Ian Giles remembers Mike Mould
This concerns the years 1971-1973 and thus predates his establishment of Bruvvers….
When I joined what was then The Tyneside Theatre Company at the University Theatre, Newcastle (now Northern Stage) in the summer of 1971, Mike was already there as a member of Stagecoach, its TIE company, along with Charmian Dore, Karl Johnson, Holly de Jong and Nic Jensen. When their director, Paddy Masefield became unwell, I was seconded to co-direct Stagecoach’s innovative show Theatre Zoom and this was the first time I worked with Mike Mould. He was terrific, both as a performer and as an experienced old(er) hand who took a very young and inexperienced Assistant Director under his wing. This was the first of many successful collaborations over the next two years.
In the summer of 1972 he and I were designated to run a new residential Youth Theatre as part of the Tyneside Theatre Company’s Young People’s Theatre Festival. Ably assisted by Drama Teachers who also acted as chaperones, we ran a two week residential drama course for 15-18 year olds from Newcastle, Northumberland and Durham and for the year following we established a Youth Theatre via weekly workshops based at University Theatre. During this time I learnt so much from Mike. His experience at E15, Ed Berman’s Inter-Action and subsequent work was all generously shared and undoubtedly contributed in no small way to my development as a director.
Also that summer, Mike was an indispensable and unforgettable addition to our company when we were invited to the Avignon Festival with Michael Bogdanov’s production of Sophocles’ Antigone. He wasn’t in the show but his Wizzo the Wizard, barking Franglais to support our late night street theatre presentations of Northumbrian sword dancing and hymns in Welsh, initially bemused but subsequently delighted the French. I can see him now, his costume and pointed hat adding a full foot to his six foot plus, announcing, “Mesdames et messieurs, we present pour votre entertainment the danseurs Northumbrian avec le Rapper dance!” All in a rasping cockney accent and backed by a badly played accordion. Brilliant.
In the 1972/3 season, Stagecoach became an integrated part of the Tyneside Theatre Company and Mike worked on a variety of projects including, among many others, my production of Oh! What A Lovely War, Street Theatre for the Newcastle Festival and Sergeant Match in Orton’s What The Butler Saw. While fully committed to the company’s work in all its forms and unbeknownst to anyone else, he was quietly working behind the scenes to set up Bruvvers. So, in the summer of 1973, when many of us moved on, Mike stayed in Newcastle to run his new company which was to become his life’s work. The rest, as they say, is history.