Newspaper interview from The Birmingham Post, published in June 1998.
SONGBIRD ALIGHTS ON A NEW STAGE
Terry Grimley meets Barbara Dickson whose new all-singing show is a milestone in her glittering career.
Singer and actress Barbara Dickson, whose career has ranged from folk clubs to West End musicals, has repackaged her talents in a new format for her latest project.
Having made a big impact in Willy Russell's Blood Brothers and moved on to straight roles in television dramas like Taggart and Band of Gold, she has recently collected the Liverpool Echo Best Actress Award for a show which consists entirely of songs.
The show, The Seven Ages of Woman, played Liverpool last autumn as a low-key try-out for the tour which brings it to Malvern next week and Birmingham next month.
"We did six weeks last year to try it out, and did it very quietly," she said.
"We didn't want to make a fuss in case it was a disaster. But we got fantastic reviews, just better than I could have hoped for. I could have put them all outside the theatre."
The Seven Ages of Woman is the result of her long-time collaboration with writer and director Chris Bond.
"He's a writer, was an actor, a very good director. He's done an awful lot of productions in the theatre and he wrote the book of Sweeney Todd which Stephen Sondheim turned into the musical of the same name.
"We worked on the original production of Blood Brothers and have worked through a lot since then. People who have come to see me in concerts in the 80s and 90s have always commented on the presentation; I've always tried because of my folk and traditional background to give the concerts a more subtle musical edge than you would expect from someone doing a pop concert.
"So right after I was working on Blood Brothers with Chris he gave my shows a theatrical dimension concerts don't usually have, and I really enjoyed that.
"He said he wanted me to do a theatre show which took this to its natural zenith, with proper theatrical lighting and effects which you could never do on a one-night stand because you never have time unless you're like the Rolling Stones and have three different sets in three different places at one time."
The show, which has no dialogue but makes use of back-projection to keep the audience orientated, traces the life experience of a representative, but unspecific, woman.
"It's the life of every woman with a small 'e'. It goes through stages that are not necessarily chronological; we go through marriage, love lost in relationships, all sorts of areas. But she's not me and she's not anyone I know.
"The songs come from all over the place. There's Pirate Jenny by Brecht and Weill, some Sondheim, Lennon & McCartney, a Tracey Chapman song, Randy Newman, traditional songs, a Carole King song called Natural Woman, and I Will Wait For You, written by Michel Legrand, from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
"There are some things that are quite obscure, some quite familiar, but on the whole unless you are an absolute theatrical aficianado it's unlikely that you will know all of them.
"Chris chose the songs and put them together, and considering how many were chosen very few were given the elbow when we started working on the show."
Having put together what she thought was a self-explanatory show, she was nonplussed when one fan asked why she hadn't sung I Know Him So Well, her number one hit from Chess .
"It was the oddest thing. They had watched the show... how could I have done it? I suppose it would be the same if people went to see Shirley Bassey and she didn't sing Diamonds Are Forever."
After last autumn's toe-in-the-water the show is now on a nine-week tour.
"It's a joy to do. I haven't done theatrical tours so this is a new world for me. As a touring artist my world has always been doing concerts, when I usually do one night and move on.
"Staying in a place for a week you really get to know it. For instance in Birmingham you have some wonderful Victorian paintings and I'm looking forward to seeing The Last of England." Six years ago Barbara Dickson and her husband Oliver Cookson, who was stage manager at the Liverpool Playhouse when she was performing there in 1984, moved to the Lincolnshire countryside.
"I lived in London and Richmond and was getting obsessed with parking and dog pooh. We also had three small children. We found a wonderful house in 11 acres on the Lincolnshire Wolds, and didn't need to be persuaded.
"It's probably the most unspoiled part of the country. I live on top of a hill and whichever way I look I can't see any electricity pylons."
The album of Seven Ages of Woman is about to be released and for the time being the show is taking up all Barbara Dickson's time.
"I really love TV drama and I'd like to make a feature film but it's been a very strange time over the last year; I haven't really had time to do anything because I've been working on Seven Ages since the summer of last year.
"I'm really concentrating on this show because I think it's the best possible thing for me to be doing. It's also a great antidote to the World Cup; I like the game but I can't stand the oiky culture.'
The Seven Ages of Woman is at the Malvern Festival Theatre from June 15-20 and the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham, July 6-11.
