Large’s plays capture the feel-good-factor

HUMOUR, glamour and an all-round feel-good factor – Keith Large’s Laughs from Leicestershire opened their summer tour in style in front of a sell-out audience at Buxton’s Poole Cavern.

Laughs from Leicestershire from Carrot Napper on Vimeo.

The Loughborough College technician and playwright hosted three of his latest playlets cocking a lighthearted snoop at the more absurd features of real life.
Britain’s moaning culture, pointless bureaucracy and obsession with self-adulating minor celebrities all came under Keith’s wicked microscope – and were duly beaten into verbal submission.

Top of The Bill was Jeff Stewart – he of 24 years as Reg Hollis in the popular ITV police drama – who took the role of Willie Jefferson, one of four all-too-precious contestants on a Scottish version of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!

But for all his polish and professionalism, ears and eyes were more than equally drawn to the younger talent in the troupe.

‘Glamour’ duo Genevieve Cleghorn and Helen Bolitho were up front, in your face and outstanding throughout the evening whilst Loughborough College student Brian Fury is a prime example of what Keith’s company is all about – loud, brash and very entertaining.

There was a further College link, too, with former engineering student Jack O’Ballance providing the props and stage management.

Tellingly these were a couple of hours that literally flew by, leaving a distinct taste for more.

That will come soon for hungry audiences at three more iconic venues – Cambridge’s ADC Theatre where the likes of Sir Ian McKellen and Emma Thompson made their names, on Thursday, July 21; the 503 Theatre in London , recently acclaimed by The Guardian as ‘arguably the most important theatre of all’, on Sunday, August 1; then a breathtaking run at Spotlites at the Merchant’s Hall, just 100 yards off Prince’s Street, at the Edinburgh fringe from Sunday, August 15 to Saturday, August 21.

Large signs Jeff Stewart AKA The Bill’s Reg Hollis

Leicestershire playwright Keith Large has put the finishing touches to his summer production by recruiting a headline actor.

Jeff Stewart, known to millions as Reg Hollis in The Bill for 24 years, is joining Laughs from Leicestershire to perform in Keith’s main play, Prima Donna Island, at Buxton, Cambridge, London and Edinburgh.

It’s a dream return to the stage for Stewart after 30 years, and football-fan Large, labels him as his ‘top signing’.

“Jeff turned down Shakespeare to join us,” he says. “We auditioned him in Loughborough and haven’t publicised his forthcoming appearances anywhere yet.”

“The guy’s been absolutely fantastic, a real character and a team player,” says Large, who has three plays also including Whine Fever and The Ticket Collector about to go under the national spotlight.

“I am really excited about the next few weeks. Altogether I have a fantastic, upbeat and very positive cast and, as it says on the tin, we’re having lots of laughs, both on and off the stage.”

Laughs from Leicestershire will be presenting three one-act plays at Buxton on July 13, Cambridge July 22, London, August 1st and on the famous Prince’s Street in Edinburgh from August 15-21.

Keith Large and his cast.

Keith Large goes to Edinburgh

With or without the World Cup, Loughborough writer Keith Large will definitely be scoring a hat-trick this summer. In January his short story ‘The Tisbech Terror’ won the Freelance Market News’ national short story competition. In July, he sees three of his one act plays being performed at The Buxton International Fringe Festival. Then in August, the same trio production, aptly named ‘Laughs From Leicestershire’, has been chosen for a 7 night run in the centre of Edinburgh at the greatest Fringe Festival on Earth.

Keith explains, ‘When the call from the promoter came saying she wanted me to take the production to a main theatre during the same week as the Military Tattoo I thought it really doesn’t get any bigger than this. We’ve a very talented cast on this production and I’m ecstatic they are to be given the stage they truly deserve. For performers, Edinburgh is the place to be.’

Keith’s three plays ‘Whine Fever’, ‘The Ticket Collector’ and ‘Prima Donna Island’ will be performed at The Merchants Hall Theatre, just off Princes Street during the main week of The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

To celebrate Keith Large’s success the Literature Network is happy to present a specially recorded podcast of ‘The Carrot Nappers’ a comedy farce that shows off Keith’s trademark style.

Listen to The Carrot Nappers here.

The Carrot Nappers

To mark local playwright Keith Large’s success in taking three of his plays to Edinburgh, the Literature Network is happy to present a specially recorded podcast production of The Carrot Nappers, a comedy farce that shows of Keith’s trademark style.

The Carrot Nappers follows the adventures of out of work bouncer Vinnie Hollis as he attempts to recover his prize carrot from the oddball Onionhead. If you have ever wanted to take a journey inside the Love Shed, now is your chance!

The Carrot Nappers – a play by Keith Large

 

 The Carrot Nappers by Keith Large [35:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Carrot Nappers was written by Keith Large and directed by Francessca Brown.

With

Garry Mooney as Vinnie Hollis
Steve Kantor as Onion Head
Tim Waterfield as Albert Jackson

And

Genevieve Cleghorn as Lisa

Recorded and podcast by the Literature Network

Every Vote Counts by Keith Large

A complete staged reading of the new script by Keith Large
Sunday Jan.24th, Larkin Studio at the ADC Theatre in Cambridge
Curtain 5 PM
Reservations essential

A full staged reading of Leicestershire playwright Keith Large’s political comedy/satire EVERY VOTE COUNTS features three actors including Steve Kantor as Adolf, a disgruntled old man who holds a canvasser held hostage on election night sometime in the near future. With the typical mix of sharp dialogue, witty observations, and unique characters that Keith Large showed in the offbeat comedy THE CARROT NAPPERS, this fully staged reading (directed by Francesca Brown) will entertain and delight you.

The Kidnapped Carrots of Cambridge

A review of Carrot Knappers, a play by Keith Large read at the ADC Theatre

by Daniel Ribot

Sunday, November 8th: It was a clash of the leviathans. Chelsea and Manchester United, the only two teams who can now reasonably win the league, met for a kickabout. They are two of the only four teams that ever win anything in the English Premier League. The top four have the most money, the best players, the greatest clout with referees. Just occasionally, however, smaller teams are cute and smart enough to beat them. Rarer still are the minnows who grab some silverware from under the noses of the four-team establishment.

As with football, the arts are similarly divided by rank, influence and wealth. On Sunday the 8th, however, Leicestershire outsiders travelled to an away fixture in Cambridge. Keith Large, top Loughborough writer, had won the rare accolade of having his 45 minute play, Carrot Nappers, read by professional actors at the legendary ADC theatre (erstwhile lair of the Cambridge Mafia). Keith took his team –including my good self– down to the performance. He even brought cake for everyone!

Carrot Nappers is that rare thing in modern British theatre: a no-holds-barred, unapologetic ‘Carry-On’ style farce. The plot involves the theft of a 17-foot prize-winning carrot from an allotment. Vegilante Vinnie, the security guard who failed to protect the lengthy vegetable, plots to get it back. With the help of his third-best girlfriend Lisa and the allures of the allotment’s “love-shed”, they set a honey-trap for the main suspect; the devious and amorous Onionhead. Acted with gusto, the vegetable-themed puns and snappy one-liners just kept on coming.

In the end, Onionhead (Steve Kantor) lost his trousers and the play’s director (Francesca Brown) making an appearance as the carrot itself, returned to Vinny (Gary Mooney), Lisa (Genevieve Cleghorn) and his pal Albert (Tim Waterfield) — who gets the girl in the end. Fabulous stuff.

The readings were organized by the Write On! Cambridge scriptwriting forum. An annual  competition selects the best script submissions and performs them in front of an audience. This year, Naked Stage 09 held 14 readings, selected from a huge number of submissions. The deal is that two or three play readings (per event) are performed and then the audience is invited to comment and critique. It is an opportunity for the writer to receive feedback and engage with a live audience.

In the case of Carrot Nappers, however, it was the actors who spoke –rather enthused– about the play. They loved it, explaining that it was a rare opportunity for them to play larger-than-life characters and to really have fun. All the actors involved in Naked Stage 09 had wanted to perform this play. Those that did, really did it justice. I was amazed to learn that they had reached their high level of performance after only three rehearsals. The craft and expertise shown by these actors was awe-inspiring.

Memories of the day? The sightseeing with fellow Carrot-heads Keith Morley, Maria Smith (great driver and photographer) and the playwright himself, Mr Large. The carrying of the carrot cakes back and forth from car to theatre to storage area and back. Meeting a bunch of talented actors and directors happy to help bring new authors to the stage. Most of all, it was knowing that we can win away from home. Keith Large in Theatre, Mehul Desai in Film and Graham Joyce in novel-writing: all from Leicestershire, all prize winners in 2009, all proving that minnows can have their day. Get in!