SPEND SPEND SPEND!

Education Pack

Contents

Introduction ...... 3 Viv Nicholson...... 4 The Psychology of Winning ...... 6 The Musical ...... 7 Actor-Musician Musicals...... 8 Famous Musicals: A Selective Chronology...... 9 Interview with Diego Pitarch...... 11 Interview with ...... 13 Credits ...... 14

Kirsty Hoiles as Young Viv (Photo by Robert Day)

This Education Pack was designed & written by Beth Flintoff Photographs by Robert Day

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Introduction

This pack has been designed to complement your visit to see Spend Spend Spend! at The Watermill Theatre.

Most of the pack is aimed at drama students and anyone with an interest in the subjects raised by the play.

While there are some images the pack has been deliberately kept simple from a graphic point of view so that most pages can easily be photocopied for use in the classroom.

Your feedback is most welcome, please email any comments you have to [email protected].

Workshops to accompany the production are also available. You can call me on 01635 570927 or email me at the above address for further information.

I hope you find the pack useful.

Beth Flintoff Deputy Outreach Director

The Watermill Theatre , Newbury, Berks RG20 8AE www.watermill.org.uk

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Viv Nicholson Spend Spend Spend is an adaptation of the book by Viv Nicholson and Stephen Smith, about Viv’s life and the event that made her famous: winning the pools in 1961.

Vivian Nicholson was born in bringing in £8 a week, and Viv’s job Castleford as Vivian Asprey, on 3 at the liquorice factory took their April 1936, in a council house, two weekly income up to almost £14. up and two down with no bath, no hot water and black-lead fire On the day Keith’s draws came up grates. The toilet or ‘lavvy’ was on the pools, they had decided to outside in the back yard alongside blow their last £2 on a night out. It the coalhouse, there was no was a Saturday, 23 September garden and the front door opened 1961. Keith made a progressively straight onto the street pavement. worse job of his shave as he heard In her book Spend, Spend, Spend, another and then another of his co-written with Stephen Smith, she draws announced on the evening’s describes this early environment: “It football results. was a tough area to live in but a good one in many ways, everybody helped one another...Everybody Their winnings of over £152,000 (in was friendly, you could talk, and, today’s terms around £5 million) you know, you even seemed to was totally beyond their have longer summers.” comprehension. They became both overnight celebrities and targets for As the eldest child, Viv lost her begging letters and hate mail. chance to go on to art school and Littlewoods persuaded them to go instead went out to earn a living at public as the situation was so the age of thirteen. Starting off in unusual - such a big win just didn’t one of Castleford’s sweet factories seem to happen to punters of their where she often felt ill, Viv was youth and class. But money did not rescued by an aunt who found her automatically confer acceptability, a job at the Queen’s Cinema, either in new circles or old ones. selling ice-creams. By the time she However many rounds of drinks was seventeen, Viv was married they bought, the inevitable jealousy with a baby, but the marriage of ex-workmates would surface in turned out to be a big mistake. Next remarks like “How come it happens door lived a young man by the to such bloody people as her. She name of Keith Nicholson. By 1961 don’t deserve it.” Of her new Keith and Viv were married with neighbours in the middle-class three children and another on the housing estate they moved to, Viv way, and having a very tough time said, “I try to make friends but the making ends meet. Keith was an women won’t accept it”. apprentice at Wheldale Colliery,

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Another three husbands later, in In 1981 Oldham Coliseum 1976, Viv was back living in presented a stage adaptation of Whitwood Mere on £30 a week. Spend, Spend, Spend, and Viv Spend, Spend, Spend was dropped into rehearsals there. This published and Jack Rosenthal was her response: “I'm disgusted adapted the book as a 90-minute with the way I was, but my past just television play. won’t lie down. It’s an object lesson to other people. They can learn from my mistakes and I just hope the play gives them a funny and entertaining night out.”

But in 1987 she advised a big pools winner from Keighley to follow her example. In 1993 a couple from Pontefract had a big win and this time came a wiser and perhaps more serene response: “I am Kirsty Hoiles as Young Viv, with Graham Kent as George happy, but I can’t think of anyone (Photo by Robert Day) who has ever won the pools who has been happy…I won’t give any advice to the latest pools Viv considered the play a great winners…but I will sit back, watch honour, but it provoked a storm of and listen to see if they do change.” protest from former neighbours. One said, “When she talked about That same year Viv claimed to bad times in Kershaw she was have found her first ‘proper job’ (as exaggerating, because it was never a sales assistant), 32 years after like that.” Viv’s retort was she left the liquorice factory characteristic: “If people don’t like following the big win. to see the truth about themselves, I feel sorry for them.” ELAINE PEAK

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The Psychology of Winning

‘I was a total drunk from morning to night ... I used to drink through boredom, bloody boredom that’s all, and misery.’ Richard Taylor, 1950s pools winner

Viv and Keith Nicholson were the first notorious big-time winners of the pools, notorious largely due to Viv’s famous assertion that she would ‘Spend spend spend’.

The sociologists Stephen Smith happiness levels of lottery winners and Peter Razell interviewed 88 since 1994. people who had won large amounts of money on the football pools in Perhaps unsuprisingly, since the the 1950s, with some suprising research was sponsored by the (and contradictory) results : National Lottery, he found that the lottery winners were happier in • Half of pools winners believed general and remained this way. that winning had not Most of them made changes to significantly changed their way their occupation and housing, but of life. most also stayed in the same area, • Pools winners were more than holidayed in the same places and three times as likely as non- kept the same group of friends. His winners to separate or divorce. conclusion was that ‘many of the • The stereotype made famous big life changes people expect to by Viv Nicholson, that winners make are actually a myth.’ indulge in an orgy of spending, was found to be largely However, plenty of other anecdotes inaccurate. 77% of winners refute this theory. The American invested their win, usually in Curtis Sharp Jr became famous in stocks and shares. 1982 when he turned up to collect • Even if they wanted to keep his $5 lottery win with his wife on working, some winners came one arm, and his girlfriend on the under pressure from colleagues other. ‘I found out you can’t really to let someone more needy make people happy with money have their job. As a result, the because you can never give people jobless often became bored, enough’ he said. He has no depressed, or turned to drink. winnings left and is now training to be a Baptist minister in Tennessee. Dr Richard Tunney, from Nottingham University researched

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The Musical

Musical theatre in Europe dates back to the theatre of the ancient Greeks, who included music and dance in their stage comedies and tragedies in the 5th century BC. The Romans introduced technical innovations.

For example, to make the dance steps more audible in large open air theatres, Roman actors attached metal chips called " sabilla " to their stage footwear – the first tap shoes.

By the Middle Ages, theatre in Europe consisted mostly of travelling minstrels and small performing troupes of performers singing and offering slapstick comedy.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, religious dramas, such as The Play of Herod and The Play of Daniel taught the liturgy, set to church chants. Later, ‘Mystery Plays’ were created that told a biblical story in a sequence of entertaining parts. These plays developed into an autonomous form of musical theatre, with poetic forms sometimes alternating with the prose dialogues and liturgical chants.

The three main components of a musical are the music, the lyrics, and the book. The book of a musical refers to the story of the show – in effect its spoken (not sung) lines; however, "book" can also refer to the dialogue and lyrics together, which are sometimes referred to (as in opera) as the ‘libretto’(Italian for “little book”). The music and lyrics together form the score of the musical.

The interpretation of the musical by the creative team heavily influences the way that the musical is presented. The creative team includes a director, musical director, and usually a choreographer (in this case, is both director and choreographer).

A musical may be built around four to six main theme tunes that are reprised throughout the show, or consist of a series of songs not directly musically related. Spoken dialogue is generally interspersed between musical numbers, although the use of "sung dialogue" or recitative is not unknown, especially in so-called "sung-through" musicals such as Les Misérables and Evita .

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Actor-Musician Musicals

"Actor-musicianship" is the term London. Sweeney Todd ran for six- that's used in the U.K. for a sort of months at the Trafalgar Studios shorthand. I think it's a multi-skilled and then the New Ambassadors way of telling a story — it should Theatre. It opened on Broadway in probably be called "all hands on 2005 with an American cast and deck." won two prestigious . John Doyle, Associate Director, The Watermill The concept of actor-musician productions has become popular in Actor/musician work (in which the these straightened times, where actors provide the orchestra as well multi-talented actors save the cost as the singing, acting and dancing) of hiring musicians. In the last really began to establish itself at decade actor-musicianship has The Watermill from 1998 with become a career in its own right, Cabaret . The style was pioneered and one of John Doyle’s original by the director John Doyle and company at The Watermill, Jeremy musical director Sarah Travis. The Harrison, runs a well-known Actor work has attracted critical acclaim Musician Degree course at Rose and national awards. Three Bruford Drama College in London. productions have transferred to

Karen Mann, with trumpet, as Viv (Photo by Robert Day)

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Famous Musicals: A Selective Chronology

1728 The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay – a famous early ballad opera

1866 The Black Crook - generally considered to be the first musical. It premiered in New York and was a staggering 5 ½ hrs long, but was extremely popular.

1885 The Mikado by , one of their popular family-friendly comic operas, on which The Watermill’s production of Hot Mikado is based, which will open in August 2009.

1927 Show Boat – a groundbreaking musical which finally offered a more complete integration of book and score, it was created by Edna Ferber, Oscar Hammerstein, P.G Wodehouse, and Jerome Kern. It influenced hugely the development of the musical.

1935 Porgy and Bess by George Gerwshwin, which had a more operatic style, foreshadowing the more operatic musicals such as West Side Story and Sweeney Todd.

1943 Oklahoma by Rogers and Hammerstein furthered the revolution begiun by Show Boat , tightly integrating plot, songs, character and dance. It famously began with a lone voice singing ‘Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’, instead of the traditional chorus line of dancing girls.

1957 West Side Story , by Leonard Bernstein and with lyrics by the newcomer , ths musical updated to modern day New York City, causing great controversy among audiences.

1959 The Sound of Music by Rogers and Hammerstein opened on broadway, before being made into a film starring Julie Andrews in 1965. It is one of the most popular musicals ever made.

1964 Anyone can Whistle , an early musical by Stephen Sondheim, was a famous flop, despite starring Angela Lansbury

1967 Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical opened off-broadway. Its profanity, nudity, depiction of sexuality and drugs caused huge controversy. It also sparked a trend of ‘rock’ musicals.

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1975 A Chorus Line – a musical that grew out of group therapy-style sessions with supporting actors from Broadway. It won the Pulitzer Prize and enjoyed a long run on Broadway.

1970s The development of politically themed musicals such as Cabaret (about the rise of Nazism), Chicago (murder and prohibition), Evita (the political biography of Eva Peronin Argentina), led to darker big-budget musicals such as ...

1980 Les Miserables by Boublil and Schonberg, based on the book by Victor Hugo – the longest running West End musical in history.

1989 Miss Saigon , also by Boublil and Schonberg – a modern adaptation of the Puccini Opera Madama Butterfly. The musical is reputed to be inspired by a photograph of a Vietnamese woman leaving her child at the aiport so he can fly to be with his father, an ex-GI.

1989 Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story was the first of the ‘Juke Box’ musicals – where a minimal plot is used to put together a collection of hit songs. Later musicals have been made featuring the music of the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, and the famously successful Mamma Mia , featuring the music from Abba, which has also been made into a film.

1994 Beauty and the Beast – the first of the stage musicals from a Walt Disney film, it has now played world-wide in 115 cities.

2006 How do you solve a problem like Maria? was the first of the television reality series devoted to finding the next star of a musical, whilst also publicising the show itself. It has since become a popular way for producers to market their productions, with the competition winners becoming stars in their own right.

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Interview with Diego

Pitarch

Diego Pitarch is a professional theatre to London where I completed a two designer, responsible for the design year M.A. in Theatre Design at the and overseeing the making of the set Slade School. and costumes for Spend Spend Spend . Beth Flintoff caught up with What's the most difficult aspect of him and asked him a few questions your job? about his work. I think one of the most difficult aspects of my job is to balance the creative How would you best describe what and the technical sides. It is hard to you do? generate some inventive and novel My job is trying to create a world to designs keeping an eye on the help tell a story. The starting point is parameters imposed by budgets, usually the script (if there is one…) practical and technical restrictions. and from there I work with the director discussing concepts and ideas and the What is your favourite part of being best way to transcribe them on the a designer? stage. My job also often involves My favourite aspect is working as part creating a bridge between the artistic of a team. I love sharing ideas and and technical requirements of the being challenged by other people’s show. creativity. I also love helping to transform something as abstract as a What first inspired you to become a concept or a drawing into a real three Theatre Designer? dimensional space or object. From an early age I have always been drawing and imagining creatures and What advice would you give young characters. It was clear for me that I people who want a career designing would be pursuing some kind of for the theatre? creative career. I first trained as an My advice would be to persevere and Interior Designer in Paris, but I found to try and develop a personal style and the nature of the job too restrictive. vision. What I love about designing for Theatre is the ephemeral nature of the The relationship between the work. It allows you to explore ideas Designer and the Director is a and different ways, to express them crucial one, how has it been without being tied back by common working with Craig Revel-Horwood? sense and practicalities. Working with Craig is very easy. He is very open-minded and playful. He has What sort of training do you need very clear ideas about what he wants, and how long does it take? but he also gives me a lot of freedom. I My training wasn’t very straight think the key to our collaboration is forward as I trained as an Interior that we trust each other. Designer first (4 years!). Then I moved

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How did you begin to work on the play, and at the beginning I like it Spend Spend Spend ? when Viv sings about ‘Rolling Back the I didn’t know the play, but after I read Years’ and we’re rolling back the blind. it I met with Craig and he had some It’s also fun to see the actors’ feet first clear ideas about what he wanted. He as it comes up. always knew he wanted it to be set in a bar. At one point I had to fly out to Tell me about the costumes ... all Australia to meet him because he was 60 of them! working there and we needed to talk! Yes, there are so many costumes in We talked a lot and laughed about the this play. There have to be because it ideas we had, such as the Bunnies. starts in 2009, then goes back to the 1950s and works forward, so the There’s one particularly striking costumes are important in drawing the part of the set: a garage door picture for the audience. Also class is across the front of the door so important in the play and that’s instead of a curtain. How did you reflected in their dress: the working get the idea for that? class miners, through to the Garforth After the first meeting we had the idea middle classes. and got very excited; we felt it gave it It’s very complicated trying to work such a strong sense conceptually. I out the changes in a play like this – started researching the idea to see if it the actors are nearly always onstage, was possible, and at first we thought it playing the instruments and singing. wasn’t, so we looked at doing We had to decide on two key costume something else. I created a design sets: the Bunnies and the Garforth using very high walls and lots of residents, and be very flexible with the bottles. rest. Sometimes we had to rearrange the scoring, to release an actor from Then, on the first day of rehearsals, playing or singing just so they could after I had created the model box, I quickly change. The actors also have felt very unhappy with the design. I their costumes layered up – they wear talked to Lawrence (T Doyle, The their Bunny costumes underneath Watermill Production Manager) and he everything from the beginning (which looked into it and felt it was possible gets very hot!). after all. So I re-designed the whole thing. Once we had the Garage Door, What’s your favourite moment of the rest of the bar could look a lot the show? more realistic and I wanted it smaller. Actually it’s the quiet moment at the There wasn’t even time to create a beginning of Act II. I love the old lady new model box, so we worked from sitting in the pub drinking her pint. my technical drawings and everyone After that, of course, it’s the Bunnies! helped to achieve it. This was the first time I’ve ever made a set that looks What’s next for you? nothing like the model box; it put the I start working straight away on Hot production team under a lot of Mikado here at The Watermill. Then pressure but they were brilliant. I’m working in Dublin on The Seagull . It’s a very busy time, which is It’s a very striking feature – I love the wonderful for me, though I don’t get way it adds a harsh, metallic feel to many days off!

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Interview with Sarah Travis

Sarah is the musical supervisor and arranger for Spend Spend Spend! She has also worked on numerous other productions at The Watermill, including Bubbles, Sunset Boulevard, Martin Guerre, Hot Mikado, Honk!, Sweeney Todd and many more. Beth Flintoff talked to her before Spend rehearsals started, when she was working on the score at home.

How would you describe what you do? But when I’m arranging I sit in my office at home with the piano I’ m different things at different upstairs, and a keyboard wired into times! I am an orchestrator, a the computer. I use a Scoring musical supervisor, and a pianist. Software called Sibelius. From here I can look out onto a garden and I Where did you train? can even do some weeding if I get bored! I did a Degree at City University and then took a Diploma in It’s a very solitary job – I sit alone Composition at The Guildhall for hours. For example, at the School of Music . Also in 1996 I moment I’m working at home on took a sabbatical and trained to be Spend Spend Spend . It’s very nice a Music Therapist. when the sun is shining, and I enjoy it, even though it’s solitary. Where and how do you like to Particularly when the shows are work? fun, like ‘Bubbles’ (The Watermill’s outreach touring production, which Sometimes I’m in rehearsal, of Sarah also arranged) and ‘Spend course, and then I do it in the Spend Spend’. rehearsal room, and if I’m performing I’ll do it anywhere.

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Credits

Music by STEVE BROWN Book and Lyrics by STEVE BROWN and JUSTIN GREENE From the book by VIV NICHOLSON and STEVEN SMITH

Director and Choreographer Craig Revel Horwood Musical Supervisor and Arrangements Sarah Travis Designer Diego Pitarch Lighting Designer Nick Richings Sound Designer Chris Full Assistant Musical Director Kit Orton Fight Director Robin Colyer Dance Captain Susannah Van Den Berg

CAST Keith Greg Barnett Graham / Various Robin Colyer Brucie / Bank Manager Neil Ditt Policeman / Tax Inspector Christian Edwards Young Viv Kirsty Hoiles George Graham Kent Liz Liz Kitchen Viv Karen Mann Sue / Tart / Various Tara Nelson Matt / Estate Agent Kit Orton Vicar / Various David Osmond Mrs Waterman / Florrie Susannah Van Den Berg

Production Manager Lawrence T. Doyle Company Stage Manager Ami-Jayne Steele-Childe Assistant Production Manager Nelly Chauvet Deputy Stage Manager Alex Burke Assistant Stage Manager Victoria Horn Sound Operator Matthew McCarthy Set Construction The Great Workshop Wardrobe Debbie Macgregor and Vanessa Hingley Wardrobe Assistant Amanda Dooley Production Photographer Robert Day

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