Words by John Betjeman: Music by John Gould : Devised by David
Benedictus and John Gould
When in 1969 a projected show about and with our Poet Laureate Sir
John Betjeman failed to materialise. I thought I'd keep the four settings
that were left over with the vague thought that they might be of some
use at a later date. In fact it wasn't until 1976 that, having in the
meanwhile knocked off a few more Betjeman songs just for the hell of
it, I decided to have a cautious stab at mounting a Betjeman show of
my own.
It all happened very quickly: David Benedictus and I devised a sort
of revue and in March 1976 I and a couple of friends (Gay Soper and
Barry Stokes) opened a tentative 55 minute lunchtime show at the Orange
Tree fringe theatre, Richmond, Surrey. The subsequent queues around
the block seemed to prove we were on to something and with Sir John's
approval expanded our lunchtime version to two hours and presented it
as an evening event.
ENODOC Productions was then formed (St. Enodoc is Sir John's church
in Cornwall) and a new production was presented at the Key Theatre,
Peterborough, newly designed by Susie Caulcutt, followed by a season
at the Shaw Theatre London, where it opened on the 8th December, 1976.
The critics seemed to enjoy themselves and the BBC broadcast a radio
version on Boxing Day and again the following Easter. A major tour was
mounted the following year and in the summer of 1980 a production was
presented for The City of London Festival.
If any of the songs make you feel you'd like to go back to, or even
read for the first time the original poems by Sir John Betjeman - do.
They're not half bad.