Following a tremendous response to my first piece on The Wall , which is being staged at Tamworth Assembly Rooms on June 5, 6, 7 and 8 by Arts Connects and Fired Up Theatre, I have now secured an exclusive interview with Mal Dewhirst who has been involved in writing additional material for the show.

What has amazed me is how this show has attracted interest not only from those local to Tamworth, but also from Pink Floyd fans around the country – and the world!

Mal Dewhirst

Q. Mal, how did you come to be involved in writing additional material for The Wall?

The Artistic Director, Simon Quinn, envisioned that his version of the production would include some newly developed poetry. The Producers at Tamworth Art Connects recommended that he should talk to me and so we met at an Arts connects meeting, it was one of those wonderful unexpected opportunities that really grab the imagination, how could I not do it.

Q. How well do you think the lyrics of The Wall have travelled over the last thirty years?

Pretty well I would say, I think that is because the themes are more relevant to everyone today than perhaps they were 30 years ago. Whilst Roger Waters drew from his personal experience and the dissolution of his situation, there was not a shared sense of identity of the isolation and marginalisation in society among most of the population. Pink Floyd showed us a world as an expression of what could be, a warning if you like, one that was ignored and communities drifted into the reality of it all. Simon’s new version points this out in the hope that like Pink, communities and most of all the people in them will reassess their lives and their relationships to each other. It’s time to OCCUPY YOUR MIND.

Q. How daunting has it been to compliment the work of Roger Waters?

I must admit I was daunted at first, partly out of respect for Roger’s work but also because people especially other poets would make comparisons between what I have done and the original. I have however in the past created new poetry inspired by the work of other poets such as the WWI German poet August Stramm and paid due reverence in doing so. I feel that by working with the same themes it gives me a better understanding of the original, it helps me get into the writer’s thinking and hopefully others can get a new perspective on the original piece.

Q. What specific additional material have you written, is there anything that we should particularly look out for?

My contribution is a mix of my own pieces and pieces that I have gathered. My pieces include a sound piece The Thin Ice, two film pieces that are read with Empty Spaces and Bricks and Mortar, finishing with a lament.
An interesting piece that I have gathered is a sound poem with many voices, Nobody Home. It was developed at a series of workshops at the Community Café’s where I was supported by the Tamworth Writers Group. The piece was developed from responses to lines from the lyrics of Comfortably Numb, which the participants wrote and were then recorded to be edited together to create the final piece.
I am really pleased to have two poems from the Coventry War Poet Antony Owen from his collection The Dreaded Boy, including the title piece and Scent of a son. Antony came along to the Assembly Rooms in Tamworth and we recorded the pieces as a sound piece and a short film overlaid with footage from the Afghan War.

Q. How do you see the roles of prose, poetry and lyrics in a theatrical production, and how has that influenced what you have written for The Wall?

This has been a great opportunity to bring poetry to new audiences. Poetry is normally written for the page or stand alone performance. I decided to experiment with poetry being presented using the mediums of sound and film. Some of it the audience reads, some they listen to, some they watch. This is not a move away from the page or stand alone performance but more a means of bringing a new approach to delivering poetry and trying to draw people to reading more poetry and attending open mic’s.

Q. Historically plays and musicals have been revamped and re-imagined over the years, particularly for film. What scope do you see for similar reassessment and revision of past popular music classics both lyrically, and in production for the stage?

Simon mentioned Quadrophenia in his interview, which I would very much agree with. I would like to perhaps take this away from existing plays and musicals and consider some classic albums and how these might be adapted into relevant productions for the early 21st Century. So, maybe David Bowie and Ziggy Stardust or King Crimson – In the court of the Crimson King, built around a realisation of the 21st Century Schizoid Man, you only have to look at the image on the album cover to imagine the posibilities, and hey you may even get Robert Fripp to perform it. If you really want something obscure then Ken Russell’s Macbeth with the music of the Third Ear Band. Of course, as there no tribute bands who perform the music of the Third Ear Band, maybe not.
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Top professional Pink Floyd tribute band Floydian Slip will be performing throughout the production to create a polished performance, not only for Pink Floyd fans but for anyone with an interest in music and theatre.

Tickets for The Wall are available from the Tourist Information Centre in Corporation Street or by calling the box office on 01827 709618.

A short video explaining more about The Wall project can be viewed on Tamworth Borough Council’s YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YPtPGKcxLU

The project is being funded and supported by Fired Up Theatre, Arts Connects, Staffordshire Community Wellbeing Fund, Tamworth Arts Grants Scheme, Tamworth Community Safety Partnership, Staffordshire Local Community Fund and Staffordshire County Council’s Arts Grants Scheme

The first piece together with an interview with Director Simon Quinn may be found:

Pink Floyd’s “The Wall “ Comes to Tamworth