One Night: Stan

Our plane jolts as it hits the ground at over 100 mph. We swerve unmercifully as the wheels come to grips with the new surface and career along the runway. We are gripping the armrests of our seats for dear life. Reverse thrust kicks in, throwing us forward, and we struggle, pushing against the armrests, to get ourselves back into our seats again. No. . . this is not a shooting script for the opening scene of Quantum of Solace: rather, it's a fairly accurate description of Keith and me "touching" down at John Lennon Airport. We two "Liver" birds had flown over to attend a performance on 7th November of One Night Stan, a play written and performed by Londoner, Miles Gallant. After a nice cup of coffee in the airport lounge we emerge to be greeted in true Sons fashion by Tony Traynor, Grand Sheik of the Leave 'em Laughing Tent of Merseyside. As always happens when Sons get together, after about thirty seconds we were all chatting like old friends even though we had never met before - well, I had met Keith and he had met me, but we hadn't met Tony, if you know what I mean. Anyhow, Tony really put himself out by driving us to our digs and he later gave us his very unique guided tour of the city - and for that, he will remain eternally ever-popular. Thanks Tony. That evening, we three amigos met up with Eric Woods, Grand Sheik of the Come Clean Tent of Widnes, at the Actors' Theatre and, as the four "Messketeers" settled down in their seats, the lights slowly dimmed. . . Lights up - and we are transported to the Boys' dressing room, backstage at Plymouth's Palace Theatre in 1954. Onto the stage strides a rather anxious Stan Laurel. Babe is ill, and it looks as though Stan is going to have to entertain the expectant audience by himself. . . something that he hasn't done for more than thirty years. No wonder he's worried. What follows is a marvellous depiction of Stan in his dressing room, pondering his future and recalling his life via a munificence of stories and vignettes - his first appearance as a stand-up comic at the Panopticon in Glasgow, and directing other comics at the Hal Roach Studios. The care that Miles has taken to make the material as accurate as possible is to be highly commended. Through his words, he introduces the audience to people who influenced Stan such as Dan Leno, AJ, Charlie Chaplin, Hal Roach and, of course, Babe; and we learn about Stan's thoughts and relationships with each of them. Miles has taken meticulous care with his props too, and there are some beautiful observations, including when he sympathetically portrays the Boys' use of the derbies. He uses some beautiful descriptions in the piece. For instance, when "Stan" speaks of just how ingrained show business was in both him and his dad, Miles has AJ saying it was ". . .bred in the bone, lad, bred in the bone". And when describing the audience's perception of show business, "Stan" says: "All that mattered to them was what happened down there on the stage: that bright little box, framed with gilt and red plush. That's where everyone's eyes were." There are also lots of funny moments in the play; particularly when "Stan" reads from a pile of letters from the Boys' fans. Unfortunately, I can't say any more about those bits. . . you'll just have to see what happens for yourself. Although One Night Stan is a solo piece, with Miles mainly portraying Stan, it is liberally sprinkled with well-observed cameos of AJ, Fin, and Babe. Indeed, Babe's chair and dressing table are noticeably prominent on stage, with his hat sitting on the middle of the table - a very clever way of keeping him in the minds of the audience throughout the evening. We met up with Miles after the show and he asked us for our impressions of his performance. He said that he is always on his toes when he knows that Sons are in the audience because he is only too aware of our appreciation for the Boys and their films. He said that he was keen to learn what he could from us to improve the accuracy of his play, and he had already discovered a couple of small errors which he has fixed. Eric suggested that Miles tweak his bowtie slightly to one side, because Stan always wore it slightly askew. This was news to Miles. . . and to Tony, Keith and me. You learn something new every day. We took photos backstage and adjourned for a drink and a chat with Miles at a local pub. All in all, One Night Stan is a very enjoyable, entertaining, well-crafted, and well-researched account of the life of Stan Laurel and well worth looking out for. We will be keeping in touch with Miles. Keith and I would particularly like to thank Tony Traynor and Eric Woods for their kindness to us during our trip to Liverpool, and to Miles Gallant for giving us all a great night of very enjoyable theatre. It was really good to be in the company of fellow Sons, and it reminded us once again of what a marvellous group of people we are privileged to be a part of. And, by the way. . . oh how we laughed! Miles's website can be found at http://www.onenightstan.co.uk/index.html    Gerry Dunne reports What has six legs, walks peculiar, talks with all the choicest words? . . . It's Tony and two Messer birds! La, la, la, la - La, la, la, la. . .