Roy Smiles

Roy Smiles (born 1966) is a singer-songwriter & playwright from Ealing, West London. He is also an occasional actor.

Roy Smiles
Born1966 (age 56–57)
London, England
Occupation(s)Dramatist, playwright, songwriter
Years active1987–present
Websitehttps://roysmiles.bandcamp.com

Smiles has written twenty seven theatre plays, the best known of which is Kurt and Sid, a 2009 London West End production about the fictional meeting of Sid Vicious and Kurt Cobain, starring Danny Dyer & Sean Evans.[1]

He has released nine albums of songs:[2] Drunks & Dreamers,[3] Time's Moving On,[4] Seize The Day,[5] Autumn Song,[6] Bremen,[7] The Trains & The Rain,[8] Northern Angels [9], Lost Souls[10][11] and November's Child. [12]

He has released ten compilations of his songs: London Hymns,[13] Winter's Child,[14] Clancy's Song,[15] If Summer Comes,[16] Ballads Of The Thames,[17] Child Of Two Rivers,[18] Go Gently (Best Of),[19] A Land Called Home (Best Of II),[20] Forty Big Hits [21] & 40 More Big Hits.[22]

Career

His first play staged in 1992 at the Battersea Arts Centre, Schmucks[23] was about a fictitious meeting between Groucho Marx and Lenny Bruce.

The Promised Land, a play commissioned to commemorate the 40th anniversary of V.E Night and set on the same night, was staged at the Kings Head Theatre in 1995.[24]

Smiles' stage plays focus largely on biographical subjects such as Albert Camus (The Weight Of Days), Evelyn Waugh (Waugh In Winter), Marilyn Monroe/Arthur Miller (Reno),[25] George Orwell (Year of the Rat),[26] Tony Hancock (The Lad Himself)[27] & Robert F. Kennedy (The Last Pilgrim).[28]

A number of his plays have debuted or transferred to theatres around the world, such as Pythonesque,[29] the story of the Monty Python team, which opened in South Africa in 2008 before moving to Edinburgh as part of the Fringe Festival in 2009.[30]

The Boys Of Summer - his play set in a HIV ward was staged at the Old Red Lion in 1995, with Ian Bartholomew.[31]

Stand Up - his play about the London stand-up comedy scene was staged at the Old Red Lion in 1999, with Lucy Davies. It was revived at The Kings Head Theatre in 2006 under the title The Ho-Ho Club directed by Karl Howman and starring Sally Lindsay.[32][33]

Bombing People - a farce about the Enola Gay, was staged at the Jermyn Street Theatre in 2000, with Michael Fitzgerald.[34]

Sick Dictators, a farce about Chilean dictator General Pinochet, was staged at the Jermyn Street Theatre in 2001, directed by James Bolam.[35]

In 2002 he played the role of Itzak Heller, a Jewish collaborator, in Roman Polanski's Oscar winning Best Picture The Pianist.[36]

Ying Tong - A Walk with the Goons, the story of Spike Milligan's nervous breakdown whilst writing The Goon Show, was staged at West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2004, transferring the following year to the New Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End before touring the US, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.[37][38]

Year Of The Rat - his play about George Orwell's attempt to woo wife-to-be Sonia Brownell whilst writing 1984 was staged at West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2007, with Hugo Speer as Orwell.[39]

Good Evening - about the Beyond The Fringe team was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2008, with Benedict Cumberbatch as Dudley Moore.[40]

The Last Pilgrim - about Senator Robert F. Kennedy's doomed campaign for the American Presidency was staged in London in 2010.[41]

The Lad Himself - his play about self loathing radio & TV comedian Tony Hancock was staged at the Edinburgh Festival in 2013.[42]

Memories Of A Cad - his radio play about actor Terry-Thomas dealing with Parkinson's Disease was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2014, with Martin Jarvis as Terry-Thomas & Alistair McGowen as Richard Briers.[43]

Reno - his play about Marilyn Monroe & Arthur Miller's marriage imploding during the making of The Misfits had its world premiere at the Brighton Festival in 2014.[44]

Plum - his play about writer PG Wodehouse's infamous broadcasts from Berlin in WW2 was staged at The Court Theatre in Christchurch in 2014.[45]

Year of the Rat,[46] Ying Tong , Pythonesque and Kurt & Sid are published by Oberon Books.[47]

Funny People, his book on his comedy heroes, was published by Oberon Books in 2016.[48]

Ten Plays by Roy Smiles was published by Oberon Books in 2018. Containing his plays on Albert Camus, Richard Burton, Oscar Wilde/George Bernard Shaw, Evelyn Waugh, Tony Hancock, Lenny Bruce, the Enola Gay, the Iraq War, Marilyn Monroe/Arthur Miller & the 2011 London Riots.[49]

Ying Tong, Pythonesque and Good Evening were broadcast on BBC Radio 4. As were his plays: Dear Arthur Love John,[50] Goodnight From Him[51] and Memories Of A Cad.[52]

The Funny Girls - his play about Barbra Streisand & Joan Rivers rivalry/friendship, was first staged at The Wimbledon Theatre in September 2021.[53][54]

A Sober October - his biographical memoir on surviving bowel cancer, was published on Amazon Books in 2022.[55]

The Lad Himself - his play about Tony Hancock, had its London premiere at Upstairs At The Gate in Highgate in April 2022.[56]

Forty two of his plays are self-published on Amazon Books.[57]

Plays

[58]

  • The Funny Girls - Wimbledon Studio Theatre, 17 September 2021.

References
  1. Spencer, Charles. "Kurt and Sid at the Trafalgar Studios, review". Telegraph. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  2. "Music | Roy Smiles". Roysmiles.bandcamp.com. 1 June 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  3. "Audiomack | Free Music Sharing and Discovery". audiomack.com.
  4. https://www.deezer.com/en/album/307809957
  5. https://open.spotify.com/album/6LjPSMqOrBpz2PL1I7uaAh
  6. https://open.spotify.com/album/1H1YVBBECN94NFnXexlRUo
  7. https://open.spotify.com/album/3H2VVgFmIMLhD8gUqVf5yT
  8. https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-trains-the-rain/1634772260
  9. https://www.deezer.com/en/album/336704267
  10. "Audiomack | Free Music Sharing and Discovery".
  11. "Roy Smiles | Jamendo Music | Free music downloads". Jamendo Music.
  12. https://roysmiles.bandcamp.com/album/novembers-child
  13. https://open.spotify.com/album/5483Rtl6RIlK4twXeIWiot
  14. https://open.spotify.com/album/2b5Ku4vGlY47l32yiFoWa8
  15. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clancys-Song-Roy-Smiles/dp/B0728P855D
  16. https://www.amazon.co.uk/If-Summer-Comes-Roy-Smiles/dp/B078325NKH
  17. https://open.spotify.com/album/6b1hBzFD8FNnC81AkQ8xnm
  18. https://open.spotify.com/track/76sCjvHerMDx1vS3eafLOD
  19. https://open.spotify.com/album/0752JMhnJo27bQaFiFfTM6
  20. https://open.spotify.com/album/1ezEeL8WSHJarWGlb1rVzD
  21. https://open.spotify.com/album/1ppYTTzmdwoWZw20x1GLMV
  22. https://open.spotify.com/album/4bB4Ulmx5oIweWiWiIeCb5
  23. "Schmucks".
  24. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Promised-Land-VE-Night-1945/dp/B0BS8S41DC/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Roy+Smiles+-+The+Promised+Land&qid=1679391048&s=books&sr=1-1
  25. "Reno | Fringe Guru". Brighton.fringeguru.com. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  26. Alfred Hickling. "Theatre review: Year of the Rat / West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds | Stage". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  27. "Review: The Lad Himself, Gilded Balloon Teviot (Venue 14) | The Scotsman".
  28. "THE LAST PILGRIM To 23 October".
  29. "Edinburgh Festival 2009: Pythonesque at the Cowbarn, E4's Udderbelly, review". www.telegraph.co.uk.
  30. "Theatre review: Pythonesque". The Scotsman. 2 August 2009. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  31. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BSJ9NGPT/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tu00_p1_i2
  32. https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/hoho-rev
  33. https://www.chortle.co.uk/review/2006/01/01/35162/the_ho-ho_club
  34. https://nordiska.dk/en/vaerker/bombing-people/
  35. https://www.uktw.co.uk/archive/London/Jermyn-Street-Theatre/Play/Sick-Dictators/L1232799328/
  36. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253474/characters/nm0806942
  37. Michael Billington. "Ying Tong, New Ambassadors, London | Stage". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  38. Charles Spencer. "The genius – and the torment – of Spike Milligan". Telegraph. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  39. Hickling, Alfred (14 March 2008). "Year of the Rat". The Guardian.
  40. https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/good_evening/
  41. Aguinaldo. "THE LAST PILGRIM To 23 October".
  42. Lentell, Dan (6 August 2012). "The Lad Himself".
  43. "Memories of a Cad - Radio 4 Comedy Drama". British Comedy Guide.
  44. Levy, Paul (28 May 2015). "Reno".
  45. "PLUM - A regular wheeze plus facts and irony". www.theatreview.org.nz.
  46. "Theatre review: The Year of the Rat at West Yorkshire Playhouse".
  47. "Roy Smiles". Oberonbooks.com. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  48. Smiles, Roy (18 October 2011). Funny People: My Journey Through Comedy. ISBN 9781849430340.
  49. "Roy Smiles: 10 Plays". Oberon Books. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  50. https://archive.org/details/dear-arthur-love-john-by-roy-smiles
  51. https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/goodnight_from_him/
  52. https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2019/52/memories-of-a-cad
  53. "The Funny Girls". 21 September 2021.
  54. "Review: THE FUNNY GIRLS, New Wimbledon Theatre Studio".
  55. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CJH44KYZ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=AG5YKU6U7C7S&keywords=A+Sober+October+-+Roy+Smiles&qid=1695316373&sprefix=a+sober+october+-+roy+smil%2Caps%2C186&sr=8-1
  56. "The Lad Himself: Tony Hancock brought to life in funny nostalgic show **". 22 April 2022.
  57. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roy-Smiles/e/B001JPA68G?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1678395909&sr=1-1
  58. "Roy Smiles". Playwrights. Doollee. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
  59. Gable, Jeremy (1 December 2008). "Schmucks". EDGE Philadelphia. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  60. "THEATRE / Top of the Town - King's Head, London N1". Independent.co.uk. 22 October 2011.
  61. "Review of The Court Jester". Cix.co.uk. 1 December 1994. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  62. "Theatre: On the Fringe". Independent.co.uk. 21 September 2011.
  63. Michael Billington (29 October 2004). "Ying Tong, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds | Stage". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  64. "The Ho-Ho Club – King's Head Theatre – Your London Reviews". IndieLondon. 5 November 2006. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  65. "Good Evening: Behind "Beyond the Fringe" Audiobook | Roy Smiles | Audible.co.uk". www.audible.co.uk. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020.
  66. "New Zealand Theatre: theatre reviews, performance reviews". Theatreview. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  67. "Danny Dyer Plays Vicious in Kurt & Sid Premiere – – News". Whatsonstage.com. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  68. "New Zealand Theatre: theatre reviews, performance reviews". Theatreview. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  69. "The Last Pilgrim, by Roy Smiles « Fringe Report". Fringereport.wordpress.com. 4 October 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  70. Paul Taylor (2 November 2011). "Burlesque, Jermyn Street Theatre, London (4/5) – Reviews – Theatre & Dance". The Independent. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  71. Cavendish, Dominic (23 August 2012). "Edinburgh 2012: The Lad Himself, Gilded Balloon, review". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  72. "Plum". The Court Theatre. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  73. "Reno". 28 May 2015.
  74. "Reno". The Latest. 17 December 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
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