Pip Utton

"All men are worms. I believe I am a glow worm!"

Big Ben chimes and strikes 13; a magical time when once a year for just over an hour the statues of the great statesmen in Parliament Square, London, England, come alive again. Winston Churchill descends from his plinth to indulge himself in three of his greatest pleasures: a glass of Scotch, a cigar and listening to himself talk.

He talks of his childhood, his parents, his education, his army life, his marriage, his painting, writing and bricklaying, his appetites and, of course, he talks of his many years at the centre of the world political stage especially during two world wars.

Pip Utton's play is not an attempt to decide on Churchill's greatness. It is not an attempt to judge. It is just 70 minutes spent in the entertaining company of the man whose life spanned two centuries and saw the decline of the British Empire. The man who spent 50 years at the heart of political life in Westminster. The man who held most of the high offices of State, who was Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland twice, whose paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy, who won the Nobel prize for Literature in 1953, who in 1963 was made the first honorary citizen of the United States, and who in 2002, in a BBC poll, was voted the Greatest Briton in History.

"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it"

‘Life is just a game played out for no reason, so there is no need one shouldn’t try to achieve everything one wants. After all, life is nothing but a series of sensations. So one may as well try and make oneself extraordinary, extraordinary and brilliant, even if it means becoming a brilliant fool like me and having the kind of disastrous life that I have had. People think my painting is very violent. But life is violent, Very violent. So perhaps my painting is very violent. My painting is a representation of life, my own life above all. The creative process is a cocktail of instinct, skill, culture and a highly creative feverishness. It’s a little like making love, the physical act of love. It can be as violent as f***ing, like an orgasm or an ejaculation. The result is often disappointing but the process is highly exciting.’

Described by critics as the greatest British painter since Turner and by Margaret Thatcher as ‘that dreadful man who paints those horrible pictures’, Francis Bacon remains one of the most challenging and controversial artists of all time. Bacon’s paintings have the power to horrify, excite, disgust, revolt and haunt. It is impossible not to react to his work.

It was probably not only the paintings that so distressed Mrs Thatcher but the man himself. Francis Bacon could spend his mornings painting, his afternoons and evenings drinking champagne and eating, and his nights roaming around Soho dressed in fishnet stockings and a long leather coat looking for ‘rough trade’. His lifestyle full of alcohol, gambling and homosexual promiscuity has created an iconic enigma.

Looking uncannily like Bacon, Pip Utton looks back on his extraordinary life as he rants at, charms, entertains and enlightens his audience swigging champagne.

The 20th century’s most notorious tyrant is daringly and divisively brought to the stage in one of the most successful and powerful solo works ever presented.

Looking uncomfortably like the Führer, Utton stands before a huge Nazi banner addressing his party faithful. He furnishes his audience with an acute anatomy of fascism; its ideological justifications; its poisoned utopias. They are in the presence of an utterly compelling idealist, and are helplessly drawn in to his warped logic. Hitler's final performance seems over as he settles into pre-suicidal contemplation.

We know the rest... But Utton has reserved a sting for his tale... A sting so powerful that it pushes the audience into looking within themselves to question their own prejudice and intolerance. Utton doesn't stop in the bunker. He plumbs the very source of racism and exposes just how near the surface of our own lives lurks its insidious influence.

What made Adolf Hitler so compulsive? How could any cultured person follow him to destruction, desolation and genocide to leave a long deep scar on the 20th century? How do the extremist parties of today command such huge followings all over the world?

Pip Utton's amazing play takes his audience on a journey into themselves, gently coaxing an understanding of the mindset of a nation that could allow a man such as Hitler to take control…

This is live theatre at its best with a theme and subject that touches us all. It is powerful, dramatic, challenging, divisive, illustrative and educational. It is utterly provocative and totally necessary. Everyone should experience it.

Dickens staggers onto the stage and falls dead. Seconds later he leaps up, full of life and energy. He has decided to get it over with right at the beginning, get it out of the way so that he and his “host of personal and affectionate friends” (the audience) can approach the rest of their time together with enthusiasm, without the threat of his death hanging over them.

“Brighten it, brighten it, brighten it” was one of his mantras. With his death now behind him, Dickens enthusiastically tells us, with the casual candour of one with nothing to lose, about the happiest years of his life; the last 12. His personal life, however unorthodox, was finally shaped to fit his taste - he was separated from the wife he hated, free to enjoy the platonic companionship of his sister-in-law and to indulge in the old man's prerogative of doting on a young actress. And he discovered his highly satisfying, and financially rewarding second career as a public reader of his own works.

Dickens is in turn confessional, angry, delighted, wistful and above all contented, while interrupting the conversation every now and then for readings in the histrionic style of the day. His enthusiasm for taking his work to his fans was boundless. He loved the adoration and the emotional connection with an audience and he welcomed the extra source of income.

This is not just a jolly ‘evening with Dickens’, not simply an entertaining diversion. It is an evening with the man behind the myth. The man proclaiming the virtues of a steady domestic life at the same time as leaving his wife for a younger woman; a man both fascinated by death and terrified by it; a man who above all needed to entertain, whatever the physical cost to himself. The audience will leave thinking not only have they heard some of the finest of Dickens’ writing but that they have also spent time with the man himself.

I came into this mad business rather late in life, when I was just 45 years old. I had no training or CV and yet I was positive that it would only be a matter of time before my genius was discovered. After a while I realised that it might be a matter of rather a long time.

In 1994 to speed up my progress a friend (Jeremy Towler) and I decided we would write a play and take the Edinburgh Fringe by storm. But the Fringe was not ready for us that year, nor the next unfortunately and so we held on to our day jobs (temporarily you understand). But then I had a hit playing Tony Hancock in ‘Hancock’s Last Half Hour.’ With my five star reviews lighting the way to fame and fortune, I gave up my day job and waited for the phone to ring. I waited patiently for the next 18 months for the phone to ring.

Pip Utton Theatre Co is the outcome of deciding that I had been patient enough. If no one else was going to discover me, I would do it myself.

In 1997 I wrote Adolf, a short 35-minute piece that premiered at Southside Laboratory and was an instant sell out smash hit (capacity was only 24 I admit, but a full house is a full house!). The proceeding years saw the play transform into 80 minutes long and become one of the most worldwide successful one man shows of recent years. Adolf launched me on to the touring circuit. Produced and re-directed by Guy Masterson I toured under his banner until Guy and I decided I was old enough to go out by myself. I took a leaf out of his book and put my name at the top of the poster. It was going to be Pip Utton Productions, but PUP is not an acronym foretelling fame and fortune.

Calling the company after myself, and being credited as the writer and as the performer ensured that my name was prominent on all posters and flyers. Things might change. In the future there may be plays written by other writers and performed by other actors but my name will still be at the top – I’ll make sure of that.

I have now toured my performances in over 21 countries and had my work translated into six languages!

I now try to produce a new piece each year. Some remain in the repertoire for several years and others are laid to rest sooner.

Currently [November 2015], there are eight shows in the repertoire: Adolf, Bacon, Casanova (which features wonderful contemporary dancing by Marguerite Chaigne), Chaplin, Dickens, Hunchback of Notre Dame, A Christmas Carol, Churchill, and my new show, Playing Maggie which premiered in the Netherlands 2015 and took the Edinburgh Fringe 2015 by storm, selling out and winning major awards.

In addition, I am also writing a new play entitled ‘Popes’, due to premiere in Holland in 2016, and a solo performance based on an adaptation of Nabukov’s Lolita.

I am an Associate Artist of The Merlin Theatre, Frome, Somerset, and of Trowbridge Arts, Trowbridge, Wiltshire. I am a long standing Director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. I have two grown sons and a dog and live with my wife in the calm of Somerset in a wonderful town called Frome.

Edinburgh Fringe:

• Nominated: Stage Award For Best Actor 1997 (Adolf)
• WINNER: Spirit of the Fringe Award 1998 (for Adolf)
• Nominated: Stage Award for Best Actor 2001
• Nominated: Fringe First 2001 (Resolution)
• WINNER: About Theatre.com Award for Best Actor 2001 (Resolution)
• WINNER: The Stage Special Award for Acting Excellence 2015 (Playing Maggie)
• WINNER: FringeReview Award for Outstanding Theatre 2015 (Playing Maggie)

Elsewhere:

• WINNER: Best Actor Thespis International Monodrama Festival 2002 (Adolf)
• WINNER: Phoebe Rees Award for Best Actor 2003 (King Henry - Lion in Winter)
• Nominated: London Writers Guild Best New Script 2005 (Bacon)
• WINNER: Best Play Thespis International Monodrama Festival Kiel, Germany 2006 (Bacon)
• WINNER: Argus Angel for Excellence, Brighton Fringe Festival 2007 (Bacon)
• WINNER: Best Play UNESCO Monodrama Festival Minsk Belarus 2008 (Chaplin)
• WINNER: Media Award for Performance, Wroclaw International Monodrama Festival 2008 (Chaplin)
• WINNER: Audience Award for Best Performance Thespis International Monodrama Festival 2010, Germany (War of The Worlds)
• WINNER: ‘ARTISHOCK’ Award for Best Play, Netherlands 2010 (Adolf)
• WINNER: Jury Award for Performance Kiel Monodrama Festival, Germany 2012 (Churchill)
• WINNER: Best Performance International Pushkin Festival Pskov, Russia 2013 (Requiem for Salieri)
• WINNER: Media Award for Best Performance ITI Monodrama Festival Wroclaw, Poland 2015 (Churchill)
• WINNER: Audience Award for Best Performance, Lithuania Monodrama Festival, Visaginas 2015 (Chaplin)
• WINNER: Fujairah Valery Khasanov Monodrama Prize, UAE 2016 (Playing Maggie)

Whatever you call it – solo performance, one-person show, one actor’s theatre – monodrama, as it is increasingly known worldwide, is one of the fastest growing genres in the business. In the past decade, an explosion in festivals, courses and workshops has been fuelled by the universal adaptability of the single performer. One major node on the world circuit is the Fujairah International Monodrama Festival, a biennial gathering in the United Arab Emirates that has become a major stage for solo theatre. Having started very much ahead of the game in 2003, the festival even has its own dedicated Monodrama House venue.

As FIMF’s director Mohammed Al Afkham recalls: “When we were planning to establish a theatre festival in Fujairah at the time, we thought that a lot of international festivals didn’t seem that serious about theatre. So we decided to take up the challenge of putting the focus on monodrama, since it is such a demanding genre.” That challenge has not passed unnoted by Pip Utton, winner of The Stage Special Award at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2015 and a familiar face on the international circuit: “What impresses me about monodrama festivals, and Fujairah in particular, is their lack of commerciality. We all know that if you put on a world music festival you’re going to get tens of thousands of people and as long as you manage it correctly you can make loads of money. But Fujairah does theatre and it is not done foremost to make money. That’s important because it gives a very different emphasis for both the performer and the audience.” Within Fujairah’s coastal desert setting, the contrast of styles is very much a feature, says Utton. “For those of us coming to see Arab cultural styles this is very much an eye-opener. We have something to learn from them and, because we bring our own shows, vice versa, which is the whole point.”

Operating under the auspices of the Fujairah Culture and Media Authority, this year’s edition – the seventh – ran 15 productions along with workshops and panels across 10 days which also formed part of the newly created Fujairah International Arts Festival. With the Emirates becoming a major hub, Al Afkham sees this as the right time to build on the cultural attraction of the monodrama festival. “We wanted to see what more we could add. We said let’s still focus on monodrama but bring other kinds such as traditional dance and music that reflect the region’s cultural strengths. The result is a far wider arts event, which has proved a big draw with audiences.”

At the festival with Maggie – his take on Margaret Thatcher – Utton has appeared in two previous editions and this year was awarded the second Fujairah Valery Khasanov Monodrama Prize, worth $5,000 (£3,475). The inaugural award in 2014 went to Lithuania’s Birute Mar.

Obviously Utton in a wig and frock addressing the Dibba Theatre stalls as the Iron Lady brings its own exoticism to an already eclectic programme with productions from such countries as Mongolia (S Sarantuya’s Lady Macbeth) and Finland (Taina Maki-Iso’s HaMEmo) along with the Emirates (Abdulla Masoud’s Elegy of the Fifth String) and Lebanon (Rawan Halawi’s Talejten Please). While monodrama may be gaining acceptance as a lingua franca that helps bind different theatrical traditions and cultures, countries such as the UK continue to stand apart in terms of how touring is integral to a show. As Utton points out: “The impression of Brits is that we expect our solo shows to tour, not just over the UK but all over the world – always ready to take that opportunity. “Many of the non-UK shows you see at monodrama festivals probably get performed fewer than half a dozen times a year. They may looking for wider exposure, but they don’t expect it since what they’re doing is more experimental or perhaps not as accessible as we would expect in the UK.”

The constraints of that tour-readiness bring a necessary streamlining to a production that can prove an advantage to venturing on the international circuit. If you expect to do a show only a few times a year, then the pressure is on to ensure that you have a full team around you – for example, an actor does not usually expect to be involved with the sound or lighting. “I travel on my own a lot of the time and don’t bring a technician,” says Utton, “but a lot of solo shows travel with techs, director and producer. It’s interesting that if your show gets booked for a festival it’s often the same fee for a solo performer as for a larger cast because you’re basically taking up the same stage and time.”

If a good economy means a good festival scene, then the Emirates is certainly a good place to take your show – or your theatrical expertise. Firmly on Europe’s doorstep thanks to airlines such as Emirates and Etihad, the nation’s rapid development of surreal mega malls and hotel complexes is now being matched by a cultural infrastructure that offers venues, festivals and educational institutions.

A play with music and dance by Pip Utton.

So famous (or infamous) that the name Casanova has gone into the dictionaries to describe men who are, for want of a better word, 'popular' with women. In his play Pip Utton has managed to fuse theatre and the spoken word with contemporary dance. Pip obviously plays Casanova and has almost all the dialogue. But the play also features a young contemporary dancer, Marguerite Chaigne, who has few words to say but who portrays 6 of his conquests in beautiful and seductive dance. Comic and moving and surprising at turns it is a feast of entertainment.

Welcome to Casanova's memories, his dreams. His conquests and his broken hears, his highs and his lows, his triumphs and his defeats.

And welcome to his seduction secrets.

'A day without laughter is a day wasted.' Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin created The Tramp, one of the most famous cinema images of all time. And in doing so Chaplin trapped himself inside an image he never truly managed to succeed without.

The Tramp made Chaplin the best-known and best-paid film actor of his age, opened the doors of society and celebrity, and gave him riches and endless young women.

Not bad for a street urchin brought up in the Dickensian slums and workhouses of late 19th century London!

He was accused of sexual perversion by the press and the courts. He was villified for his treatment of his ex-wives, and accused of being communist. In 1952 his American visa was revoked (he never became an American citizen, calling himself a 'citizen of the world') and he settled in Switzerland, where he lived for the rest of his life with Oona and their children.

Chaplin created an image of himself for public consumption that hid the darker sides of his personality. Using cleverly produced film footage, Pip Utton steps in and out of the screen to become Chaplin, both young and old, the reality and the creation. It's Christmas morning 1977, very early and everyone in the house is fast asleep. It is the morning of the day Chaplin dies and the Tramp haunts Chaplin's dreams. Which one of the two did the public love?

Inspired by Victor Hugo's classic 'Beauty and the Beast' and reflecting today's preoccupations with beauty and image. This tale is told through the eye of the hunchback, Quasimodo; his loneliness, his self loathing and his need for love and affection. As the bell ringer of the cathedral at the very heart of the city he breathes life into Notre Dame, announcing births, marriages, deaths, and the round of church services and festivals with his bells. Quasimodo makesthe cathedral alive in the ears and hearts of the city's population. The bells summon all; kings and queens, priests, bishops, lords and ladies, soldiers and poets, beggars, tradesmen, artists, students, the beautiful and the ugly. The people of Paris heard Quasimodo's bells and know that their world is spinning correctly on its axis. And yet they treat him as a beast, an outcast, the spawn of the devil, because? Because he is deformed, deaf, ugly. He is an outcast, his only friends the cold stone statues in the cathedral - they do not mock or reject him. His greatest influence, the archdeacon who raised him and taught him to love God; the God that had formed him so ugly.

The only light in his life is Esmerelda, the Gypsy dancer who smiles at him and gives him water when he has been publicly flogged. The story is known the world over. Quasimodo's goodness of heart shines through and his devotion to Esmerelda tears his world apart. Pip has changed the story in the novel a little, but he has retained the sad, bewildered power of Quasimodo's lonely life.

"Why amd I so ugly?" It's a good question. Who decides who is ugly and who is beautiful? Is it just fashion? Who has the right to call me ugly and him handsome? Is there some ideal beautiful example we must all strive to become?

Like many of us, Pip is depressed about today’s preoccupation with image and the pressure that exerts on us all – and especially young people – to be a certain shape, weight or look. And if you tell someone over and over again that they are ugly, what does that do their spirit? Does it mean that their spirit, their nature, their soul become ugly too? In his storytelling, Pip’s Hunchback addresses these issues and brings Hugo’s original bang up to date.

Not merely a reflection on how to portray this lady but a live audience with Margaret Thatcher. Pip Utton IS The ‘Iron Lady’! Saviour or witch? Love her or hate her? Not for Pip to decide, only to portray. She divided the nation like no other politician, she changed the face of British, perhaps world politics forever and the effects of her influence and policies are still felt today. Listen to her philosophies, her inspiration and her logic, and then take the chance to question her. Pip Utton is a Fringe legend and is known throughout the world for his spellbinding portrayals of Adolf, Churchill, Dickens, Casanova, Chaplin, Hancock and many others. ‘Maggie’ is probably Pip’s greatest challenge yet. Pip not only becomes Margaret Thatcher but risks taking audience questions, and answering them as Maggie!

Pip's latest show is about a group of men, stretching back almost 2000 years, who have fascinated us for centuries: Popes. They have been feared, loved, hated, murdered, made Saints, and they still hold the world in thrall today.

Stephen VI had his predecessor dug up from his grave and put on trial for heresy, chopped his fingers off and threw his body into the river Tiber. John XII made a 10 year-old boy into a Bishop, turned the Papal palace into a brothel, raped pilgrims and was probably killed by the jealous husband of one of his mistresses. Benedict IX was Pope three times having twice sold the papacy for large sums of money. John XXIII, Gregory XII and Benedict XIII were all Popes at the same time. Urban VI complained that his Cardinals didn't scream loud enough when punished. And that's not to mention Alexander VI, the Borgia Pope.

But what of popes now? Do they still have a place in our lives? Do they still have power and influence? More importantly: should they?

More than an entertaining romp through the scandals, Pip confronts the possible struggles and challenges faced by Popes through the ages, from the first, St Peter, right up to today’s Pope Francis.