Rare performance of a rare Ewan MacColl play
Most people have heard of the song Dirty Old Town, but who wrote it? The song, so widely performed by the Pogues and The Dubliners that many think it's an Irish tune, was in fact written in 1949 by singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl - real name James Miller - as little more than scene-change, interlude music for his play Landscape with Chimneys. And the song, like the play - is about his home town, Salford.
As we approach the 37th anniversary of the artist's death in 1989, the rarely-performed drama is about to be performed by Salford Arts Theatre (in Kemsing Walk, Salford, September 23-27) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the tiny theatre and the 100th anniversary of Salford becoming a city.
Though MacColl is known as a songwriter - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face was one of his - he wrote around 20 plays and was involved with Joan Littlewood's iconic Theatre Workshop. Landscape with Chimneys was toured around Welsh mining towns in 1951, but was never formally published and has rarely been staged since.
The new production, directed by Liam Allen, has a surprise for audiences too: the work will feature the original five-verse version of the famous song. MacColl himself recorded a four-verse version of the work, which became the standard version, and the original has rarely been heard over the past 80 years.
More info and tickets here
