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Maverick Theatre and TWO in the Pub. Shot with Tradition..!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, April 21, 2023, In : London's Literary Pubs 


Shots. Not big or clever. Although one per production should be okay! The TWO gang… Greg, Nick and Claire. 

It’s not big, and it’s not clever, but it’s a tradition we have at the Maverick Theatre Company that dates back to the 1990’s. The first night shot! Of course, it’s not compulsory for Maverick people to have a shot after our first production, or indeed drink any alcohol, but it goes back to the early days of Maverick at the Billesley Pub in Birmingham.

Our first pro...


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The Chiswick Book Festival party Part 3 - and new writing venue TheSpaceUK in Edinburgh!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Thursday, October 13, 2022,
Nick Hennegan was at the 14th Chiswick Book Festival, at the local author's party, where the writers have 2 minutes against the clock to talk about their books - or get ‘horned’ off! This is the final part. And we hear from the founders of The Space UK - enterprising venues at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Listen at BohemianBritain.com
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The Shark Is Broken - Theatre Review

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Thursday, October 28, 2021, In : Bohemian Britain 
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the theatre... oh, sorry... that should be water. Jaws analogies abound with the lovely little production that was postponed when Covid hit. Now they're back! See what our writer, Nick Hennegan thought about it on BohemianBritain.com


The Cast of The Shark Is Broken

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Saturday, December 29, 2018, In : Simon Says. 
We hope we'll see you in 2019.  The highlights of 2018?  Without doubt, presenting three classic plays at the Edinbugh Festival.  Nick Hennegan's version of A Christmas Carol with Guy Masterson wowing the UK on tour.  And this review from the Sunday Telegraph... 

"WE DRIFT OFF INTO THE SOHO EVENING, COMFORTED THAT A VIVID APPROACH TO THE LIFE'S WORK OF SOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS AUTHORS SHOWS THAT THERE IS AS MUCH TO BE LEARNT IN THEIR PUBS AS THEIR PAGES."  SUNDAY TELEGRAPH.

...
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The Snow Must Go On...!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, March 9, 2018, In : Nick Hennegan 
Sorry... I mean the SHOW must go on!  And it is.  We've had snow in London!  It doesn't really happen very often and so when it does, we're not really prepared for it.  I think the last time the snow settled here was around five years ago.  Our cold spell only lasted about a week, which was quite long enough, thank you very much!  But now the weather has warmed up and it feels properly like Spring.  The daffodils are already out.  And I'm pleased to report, that in spite of the weather, the L...
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Happy Valentine's Day!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Wednesday, February 14, 2018, In : Nick Hennegan 
Happy Valentine' Day.

I think Anthony Burgess, a writer we feature in our show, summed up the day perfectly in 'The Paris Review.'  He wrote, "The world has so much solace to offer: love, food, music, the immense variety of race and language, literature, the pleasure of artistic creation." 

Yep!

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52 Things To See and Do in London!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Tuesday, July 18, 2017, In : Travelers Tips 
I've stopped my radio show for the summer and mainly as a result of emails I've had, I am going to write about a years worth of things to do in London.  Yep, 52 weekly posts. Probably on a Friday.  Although as a writer/boozer, it's a tall order and if you’ve been on our Literary Pub Crawl tour, you’ll know the trouble writer Jeffrey Bernard got into in the West End and Broadway hit, ‘Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell’ when trying to write a regular column.  Penned by fellow boozer Keith Water...

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What are your Sounds and Sonnets of Summer?

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Monday, July 3, 2017, In : London Life 

Peoples Choice 1.

This is a rare occasion where our Podcast and Blog come together!  

We've celebrated the Summer Solstice recently in the UK.  In response to numerous emails and other requests, writer and presenter, Nick Hennegan has complied an hour of poetry and music special to him to start things off.  But he'd like to hear your faves!  Please send us YOUR list of summer songs and poems to summer@mavericktheatre.co.uk with a line about why they are special to you.

Here's Nicks list and memo...


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We're all just writers and artists here!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Sunday, June 18, 2017, In : Nick Hennegan 

It’s been a couple of months since I last posted here.  But I’m trying to sort a script and music for our national tour of A Christmas Carol later in the year.  I finally managed to get a group of international journalists together to come on the London Literary Pub Crawl, so we’re having our official opening 5 years after we started!  I’m working on a TV script; I’m trying to negotiate with a National Trust garden to present a WW1 play in November and so spending time on this blog ...


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Don't understand Shakespeare? You need Dylan Thomas Day!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Wednesday, May 3, 2017, In : Nick Hennegan 


Dylan Day - a celebration of the work of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas - is a great idea for a number of reasons.  Firstly it's always a good idea to celebrate art and literature.  In a world full of Trump, May, Brexit, Syria and conflict, it's a very good idea to remind ourselves of the real reason we are all really here.  For the sweet, satisfied moments of family, friendship, kindness, vision and imagination.  I can’t remember who said a civilised society is only measured by the success of it...


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The real Dylan Thomas?

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Sunday, January 29, 2017, In : Writers 

It’s been great being involved with the new International Dylan Day. 14 May each year has been designated Dylan Day to mark the first time his play for voices ‘Under Milk Wood’ was performed in public in the USA. It’s a direct lift from Blooms Day, an annual event inspired by one of the lead characters in Ulysses, by James Joyce. We're going to celebrate it this year with an extra tour and extra Dylan content.  Book now for 13th May - the Saturday before the day.  We also have some id...


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Autumn in the Pub with Hemingway.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Sunday, November 6, 2016, In : London's Literary Pubs 

So the clocks have gone back in the UK, marking the end of British Summer Time. It used to depress me a bit - the long dark nights and lack of sunshine. But actually, London takes on a different quality in the winter. But it is still quality! It's a good time for walks around some of our fantastic parks and heaths and pub wise there's a few little gems to check out.


Favourites have got to include The Dove on the riverside in Hammersmith in West London. You will have seen this pub if you've eve...


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What makes a Film Flop?

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, January 8, 2016, In : Nick Hennegan 


Soho,
as you many know - and you will if you've been on our Literary Pub Crawl - is the centre of many creative industries in the UK, including the film industry.  We're toying with the idea of making a feature film in 2016 and came across this blog post by Suman Ghosh. who is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at Bath Spa University.


Some films succeed, others don’t. Success comes in many forms. Some films are an instant hit from the opening night, some are slower on the uptake while others ge...

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Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. in Birmingham!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, December 11, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan 

It's exciting being back in Birmingham at the Old Joint Stock Pub and Theatre. And last years London sellout version of my A Christmas Carol has done just that again - this time in Birmingham. Here's what I wrote for the theatre programme. 



We all know Charles Dickens' remarkable Christmas story. He wrote it in 1843, just as his fame and success as a writer was fading. The novella has not been out of print since! I first came across the book as a boy. I borrowed a children's version of the sto...


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Raymond Briggs and Creative Socio-paths!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Saturday, November 21, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan 
As you know, life in the arts here in Soho is a constant financial struggle and I’ve been looking at an author Crowdfunding platform called Unbound as a way of helping out.  As I have both Charles Dickens AND William Shakespeare lined up to provide an introduction to my next book - more about that later perhaps - I’m thinking of using the service, if they’ll have me.
I was checking them out and came across this, from Raymond Briggs’ pitch of a book he’s hosting on the platform.  For ...
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We've moved! The Fitzroy Tavern closes!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, July 17, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan 
The roots of the Literary Pub Crawl lie in the Fitzroy Tavern. I was doing my Masters at the University of London and looking for a cheap pint.  My mate from Birmingham, filmmaker Andy Bloom, suggested I could get a cheaper pint at the Fitzroy, as the pub was run by the Sam Smiths Brewery and they were considerably cheaper than other pubs in the area.  He also told me about the Writers and Artists Bar at the pub, which certainly appealed.

So I was nursing my cheap pint downstairs and couldn't ...
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Interview With An Actor.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Wednesday, May 20, 2015, In : Simon Says. 
She's the Queen of Kings at the moment - the star of Henry V - Lion of England at The Wheatsheaf Pub in Fitzrovia, London W1.  Produced by our theatre company Maverick, and written by our writer Nick Hennegan, we asked Simon Plant to go talk to star, Eleanor Dillon-Reams about being Shakespeare's most famous King.


Eleanor Dillon-Reams.

Henry V is one of Shakespeare’s biggest plays.  How come you are the only actor?

The piece has been partly rewritten, edited and chopped up to a short and snap...


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We missed you!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, May 15, 2015, In : Theatre News 


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OLIVIER AWARDS 2015 WITH MASTERCARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Sunday, April 12, 2015, In : Theatre News 

This just in....

  • The Young Vic’s A View From The Bridge takes home Best Revival, Best Actor for Mark Strong and Best Director for Ivo Van Hove.
  • Hampstead Theatre’s West End transfer of Sunny Afternoon wins the most awards for any single production and is crowned MasterCard Best New Musical 
  • Dame Angela Lansbury receives her first Olivier for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Blithe Spirit and Penelope Wilton is named Best Actress for Taken At Midnight 
  • Mike Bartlett takes home two prizes ...

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Neville Owen, a Boy's Man! RIP.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Saturday, March 7, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan 
Forgive my indulgence. This post isn't really anything directly to do with The London Literary Pub Crawl, other than the fact I wrote the tour and the journal/diary I wrote in 1997 (How To Make a Crisis Out Of A Drama) is being released by Maverick Theatre to celebrate its 21st Birthday. Although booze plays a part, because this is about the first time I got drunk!  And Neville Owen died last month and I went to his funeral, so I wanted to mark his passing. I wrote this in 1997 and I hope it ...
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Review of 2014.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Monday, January 12, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan 

We started 2014 in the shadow of the previous year.

My experiment with theatre in a pub, as opposed to Pub Theatre as it's understood in London, had proved very successful in 2013.  I managed to get the rights to produce Under Milk Wood on the 60th anniversary of Dylan Thomas' death.  It proved a success in a number of ways, but mainly though conversations with the excellent veteran theatre director John Adams.  John was not available to direct, but he recommended a former student of his who ...


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Maverick Theatre's Latest Newsletter

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, April 4, 2014, In : Nick Hennegan 

So.

It was a stark, dark night in Soho.
 I sat in the mugg of the French House nursing a small beer.  Maddy flicked her long blonde hair and fixed me with her baby-blues.
“It’s theatre, you shmuck.” She almost snarled.  “I know publishing. And I know you’ve godda do a regular newsletter. Every month, whatever happens.  It’s the only way. You godda build your brand and you godda do it NOW.  Kapish?”
“What do you know, huh?” I muttered, taking a slug of now warm beer. “Brands? Y...


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Under Milk Wood - The final, raw, blog. We did it!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Wednesday, November 13, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan 
Or at least the final blog of this particular production. What can I say! We’ve just finished and I’ve just got back from the last night.  And the consumption of a few drinks with the cast makes this not the best time to write this, perhaps! But it became a big deal for me. As you may have gathered from the previous blogs, I had a number of concerns with this production. Although small in scale it was large in ambition and my first toe in the West End water.  I only actually got to watch ...
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Under Milk Wood - Part Deux

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Wednesday, October 23, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan 

This week has been quite interesting in terms of Under Milk Wood.  The decision to do it as a fundraiser has been quite liberating.  It means we're all in the same boat and anybody who wants to be involved with the project will be doing it for the love of the piece and the experience rather than any hard financial reward. Any funds we do raise will go to Maverick in the hope we might be able to resurrect the youth group or The Peoples' Company.

After my last blog I had a Facebook comment tha...


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Commit Financial Theatrical Suicide with Dylan Thomas! Part One.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Thursday, October 10, 2013,


I love the image above we are using for Under Milk Wood.  It has a wistful quality to it and that is how I feel about some of our writers - especially Dylan Thomas, who was taken from us so tragically early. I also love Wales, and this image kind of sums up my schoolboy holidays in out-of-season seaside towns. This bench has seen a lot, you can just tell.  And it quietly waits for the next joyful - or maybe melancholy - experience. 

But enough wooden bench and more Milk Wood.  He was a smart c...
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Diggin' the late Seamus Heaney.

Posted by Simon Plant on Saturday, August 31, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan 

Seamus Heaney died yesterday. It's a loss in so many ways. Probably the finest Irish poet since Yeats, he was sometimes known as "Famous Seamus" because unlike many poets and writers, he wasn't particularly shy and retiring. He was something of a celebrity from an early age and was prepared to stick his head over the parapet to make a comment.



But I identify with Heaney the farm-boy. My folks are from the peat-bogs of Co. Mayo - he was from a Mossbawn farmhouse in County Derry, although he res...


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Dylan Thomas Returns!

Posted by Simon Plant on Monday, May 13, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan 

Under Milk Wood, by Dylan Thomas

£ 15

Friday 8th November 2013 at 7.30pm

Saturday 9th November, 2013 at 2.30pm

The Wheatsheaf Pub, Rathbone Street, London, W1T 1JB

 

A rare, fund-raising performance of the "play for voices' given on the very day Dylan died sixty years ago.

The Maverick Theatre Company and the Literary Pub Crawl Company present this stunning vocal masterpiece in the same pub where Dylan Thomas drank and met his wife, Caitlan.

 

A unique, not-to-be-missed event celebrating the genius o...


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Booo...!

Posted by Simon Plant on Tuesday, May 7, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan 
We've been set up by the not-for-profit Maverick Theatre Company. Nick Hennegan, who created our tour, often Audio Boo's.  So have a listen here - http://audioboo.fm/MaverickTheatre
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About Us


Nick Hennegan Hello. I'm Nick Hennegan and I started the London Literary Pub Crawl. Most of the blogs on here will be by me. I've always written but my first theatrical success was an adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Henry V' (www.HenryVPlay.com) I founded Maverick Theatre in 1994. (www.MaverickTheatreCompany.com) This pub crawl is really more a promenade theatre performance than a tour and I'm running it with a bunch of enthusiastic local actors and writers. I love sharing my passion for the area and the artists. I also present a weekly radio show, 'Literary London' on Resonance 104.4fm - London's Arts Station and a podcast on our site. If you haven't visited us in London yet, I hope you'll come soon. Have a look at my new site, www.BohemianBritain.com. And feel free to leave comments or email me at nick @ LondonLiteraryPubCrawl.com - I reply to them all and I love to hear from you.

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