Subterranean Theatre: The Maurie, June 2 – June 13, The Cunard Building, Liverpool.

‘Hi Mike, at the risk of repeating myself I just wanted to reiterate once more how much I enjoyed the play. It's concept, imagery and execution was breath taking; the venue inspired. How clever too to incorporate three Georges! It worked on every level. It was a privilege to have been there and will stay with me for a long time.  The whole experience deserves a wider audience which I hope, in the future, you will be able to secure. 

Please pass on my congratulations to all involved. It was SUPERB!!’

Kind regards

Suzanne Garrett

Audience reviews for the two-week run of ‘subterranean Theatre: The Maurie’, as demonstrated in the comments above from Suzanne Garrett, were nothing short of sensational. The twelve performances were sold out each night, with audiences revelling in the journey we took them on through Liverpool’s iconic Cunard Building; entering the opulent ground floor through the original doorways used by passengers in the 1920’s, and mixing with First-Class passengers and busy clerks, before stepping below decks into the dark and thunderous world of the engine room and the stokers to witness incredible performances by our motley crew of talented actors.

Jenny Higham ‏@jenkhi  Jun 12:

Loved 'The Maurie' play in the Cunard Building last night- powerful & evocative story of the ship's stokers

Just two weeks earlier the city witnessed the magnificent spectacle of the three queens – Queen Mary 2, Victoria and Elizabeth gliding effortlessly across The Mersey; a hint of how busy the river would have been in the 1920’s, when The Mauretania was in its heyday and the liners the only way to travel. In the 1922, the year ‘The Maurie’ is set, it would take 5000 tons of coal to power the ship from Liverpool to New York, one way. These ships didn’t sail themselves, a crew of over three hundred were employed to keep the furnaces below burning twenty four hours a day, and the symbolism of having the play in the basement of The Cunard Building, added to the impact of the production.

Not a Spam Bot ‏@googlyeyecat  Jun 12:

@garrettarchive @wowfest @movver it's brilliant isn't it.

We don’t know exactly when George Garrett wrote the short story, ‘The Maurie’. We know his friend, the writer Millie Toole, typed it up for him in the 1950’s, and that he himself worked on The Mauretania in 1918. We also know ‘The Maurie’ was never published in his lifetime. In the early 1980’s his friend, and Unity Theatre founder, Jerry Dawson, published a version of it under the title ‘Stokehold Story’. The full story was first published by Michael Murphy in ‘The Collected George Garrett’ in 1999.

Paul Higham ‏@pmhigham  Jun 13:

@googlyeyecat @jenkhi @garrettarchive @wowfest @movver isn't it just, the staging is brilliant. Really felt like you were on the ship

I knew, when I read it, that I could adapt it for the stage. However, when I sat down to write it, I realised it needed more, an arc for the story, a journey for the audience, which the short story on its own didn’t provide. Having done nearly three years research on George’s life and work, inspiration wasn’t hard to find. And so the story running through the play is that of George’s life, with George himself represented in three characters mirroring different key stages of his life: Young George the stowaway; Ozzie, the Wobbly carrying his American dreams in his kit-bag; and Older George, the wiser, steadying hand, who has seen and done it all, but still retains the sparkle that recognises the fire burning within his younger selves. I wouldn't say the writing ‘poured out of me’, but once I’d accepted the challenge of working with six characters within the confines of the engine room and on the bunk-beds in their ‘crack’, I always felt I knew where I was going. A couple of read-throughs and one or two very minor revisions later, the script was ready to go.  And then the magic happens.

‘Very well done. As good as any play I've seen - and that's a fair few!’

Barbara Coleman, audience.

Carl Cockram, an experienced actor and director, who directed my previous play, had long been enthusiastic about The Maurie. Carl likes a challenge, which is good, because this became one of the most challenging productions he’d been involved in. But more of that later. Carl pulled together an amazing cast of high quality Liverpool Actors, some of whom I’d worked with before with my previous play, Waiting for Brando – Paul Duckworth and Joe Shipman, and some who I knew, but had not worked with – Nick Birkenshaw, Graham Hicks, and two I had not met – Ben Worth and Bradley Thompson. He then, with the help of drama teacher and director, Paula Simms,  recruited an excellent student from Liverpool John Moores University, Dominic Deehan, who played the role of the thief, which appears towards the end of the play.

‘As for the performances---- they are second to none, without exception. Brilliant, passionate, sensitive, concentrated professional acting at its very best. Congratulations to all involved in this powerful event.’

Jo Street, audience, actor.

Over three weeks of rehearsal Carl and the team transformed the play into an amazing, living, breathing, simmering, dancing and singing piece of work. When I went to see them in rehearsals I was bowled over by just how much they had got what I was trying to achieve, and even more so by the way they had interpreted it. A brilliant suggestion by choreographer, Sarah Black, to use slow motion to represent the physicality and intensity of the work or the stokers, gave real weight to the scenes where they fill the furnaces and gave the illusion of time passing on the ship. Andy Frizzell’s musical contribution and direction was little short of brilliant. Andy broke down the sounds of the ships engine into chords, and mixed it with the structure of the songs ‘Hallelujah I’m a Bum’ and ‘The Old Fort’, which is the tune for George’s own song, ‘Marching On’, and forged a soundscape that resonated throughout each section of the play.  

‘Congratulations, it was nothing short of brilliant. I just wanted to say a big Thank You! for you and all the good people associated with the production of The Maurie for a fantastic evocation of the stoker's lot and George's life at sea and below decks.’

Warren Garrett

I encountered a myriad of problems in producing this play – including two production managers, for various reasons, having to pull out, not getting the funding from Arts Council England I had expected, and, on the morning of the opening night, having virtually no set for the play as the person meant to deliver and assemble it had gone off sick; we had to build the set virtually from scratch on the day, with the actors only getting on to it at four o’clock in the afternoon! I can hardly begin to describe the pressure. However, when the going gets a little rocky you always need someone in your corner, and I was fortunate to have some incredible people supporting me, including Carl, the actors, the LIPA students, the extras, Writing on the Wall, the Cunard building managers and Culture Liverpool. I also had the building itself, which seemed almost to have been waiting for this play to be set there. 

Not only did we manage to open, in such a way that the audience commented upon the brilliant set, sound and lighting, but the performance drew a four star review from the Liverpool Echo, which, if they had attended two days later, as they should have done for a press night, I’m convinced it would have been five stars. We were also reviewed on Radio 4’s Front Row show, and Radio Merseyside.  

‘It was absolutely fantastic to work with you and a great cast. The experience has been amazing gutted it’s actually over to be quite honest.’

Graham Hicks, actor who played the ‘leading Hand’.

The play opens in the opulent surroundings of the grand entrance hall on the ground floor of the Cunard Building. The ‘passengers’ entered together to be met by a setting representing the First Class experience of the ship, with projections of 1920’s Liverpool either side and extras dressed as high class gents and ladies of the day, with clerks and checkers scurrying around ensuring the ship was ready to sail.

‘Just got back from this evenings performance and we thought it was bloody brilliant! What a fantastic experience! Feel like I've just made it to New York - utterly exhausted!’

Rebecca Britten, audience.

It was quite moving to see one of the extras was George Garrett’s Grandson, Sean Garrett, and all credit to Sean for taking part – particularly when his daughters and the rest of the Garrett clan attended; he got a bit of ribbing, but still played his role well.

The audience, unsure of what was about to happen, made a bee-line for the far door, then, when they realised there was no ‘scene’ as such, they milled around, taking in the projections and mixing with the ‘first class’ passengers, until they gathered together before our First officer, actor Liam Tobin. He welcomed them to the ship and then led them downstairs to the basement. As they descended sounds of the engine rose to meet them, signalling a change of atmosphere,

As ‘Trimmers’, who rush the coal from bunker to furnace ran at full pelt along the room with shouts of ‘Straight Through!’ All was noise and confusion. And then there was older George, chopping food for the ‘Oodle’, the stew the seamen ate after their shifts. All was quiet until we heard a cough, from a large crate, and the drama began.

‘Thanks for a fantastic experience last night. It was not just a visual, emotional and intellectual experience but was so much more due to the soundscape (which in the boiler room sequence felt like a physical assault) and the apparent spontaneous singing. I was totally pulled in and felt as though I was a participant rather than an observer.’

Paul Darby, audience.

I won’t do a spoiler here, except to say that the drama transferred to the back room of the basement of the building, which we had turned into an engine room complete with furnaces, which later turned into the ‘crack’, or dormitory of the stokers, with their bunkbeds centre stage.

Angry, sometimes violent, with song and dance, sharp-paced dialogue and humour, interspersed with personal, often poignant discussions and stories, this cast delivered it so well that many people reported coming away from the play feeling as though they had actually been in the engine room and the crack. An agent who represents two of the cast, who has seen many, many plays, said she had to keep reminding herself that they were actors, and not real people, in front of here. I can’t imagine a better compliment on that. I must admit that I was engrossed in each performance I saw, and at times a little watery-eyed; something I didn’t expect having lived with the play for such a long time. I was proud, proud and proud again to see my work, and Garrett’s life and his short story, brought to life so well.

‘Now, plays with an all-male cast are not usually my thing but The Maurie by Mike Morris is an absolute revelation. Performed in the stunning basement of the Cunard building, the piece is a tender and poignant exploration of the lives of the men working below decks in the stokehold of the Mauretania. The characters are fully realized and their experiences are eerily relevant today. If you get a chance treat yourself to a stunning, funny and touching theatrical experience.’

Shirley Razbully, audience.

Each night I took a few moments to observe the audience, and found each night they were transfixed. ‘I didn't want it to end’ said one, and not one person complained that they had been there for a total of two hours without a break; they barely noticed the time passing.

‘Just got back from this evenings performance and we thought it was bloody brilliant! What a fantastic experience! Feel like I've just made it to New York - utterly exhausted!’

Rebecca Britten, audience.

And so, against many odds, the production and the play was a triumph in every respect. It was so special to take over the building, participate in creating such an amazing piece of work, and receive such positive feedback from the audience. After each performance I was surrounded by people wanting to discuss it further and telling me stories of their family who had been seaman, and stokers, many of which confirmed the reality of the stories we told in the play.

Thanks and congratulations to all involved, and if you missed it, watch this space; we may be bringing it back for another run….

Mike Morris,

Writer and Producer.

  

 

Walter Mosley Liverpool Town Hall, Thursday 2nd July 2015

‘The process of writing a novel is like taking a journey by boat. You have to continually set yourself on course. If you get distracted or allow yourself to drift, you will never make it to the destination. It's not like highly defined train tracks or a highway; this is a path that you are creating discovering. The journey is your narrative. Keep to it and there will be a tale told.’  Walter Mosley.

On a lilac-skied Liverpool evening, I was lucky enough to find myself on the guest list for Walter Mosley's interview and reading at the town hall, the final event of Writing on the Wall’s 2015 festival, which also featured as part of Culture Liverpool’s One Magnificent City celebrations. As I walked down the streets that paved the way from James Street Station, I found myself staring at a veritable banquet of architecture. I saw the high reaching collection of steeples and domes that was the Liver Building, fortified behind the rows of shops, offices and apartments that populate Liverpool's skyline.

This grand and cultural aesthetic was an unfortunate contrast to the great brown monstrosity to my right which I found myself overtly wrinkling my nose at. I am of course referring to the Liverpool Crown Court, a building which I often make an effort to obscure from my vision as I walk by. However, as I slowly turned the corner into High Street, the grandeur of the Liver Building and the rather large short-comings of the Court were all extinguished by what I saw waiting for me.

The Liverpool town hall was brick for brick the typical image of a mayoral building, with its engraved pillars, wide windows and a huge lead dome, sporting a truly incredible statue of the Roman Goddess Minerva, arms raised as if to welcome Mosley to Liverpool.

The interior suffered from no drop in its visual quality. As I walked along its entrance corridor, I found an awed gasp escaping my lips. Once standing in the lobby with the other visitors, I caught a glimpse of a mural in the upper right corner. It seemed to be a memorial of some sorts for Liverpool's young men who died in the First World War. However, then I noticed another mural to its right, also a memorial. Indeed, I then realised that every wall was sporting a commemorative war canvas. Regardless of my personal views on the glorification of war, I couldn't help but be astonished at the detail, colouring and pure quality of these designs. How I hadn't noticed them beforehand I don't know, but what I do know is that when I did see them, the only word I could fathom was ‘Wow’. However, I had no time to stand around appreciating my surroundings as I and the eager Mosley fans I found myself with were rushed into the rather spectacular council chambers, complete with red fabric seating and gilded chandeliers.

There was excited discussion throughout the room amongst these long-time followers of Walter Mosley, and I found myself feeling rather isolated. I had never read any of his works and so I felt curiosity and strangely a little nervousness at seeing and listening to the man about whom I had heard so much. Soon however, the chatter went silent and every pair of eyebrows in the room raised a little in excitement. I turned to see my work colleague, Writing on the Wall co-director Madeline Heneghan standing in the doorway, in front of two gentlemen. The first, Pete Kalu, a published author and playwright, and the second, the man we had all come to see, Walter Mosley.

As the announcer heralded their arrival, the crowd began to applaud enthusiastically and provided an entrance that Madeline described as ‘the grandest entrance to an event we've ever had at Writing on the Wall.’ We all eventually stopped our clapping and listened closely as Mr Mosley and Mr Kalu were introduced by Madeline, who then proceeded to sit amongst the audience as Mr Mosley began to speak. First, he began to tell us the comical origins behind his newest book entitled 'And sometimes I wonder about you,’ which he says was something his father used to say. This allowed him to briefly veer into describing his early life, before he moved onto the event we were all waiting for-his reading.

The scene he described to us was from his aforementioned new book, and featured a private detective sitting on a New York City train. The way Mosley writes is so fluid and alive, with no rigid structure or style. His descriptions of the various characters on the train are so full of life and vivid that it is as if you can see them with your own eyes. The huge man with the horseshoe chain around his neck, the dark, mysterious woman with the brilliant bronze-brown eyes, all these characters seem to ride out of the page on that wonderfully rich and detailed train. With its captivating lines: ‘She was beautiful. Her bright skin was the russet brown that I associated with the Caribbean, her hair untreated and a little wild.............she'd still be lovely when she reached the age of the sleeping man who muttered across the aisle,’ and it's sharp, intelligent dialogue ‘Wall Streeters are solitary sharks, Marella,’ I said, relishing the name. ‘Madison Avenue is populated by social animals - mostly wolves,’ Mosley's new book, and all of his writing, is of some of the highest standards I have ever had the privilege to experience.

For a few minutes I felt a sense of disappointment that Walter had stopped reading, and was moving on to other things. I wished I could study and analyse each little detail of his work, in a manner similar to his story's inhabitants. However, my feelings of being cheated were soon dashed as the next section of Walter's talk began. Pete conducted an interview with Walter, who then gave several extended and thoughtful answers to the audience. Pete is currently doing his PHD, part of which is on Walter Mosley, so he was visibly and audibly delighted to be part of the interview. One of the first questions he asked was how Walter achieves such a flowing, rich texture to his writing. The entire audience eagerly anticipated this answer, and I recall seeing a few aspiring writers with their pens and writing pads out, taking notes. Walter told us that he writes his draft, then records himself reading it, and plays it back to himself. That way he can hear how the words actually sound, not just how he thinks they sound inside his head. This way, his writing eventually ends up sounding like actual speech, which is why it lends itself so well to being read aloud.

He also went on to speak about his parents, with a Jewish mother and an African American father, and also further about race in general, referencing the #BlackLivesMatter movement, police brutality and also the problems he faces with his work with publishers. He stated that when he tried to write about a black detective in one of his stories, his publisher turned away his manuscript because ‘there's already a black detective,’ and didn't change his mind, even when Mosley pointed out how many white fictional detectives there are. He also spoke about how his refusal to stick to one genre often puts him at odds with publishers. Walter criticised the system of capitalism and its effects on his work. He told us that ‘We live in capitalism, and capitalism is defined by the production line, and the production line is defined by specificity. If you see yourself as an artist, which I do, then you can't be limited by that. You can't let somebody tell you, 'Well, you can only draw this kind of picture or write that kind of book.’

The genuinely entertaining interview continued for a good while, but the audience was so enraptured in every comedic and yet meaningful word that fell from his lips that we never felt the time go by. When Mr Mosely announced that he would now be taking questions from the audience, we knew the end was near, and we all felt a little sad. Walter's wit, charm and passion for his writing and beliefs had reeled us in, and we were not yet ready to be thrown back into the sea just yet. His genuine knowledge and wisdom shone through in his every answer, be it related to his work - speaking about writing scripts for stage and how he works with others as opposed to alone - or be it an unassociated subject, asked simply out of curiosity -  talking about his views on the rising popularity of television and the plummeting success of cinema. He spoke about his issues with publishers again, this time telling us that when he writes a book, he only receives fifteen percent of the profits as opposed to when he writes an E-book, he receives fifty percent. This tells us a great deal about the unfortunate greed of the publishing industry, in his experience at least.

Frank Baum, author of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, said that ‘Everything has to come to an end, sometime.’ The same was true of our evening with Walter, and soon of this piece of writing. Yes, as strange as it may seem to you, the hands did eventually stop rising and the flowing stream of questions did eventually run dry. Somehow, it turned out that we had run overtime, and that we had to quickly wrap up. Madeline took to the stage of the council chambers and thanked us all for coming. She then proceeded to announce the winners of Writing on the Wall's 'Flash Fiction' short story competition: Joe Lavelle and Andrea Davies. Unfortunately only the former of whom was there, but he seemed absolutely delighted at the fact that he was presented both his certificate and a signed copy of ‘And Sometimes I Wonder About You,’ by Walter Mosley himself.

We all slowly began to file out of the room, feeling very positively about the whole experience. It had been a truly enjoyable evening, with the two huge personalities of Walter and Pete (whose contribution to the evening I have shamefully under-described) filling the room like Walter's characters filled the train carriage. As I walked out of the entrance, taking a moment to admire the displays yet again, I saw the previously lilac sky now a darkening shade of purple. Briskly I made my way to James Street Station with a smile not even the Crown Court's overbearing presence could diminish. Walter once said that ‘A man's bookcase will tell you everything you'll ever need to know about him.’ Well, if that is true, then I can safely say that you will soon be able to tell I like Walter Mosley.

Owen Dowling.

Owen is on a two-week experience from his school with Writing on the Wall.