A sketch revue performed at The Bush Theatre, London in 1978, most notable for being the first time that future colleagues Victoria Wood and Julie Walters would work together. ^[1] 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... Victoria Wood OBE (born 19 May 1953) is an English comedienne, actress, singer and writer. ... Julia Mary Walters, OBE (born February 22, 1950) is an English Golden Globe-winning actress. ...

The show is described in Neil Brandwood's biography of Wood as an "Alternative Theatre Company's sketch show about mortality."

After being impressed by Wood's songwriting skills, director Dusty Hughes invited her to be part of a six strong writing. The topicality of the review was also deemed suitable for her, as she'd just finished writing weekly topical songs on the BBC1 consumer show That's Life. [1] BBC One (or BBC1 as it was formerly styled) is the oldest United Kingdom, and indeed, the world. ... Thats Life has been the title of four music albums: Thats Life (1966) - Frank Sinatra; features the title song written by Dean Kay and Kelly Gordon Thats Life (1978) - Sham 69 Thats Life (1988) - Victory Thats Life (1996) - Gangway Thats Life (2003) - Mick Ralphs...

Other writers included were Ken Campbell, Snoo Wilson and Nigel Baldwin. The were asked to write short items based on the weeks newspapers around the theme of death. Campbell took stories from the Malaysian New Strait Times, Baldwin the Holyhead and Anglesey Chronicle, but to be more accessible, Wood drew her inspiration strictly from the tabloids. The name Ken Campbell can refer to: The British artist and book maker Ken Campbell The British writer and actor Ken Campbell The US actor Ken Hudson Campbell The Canadian evangelist Ken Campbell An American philosopher[Ken Campbell] This is a disambiguation page, a list of pages that otherwise might... Snoo Wilson (1948-), born Andrew Wilson, began writing and directing plays as a student at the University of East Anglia in the late 1960s. ...

Wood wrote six items in the first half of the show, including a requiem for Guy the Gorilla, a song about 'battered wives' (inspired by an article in The Sun about domestic violence). A song called 'Road Blocks' about a motorcycle accident, and a melancholy number titled 'Love Song'. The second half featured a sketch by Wood called 'Dear Mum', about a middle classed woman who refuses to visit her mother in hospital, and also a harrowing song titled 'Abortion.'[2] Guy the Gorilla was a large African lowland gorilla who lived in London Zoo. ... Look up sun in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In the cast was Julie Walters. Having only met Wood briefly eight years before, the two hit it off immediately. Wood also performed in the show, but said later "There was a sketch set in Belfast and I couldn’t do the accent, so they made me a deaf mute." ^[2]

Wood received much critical acclaim for her work on the show though. The Daily Telegraph said her songs "successfully blend a gallows humour with an unexpected touch of humanity", and Time Out wrote "Victoria Woood's musical epigrams brilliantly embroider the action". This article deals with The Daily Telegraph in Britain, see The Daily Telegraph (Australia) for the Australian publication The Daily Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper founded in 1855. ... Time-out can mean: sport time-out, a break in play that may be called by a side to formulate strategy or respond to an players injury. ...

The revue was initially too short, and making up the shortfall, Wood discovered a new talent, writing comedy sketches. The sketch 'Sex' was set in a Manchester library and starred Walters as a teenage girl who thinks she's pregnant asking Alison Fiske (as the librarian) advice. As almost the only comedy in the show, it came as a welcome relief to the audience and went down extremely well. During the writing process, Wood said she discovered her true voice. "It was the first thing I'd written with proper jokes and I thought "aha!" I'd suddenly found something I could do. It was a blinding flash, like learning a new language." The Times said of the sketch that she was a "great discovery" who "got more poetry out of Manchester speech than I had heard for years".[3] This article is becoming very long. ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom since 1785, and under its current name since 1788. ...

The cast also included Godfrey Jackman, Philip Jackson and Clive Merrison. The production ran from 13th July to 6th August 1978. [4] Philip Jackson (b. ... Clive Merrison (born 15 September 1945) is an English actor of film, television, stage, and radio. ... (Redirected from 13th July) July 13th is the 194th day (195th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 171 days remaining. ... August 6 is the 218th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (219th in leap years), with 147 days remaining. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ...

Trivia

• Due to this success, then theatre director David Leland commissioned Wood's first play 'Talent'.

David Leland (born April 20, 1947 in Cambridge, England, UK) is a British director, screenwriter and actor who came to international fame with his directional debut Wish You Were Here in 1987. ...

External links

• Bush Theatre official website

Notes

References