I was too young to go to Eric’s, but I wasn’t too young to go to Planet-X which was set up by Doreen Allen, former Eric’s door maiden and general dogs body. It was there that I met characters like Pete Wylie, Mick Jones of The Clash, and threw Wayne Hussey from The Mission down the back stairs at the Temple Street club. I also got to see Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls and Johnny And The Heart Breakers perform there.

I always wished I’d been old enough to visit Eric’s first, so when I saw the play advertised on the back of a flyer I picked up on a shopping trip in town I was set on attending. I bought a couple of tickets in advance unsure just who the second ticket was for, until ten days later, coming out the local super market I happened to bump into an old friend of Doreen’s.

We swapped news and gossip and of course got talking about Doreen’s involvement with the Eric’s play and exhibition at the museum on William Brown Street.

“I’d love to go to the play.”

“I have a spare ticket, front row.”

So we made plans for going to see the play, and visit The Beat Goes On exhibition at the museum. The exhibition runs until 1st November 2009, which is just as well because you’ll never take it all in, in one visit. We must have spent two and a half hours in there marvelling over the Beatles flyers for Heswall Jazz Club, John Lennon’s specs, hand written lyrics by Half Man Half Biscuit, the Eric’s Progeny chart written partly by Doreen of all the bands that emerged from the Eric’s ordinary club members.

When you look at it now and think about it, if it hadn’t been for Eric’s the entire Punk/New Wave/Indi scene would have been so much different, if it had ever happened. Tony Wilson would never have put Factory Records together, Joy Division would never have been known, The Hacienda and all that sprang from it may never have been. Just take a look at the bands that formed after The Clash played Eric’s.

There was Big In Japan, “a supergroup in reverse”, because all the members became famous after the band split up. Jayne Casey made it big in the media world, Holly Johnson went on to front Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Ian Broudie fronted The Lightening Seeds, Bill Drumond formed the KLF, and Budgie went on to play first for The Slits and later Siouxsie And The Banshees.

Then there was Pete Burns, Pete Wylie, and Julian Cope. At one point or another these three would play together in a number of bands before finding their own feet and forming their own bands. Julian Cope formed Teardrop Explodes, Pete Burns broke through with Dead Or Alive, and Pete Wylie who after a succession of other bands and being given a Les Paul guitar by Mick Jones of The Clash finally cut a record as The Mighty Wah after playing his first Eric’s gig as Wah Heat the night the police closed the club.

Then there was Ian McCulloch, original member of The Crucial Three with Pete Wylie and Julian Cope, who went on to form Echo And The Bunnymen, and Andy McCluskey, who would form Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, and Mike Peter’s who after seeing the same Clash gig with Wylie, Cope, McCulloch, Holly Johnson, Jayne Casey, Bill Drummond, Budgie, Pete Burns, Paul Rutherford, and all the others I mentioned already put together The Alarm, who would later inspire The Manic Street Preachers to form.

Eric’s The Musical is the story of Joey more than it is a factual history of Eric’s. Joey was just an ordinary punter working as an apprentice tax collector in Bootle who frequented Eric’s night club. After a chance encounter with Holly Johnson, Jayne Casey, and Pete Burns, Joey follows them on and for the first time enters Eric’s. He has the time of his life and meets a lot of others like himself. Hanging out in the club Joey gets to see all the up and coming punk stars and bands of the day including The Clash.

Inspired by the music and the characters of Eric’s, Joey packs in his job at the tax office in order to pursue his dream of becoming a playwright. He starts a teacher training course, gets married and starts to write plays, achieving his ambition. Then one day out of a bright blue sky he gets diagnosed with Leukaemia. On his sick bed and out of his head on morphine remembering the days of Eric’s is where we find Joey as the play opens.

In retro we take young Joey’s journey of discovery, first romance, and inspiration though some of the major events that took place at Eric’s and would shape generations to come whilst older Joey goes through the harrowing near death ordeal of recovering from Leukaemia. Through it all it is Joey’s memories and experiences at Eric’s which supply him with the strength to fight for his life.

It’s a moving story, which at points nearly had me in tears as the irony of Joey’s position isn’t lost on this particular scribe who went through very similar experiences and is presently awaiting an Angiogram and that elusive first payment for something he’s written, because Joey’s story is a true one written by Mark Davies Markham.

The cast were marvellous in their roles as leading Eric’s characters. Sam Donovan is remarkable and plays Wylie just like Wylie is. His passionate and enthralling characterisation is so vivid you almost forget it’s not the real Pete Wylie. All the ambition, hope, and desperation to find a better way is startlingly captured in Donovan’s performance of one of Liverpool’s most loved characters.

Oliver Johnson had us all howling with laughter as Julian Cope and Pete Cornfield was excellent as both Holly Johnson and Ian McCulloch. Cornfields performance of McCulloch was just as convincing as Donovan’s and all those memories of The Bunnymen on Top Of The Pops started coming back to me as I watched the play. Especially during the Killing Moon scenes.

Stuart Ellis was very convincing as Pete Burns, who I hear only played three songs before leaving the stage mumbling something about clinical depression at the ‘Little Bit Of Eric’s’ gig 12th September. Hope your feeling better soon Pete, the world needs a little more of your wicked humour.

Joey was played by Graham Bickley, who ironically was the original Joey from ‘Bread’. As Joey from Eric’s his performance is captivating and he pulls the audience along and into the nightmare of Leukaemia, its harrowing treatments, and his hallucinatory memories of a better time. Young Joey is played by Stephen Fletcher and is no less captivating as the earnest shy young would be lover who is transformed through his experience of Eric’s into a vibrant young man who sets his heart to follow his dreams and achieve his ambitions.

Joey’s girlfriend from the Eric’s days is played by Rosalie Craig as Sally, but I felt it was unclear that older Joey’s wife, Karen, played by Katy Dean, was not his girlfriend from Eric’s. It was left to audience assumption until late in the play that like the young/old Joey stage technique we were viewing there was also an old/young girlfriend/wife thing happening too. Though the character names were spoken clearly earlier in the play it would have been better to have made a far clearer distinction between the two characters who portrayed such similar attributes.

Joey’s mother was marvellously played by Lesley Nicol of ‘Shameless’ who also doubled as one of Doreen’s friends, Hillary the punk Milkmaid, who famously used to carry a metal tea kettle as a handbag. Joey’s father, played by Mark Moraghan was a weak point though. Mark seemed to be overdoing the part and it was difficult not to think of him as an actor on a stage in view of the more fluid and vivid performances of others. It was a small part, but a more relaxed and natural performance would have given the role greater weight within the context of Joey’s story.

Special mention to Iris Roberts who took the role of Jayne Casey. She looked like she was having the greatest fun during her lively, vibrant, and sensual onstage performances.

Memorable scenes include Pete Wylie’s soliloquy, the ‘There must be more to life than this.’ in the pub scene, Joey listening to ‘Road Runner’ by Johnathan Richman & The Modern Lovers, Joey fighting for his mind in his sick bed, Julian Cope arriving in Eric’s men’s room, I could go on, and on, and on. With a soundtrack including The Clash, The Damned, The Lotus Eaters, Echo & The Bunnymen, Talking Heads and The Mighty Wah this is the play that should bring none theatre goers into the theatre. I have no doubt that one day this play will become a film. I only hope as much care and attention to detail is taken in its production as has been taken in the production and execution of this wonderful pulsating artefact of Eric’s ongoing legacy of impact on Liverpool’s cultural history.

Viper 3/10/2008

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First Published 14/10/2008 by Viperslair.co.uk

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