‘OK, BOOMER’ written and directed by Mike James

OK, Boomer! will be showcased on Saturday 9 May at 2pm at DunsPlayFest26

Nearly 50 years ago…Had you lingered by the side of the winding ‘heads of the valleys’ road in the very early 80’s, you may have heard the laboured sound of a dilapidated ex-Post Office van and watched as it trundled around the various towns and villages of South Wales, on its way to fulfil one of its many ‘community theatre’ dates.   Inside this windowless vehicle, six actors, a handful of costumes, a few bags of props.   and the simplest of lighting rigs - i.e. four ancient lanterns with stands.  This was the ‘Fresh Claims’ Theatre Company* which a bunch of us out-of-work hopefuls started up.  Our first step into the world of professional theatre. There was no room (or indeed money) for any ‘set’ to speak of inside that van.  And no room to put one up anyway in the various venues we found ourselves performing at.  In the church halls (of various sizes and state of repair), community centres, old people’s homes,  or upstairs rooms in pubs and clubs,  the stage was often a  just a space in the corner -  and the dressing room most probably a disused store cupboard,  or a toilet,  or a kitchen ( ‘if you’re cold, put the grill on’)  and even once, memorably, a church confessional!   All our shows were ostensibly ‘about’ something.  I can vividly remember writing plays about the ‘motor industry’, ‘unemployment’, the ‘future’ (filled with references to flying cars and living for ever - but no mention of smart phones or Netflix!) to name but a few. But looking back, I can see that the real point of them was to celebrate,  in a life-affirming way, the joys of performance;  connecting with audiences in the most unlikely of places, and presenting theatre in its essential form -  where the audience’s imagination interacts with the actors’ skills to transport the humblest of spaces to another world.Most importantly, our audiences were not what might be called ‘typical’ theatre goers.  Indeed, many would confess to having never been inside one.  Which of course meant that they could smell pretension and ‘preaching’ instantly.  So we strove at all times to entertain, with varying results, learning as we went; to our credit, I think eventually we became quite adept at presenting a ‘good night out’ - to quote John McGrath’s seminal theatre manifesto of 1981 .   

Indeed, I admit to being heavily influenced at the time by the work of this hugely talented Scottish director - and his brilliant 7:84 Theatre Company*.  But we soon developed our own style of performance too - relying always on music and humour to tell our unlikely tales.          

And now - just when I thought I had well and truly embraced retirement in the beautiful Aberdeenshire countryside - I find myself back where I started (courtesy of Creative Scotland and the DunsPlayFest) - writing and directing one more community play - my first for some 46 years.  And looking forward to it immensely!

* Named after a sign at the social security office which we knew only too well!

** “A Good Night Out - Popular Theatre:  Audience,Class and Form”  by  John McGrath

*** Their performance of John Burrow’s ‘One Big Blow’ is still fresh in my memory some five decades later.      

You can see Mike James' OK, Boomer! at 2pm on Saturday 9 May at Duns Volunteer Hall