Chapter 1. Beginnings
For me it all began with an invitation from Robert Bromley to direct the amateur premiere of the musical 'Hair'. Robert went to the same school as I did – Urmston Boys' Grammar School – and I note from the account written by Guy Taylor that the whole enterprise was very much a UBGS affair, though I did not really see it like that at the time. Robert was in the year below me at school and lived quite near to me in Flixton. I didn't really know him that well, but he was a member of Urmston Operatic Society, where my parents had been stalwart members for many years, and in fact I came across him more through that, through my parents, than I did at school. Guy says that my dad, who was an occasional singing teacher, gave Robert lessons, though I don't remember that. What I do remember, however, is a time when Robert badly broke his leg – I can't recall how – and he was laid up at home for several weeks, and I went round to visit him a couple of times and we listened to records. We discovered we had similar tastes and enjoyed introducing each other to current particular favourites.
Then in 1975, a year after I had graduated from university, and the small touring theatre company I had been a part of – Qualtagh – was gradually coming to an end, Robert approached me and told me he was forming a new amateur operatic society that would not be hampered by traditions, conventions or committees or other institutionalisms, and so could take on more relevant, more adventurous productions. This society would not be restricted to a single town (like Urmston, Sale or Eccles) but would cover the whole of Greater Manchester. It would be called The Metropolitan and its first production would be 'Hair', and might I be interested in directing it? I'm not sure why he approached me; possibly he had seen my production earlier that year for PADOS (Prestwich Amateur Dramatic & Operatic Society) of 'Half A Sixpence' which, by the conventions of local amateur operatics, had been quite experimental. Anyway, he asked me and I was intrigued by the possibility of attempting 'Hair', and also I was out of work! He told me that he had already asked – I think I have got this right – Chris Dumigan to do the music, and that convinced me.
Chris too, of course, went to UBGS, but he was in the year above me, and in fact we didn't really know one another that well while we were at school. It was after we both left that we became friends and, as he describes in his entry, started to write songs together. While at school, I had been a member of a folk group with three other friends – Jane Kerfoot, Dave Hibbard and Robin Kelly – who all lived in Urmston and Flixton. We had met through the Urmston Operatic Society production of 'Oliver' in 1969 (I think), which we all took part in as members of Fagin's gang*, and had stayed friends through our subsequent involvement with Stretford Children's Theatre. (Run by the inspirational figure of Bert Holland, this was a fantastic organisation, putting on three different youth theatre productions a year, ranging from Shakespeare through to new plays, and through it we all made dozens of great new friends and were introduced to a passion for theatre which has stayed with many of us ever since).
(*As a footnote to 'Oliver', Fagin was played by Graham Brittain, who later joined the Metropolitan production of 'Hair', and who became a vital, and leading player in Genesis after it was formed, being its inaugural Chair. Graham, sadly no longer with us, was a great personal friend and supporter of both Chris and me).
The folk group that Jane, Dave, Robin and I formed went through various metamorphoses – and names (all equally pretentious and very much of their time, ranging from Passing Clouds*, Tapestry and Harlequin, that I can remember) – playing in community centres, scout huts, working men's clubs a mixture of popular acoustic songs by the likes of Peter, Paul & Mary, the occasional Simon & Garfunkel and Dylan numbers, (though also cover versions of blander material such as Trini Lopez's 'If I Had A Hammer', a particular bete noir of mine), as well as, increasingly, songs that we wrote ourselves around a variety of themes (Signs of the Zodiac, Colours of the Rainbow, #Gods of Olympus, The Search for the Holy Grail!) You can tell that we were heavily influenced by The Moody Blues, but you have to remember too that we were very impressionable 16 year olds!
(*On one particularly memorable occasion we were performing in a working men's club somewhere – it might have been Tyldesley – where we shared a dressing room with a drag queen and a stripper, and where we were introduced by a rather drunken and loquacious MC as “The Pissing Clouds”! Needless to say a change in our name followed pretty soon afterwards).
I don't remember many of these songs now; we didn't have a tape recorder between us, and I don't seem to have any longer any copies of any of the song lyrics, though I do recall with great affection a few of the titles: 'Yellow' was a lovely tune beautifully sung by Dave; 'Orange' was something of a 'grower' with a tune by Robin which stayed with you; 'Gypsy' was popular with audiences; 'Merlin Dreams' was a haunting and, for its time, quite experimental song (though I can't remember any of it now!); and 'Magdalene', a very long, narrative song, was sung with great passion by Jane.
After a couple of years or so, it became increasingly clear that Jane, Robin and Dave quite sensibly wanted to pursue a more commercial route, while I wanted us to concentrate more on writing our own material. In addition, I was also, to be honest, a bit of a passenger, for unlike the other three, I couldn't sing and was pretty poor on the guitar. My only real contribution was the lyrics for the songs we wrote ourselves, and so it was inevitable, I suppose, that we would part company, though we did remain good friends. I think I must have been a real pain-in-the-neck to the rest of them at times, and so – forty years too late, perhaps – if you're listening out there, Jane, Robin and Dave, please accept my apologies!
It was during this time that I first heard Chris D. play and sing. It was at the Humphrey Park Estate Community Centre on the Stretford/Urmston border, and I went along with my then girl friend (Gwenda Hughes, later the highly regarded Artistic Director of Birmingham Rep and the New Victoria Theatre in Stoke) and – this is my memory of it anyway – we heard Chris play (with someone else, I seem to recall) a series of his own songs, including one called 'Spider, which I remember I was very taken with. I went up to talk to him afterwards and arranged to meet up, which we proceeded to do almost weekly on Monday evenings from then on for the next three or four years.
We had both left school by then. I was at Manchester University and Chris was working at a bank. I would bring along some lyrics I had just written, or Chris would play one of the huge number of songs he was writing himself then, and we would record them on a reel-to-reel there in his front room and, if we had a booking coming up at one of the very many local folk clubs in and around the area, rehearse*. Chris is such a brilliant musician that he taught me to play the guitar passably in the context of accompanying him doing much more sophisticated work himself.
(*In fact, I think that the very first song we sang together in public was called 'Gill', with lyrics by Gwenda Hughes and a tune by Robin Kelly from that earlier folk group).
We wrote dozens and dozens of songs during that period, some of which have found their way onto Chris's recent 'Ghosts' CD, which demonstrates just what a supreme gift he has for creating the most beautiful, haunting, lyrical melodies, that he still demonstrates today with his prolific compositions for guitar and other instruments.
I was studying drama at university, and during this period I collaborated with Chris on the writing of two new plays with songs (not musicals). The first of these, 'The Tall Tree', was invited to be performed as part of a Summer Festival in 1972 at the newly opened Erin Arts Centre on the Isle of Man. Chris wrote the tunes for all the songs in the piece, as well as the incidental music, but because of his work commitments at the bank, he was not able to join the rest of the company – a mixture of students from the university and members of the Stretford Children's Theatre – in actually presenting the piece there, which was a great shame, because we all had the most wonderful time. Two of the songs written for this would later resurface, reworked, for 'Stag' – 'White Rose Queen and 'The Tall Tree' itself.
This was followed up by a second collaboration, this time at Manchester University, where in 1973 we presented 'To See The Six Points' at The Stephen Joseph Studio. Once again Chris composed all the music for the play, including a number of new songs, (notably 'Snow Geese Flying South', 'Poppies', (which can be found on the 'Ghosts' CD, 'Hawthorn' and 'King of Men'), which this time he was able to play live, together with two other former UBGS pupils, Alan Rochford (piano and recorder) and Paul Arstall (drums and percussion), both of whom had stepped in the previous summer to play live the music Chris had composed for 'The Tall Tree' in the Isle of Man. (Alan went on to become Head of Music at a very prestigious school in, I think, Reading, while Paul, who was percussionist with both the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Northern Sinfonietta, as well as being a member of various rock and jazz groups, tragically committed suicide the following year – a terrible loss).
'To See The Six Points' won a NUS Drama Award, and I was on the back of it invited by the university to direct a production of Frederico Garcia Lorca's magical, timeless classic 'Yerma' for the 1973 Edinburgh Fringe. Once again Chris collaborated with me by composing all of the music, though once again, because the production was to be in Edinburgh for three weeks, he was not able to accompany the piece there, his music instead being played by Alan Rochford and a classical guitarist from Edinburgh that Alan brought in.
And so, it was with great pleasure that I learned that Chris was going to be on board for 'Hair', and I knew that the music would be in safe hands. Not only is Chris a brilliant composer and musician, but he is also a wonderful enthusiast and teacher, and I knew that he would be perfect for steering what would be a new cast of singers, dancers and actors who did not know one another yet into a powerful and cohesive ensemble.