Philip Key finds Willy Russell enthusiastic and frustrated in equal measure

YOU might think that Willy Russell’s life is a problem-free one. He is, after all, one of Britain’s most successful playwrights, with plays produced worldwide and his musical, Blood Brothers, currently packing them in at the Liverpool Empire. Alas, like anyone else, Mr Russell does have problems.

There is the year he spent writing a screenplay that no-one wants to produce, his film Dancin’ Thru the Dark that remains elusively unavailable on DVD, a loss-making music tour and a couple of medical problems involving regular check-ups.

But Russell at 60 remains decidedly upbeat, a mood enhanced by the forthcoming revival of his comedy, Stags and Hens, at Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre. He’s suddenly very enthusiastic about both play and venue. It was not always so, he admits.

It all began when former Liverpool Everyman director Bob Eaton came to town to direct the comedy, Brick Up the Mersey Tunnels, at the Royal Court.

They are old pals and met up for supper where Eaton suggested he do something for the Court, now being run by Kevin Fearon, who had also worked at the Everyman.

In fact, Russell had never met Fearon – “he was an unknown quantity to me” – and was not convinced about the venue. “To be honest, I was quite sceptical because the last time I was at the theatre it was in a terrible state and I had heard they did not have proper theatre seating in the stalls. I was just wary about the whole thing.”

But he met Fearon and was impressed with his vision of creating a regular company at the theatre. “It would be made up of all those top-notch actors we have known and seen for years, and he wanted the kind of theatre that had broad appeal but nevertheless spoke on a serious level as well as a comic one

“In some respects, my work falls naturally into that world more than other theatrical worlds that exist in Liverpool at the moment.”

So he went to see a show at the theatre, the Liverpool comedy, Lost Soul, written by Dave Kirby and directed by Eaton. “You know, I got a great buzz from the theatre, it was warm and well furbished. I had got an impression of the audience there as a baying mob, but it was not like that at all. They were absolutely terrific and the table seating worked perfectly.

“At ten to eight, they closed the bar and the audience gave the show their rapt attention – they were a theatre audience having a great time and a good night out.” So Russell thought he would give it a go.

He had, after all, been as impressed by the theatre staff. “It was so refreshing to find a theatre operated by a tiny group of people who were all so fantastically committed. It did not have four marketing managers or boxes to be ticked every time you opened your mouth, it was not stifled by administration.”

There was an early idea about staging a musical version of Russell’s comedy Our Day Out about a school trip to a zoo. But to do it properly would require a huge budget, and one that the Royal Court operating without subsidy could not afford.

So Eaton suggested Stags and Hens, Russell’s comedy from 1978, first staged at the Everyman, about stag and hen parties meeting up in a club. Russell realised it was 30 years old and doubtful about it, but took a look at his old script.

He thought it was fine but needed an overhaul. So he has done a rewrite keeping it to the period. He calls it a remix version. “It was like a music recording, you develop the bass line, maybe put the treble back and add a couple of new drum lines. It is also told at a much faster 21st-century pace. “Thirty years ago, one told stories at a different pace and moments that held audiences back then now seem like longeurs.”

He was also able to use the F-word rather than the slightly weaker swear words in the original. Willy has never believed in censoring bad language, just does not like “badly-used language”, he says. “If you get it right, it won't offend because it is not gratuitous. Even those people who would never use such language in their own life would understand they were watching a play. Those who are offended would probably be offended by anything and maybe should not go to see the play.

“It also has to fit the scene. If I were writing about the Queen’s Garden Party I would not write ‘Here’s your f****** tea.’ because it would be wrong.”

It is, he says, the third version of the comedy. The first was the orig-inal, the second the film version retitled Dancin’ Thru the Dark and released in 1990. Curiously, it remains unavailable on DVD, a situation which irks Russell.

“It’s a nightmare,” he says. “It was released by Palace Picture and BBC Films. Palace Pictures went bust and BBC Films have buried it deep in their archives. It is never shown on TV. But it is traded flagrantly on the web and anyone can buy it – completely pirated. No one gets a nickel from it.

“I have asked the BBC to release it and that would stop the pirating immediately. I had the same problem with my TV film, One Summer, but as soon as it was released officially all pirate sales dried up.

“I am thinking of taking Dancin’ Thru the Dark to my people, putting a copy together and putting it on my website and giving it away and waiting for them to sue me. Then we might get something done about it.”

Russell has not been idle over the last year or so. He spent a year writing a film script with director Alan Parker of his stage musical Blood Brothers, even composing new music for it. At present, it remains just in script form. “It needs $60m to make, but I have always been a realist and know that it is a British subject, regional at that and historical, everything that $60m would be scared of.”

But he admits he had so much fun working with Parker that the writing took longer than perhaps it ought to have done.

He also did a musical tour with fellow playwright Tim Firth, a show that consisted of original music by Russell and Firth together with readings. It lost money. “We were pretty much an unknown band starting off and not pulling in audiences that justified the outlay. But I enjoyed doing it so while it cost a fortune I don’t begrudge a penny.” As for the Capital of Culture, he WAS interested in doing something, but the formal request came only two weeks before Christmas, far too late for him. But he hints there may be something new in the future.

“I have no plans to take any kind of commission for the time being because I want to get this show open. Then I will see how things develop at the Royal Court . . . ”

His daughter Rachel, 26, is now starting directing, her first show a touring version of Equus due to open at the end of the month. “It’s pretty daunting for her and I am more worried about her rehearsals than I am my own.”

* STAGS and Hens opens at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, on February 1 and runs until March 1. Box Office 0870 787 1866.

philkey@dailypost.co.uk