Gavin Richards

After training at the Bristol Old Vic Gavin Richards worked at the Liverpool Everyman and then with radical playwright John McGrath in 784 Joining the Ken Campbell Roadshow in the early 70s he got performance experience working outdoors in pubs and clubs A lucrative German tour gave him and a group of colleagues the financial security to set up Belt and Braces Roadshow Company formed with Eugene Geasley Marcel Steiner and Jeni Barnett Their leftist political and musical roadshows were taken to trade union meetings workingmens clubs colleges and schools as well as traditional theatres and arts centres Richards was Artistic Director writer and performer for this collective inspired by the work of Alan Dosser at the Everyman and Ken Campbell and John McGrath of 784 Theatre Company With 784 Richards had also directed ArdenDArcys Ballygoimbeen Bequest and Adrian Mitchells Man Friday and worked with both Richard Eyre and Trevor Griffiths Many BB members had worked for one or more of those companies and over the course of its 12 years on the road some of its members went on to form other companies like Monstrous Regiment John Fiske BBs musical director and Paul Kessel formed their own company in Sweden still working today BB also collaborated on joint productions with both 784 and Roland Muldoons CAST Others involved in the early years included Shane Connoughton Sylvester McCoy Vari Sylvestre Andy Andrews Gillian Hanna David Bradford Derek Thompson Jim Carter and Colm Meaney As well as writing original scripts with the company Richards directed and adapted other political plays most famously Dario Fos Accidental Death of an Anarchist based on a translation by Gillian Hanna which ran in the WestEnd for two years after an extensive tour starring Alfred Molina He also oversaw the Belt and Braces production of Steve Goochs version of Brechts The Mother directed by Paul Hellyer which helped to launch the career of Maggie Steed In the 80s and 90s Richards was a successful television and film actor again working with Trevor Griffiths on Central TVs Oi For England and with Paula Milne on the BBC series Driving Ambition Assisted by Paula Milne and other ex members of BB Richards produced A Night For A Nuclear Free Europe for the Labour Party at Wembley Arena in 1984 at the height of the miners strike In the 90s he also worked with Jack Shepherd on Comic Cuts Griff Rhys Jones onThe Alchemist and Richard Sparks on The Crimson Lizard His work on BBCs Allo Allo and EastEnders is something he would rather forget More recently with Tamara Henry he formed a theatre company in New Zealand called Theatre South whose youth production for the child soldiers charity War Child won several awards His recent book of poetry entitled 200 Weeks was published by Muswell Press in North London in 2015