Goodbye to The Bench...hello Strawberry Jack

Hi all

Last run in the North West...

Well it's been an enormously emotional roller coaster ride for the play THE BENCH, for all kinds of reasons - some much more profound than others.  It's a play that will live long in the mind for audiences and will always owe a huge debt to the incredibly talented cast that have performed over the years in and around that bench in a park in Paradise Heights. 


It was born out of my wish to perform in a different play.  Ste Myott, a member of The Bench cast had approached me to play Frank in Willy Russells EDUCATING RITA - (still want to do that) and Ste had booked a slot at STUDIO SALFORD for us to do it with Ste directing.  Unfortunately we couldn't get the rights.  I persuaded Ste not to cancel the slot, we'd do something else.  What?  'I'll write something' I told him.  Three weeks later The Bench was written, I'd been looing for an excuse to introduce more characters to Paradise Heights - and here we had sixteen - some of these have been revisited in tales since then. 

It's certainly had a glorious run around the North West - critics and audiences really responding fantastically to it.  This is the last time up here for a while and I'm delighted to end that NW run at my hometown's premiere theatre - at THE OCTAGON in  The Bill Naughton Studio.  It's been a dream of mine since I was a kid to have something on there, it would be great to give it a good send off - come down and I promise you a show and cast you will never forget.  I've loved doing it - but I'm itching to move on to something new...STRAWBERRY JACK is about to make his first appearance...

Along with Strawberry Jack you'll get to at last meet Deaf Freddie - a character referred to in THE BENCH and RANK and for those that saw LOOKIN' FOR LUCKY you'll find out who killed CHALKIE...as with all the other tales it's a self contained story of it's own, you won't have to have seen the others to enjoy the production - again it will be a huge task bringing this to the stage but we're all up for it, several of the cast are from THE BENCH. 


This one is A Christmas Tale from Paradise Heights so it's appropriate that it premieres in December - 7th through to 10th - and even more appropriate that it will be at THE ROBERT POWELL THEATRE in Salford, where Tales from Paradise Heights was born, it will be good to return there - and there will also be a Tales from Paradise Heights Christmas Shin Dig on the closing night - a few surprises for that night...details to follow...


A HUGE AND HEARTY THANKYOU to those of you who have seen the play, I know many of you have seen it several times.  Come and join us for a last run of THE BENCH at THE OCTAGON this Thursday and Friday, 7.30 pm, I'll be giving a post show talk with ELIZABETH NEWMAN of The Octagon on Friday evening talking all things Paradise Heights - it's gonna be one helluva future for the series with three more plays planned for the next year following existing and new characters...join us and give this Powerhouse Cast a great send off...and I'm gonna have a drink on Friday night - the first I have had in over 12 months, I'll need it...;) 

The POWERHOUSE Cast

Joe xx