New Press release
Hey, it's my arts blog, and I'll plug my own show if I want to! Seriously though, here's an up to date press release detailing a change of cast and director, and a little bit more information on the production. Tickets WILL be available very very soon.
Press Release 15.07.10
‘EVERYMAN: The Story Of Patrick McGoohan – The Prisoner’ is a new play detailing the life of the theatre, television, and film star (who sadly died last year), and is to be staged in Manchester this summer at the famous Lass O’Gowrie pub on Charles Street. Writer Brian Gorman believes that a theatrical tribute to the star of such cult tv favourites as ‘DANGER MAN’ and ‘THE PRISONER’ is long overdue:
McGoohan was a brilliant actor. In common with the great Orson Welles, who he cited as a major influence, he was also a fiercely uncompromising individual who took real artistic chances, and divided the critics.
PATRICK McGOOHAN was born in New York, but spent less than a year there before his family relocated to their native Ireland. Several years later, they moved to England, where McGoohan caught the acting bug in Sheffield, and worked his way up to leading roles at the local professional repertory theatre. He was the first choice to play James Bond in 1962, but turned down the role of a lifetime due to his distaste for the depiction of gratuitous violence and casual sex. While Bond was smashing cinema box office records, McGoohan became an international television star as secret agent John Drake in ‘Danger Man’; who rarely used a gun and politely declined the numerous advances of beautiful women. After several hugely successful years, McGoohan tired of playing Drake, and persuaded legendary producer Lew Grade to back his new project, ‘The Prisoner’, and allow him full creative control. The series made McGoohan the highest paid actor on British tv when he played an un-named secret agent who attempts to resign his job, only to be kidnapped and imprisoned in a mysterious village from which there seems no escape. Everybody in The Village is assigned a number, and McGoohan is referred to as Number Six, but refuses to conform; spending each of the series’ seventeen episodes attempting to outwit his captors. The show became a massive cult hit with its flamboyant action, imaginative stories, and surreal style, and was recently remade for ITV with Sir Ian McKellen starring as the enigmatic and menacing ‘Number Two’.
McGoohan also starred in a variety of successful films including ‘Silver Streak’, ‘Ice Station Zebra’, and Mel Gibson’s oscar-winning ‘Braveheart’.
He won two Emmy awards for acting in the ‘Columbo’ tv series, and was even immortalised in an episode of ‘The Simpsons’.
The play is produced by Gorman’s company
TRANSMISSION UNLIMITED.
Onboard as the production’s official adviser is
ROBERT FAIRCLOUGH. Robert is a freelance writer, designer and producer. His work on ‘The Prisoner’ includes the book ‘The Prisoner: The Official Companion to the Classic TV Series’, editing two volumes of ‘The Original Scripts’ for the classic series and graphic design work on the recent AMC remake. He is a broadcaster who has featured on BBC radio and ITV, written for the British Film Institute and 'SFX' magazine and produced documentaries for 2 Entertain's range of ‘Doctor Who’ DVDs.
Bolton-based
JOE O’BYRNE, who has recently been receiving glowing reviews for his starring role in the gritty crime drama ‘Diary Of A Bad Lad’ (recently successfully released on dvd), was originally in line to play McGoohan. The acclaimed playwright and actor had even started rehearsals, but unexpectedly had to drop out due to previous professional commitments. Brian Gorman will now be playing the McGoohan role:
I hadn’t planned on this, as I really wanted to see Joe play McGoohan first, but fortunately we will have him back for another run later this year. However, I am relishing the chance to play a great hero of mine, and hope I can do the man justice. I won’t be attempting a simple caricature, but I will try and play him in the style his fans are accustomed to.
There is also a word of warning for anyone expecting a straight-forward story of McGoohan’s life:
In keeping with McGoohan’s surreal work on ‘The Prisoner’, we will be playing around with time, as well as the character itself. ‘Patrick McGoohan’ will be a mix of the real man, and ‘Number Six’, and the whole piece will be directed in the style of an episode of ‘The Prisoner’.
Manchester-based
BRIAN GORMAN is from Wigan, and is a writer, artist, and actor. He has designed posters and brochure illustrations for The Chester Gateway Theatre, and had work published in The Liverpool Daily Post, The Big Issue, and Green World (the magazine of The Green Party). His artwork has also been seen on television (ITV1’s ‘Martina Cole’s Lady Killers’), and he is currently working on a professional commission to produce a series of graphic novels on Manchester bands. As an actor he has played leading roles in corporate and educational dramas, music videos, and has just played the notorious mass murderer Thomas Hamilton in a television reconstruction of the 1996 Dunblane massacre. He also has an arts review blog at
http://fictionmaker.blogspot.com/Gorman first studied acting at Wigan College of Technology in the 1980s, and was fascinated to later discover that Sir Ian McKellen had grown up just yards from the college theatre:
I wrote to Sir Ian several years ago when he agreed to allow me to use his likeness in my comic book, ‘Borderliners’ (as did another hero of mine, The Saint himself - Sir Roger Moore). He sent me a wonderful three page hand-written letter telling me about how he’d enjoyed his childhood in Wigan, and had even played on the same stage as I had. It’s a fascinating coincidence that he has recently starred in the remake of ‘The Prisoner’, and now here I am playing Patrick McGoohan! I would love to act opposite the great man one day, and who knows? Dreams CAN come true!In Gorman’s production, the part of ‘Number Two’, will be played on stage by
DAVID BICKERSTAFF. This Paisley born actor is now living in London, and trained at Queen Margaret, Edinburgh. He has just finished a successful run of Joe Orton's 'The Erpingham Camp' for TW4, and is a regular in the cult sci-fi comedy radio series 'The Scarifyers'.
Director
RICHARD HULSE is a long-time friend and collaborator of Gorman’s, and the two have worked on several short films and theatrical pieces for over 15 years since studying English degrees at Chester College. Born in Australia, Hulse is a writer and film-maker, and has recently completed an M.A. in Fiction Film Production at The University of Salford. During the course he co-wrote & co-directed two short films, ‘Full Of Grace’ and ‘The Travelling Artist’ which have been screened at Manchester’s Cornerhouse cinema, attracting enthusiastic audience responses.
Tickets will be available soon. More details can be seen on the production’s Facebook page ‘JOHN DRAKE’. Production information is available from
theprisonermcgoohan@yahoo.co.ukBrian Gorman can be contacted at
brianinchester@yahoo.co.uk or on 07510 591444.
