Brief Encounter With … Paul Sirett

Ian Dury, who died in 2000, was Graeae’s first patron and the
show celebrates the disabled performer’s irrepressible spirit through his
irreverent songs. Reasons to be Cheerful includes the hits “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick”, “Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll” and “Spasticus Autisticus”, which was written in 1981 for the International Year
of Disabled Persons, but denied
airplay by the BBC for fear of offending listeners with its provocative lyrics.

Here we talk to playwright Paul Sirett, who wrote the book
of the musical and appears in the show playing guitar in the onstage band,
about bringing Dury’s songs to life.

So I take it you’re a big Ian Dury fan?

Yes, but not as big as some of the fans that I’ve met since
starting to do this show, I have to say. Because there are some real big-time
fans out there. I was somebody who saw him once and bought the records and I
always just thought that the songs would make a great show.

Why write a fictional story rather than focusing
on Dury himself?

First of all, like a lot of people, I got very seduced by
his story, and it was only after probably a good year or so of working on it
that I decided I would write a story about fans of his music rather than a
story about him. I came to that conclusion really based on a radio interview I
heard with him where he said that he lived in the moment, he lived for today,
he didn’t care what people thought about him, he didn’t care if people
remembered him, he just wanted to live now and play his music and have a good
time. And I thought, well, actually, I’d like to celebrate the man through his
music rather than his life.

Was it difficult to choose the
songs?

It was hell. Just because there’s so much to choose from.
Eventually, because we set the play in 1981 looking back at 1979, that kind of
put a cap on historically what songs I could use.

Were there songs you wanted to use that didn’t
make it into the show?

There were songs, yes, that didn’t make the final cut. Particularly
‘There Ain’t Half Been Some Clever Bastards’, which I think is just a joyously
funny and intelligent song. He’s up to his mischievous best in his lyric
writing. He’s a poet, but he has such fun with it as well. Also ‘I’m Partial to
Your Abracadabra’. Both those songs have been in the show at certain points,
but for the sake of making it function as a show, they bit the dust
unfortunately.

Clearly the show is a must for Ian Dury fans,
but what about people who don’t know his music?

I think that they’ll enjoy the show. What’s been really
gratifying is that a lot of young people who haven’t got a clue who Ian Dury is
come along to the show and absolutely love it. Because it’s a coming of age
story really and so they link into that. We’ve had kids loving it and then
sending us tweets to say they’re downloading Ian Dury stuff and just really
getting into the music. The show takes them into that I think.

Graeae’s artistic director, Jenny Sealey, has
created this show with accessibility in mind, in terms of both audiences and
performers. Did you have to adapt to working in this way?

Yes, absolutely. It’s actually a really quite refreshing way
to work as a writer because you have to embrace the ideas behind signing and
behind audio description as part of the show. An audio-described show or a
signed show is usually one evening in a run of three or four weeks, but with
Graeae, it’s every night. When I write shows with music, I always put the band
on stage because I don’t like things to be hidden away and I wanted to do that
with signing and with audio description in this show. It gives a different
dynamic to the way you write and is very theatrical as well.

Was it challenging to work in this new
way?

Yes, because I was doing some of the things that when I’m
teaching playwriting I tell people not to do. Because you’re always telling
people that less is more and that you shouldn’t tell an audience what you’re
doing because they can see what you’re doing. But this was for a different
audience, so I had to find a way of narrating it, which is why I’ve set it one
stage removed from the actual action of what happens in 1979 so that Vinnie,
who’s the main character, can actually narrate bits and pieces, so that would help
blind members of the audience without having to put everything into audio
description.

As you can probably imagine, working with Graeae has been
quite extraordinary and it’s just been wonderful playing in that band, meeting
all these people and working on the show with them.