Entertainment
One-man show celebrates legendary Oliver Reed
It’s hard to argue with Rob Crouch’s assessment that the late actor, Oliver Reed, was no ordinary drunkard.
A movie star before there really was such a thing, Reed, who died in 1999, was perhaps best known for wrestling naked with Alan Bates in the 1969 film, Women in Love, and best loved for his portrayal of burglar Bill Sykes in Carol Reed’s film Oliver!
Renowned as much for his binge drinking and drunken antics as he was for his acting, the legendary Reed once boasted of drinking over 100 pints of beer on a two-day bender before his wedding. He is also said to have once consumed four cases of wine at one sitting, followed by a bottle of Channel No 5 perfume as a chaser. No – no ordinary drunk.
It’s unsurprising that a monologue play about Reed’s life, then, is set in a pub. Oliver Reed – Wild Thing is set in a watering hole in Malta, in 1999, the year he died while filming Gladiator, and Crouch, who plays Reed, is holding court, sinking pints and regaling the other patrons (the audience) with tales of his life.
Sure couldn’t we just go to any Galway pub to find a drunk reminiscing on old times? Crouch, co-author (with Mike Davis) and performer of the one-man show, agrees but says Reed’s life was like no other. “He wasn’t just any old pisshead that you’d meet down the pub who’d tell you their life story – he was a world-class pisshead,” says Crouch, adding that Reed mingled with the likes of Orson Wells, Lee Marvin and Alex Higgins.
Is there a danger of glorifying drink?
“It’s something we had to be wary of, certainly,” he says. “But the whole pisshead thing is slightly exaggerated. That was one of the many roles he played. He’d get tanked up and created mischief on TV chat shows but that was just one part of him . . . a lot of it was about selling newspapers and he played up to that but he wasn’t always drunk.”
Anyway, says Crouch, Reed was a ‘sociable drunk’.
“He didn’t need a whiskey on his cornflakes before leaving the house – he was sociable. He was happiest when he was drinking and it perhaps glorifies drinking but he was not necessarily happiest when drunk, if you get the distinction? It glamorises it if that’s what you want but you’ll see what drink did to him.”
It’s difficult being alone on stage and holding the audience’s attention for 90 minutes, says Crouch, but given the rave reviews the show has received since opening in the Edinburgh Fringe last year, he nails it.
“It is a real challenge” because he has to interchange into so many different characters, from early Reed, to actor Reed, to sober Reed, to drunk Reed.
Reed’s son, Mark, has seen the show, and it was a bit scary for Crouch, the first time he came. “The way I approached it was it’s just another character and I didn’t really think of [Reed] as a real person . . . but then it hit me he had family and friends who are still alive who love him.”
Mark Reed was “very pleased” with the show, finding it an “accurate and honest portrayal of the sort of complex person he was”. What better a recommendation?
Oliver Reed – Wild Thing visits the Town Hall Theatre next Thursday, May 2 at 8pm as part of a 21-night Irish tour. Tickets are €18/€16 from www.tht.ie or (091) 569777.
Folk duo Niall Teague and Pádraic Joyce are launching their new album What Will We Be, a blend of folk, Americana and acoustic music, this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in An Taibhdhearc.
The success of their well-received 2020 release Taobh le Taobh, as well as recent successes at the Pan Celtic and Oireachtas Song Contests, spurred the duo on to record this new album which represents many years of collaboration and musical development.
It features Niall and Pádraic on vocals, harmonies, and acoustic guitars, Maidhc Ó hÉanaigh on double bass and Neil Fitzgibbon on fiddle. The catchy title track, What Will We Be, features contributions from percussionist Jim Higgins (The Stunning, Christy Moore, Paul Brady) and haunting, driving melodies on vocals, guitar, and fiddle.
Themes of love and hope are woven through Come Away with Me which features interplay between piano and fiddle as well as rich vocal harmonies.
People, places, and broken dreams are celebrated and lamented on Martin and Tom, Guitar Gold, Memories of You and Achill Island. The influence of David Henry Thoreau’s novel Walden features on the tracks Simple and Wise and Walden, with the beauty of nature, escape and simple pleasures at their core.
The album moves from minimalistic folk ballads such as Galway Ghost to swirling, string-laden arrangements on the song Neptune, both of which are influenced by maritime tales from Galway. Much of the work on this album was supported by the Arts Council, including work with musical arranger Eoin Corcoran and the string ensemble Treo.
The album will be launched this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in an Taibhdhearc. Tickets €22, plus booking fee at Eventbrite.ie.
Dunmore is the place to be this weekend for lovers of traditional music, as the Galway County Fleadh will take place there from this Friday, May 19, to Sunday, May 23.
It is 10 years since Dunmore last hosted a fleadh and the local Comhaltas branch, which has re-formed since Covid, is looking forward to facilitating this gathering of music, song, dance and craic.
The official Opening Concert will take place in Dunmore Town Hall this Friday at 8pm with the acclaimed Mulcahy family from Limerick. Mick, Louise and Michelle are well known throughout the country, thanks to their live performances, television appearances and numerous CDs. They were the winners of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Grúpa Ceoil Award for 2023. Tickets for their concert can be purchased on the door and a great night of music is promised.
Two days of competitions will kick off this Saturday at the town’s Community School, with more than 1,500 competitors taking part. Participants will be hoping to qualify for the Connacht Fleadh 2023, which will be held in Ballina, County Mayo, from June 23 to July 2.
Competitions for those aged Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15 will be held in a large variety of instruments on Saturday, as well as in singing and Comhrá Gaeilge. Sunday’s competitions will be for the Under 18 and Over 18 ages groups, as well as in dancing.
On both days a large entry is expected for Grúpaí Cheoil and Céilí Band competitions across all age groups.
Seventeen Comhaltas branches from across Galway will have participants in this weekend’s competitions, which will result in a large number of visitors to the Dunmore area.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the competitions, which offer a great opportunity to hear and see the talent on display. There will be sessions in local pubs over the weekend as well and everybody is welcome to attend these.
For more information on the County Fleadh, go to www.galwaycomhaltas.ie.
Music for Galway’s concert with renowned Swiss pianist Cédric Pescia which had been due to take place on April 27 but which had to be deferred, will now take place next Tuesday, May 23, at 8pm, in the Emily Anderson Concert Hall at the University of Galway.
This concert of German classics with Bach at its core, will brings the Bach element of Music for Galway’s 41st season to an end.
This world-class pianist who won the famous Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition, has a repertoire that spans many eras from baroque to contemporary and he is widely known for his elaborate programmes. Cédric Pescia describes music as ‘language and movement at the same time’.
Audiences will have a chance to experience his soft, clear touch as he performs a programme for solo piano that will include classics such as Schumann’s popular Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), a suite of nine short pieces, and the penultimate of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, No. 31. These pieces will be interspersed with French Suites by Bach.
■ Ticket for Cédric Pescia’s concert are available at www.musicforgalway.ie, or by phone 091 705962 and on the door on the night. They cost €20/€18. The price for fulltime students of all ages is €6 while MfG Friends can avail of the friends’ rate of €16.
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