Birkenhead playwright Brian McCann is a busy man. So busy in fact that I appreciate that I am fortunate to have time with him at the Leaf tea shop on Bold Street in which to chat to him about his play, Down Our Street, which is coming to the Royal Court Theatre in April. The story of Birkenhead and the Cammell Laird ship building company is intertwined with each other, with many generations of families being employed by the firm.
The play was well received when performed at the Unity Theatre and was one of the delights of the season when performed.
Over tea and coffee I get the chance to chat with Brian about the play, his work and the people of Birkenhead.
Obviously with the play being outside Liverpool in Birkenhead, what differences do you see between the two parts of Merseyside that is divided by the river that runs through it?
“It sometimes feels that Birkenhead and the Wirral are very isolated. They’ve clearly got their own identity but are so connected to Liverpool. We do have similar accents, although if anyone from over the water gets asked, Are you from Liverpool? We say No, I’m from Birkenhead. Birkenhead very much has its own identity and history as old as Liverpool’s, the monks way back in 1150 set up a Priory near where Cammell Laird’s is. It’s a two mile stretch of water but there is still a connection to Liverpool.
It feels less of a connection working in the arts on the Wirral although I work all around the country with touring plays and working with all sorts of people, you still can feel very isolated over there in Birkenhead. It’s always what’s going on in Liverpool? So there is a divide there.”
Where did you get the original idea to do the play?
“I was studying drama at university in Wakefield and I had a wonderful, eye-opening experience. I went to Sheffield and saw this brilliant play called Starings in Sheffield on a Saturday night. It was a musical drama. I sat there and I couldn’t understand any of the jokes or half of what was being talked about but the audience was absolutely packed and clearly loving every minute of it. It was at the Sheffield Crucible and it had been packed out for weeks and weeks. It was a play about their community, their surroundings, their lives. This attracted thousands.
A few years later I was working at Wirral Met College and I said, Let’s do a community drama! We worked it around the students and got lots of ideas, like the Priory, the tunnels, Tranmere Rovers…then someone said Cammell Laird’s and I said that’s a good idea – everyone’s connected to that – work, families, everyone in the town, in fact the town actually grew up around Cammell Laird’s. The population of the Wirral exploded when William Laird set up the yard. Laird was a Scottish businessman and industrialist who set up his ironworks first and the town built up around this. The play isn’t just about Cammell Laird, It’s about people and how they feel, their relationships with the yard, not just the men who worked there but the women as well, the families and friends behind the people who worked down the yard. This is why it’s a bigger piece than just Birkenhead’s play. People from miles around came to work at Lairds…Liverpool, Southport and beyond”
I think that’s all represented onstage but I must ask you first, it came on at The Unity about 18 months ago, I thought it was fantastic, how do you see it transferring to the Royal Court?
“Whenever we’ve done it, it’s gone down well, people have enjoyed it. It has great songs, lots of comedy; it’s very fast and interesting as a piece of musical theatre. It’s a journey to take the audience on. Whenever we’ve done it, it keeps getting bigger audiences and I love working in Liverpool. I’ve always wanted to work at the Royal Court. I talked to Kevin Fearon (Royal Court’s Chief’s Executive) many times about projects. We talked about Down Our Street three or four months ago and said let’s try this here, let’s give it a try. One review from the last production said they think it deserves a bigger audience – I think you said that!
It’ll transfer to the Royal Court perfectly well….at the moment we’re working on the right set and new video footage, the music and of course putting the cast together all to suit this beautiful theatre. I love going to the Royal court because it’s such an intimate space. You can feel part of a production; it’s a special theatre and will suit Down Our Street very well.”
My favourite part of the play is when the women resent the blokes going out to the pubs at the end of a back-breaking shift and yet when the working men are at home they send them out to the pubs to get them from under their feet. Charlie Griffith’s facial expressions were excellent during this section were first rate and they come across very well!
“It’s about taking the audience on that journey, you can map out where you want to move the audience emotionally and you can use scenes for laughter or drama and use music to compliment. It’s lovely to watch those pieces, it’s quite a journey and it’s wonderful to watch. At the end of act when a song called “Birkenhead” for example is sung, people have been quite emotional, we’ve had 50 minutes of this journey, it’s the end, everything’s going wrong in the yard and the in the audience we had crying men! At the start of Act II, that bit about why don’t’ they get off their backsides and go down to the pub? They start to turn to drink then there’s the song that mentions as many Birkenhead pubs as possible and then they’re laughing. One minute they’re crying and the next they are crying with tears of laughter, especially when Mickey Finn comes on stage.”
In the play, you have this wonderful moment when the young lady in the play who’s actually a relative of the Laird family – how did you manage to do that and how did it come about?
“When we first produced the play at BirkenheadTown Hall, we heard that the Laird family had co-incidentally arranged a large family reunion there. John Laird had given the Town Hall to Birkenhead and they felt that this was the most fitting place to hold the reunion. The family came to watch the play in rehearsal. I was introduced to them and then on the Saturday night, a few days later, they all came to see the production and we kept in touch with Bruce Laird who was the great- great-great-grandson of William Laird.
I was working with some young people a couple of years ago and I thought I’d do a production with them as I’d not done the play for a few years and I used the Little Theatre in Birkenhead at the time. Bruce Laird sent me some lyrics and some words regarding the anniversary of the building of the Alabama (American Civil War vessel) and he asked if I could set them to music. So I took one set of words, thinking this was quite an opportunity to use the song! William Laird’s great-great-great-grandson is contributing to Down Our Street! It mentions the ships, the pride of the Laird family and that pride still exists with the family – the knowledge that Bruce has about his family history is phenomenal. So I wrote this song and he was in Birkenhead and he came to my office and I played him some songs and he loved them.
The reaction was fantastic and Ruth was there as well and we talked about her having a part in the production so she travelled up from south of Birmingham – near Stratford Upon Avon once a week for rehearsals and she was part of that production. A couple of weeks ago Bruce and his wife, Efi where in the area with Ruth, and their son Josh, they popped into my house as I hadn’t seen them for a while and I asked Ruth if she would be part of this production – maybe coming on at the end and making a statement on behalf of the Laird family in 2013. She said yes. We’re talking about a long history and completing it with the descendants of the man who started it all! I am very proud of that, so we’re going to be using the song Bruce and I wrote together – I just love that connection.”
As you said it is virtually a new cast that will be at The Royal Court production, is there news on the cast who will be in the play?
“Suzanne Collins is in it, she’s a lovely person and a good friend – we’ve worked together on quite a few occasions. I’ve got the wonderful Mickey Finn in it and he’s got great stage presence. He walks on stage and you know where you are with him. He’s a lovely man and a friend. Just the audience’s reaction to him is great. Lynn Fitzgerald is brilliant, like me she’s a playwright who produces her own plays, she works very, very hard and is a brilliant actor. We also signed Lesley Butler, I met her last year at the Pirate Muster in New Brighton. Cathy Roberts the event organiser asked me to work with Lesley for the day, making people walk the plank. So we did and we had a such a laugh. My plays are just as much about the spirit of the company performing so Lesley’s perfect for it.
I can’t announce the whole cast yet but have been enjoying being part of the process and can promise a great cast with a few surprises!
Down Our Street is on at The Royal Court Theatre from the 12th April.
Ian D. Hall