Liverpool and the outlaying areas of Merseyside have, like its music, more than its fair share of top quality comedy writers. They range in national stature from the likes of Morecombe and Wise’s third man Eddie Braben and the creator of Bread, Butterflies and The Liver Birds, the sensational Carla Lane to the local and the as of yet undiscovered by the rest of the country but who make the evenings at the theatre a pleasure to be at.

In amongst these stands Donna Lesley Price, a woman who has more than made Merseyside her home for many years and who has generated nights of such extreme joy with her play, the tremendous and uplifting If The Shoe Fits, certainly one of the best comedies to have been performed in Liverpool over the last decade.

Ahead of her new production, Brakin’ Pad, I was able to catch up with Ms. Price briefly as she prepared for the new show to be hosted by the Lantern Theatre. Mindful of time and never one to make an artist late, I ask:

 

It’s great to have you back on a stage in Liverpool again, how did Brakin’ Pad come about?

DLP: “Thank you it’s great to be back with Boom Boom Productions. We are really looking forward to performing at the lovely Lantern Theatre. Brakin’ Pad came about very much the same way as If the Shoe Fits in which I will choose the setting and create strong characters that basically write themselves. I build the play around the characters and the situations they find themselves in and add a few twists and surprises along the way. I do get some of my material from real life and stories that have been told to me and a lot of my own imagination. I prefer comedy to be real and natural rather than forced and cartoonish which is why I love Richie Grice to direct my work as he is a comedy genius.”

The play, gender wise, is the complete opposite to your tremendous production If The Shoe Fits, dare I say perhaps more male led? Was this a conscious decision to take, to counter balance the way stories are told?

DLP: “Yes it was a conscious decision as I wanted to challenge myself writing a new play from a male perspective and it has been great fun in rehearsals with so much laughter.”

The play feels as though it perhaps has more resonance to Britain compared to the television series on which the idea perhaps comes from, how did that resonate with the way that the road that the country has been led of late, more austerity, more cuts to social and local infrastructure?

DLP: “It is the complete opposite to the television series as it is a comedy although we do have gangsters in the play. I named it Brakin’ Pad to sound like the television series but also because of brake pads and the setting of the play. There is no political theme in the play as that would just get in the way of the laughs.”

You’re both very passionate and proud of the area of comedy that you are both associated with, how would you see that evolving?

DLP: “Our motto is onwards and upwards so we will continue with more of the same, only bigger and funnier.”

Have you ever worked in such an environment? Was there much research into the trade?

DLP: “No I have never worked in that kind of environment. Much of the play is not about cars but the people who are the mechanics at Brakin’ Pad Motors. I did do some research into the darker side but can’t say much more than that as it is plot.”

To quote Liverpool favourites Space, the female of the species is more deadly than the male, is that how your character fits in to that ideological practice?

DLP: “No it is not how my character fits into place. That quote is essential to the plot though, but I can’t say any more without giving some of it away.”

One of the nights is for charity, how close is that to you both?

DLP: “My father’s business has been raising money for Claire House, a children’s hospice for the past sixteen years and we wanted to contribute to this great charity too. Bliss is a charity for premature and sick babies. Our grandson Flynn was born fifteen weeks premature in February this year weighing just 1lb 8oz and it is with great thanks to the wonderful and caring staff at the neo-natal clinic at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital and the charity Bliss that he is now home with his family and weighing a whopping 9lb; our little miracle.”

What next for Boom Boom productions?

DLP: “Some new projects in development. A ‘Bon Voyage’ reboot, a continued journey for ‘Brakin’ Pad’ and a big announcement for ‘If the Shoe Fits’.”

 

Ian D. Hall

Breakin’ Pad is on at the Lantern Theatre.  Tickets for Brakin’ Pad are priced at £12 with concessions available at £10.

Friday 17th / Saturday 18th July

Friday 24th / Saturday 25th July

Friday 24th July is a Charity performance for Claire House and Bliss.

To book call 0151 703 0000 or go online at wwwlanterntheatreliverpool.co.uk.