The Complete Plays: Spokesong (1987)

Production Details
Title:
Author:
Music:
Lyrics:
New Play:

Venue:
Location:
Staging:
Spokesong
Stewart Parker
Jimmy Kennedy
Stewart Parker
No

Stephen Joseph Theatre In The Round
Main house (Round)
Round
First performance:
Opening night:
Final performance:
2 June 1987
2 June 1987
19 August 1987
Company Details
Director:
Musical Director:
Lighting:
Design:
Costumes:
Dialect Coach:

Stage Manager:
Deputy Stage Manager:
Deputy Stage Manager:
Assistant Stage Manager:
Assistant Stage Manager:
Robin Herford
Christopher Reason
Mick Thomas
Michael Holt
Lynn Aitken
Fabian Cartwright

Duncan Lewis
David Parker
David O'Neill
Braco Dawson
Kate Haswell
Character
The Trick Cyclist
Frank
Daisy
Francis, Frank's grandfather
Kitty, Francis's wife
Julian, Frank's brother
Actor
Brian Shelley
Michael Roberts
Lesley Meade
William Haden
Penny Bunton
John Skitt
Notes
○ The production was originally scheduled to close on 16 September. However, such was the demand for tickets for Alan Bennett's Getting On that the final week of Spokesong was cancelled and replaced by the Bennett play. As a result, Spokespong's final performance was 19 August.
○ Although advertised with the title Spokesong, the complete title of the play Spokesong or The Common Wheel was used in the programme interior.
○ The posters for the main-house shows during the summer 1987 (Spokesong, Getting On and Henceforward…) all share a motif of a bike chain-link within the image design - at the instigation of the press officer Russ Allen. To this day, no-one else who has worked at the theatre at the time (or subsequently) appears to have ever known what the purpose of this was for three completely unrelated plays. It is also doubtful whether anyone actually noticed!
All research for this page by Simon Murgatroyd. Image copyright: Scarborough Theatre Trust