields, Friday September 14 at 7.30pm. Also on Saturday, September 15 at 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Call 0191 427 1818