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There are more photos from this production below. Selecting any of the small thumbnail images will show a larger version of the picture in the main part of the page. »

Buddy Holly at the Regal by Phil Woods - Niki Sullivan/Jim

- Greenwich Theatre & National Tour. Directed by Ian Watt Smith.

Pre-dating the 'dead rock-star' genre that hit the West End a few years later, this play by Phil Woods is not so much about Buddy Holly as the effect he had on fifties youth, personified by Derek Duckworth (a young David Thewlis in his first professional role). The structure of the play is a series of vignettes of Derek's life, growing up in Hull in the 50s, all leading towards his long-wished-for meeting with his idol, Buddy Holly, when he plays at the Regal Cinema in Hull. These scenes are bracketed and commented on by 'flash-forwards' to the concert itself, until the two strands come together at the end and the theatre becomes the Regal Cinema, with Derek and his friends in the front row of the audience and Buddy and the Crickets taking the stage. (For those Buddy Holly fans who know of this concert, we were aware that my character, Niki Sullivan, had left the band by the time Buddy and the Crickets toured to England - we took some liberties with historical accuracy in order to get the fuller sound that a four-piece band allowed.)

We wanted to make the sound we produced as the Crickets as authentic as possible, and I think we succeeded. The other three Crickets were all professional musicians - Pikey Butler (Buddy - pictured below) and Nosmo King were both members of the hugely successful rock 'n' roll pastiche band Darts, and Clive Howlett played with the Blue Rhythm Boys, so it was slightly scary for me to join them.

We rehearsed for about three weeks before the other cast members joined us. After only three weeks we played the Hippodrome in London as the Crickets in front of an audience that included quite a few of rock's glitterati. That was a terrifying experience, but one which I wouldn't have missed for the world!

While on tour, we also got to meet Vi Petty, the widow of Norman Petty (Buddy's producer), and the legendary Sonny Curtis (Buddy's early co-writer, writer of so many classics himself - including 'Walk Right Back' for the Everly Brothers - and a member of the post-Buddy Crickets), both of whom were kind enough to say that they thought our sound was pretty authentic.

This play also marked the start of a long and happy relationship with Micky O'Donoughue and the New Vic Theatre, a relationship which would provide me with pretty regular work and take me to America and beyond on several occasions.

"Jon Glentoran makes his mark by doubling as a Cricket and a pretentious poet whose recital is one of the play's funniest moments."