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THEATRICAL VISIT
I was quite shocked when we
arrived at The Belgrade Theatre for on display there was a second type of
poster, entirely different and much more disquieting than the first.
It was of handbill size (A4) and was printed in lurid red, as befitted its
apparent theme.
At the top was the question “Who is the most dangerous man in Britain?” This was followed by a descending hierarchy of Harold Wilson, Tony Benn and Harold Beck. What gave a most uneasy feeling was that the picture beneath the question "Harold Beck?" was of a person who, like me, was dark-haired with a parting on the left, wore glasses and had a moustache. Then, came the exhortation SPEAK UP, HAROLD BECK!
In small print at the bottom was :-
A new political comedy by Rony Robinson, set here and now; see Harold wrestle with his revolution, his marriage, his piles; can he make himself heard before it is too late - for him as well as everyone else?
I have forgotten what price we booked but it turned out to be irrelevant for when as requested by The Belgrade's Manager through the Evening Echo we made ourselves known to the Box Office, we were made guests of the theatre, our cheque was returned and we were given free meal vouchers and drinks.
THE PROGRAMME
The next shock was the Programme which, like the poster, was bright red in external appearance. The contents were not in the usual form of advertisements, a cast list and a brief description of each scene.
The pages will be examined in detail later but are here briefly introduced:-
The most striking entry was the Harold Beck page (four), which was devoted to information about the Harold Beck of the play. It was printed in blue and included a photograph which was different from the one which appeared on the small poster but it was another look-similar to me.
The fictitious Harold Beck was 10 years younger than I was and, like me, had married a girl whose Christian name began with an S, though in his case it was Sandra rather than Sheila. One date of significance in his life was listed as Red Friday in May 1975. Then came Beck's Song, on which comment will be made later.
Directly opposite the Harold Beck page was one devoted to information, in an identical format, about someone called Edward Carpenter.
The chronological biography gave details such as when he was born (60 years before me), the fact that he went on to become a Fellow of Trinity Hall at Cambridge, his career, friendships and death. At the foot of the page was set out Carpenter's Song, which said in effect that England, a land of lies and exploitation, should arise because from the East the dawn was appearing. A possible explanation of the Edward Carpenter page was lost on me for many years.
Two pages in the programme (six and seven) were headed "Company File" and described the cast, the author and the director. It was stated that Rony Robinson was an Oxford graduate who had hoped to become a journalist but instead took up teaching English in a large London comprehensive before turning to the theatre. Apparently at The Belgrade he had a type of appointment which was rare in Britain, namely that of resident playwright. It was also said that he was:-
Definitely not Harold Beck - although he is a mildly eccentric socialist who wears sandals and gets enraged if he cannot buy a New Statesman on a Friday morning.
The cast list on page eight showed that there were only four members of cast, three of whom took on five parts each. The fourth played just one character, the adult Harold Beck, and I saw later that the actor looked almost the reverse of me - throughout the play he wore a mask embodying my features of left-parted dark hair, spectacles and moustache.
Page three was taken up with The Ballad of Amos Valera, described as a “Poem in the style of a Stanley Holloway recitation by Trevor Watson, of the Water undertaking's offices in Waverley Road, Coventry."
THE PLAY
The play was described in the programme (page nine) as a psychodrama, which is a therapeutic technique used in psychiatric hospitals where patients take on roles assigned to them but perform without a script. The setting of the play was itself a psychiatric hospital in which Harold Beck was a patient, looking back at various critical incidents and phases in his life and especially when he was a clerk in a Water undertaking.
The action of the play seemed to me to be much ado about nothing. It was weird to hear one's own name mentioned so much, especially as the views expressed by the Harold Beck on the stage were poles apart from my own; his politics were of the far left whereas mine, to the extent that they can be placed at a single point, average out at a little to the right of centre. On the other hand there were some uncanny similarities, such as the information given from the stage that Harold Beck had not done military service because he suffered from asthma, which was exactly the position I had been in. As will be seen there was an even more striking similarity in the fictitious Harold Beck's night attire which I forgot about it until Bridget recalled it years later.
THE BELGRADE PEOPLE
After the performance we were introduced to the cast, the author and to one other person who was probably the director of The Belgrade. Over drinks we discussed features of the play and how it had come into being.
Two members of the cast seemed very keen for me to know that they were very left-wing. This may have been a simple reaction to the information, no doubt conveyed through the Evening Echo, that I was a Conservative Councillor. Overall, however, I could not help but form an impression of an overwhelming bias to the left.
I asked Rony Robinson how he had come to choose the name "Harold Beck" and he replied without hesitation that since the workplace of his hero was the Water Department of a local authority, he had used, as names, words which had some association with water. Hence was derived Beck, as well as presumably Grimsdyke and perhaps also Marsh, Otter and Drake. He said he had chosen "Harold" because it was a well-known name and sounded right.
When I mentioned to the author that there had been some extraordinary events in my life, including an approach by a Russian inviting myself and family to spend some time in Moscow, his reaction can perhaps best be described as one of exasperation that I had not taken advantage of such a rare opportunity. In response to my question about how he had thought up the point about his Harold Beck not doing military service because of asthma, he said his brother had been in that position.
Another point that emerged was that the management of The Belgrade or their municipal sponsors were very apprehensive that I would sue them for damages. I reassured them that I was not of a litigious nature but I did say I would be concerned if the play were to be put on in a place where I was known. Rony Robinson responded by assuring me that there was no question of presenting the play outside Coventry.
We made our way home that evening having had a fascinating experience which left me with much food for thought.
PUBLICATION
Susan Dale's article on Speak Up,
Harold Beck!, together with the photograph, was published in the
Evening Echo on Saturday 31st May, under the caption:-
Harold goes 80 miles to see his namesake
The text of the Evening Echo item reads:-
HAROLD BECK took a long look at himself last night . . . and travelled 80 miles to do it.
Could he really he the man with a dead end job in local government, who had married above his station and was an exile from his home in the north?
This was a character in a play Harold Beck saw - Harold Beck of Coventry.
The real Mr Beck, pictured left, is a 50 year old councillor on St Albans council, who is happily married with three daughters and was born in London.
He was intrigued about the fictitious Harold Beck, who stars in a new comedy in Coventry, called Speak Up Harold Beck, by Rony Robinson.
"I went to see the play with my wife Sheila and youngest daughter Bridget," said Mr Beck, a lecturer in management studies at the management centre of Hatfield Polytechnic in St Albans.
He heard about the play when Bridget, 15, and Mrs Beck went on a youth weekend to Coventry.
"Part of this weekend was a visit to the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, and they were amazed to see this name staring at them from a poster," said Mr Beck, who is also chairman of the Community Health council for North West Hertfordshire.
The play's author chose the name Harold Beck because the character works In the Water Department of the local council and Beck is a Yorkshire word meaning river.
"As to the name Harold, I honestly don't know where I got that from - except that perhaps I think the name has an old fashioned feel about it," said Mr Robinson.
Both Mr Becks have moustaches and wear glasses - but according to Mr Robinson, the resident playwright at the Belgrade theatre, that's where the similarities end.
"My Mr Beck is a failure and the real one sounds as if he has made a success of his life," he said.
It seemed to me, following the query raised at The Belgrade the previous evening, that the comments of the author quoted by Susan Dale may have been aimed at reducing the risk of legal action for damages. One or two Coventry papers also carried reports of my visit.
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