Playing Jethro in Prince of Egypt on the West End stage is the perfect part for theatre and screen star Clive Rowe – and yet, he might so easily have instead been a star of the kitchen! BB: Hello Clive, thank you for taking time to talk to us, your day’s mujst be really full at the moment. CR: It’s a pleasure to chat to you and to be on Box Office Radio and on the great Encore! Website. Yes, it is busy but that’s great because we are coming out of a long time in which we were all desperate to be even a bit busy. BB: How have you coped? CR: I think that one of the special things about the people in entertainment is that they – we – are all optimists and you can spend your whole day telling yourself that tomorrow is going to be good. To be fair there were still scripts to learn – you just didn’t know when you were actually going to perform them. BB: How are you enjoying playing Jethro in Price of Egypt? CR: It’s fantastic. It is such a massive show with a huge cast, a big orchestra and a brilliant team behind the scenes. It is hard to describe just how big it is and how spectacular it is. You just have to see it to believe it but I can tell you that is spectacular. The storyline, the scripting, the direction, choreography, lighting, costumes, I could go on and on. To be a part of it is brilliant and exciting and if I could pick any part it would be Jethro. I love becoming Jethro almost every day. BB: So, it’s worth getting a ticket then? CR: Absolutely. I’m not just doing the marketing, I mean it. People come back to see it over and over again. As I said there is some great music and in the second half there is an amazing show-stopper song – and I sing it. (He laughs) BB: You have been around for a while now and had some great roles both on stage and on screen. You became a very familiar face because you had a regular part in the excellent Tracey Beaker TV series. Did that make much difference to you career? CR: Yes, it did. When you are on stage a thousand or more people see you at every performance. When you are on TV there are a million or more and they see you regularly so I still get stopped in the street and asked about Tracey Beaker. That’s nice of people to be interested but there is always the danger that people think that it is the only thing you have ever done. BB: That could be a problem but, of course, you have done so many things that in the business you are respected for being an excellent all-round actor and entertainer and yet, I understand that you might have become a chef instead. CR: You’ve done your research. Yes, when I was about 13 or 14 I told my Mum that I wanted to be a chef. She talked to me and said that there would be far too many cooks around, it would be too competitive and work would be hard to come by. So, I decided to become an actor and here I am in a career that has many other actors, very competitive and work hard to come by. It’s a good job I didn’t become a chef! BB: We are all delighted that you did not become a chef too, not because you can’t cook but we would have not enjoyed your talent on the stage – that good goes especially for the good people of Hackney. CR: Thank you – you are talking about the panto season, aren’t you. I think this will be my 14 th panto at Hackney Empire and I play Dame every time. I did so at other theatres before that but Hackney Empire’s annual panto is such a traditional that I just have to be a part of it every year. I love playing Dame – a bloke in a frock, larger than life, obviously a bloke and just there for the laughs. It is great fun, I would miss it if I didn’t do it. Hackney Empire is a great theatre – I urge everyone to go and see it. BB: Does this mean that you will have to give up Jethro for at least a while. CR: Sadly yes, I wish I could do both but that would not be possible and I am committed to the Hackney panto. I shall miss Jethro though, very much and hopefully we will not have seen the last of each other. BB: What are your hopes for the future? CR: Well, there are offers on the table so I think – I hope – that 2022 is going to be busy too. I think I shall be back at Hackney Empire again next year but between this panto and the next there could be a return to the West End, we shall find out soon. If I really hope for anything it is that the world gets over this pandemic and that theatres can recover, actors and performers can also recover and audiences will be able to go to the theatre whenever and wherever they want. It has been tough for everyone so here’s to a better future for all. BB: We all join you in that Clive and we would love to talk to you again when you get into rehearsals for the panto. In the meantime, we can come and see you at the Dominion Theatre. CR: I would love to come and talk to you again, thank you and I hope to see everyone at the Prince of Egypt performances. I can’t wave because Jethro wouldn’t do that buy you will hear my show-stopper song. Well, it’s a show- stopper to me.

Surely it cannot be 50 years since Barbara Dickson went into the studio to record her first album! Oh yes, it is and here we are in 2020 with her 25 th solo album – Time Is Going Faster. And there's more as Barbara's eagerly-awaited new autobiography A Shirt Box Full Of Songs is also now on sale. “ This is a very special album for me,” she said. “It is my 25 th studio album and I wanted it to have a good selection of tracks. Three are my own compositions but there are some new versions of some old favourites too so I hope we have found the right blend. We decided to release it now rather than wait for the tour because you never know when you will be touring again. “ We were going to tour this year but with the Covid-19 situation we have postponed until Spring 2021 but even then nobody can be sure of whether or not we will be over this situation. “ As for the book – A Shirt Box Full of Songs – I originally wrote an autobiography which came out in 2009 but so much has happened since then that it was suggested that it needed an update so it is not just a re-release. It has given me the chance to add more chapters, share more things and express more things. I hope people like it because it is so much a part of me. “ When I was growing up in Dunfermline there was always music and laughter in the house,” said Barbara. “My Dad was a cook who worked on tugs in Rosyth Dockyard so he was pretty good in the kitchen and had a great sense of fun. My Mum was a real Liverpudlian so growing up with them was never dull. “ I loved singing when I was very young and I don't think that has ever changed. When I look back I don't really know why I didn't go to drama school or something from an early. There wasn't a local theatre so I never saw shows exactly and we were not in the sort of area or time when kids went to drama school. I sang though and when I left school I got a 'proper job' working in a Registrar's office in Edinburgh. I was only 16 but in the evenings I went to folk clubs and sang. That's how it all began but I had no idea or strong ambition that drove me towards the career that I have had.” That career has taken Barbara around the world filling major concert halls and starring in musicals like Blood Brothers as well as recording many best-selling albums. “ I realised when I was singing in the clubs that I was at my happiest doing that and eventually I decided to go full-time and see if I could make it work. I had a big break when I met and became friends with Willy Russell. He gave me lots of advice and gave me a break in his new musical, 'John. Paul, George, Ringo....and Bert'. It was brilliant and added a whole new world of musicals to my career. “ It also helped when I became resident with The Two Ronnies TV show for some time. Millions watched them and that was another great boost for my career. I have always worked hard but I cannot deny that I have had many great breaks as well.” There is no doubt that Barbara is an international star but she takes some convincing. “ It is flattering when someone recognises you in the street and asks for an autograph or when you arrive to do a concert and the sign outside the venue says that all the tickets are sold,” she said. “It gives you a really nice, warm feeling but I am very aware that it is the music that is the star.” Other people make have a different view and those are the people who have followed her throughout her career and there is good news for them and indeed for all of us. “ There is more to come, I haven't finished yet,” said Barbara. “We will tour again and there will be more albums as long as people want to come and see us or want to hear us. Besides, while there is always penty to do in Edinburgh where we live, I don't ever see a time when I will stop singing. That has never changed since I sang for the very first time in a folk club all those years ago. “ A few years ago Barbara was awarded the OBE which she actually found a little embarrassing. “ It is a great honour, of course and I appreciated it very much – I still do,” she said. “I have never really come to terms with celebrity and still find it a bit embarrassing. All I am is an entertainer. I can understand why people who have served their communities get honours, they really deserve them but I just do what I have enjoyed doing since I was a little girl – I sing. “ A number of people have said that my songs and performances have brough a lot of pleasure over the years and I suppose that means that I have served in some way or another but while being honoured was such a surprise and a very great honour, I can't quite get used to the fact that I was given a very special award for just being me.” There is something of which Barbara is quite delighted though. “ Here we are in 2021 and another recording and that is a real milestone because it was back in 1970 that I did my first solo album,” said Barbara. “So, this is my 50 th anniversary of recording and I am very proud of that. It would not have happened without people supporting me though and that includes those lovely people who have come to my concerts and the shows in which I have appeared. They have been there for me all the way through. That is very humbling and I know I am a very lucky girl from Dunfermline.”

Good question but more importantly here’s another question - Would you please help Encore with a dilemma. No, it is nothing to do with money it is really a question for all those magnificent people who are involved in or support AMATEUR PRODUCTIONS. For many years the descriptive title AM-DRAMS has been used. We have started to use the title NON-PROS to cover those who are involved non-professional drama, operatic groups, choirs. The question is – what would you prefer? Perhaps you have a better idea. We would love to hear from you with your thoughts – just as we would love to hear all your news, your production news, show reviews. We love what you do and we want to help so don’t hesitate – if your president has a new cat, if your group is presenting Cats, don’t keep it to yourself – let the cat out of the bag! Send to us as often as you like!

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