A
perfect piece of fringe theatre. Writer/actor Jonathan Brown takes you
on a complex, funny and harrowing journey through disparate and
depressed lives brought together by a local boozer. Landlord Bernie is
selfish and ignorant - and, like most of his punters, worships alcohol
like a god. He is portrayed brilliantly by Brown, who plays with equal
plausibility and pathos his neglected son, brash wife, lust interest
and various drunken regulars. Brown has a terrific eye for social
observation and his one man show is a profoundly moving piece of
theatre. If you're only going to see one play this festival, you'd be
hard pressed to beat this.
Brighton Town Hall, 10 May (until 15 May
Rachel Pegg (Latest 7)
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Posted on 14 May 2010 by Fiona
Like many of the performances showcased at The Brighton Fringe, Jonathan Brown's one-man show Licence is a voyage into the extraordinary.
During the evening the audience bears witness to (at times
uncomfortably authentic) portrayals of alcoholism, materialism and
excess… And is introduced to the topics at hand via an array of likely
characters - each of whom - are convincingly portrayed by Brown alone!
Brown begins as lively publican Bernie and subsequently morphs in
and out of practised portrayals of his other associates throughout. We
make the acquaintance of brash wife Brenda, morally inquisitive son
Teddy, target-driven brewery rep Donna, thuggish regular Ronnie… and
many more besides! Once the introductions are over, a clash of values
and an unfortunate sequence of events see Bernie's fated delusions of
running a cosy family local unravel before our eyes…
The hook of Licence might well be to witness the tackling
of this gang of characters (and it is a truly remarkable feat) but in
truth; Brown allows each personality to appear on stage with such ease
that they merely become a consummate vehicle for a more meaningful
exposition of the perils of excess.
Although this is a tenet by which Brown himself lives his life, the
piece forcefully portrays an image with which anyone who has entered a
pub on a Saturday night in Brighton can identify! Brown's personal
antipathy towards alcohol at times leads to an intense and disquieting
performance, however this also gives an added credibility to the piece
and makes for a truly memorable tour de force.
Catch it before Brown calls time!
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Licence
Low Down
Jonathon Brown takes us on an emotional
rollercoaster as a lovable landlord of a local Brighton pub. Through
small scenarios that subtly link, we get an insight into not only how
his mind works, but how other people perceive him in general.
Review: (with spoilers removed)
Brighton Town Hall was transformed into
a typical British pub for this different and intense one man show
License, devised and performed by Jonathon Brown. The set was simple -
two chairs with a jacket and tie over one, with a newspaper on the
other. On the other side, a table was representing a bar area with a
British flag over it. With the general flood of lighting, it gave a
very heart warming feel to the space as the audience walked in.
As soon as Jonathon walked out on stage
with his back to us, we knew instantly we were in for a treat. .....a
rollercoaster ride of how an East London landlord runs a Brighton pub
as well as little insights into his personal and family life.
Jonathon's character reminded me
somewhat of "Del Boy" in "Only Fools and Horses", because of his quick
wit, the cheekiness, the lovable rogue element, the wheeler and dealer
and so on. His energy and charm really engaged the audience all the way
throughout the show and the interactive elements were really nicely
controlled.
Due to the type of show that it is -
somewhat brash and 'in your face' a lot of the time, some of the
audience were a little overawed by him looking directly into their eyes
as he was speaking the words. However, this did not distract from the
fact that Jonathon as a performer is very strong and clearly enjoys
what he does.
There were occasions when the voice
became a little monotonous in tone and some of his characteristics
(such us breathing through his teeth) became a bit repetitive, but it
didn't last long as the show took on a more dramatic turn which hooked
us in right until the end.
License not only focussed on the
landlord character, but on his family and the customers he served. The
way he changed into a teenage boy, then became a posh social worker
lady, and a drunk local the next minute was seemless and extremely
entertaining. But it was the way in which he dealt with other serious
issues such as exploring the idea of child abuse, materialism vs.
reality and loss of a family member which really interested me. It was
not only the sensitive way these issues were dealt with, but there were
so many deliberate red herrings thrown in, that it almost became like
his favourite soap opera Eastenders.
The emotional journey we were taken on
in the second half as questions were answered and personal epiphanies
were had, was extremely well handled and really showed us a very
different side to the landlord. The use of physical theatre .....was particularly striking as he controlled each action well.
It could have been really over the top in general, but it didn't get
that far and brought the rollercoaster of a journey to a nice close as
he brought things back in a full circle to the beginning.
Jonathon Brown is a very exciting
performer to watch and License is certainly a show which is going to be
even more dynamic as it grows. Reviewed by Sascha Cooper (Fringe Review)
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Licence
Jonathan Brown
...as the play
developed, it was Jonathan's superb acting and writing talent... that really shone through. As just one man
reliving a series of situations, stepping in and out of the action, he
went through a brilliant range of characters (and associated voices).
The story became ever more harrowing as it progressed towards the
climax. I left needing to think it over, but at the same time wanting
more. (Olly Hunt - Threeweeks) . tw rating: 4/5
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Radio Reverb (Brighton) Interview Oct 2009
Four stars
The Father Monologues, Part 1, Danny.
Everything about the first part of this trilogy of plays about fatherhood - the meagre set, the one-man set up - screams sparse. But as gambler, all-round chav and reluctant father Danny, writer and performer Jonathan Brown thrives on the heightened intimacy.
We see Danny - a kind of Lee Hurst/Rodney trotter hybrid - stumbling around, searching for purpose as he struggles to come to terms with the impending birth of his second child. The regression therapy scenes are particularly impressive, as Danny re-enacts his harrowing birth scene, contorting his body into a foetal mass of flapping arms and legs, It almost feels like you're having the therapy yourself, and that's testament to Brown's authentic and touching portrayal.
Velimir Ilic, The Metro, Bristol, June 4th 2008
Free Beer, The Open House, Springfield Road, Brighton Oct 21-Nov 1 (excluding Oct 26 and 28) (From The Argus)
click here to see the article as printed
Inspired by Alan Bennett's Talking Heads - much of which is set in the
playwright's home town of Leeds, Jonathan Brown locates his works in
Woodingdean, where he grew up.
"You know the place, you know the type of people you encounter and there are so many stories to be told," he says.
After the Father Monologues, in which he examined our concepts of
paternity, Jonathan has begun work on a new series of plays that
explore the various journeys he has made with substances; the first of
which is alcohol.
Like many graduates, Jonathan left university with a degree but no
direction and spent a period working in a few of Brighton's many bars
and pubs, serving booze, watching others drink it and enjoying it a
little too much himself. It is these experiences that inform Free Beer.
The play plots the last few days in the life of a pub (partly based
on troubled Woodingdean boozer The Toby, which closed after a number of
violent incidents) as told by landlord Bernie "whose whole life is
beer-soaked". But when Bernie's ten-year-old son Teddy starts sampling
the stock, his best mate starts smacking the kids and wife Margaret
takes to the toilet for almost an entire episode of EastEnders, he
starts to lose his faith. Jonathan, who is now teetotal, says: "It's
definitely a sideways swipe at the alcohol industry - there's no
getting around it."
He likes the freedom and autonomy of one-man shows but is branching
out in a rather different direction for his next play. "This one is set
in Woodingdean again where, in the 1860s, there was a well dug which
turned out to be the deepest land-dug well in the world.
"It was dug by men with spades and they went down 1,300ft. It was
to supply water to the workhouse at the top of Elm Grove, now the
Brighton General.
"It's a fascinating, Dickensian, Brunel-esque story of intrigue and with six people it's a bit more epic."
* Starts 8pm (Sunday matinees 3pm) Tickets £8/£6 in advance from the website at www.thefathermonologues.com, £9/£7 on the door
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What does it mean to be a father in the 21st century? Writer and actor Jonathan Brown asks this question in these two self-penned monologues. Brown is completely convincing as the cockney-sounding lager lout Danny. The piece is an interesting study of how a father can feel excluded from the process of childbirth and child-rearing, swamped by emotions they have no tools to express. Come back the next day and you will meet Jenny, a capable librarian who….denied access to son Tim, enlists Shakespeare in an elaborate gender-bending plot to put things right. Brown is a fine writer and actor, and these are funny, carefully observed character studies.
The Scotsman. Edinburgh Fringe 2006
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From the The Argus, first published Thursday 17th May 2007.
The Father Monologues Part 1- Danny. 'Ninety minutes with the side of your Dad you never knew'. Jonathan Brown has written and performs this unusual and compelling one man show exploring fatherhood, beer drinking, horse racing culture and regression therapy. On the whole, the piece is witty, boasting finely observed characters that make for colourful, if abstract viewing, and although the script may at times border on repetitive, Brown possesses such control and versatility that he skillfully and one handedly creates a whole cast of personalities that ensure the audience remain engaged. This is acting laid bare, one man and his words, making for raw, powerful, abstract drama.
Three weeks Brighton Fringe 2007. Helen Shutt (who seemed to expect some one at the show to play HER father and pay for her taxi home. Hope you found enough money to get home okay, Helen!)
Latest from "The Brighton Magazine" online:
http://magazine.brighton.co.uk/index.asp?art_id=2594
The Father Monologues, All Saints' Centre, Lewes, June 10, June 24 and July 15
In the Argus. Interview By Warren Pegg
"I've always been interested in how men find ways of being emotional with each other, to be intimate with each other without being afraid," says Jonathan Brown, the writer-performer of The Father Monologues trilogy.
"Because there's always a danger of being accused of being gay, or soft or not a real man'. A lot of men turn to women for emotional support, rather than to each other."
He was inspired to write the first part of the series, which he will stage tonight, when his wife became pregnant with their first child. Brown began to focus on notions of fatherhood and masculine identity, resulting in the funny and thought-provoking story of the "apathetic, gambling chav dad Danny".
The second instalment (Tuesday, June 24) centres on the life of "gender-reassigned librarian" Jenny and features the unique spectacle of "a man playing a man playing a woman playing a woman playing a man making love to a man".
These carefully observed character studies will see Brown performing alone, aided only by subtle lighting changes and the minimal use of props. But he will be joined by guitarist Rafaelle Bizzoca for Billy: The Musical (Tuesday, July 15), which is Brown's most ambitious project to date by far.
The three-hour show - Brown advises audience members to "bring a cushion" - premiered last month at the Brighton Fringe Festival and has since been reworked to make it "more crisp and more finely tuned".
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The lead character is Billy, best friend of Danny in Part One and Jenny's lover in Part Two.
"It's partly about him and partly about someone else I've been reading about - Dr Benjamin Rush, the founding father of modern American psychiatry," Brown explains.
In a quest to "recall who his father was", Billy undergoes regression therapy, only to find he has regressed to a "past life" - that of Dr Rush.
"In order to get therapy he gets himself referred to a psychiatrist by faking mental illness," he says. "So we get to look at the mental health system in the present day as well as examining its origins."
Brown was born and raised in Brighton, going on to work as a physics teacher, before moving to the West Country in the 1990s and retraining as a performance artist.
"I performed as a teacher, because physics is dull, there's no way around it," he says. "I always tried to have a laugh and have fun with the children I taught.
"But I was desperate to delve into what was making me tick subconsciously. I had to find a way of expressing my emotional side."
# June 10 (Part One), June 24 (Part Two), July 15 (Part Three), all 8pm, £8/£6 (one play), £14/£10 (two plays), £20/£15 (three plays), 01273 478817. Tickets available on the door or from Laportes, Friar's Walk, Lewes.
Read an article about Jenny printed in the East Grinstead Courier and Observer
Read an article about Danny printed in the East Grinstead Courier and Observer
An extract of an article in VIVA LEWES Webmag
"A man walks into the office, with a toddler papoosed onto his back. He
hands me a leaflet. It reads: The Father Monologues. He turns out to be
Jonathan Brown, who was nominated for the Best Male Performer in the
Brighton Fringe this year, for two one-man shows, 'Danny' and 'Jenny',
which he is performing over the weekend in the Hibbert Room of the
Westgate Chapel. I decide to interview him there and then. He takes the
child off his back. "Danny is about a Brightonian Chav, who starts
behaving very strangely when his wife is pregnant with their second
child," he says. "She starts moving in home birthing circles, and tells
him that he should see a regressional therapist. He'd rather go down
the pub, or down the races." Jonathan plays the part of Danny, who
mimics all the other characters in the play. "On the whole people have
been happy to accept where I'm asking them to go."
The other play, 'Jenny', sees Jonathan go way into weird meta-theatre
territory. "The play is about a transgender father," he says. "There's
a Shakespearian play within the play, so I end up playing a man playing
a woman playing a man playing a woman." Jonathan puts the baby back on
his back, while telling me about the Brighton Fringe Awards Ceremony.
"I was notified last minute, and had to come straight from a camping
holiday in Devon," he says. "I was in wellies, everybody else was in
tuxes. Luckily I didn't win." (AL, Editor).
(I really never said "Luckily I didn't win!")
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(From Western Daily Press)
It's a test for any performer: the one- man (or woman) show - a stumble
or a hesitation and there's nobody else to pick up the drama and cover
up for you.
Jonathan Brown, from Devon, performed his drama,
The Father Monologues, in Edinburgh this summer. The one-man play will
be at Bridgwater Arts Centre next Friday. This is a drama based on a
contemporary young dad called Danny. He drinks, gambles and scoffs at
his partner's attempts to change his life. Containing strong language,
adult themes and nudity, the play is a tour de force of the talents of
this new playwright.
A one-man play of a completely different style is performed by Charles
Ross (pictured) at Taunton's Brewhouse Theatre on Monday. The comic
drama condenses the first three Star Wars films into 58 minutes of
hilarity.
The Canadian actor will also perform One-Man Star Wars at the Wyvern
Theatre, Swindon, next Thursday, and Salisbury's City Hall, on
September 20.
Harry Mottram
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