Day 113. Five years. (23/4/19)

For a change, let's not talk about me. Let's talk about one of my mates. Though it will involve a degree of talking about me. Let's talk about how success arrives, how the next step you didn't know was coming suddenly appears and how it's rooted in everything else you've done.

(Soundtrack: my own radio show from a few years ago. Another episode that I barely appear on. An episode entitled 'Enjoy The Trip' that takes in the bits of dance music from the early 90s that I actually enjoyed. And let's be honest, I didn't enjoy the majority of it, thought most of it was appalling. But, as with any genre, there's some gems out there. Currently KLF, original version of 'What Time Is Love?' There's a reason for this. It'll become clear.)

If I'd ever actually kept a diary I could tell you exactly when I met Mikee Dickinson. But I don't. I could guess at how long we've known each other but why guess when the internet can give you a rough approximation.

Somewhere round the 28th of January 2016 (since that's when the review I found online was written) a friend of mine said, "there's this writer/director who's got a double header on at the King's Arms in Salford, we should go. I've seen it, you'll love it."

So we went. And for the first time, I saw 'Not The Horse' and 'The Bastard Queen'. I've seen 'Not The Horse' about five times since, I'll see it again, possibly for the last time as it seems to be going away forever (if you believe publicity, and I know for a fact I play with the truth in publicity all the time).

(The Bastard Queen, however, did go away. I've seen nothing of it since. Mike knows when he wants to retire a piece. I don't. I want everything existing at the same time.)

The Bastard Queen was dark, nasty, post apocalyptic. Brilliant but grim and unsettling.

Not The Horse was something different. A very scouse take on the Guy Ritchie ganster oeuvre with an absurd premise based around the theft of valuable horse semen. Scallies out of their depth with proper gangsters, 'travellers' looking for a quick profit and a horse based dream scene influenced by ketamine just before taking horse tranquillisers at the weekend became ridiculously fashionable.

It was over the top, zany, madcap and lived in a world of its own. I had an excellent night. And thought, "this lad's good."

Meeting him afterwards demonstrated that he was also a really nice bloke. So he went on the mental 'I can work with him' list.

This is at the point where I've had productions of Venus Rising and Half The Sky, I'm in the process of pulling the first version of The Comeback Special together and I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to do Those Two Weeks.

While Mike is working on his 70s New York disco caper, Dirty Glitter. Which I see. Which is excellent. (Timelines may cross here, memory moves round)

And we're keeping in touch on Facebook. As you do.

One day there's a message. Mike drops me a line. He knew that I knew my football (that's me playing with the truth in publicity again, getting away with it so far), wanted to pick my brains.

I acted on gut feeling. I spend half my life acting on gut feeling. It tends to work.

'You know what? I've got something I want to talk to you about as well.'

And, at that very second, I knew that I had the right person to direct Those Two Weeks.

I knew what he could do with ensemble casts, knew his approach to music, knew how important music was in setting the world of the weeks of TTW. Knew that this was a much more straightforward drama but that there was a lightness of touch in his work that he'd bring to it.

So we went for lunch. Talked through what I was doing, talked through what he was doing. What he was doing was Bob The Russian which ran last year and possibly can't run again as it was so specific to the potential undercurrents of the 2018 World Cup and the attitudes of the country it took place in. (No spoilers though, you never know whether you'll see it again so why leak details)

He'll tell you that he wasn't sure about doing TTW. Wasn't sure he was right for it, wasn't sure he should tackle the subject matter. Thought, once he'd seen it, he'd be a better fit for The Comeback Special.

"I want that" was the gist of our conversation after the first version of TCS. So I brought him on board for the second and he brought something more to it.

And he brought something to TTW that I hadn't seen. He made it lighter throughout, made the family stand out as real people, brought out laughs I didn't know were there. I wasn't sure about the laughs at first. Wasn't sure I'd written laughs in the script. Turned out I had. There had been wit there, the direction of the performances brought that wit out with warmth. It made you love the family. Which was what the play was about. It was about love and how we care for each other.

The way we worked together on TTW was the reason for bringing him onto TCS. We think the same way, most of the time. There are musical points where we differ wildly. The Womack & Womack conversation was quite involved.

That working relationship has meant that we've put ourselves in a position where we've been able to take each of those shows to the next level. TCS played at Hope Street and now shows at the Royal Court Studio in June. TTW played at Unity, which was fantastic, and we're now taking it to the historic Epstein Theatre, which holds three times as many people. Getting the work in front of as many people as possible is everything we all want.

Obviously, there are the things that are done separately. I've got two scripts at the moment being worked on with others, Mike has his own stuff on this year.

Not The Horse runs this week at the Royal Court Studio, get a ticket, you'll love it (that's the advert bit). There's a script being worked on that I've seen a bit of and know the premise. It's different, you'll love it. And then there's this:

This is what he announced yesterday, though I may have been slightly aware of it for the last couple of weeks since the Direct Message dialogue is continuous:

The five year journey from the start of Not The Horse to now has just taken the next step.

Some time last year I was told about the story that Mikee was working on with Adam, one of the revolving cast of actors he's been working with for half a decade and a writer/director in his own right.

There was a Toys R Us store, somewhere. And when the close down happened the staff went 'sod it, we're having a rave'. (Personally speaking, when Speke closed and was completely empty, we just used it as a massive five a side pitch for half an hour).

That kind of real life story is the spark you need to tell something new.

So, 'Raves'R'Us'. An immersive theatre experience in large open spaces where the audience will be 'in' the story. In the middle of a rave.

I knew about it, knew where the performances were happening. And then Mike dropped me a line.

He was talking to Glastonbury. About taking the show there.

And those talks went really quickly. And the dream happened. The best you could want, happened.

He's taking the show to Glastonbury. Midnight till one, each night of the festival, on a stage facing the Shangri-la fields. So he has an audience who are already in exactly the right headspace for the experience.

I'm delighted for him, I'm proud of what he's done. Here and with everything else. Him and the cast and crew who've worked with him through all this, many of whom I know and have worked with.

It's an incredible thing.

And there's a moral in it.

The moral is: this is how success comes.

You have the idea, you execute the idea, you make it the best it can be and make sure people hear about it so you can lift it to the next level. You put everything into it. And then you have the next idea. And you do the same with that. And that can start at a next level because the previous thing exists and you have the reviews and the responses. So you can think a bit bigger and you can base what you do on what you've done. You learn, you apply the lessons.

And you raise your expectations. That happened so this can happen. Why shouldn't I do this? You do it.

And so on, and so on.

And you keep working.

And the previous stuff exists alongside the new stuff.

So your year can look like this:

April. Not The Horse at the Royal Court Studio
June. The Comeback Special at the Royal Court Studio, Raves'R'Us at Glastonbury
July. Raves'R'Us touring
September. Those Two Weeks at The Epstein.

I'm delighted to be in that list. And I know the list grows. Because everything is the start of the next thing. Because it's always about the next step, it's about getting to where you're meant to be.

Because success is constant. It's a journey. A five year journey so far but with so much more to come.

Go and see Not The Horse. You'll love it. That's the advert.

(And here's where you get your tickets:
https://royalcourtliverpool.ticketsolve.com/shows/873598143 )