The Tom Thumb Theatre is a remarkable venue. Built in the 17th
century by none other than Saint William ‘The Bard’ Shakespeare himself in the
spare moments between writing his classic plays Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth
Night, the theatre occupies a particularly fond place in the hearts and
minds of British theatre-goers the world over. Sir Laurence ‘Larry’ Olivier
took his first tentative steps into the acting profession on this tiny stage
(as ‘Baby #4’ in the long-forgotten musical Babies
on Broadway.) Sir Ralph ‘Ralphy’ Richardson made the role of the Artful
Dodger his own on these hallowed boards, and Sir Charles ‘Cheeky’ Chaplin
directed his fiirst play – Quentin Falls
In – before leaving these shores for America, forever. The Nightingales
immediately feel at home in this unique space.
The band have evolved a highly-disciplined routine on
arrival at any venue. Sound engineer extraordinary Paul ‘Carpet’ Squires is
first into the venue where he will immediately take a photo of the mixing desk,
before loading it up to his Tumblr
account with some suitable technical critique. In this way, the community of
sound engineers build up a collective knowledge of all the venues in the
country. I watch as Squires uploads the picture with the comment “Wow dudes!!!!
This desk is totally rad, man!!! It’s got brutal patches and no graphics.
Awesome!!!! It’s gonna be savage. Touch me, fam!!!” I can’t pretend to
understand this technical vocabulary, but clearly Squires is a man who has
spent years honing his craft.
As Squires goes about his business, the other members of the
band busy themselves carrying equipment into the venue under the watchful eyes
of Dave ‘Big Dave’ Wassell and Robert ‘The Chief’ Lloyd. Having satisfied
himself that the band is on the case, Lloyd drifts off into the dressing room
to confirm that the rider is in place. He immediately pops the bottle of whisky
into his personal baggage for safe keeping and checks that the lagers, bananas
and Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Bars are present, as requested.
In the theatre itself, Squires takes the band through the
soundcheck with his usual mix of hectoring insults and vicious asides. As the
band tearfully troupe offstage to console each other, Squires takes yet more
photographs of the mixing desk before joining his bandmates in the dressing
room for a welcome beer, before they all troop off to the seafront for the
traditional fish-and-chip supper, leaving Lloyd to his pre-gig meditations.
The gig is yet another triumph. The ten-seater venue is
packed, and the audience is receptive to the Nightingales’ quirky blend of
drunken muttering and fractured musicianship. As the audience file out to join
the band in the upstairs bar, Mark ‘Ace’ Jones extracts the maximum amount of
cash in exchange for merchandise assisted by the imposing figure of Dave ‘Big Dave’
Wassell who stands behind Jones, arms folded, glowering at each audience member
as they file past, emptying their wallets.
After cocktails in the New York-style bar above the venue,
the band say their goodbyes to one and all, and climb wearily into Big Dave’s
van for the long drive back to Wolverhampton, accompanied by the ever-present voice of Big Dave himself.
No comments:
Post a Comment