After leaving Lancaster, I was out of work for a couple of months, apart from a grim fortnight at the Tamworth Arts Centre, playing piano and singing songs. My next proper job – that is, on an Equity contract – was a summer season of street theatre with the now-defunct East Midlands Mobile Arts touring company, based in Loughborough. A troupe of five actors, plus a three-person stage management team, performed two shows to the passing population of Nottinghamshire high streets and shopping centres.
My fellow performers were Nigel Planer, later of The Comedy Store and The Young Ones; Lavinia Bertram, who went on to create roles in a number of Alan Ayckbourn plays; Lloyd Johnston, who brought real sparkle to the role of Robin Hood; and Charlotte West-Oram, who later played a leading role in Daisy Pulls It Off, a hit play written by our Deputy Stage Manager, Denise Deegan.
