King’s Lynn Festival presents Clive Anderson: Me, Macbeth and I in solo show at St George’s Guildhall theatre
Live comedy will be featuring in Lynn’s summer festival and the show Me, Macbeth and I is coming to St George’s Guildhall written by and starring Clive Anderson.
Jenny Beake, reporter for Lynn News, interviewed Clive Anderson, the stand-up, writer and presenter of shows such as Channel Four’s Whose Line Is It Anyway and Radio Four’s Loose Ends as he prepares, for the first time, to visit the town on Wednesday, July 19 at 7.30pm.
Historical research suggests that Shakespeare himself played at St George’s Guildhall, back in 1593 as part of the Earl of Pembroke’s men, during a time when London theatres were closed due to an outbreak of the plague, which seemed apt to mention with the title of the performer’s solo show.
Clive said: “So Lynn is the home of Shakespeare and I am really interested in that.
“On a more superficial level the show appears in all sorts of different places, some modern and some historical, so I am looking forward to what the dressing rooms will be like.”
His show, Me, Macbeth and I was first developed at the Edinburgh Festival so I asked what audiences can expect.
Clive said: “It has a lot of different strands with anecdotes of stories about me.
“I wanted to leave it open so it is not just stand-up.
“There was only three comedy moments in Macbeth so really I only needed to put four jokes in.
If Clive ever had to be represented in court he would choose the comedian Bob Mortimer.
Both comics have a history in law, as a barrister and solicitor respectively, and I wonder if there is a correlation between a skilled orator moving from one profession into comedy.
Mr Anderson said: “I would quite like to be represented by Bob Mortimer as he is so good on Would I Lie to you, not that I am suggesting any falsity.
“As a barrister you would have to be capable of standing up and speaking and ot being put off by the pressures.
“For some people it would be the worst thing, to ask them to make a speech and they will be breaking out into hives.
“All stand – up comedians love the feeling and love being that person and the challenge.
“You find that people have done different professions, most have had some sort of job along the way and drifted into comedy, show business or stand -up.
So what advice to up and coming comics would the stalwart of comedy give?
Clive said: “They do sometimes ask for advice and I am reluctant to give it.
“But I would say, do it your way and learn some techniques.
“Advice such as setting up the joke better or looking more confident.
“I wrote jokes for Frankie Howerd but what would come out would be funnier as he would ramble.”
With a blue plaque for comedy actor Robert Armin , a leading comic associated with Shakespeare, and the links between Shakespeare and Lynn it seems a fitting tribute to bring the show here.
Clive said: “At the Edinburgh Festival the show was an hour long but I found myself running over which doesn’t make you popular.
“This theatre tour is a whole evening with an interval and I keep cutting stuff out but it doesn’t seem to get any shorter.
“The audience will have to make up their mind.”
With an interest in performing comedy myself it was a real honour to chat with Clive and with his association with the Comedy Store I told him when I won the King Gong, a brutal competition show and he said ‘well done.’
I also asked how he got into comedy, as, when I was a 16 year old watching Whose Line is It Anyway and being so influenced by it, as a vicar’s daughter, it didn’t seems to be the sort of career choice that would go down well.
Clive said: “We are often told we ought to be in a profession.But I am sure there are worse things a vicar’s daughter could have done than improvisation.
“I wrote bits for TV and radio and I was a barrister at the time and then the Comedy Store was started in 1979 by Don Ward.
“I stepped in to help a radio presenter which led to Whose Line is it Amway on the radio which then went to television.
“I was lucky it went to Channel Four who at the time was a channel that was actively in favour of new people and innovation and I was presenting it five years later.”
The presenter is also busy with his podcast My Seven Wonders and a tour that perhaps is not geographically ideal, and we finished the chat with who would play him in a Hollywood film.
Clive said: “I was always impressed that Colin Firth portrayed Nick Hornby in Fever Pitch, I thought Nick had done quite well there.
“But I would be happy to have anybody, though younger, dynamic and better looking”
Clive Anderson: Me, Macbeth and I is coming to St George’s Guildhall on Wednesday, July 19 at 7.30pm
Visit www.kingslynnfestival.org.uk/whats-on for further information.
