So, I think I may have mentioned that I’ve been creating a brand-new show about Victoria Wood, entitled LOOKING FOR ME FRIEND. No? I do hide my light under a bushel don’t I boys and girls?
Anyhow, what you may not be aware of is who I have been making the show with…
Photo credit: Steve Ullathorne
This is Sarah-Louise Young, pictured above with myself whilst on a photoshoot with Steve Ullathorne earlier this year.
Sarah and I have known one another since we were 13 years old, growing up in Kent. When I put on my first cabaret event at the age of 15, Sarah was there in the show too. In one of our annual charity events she even hosted the show in the style of Susie Blake’s announcer from Victoria Wood As Seen On TV, utilising Vic’s wonderful sketches for that character. Sarah has had great success creating and performing in shows about real people – ‘Julie, Madly, Deeply‘ (about Julie Andrews) has been seen in Australia, America and India to name just three, and had a West-End run at the Trafalgar Studios as well. Her current hit show ‘An Evening Without Kate Bush’ was due to return to the Edinburgh Festival for the second year running, until recent news of the festivals cancellation this year, due to Corona Virus.
Photo credit: Gabrielle Motola with thanks to Richard Carroll & Seabright Productions for artwork
So, when i decided that I would like to create a one-person show based on the life and work of a real person, who better than to ask my friend of %$%$ years who had already done it twice herself?
Since September, Sarah has help my hand every step of the way, from Research and Development to our initial Sharing in October to more RnD and changes, to the first Preview in February and helping to spread the word so I had a mammoth ten Edinburgh previews lined up (sadly, many of which already cancelled due to COVID-19). Not least of all, Sarah has proved generous and knowledgeable about the Edinburgh Festival itself, having taken shows up there countless times since the late 90s.
Photo credit: Steve Ullathorne
Sarah and I have been in touch regularly during this period of isolation, and work on the show continues – even with no sure date in sight for it being performed.
If this lockdown has taught me anything about my career as a creative it is that, aside from one’s ambition, desires, drive and ego – none of which are real anyway, and all of which need to be kept in check regularly, like a bunch of unruly children – the real joy of making something with people whom you respect and value, is the journey you go on together and the laughs, fun and adventure that it holds.
Thank you Sarah-Louise, for believing in me and agreeing to go on this journey together. LOOKING FOR ME FRIEND would be a lot less of an experience if I weren’t making it with one.
