Defeat, often sporting, can loom large over Manchester on a Monday but it is rare that such a loss would spur anyone into the kind of adventure that Winston Churchill embarked upon.
The Oldham by-election during the summer of 1899 saw the Liberal party snatch both seats from the Conservatives which featured future-Prime Minister Winston Churchill on their ticket.
Winston on the Run, a play co-written and starring actor Freddie Machin, sets out to tell part of the story of what happened next and how Churchill found himself taking shelter in the bottom of a mine shaft in South Africa.
John Walter, Fol Espoir Artistic Director and Machin’s collaborator, saw a picture of the youthful Churchill on a visit to the Churchill Rooms in London and decided to write a play about it.
“We wanted to go behind the legend and discover how the man we know was formed,” Machin told MM.
“Where did that characteristic determination come from? And the story is quite incredible ‘My Early Life’ is unputdownable. Churchill pursued adventures and diced with death in some very dangerous and exciting places in his youth.”
The one-man show won Machin the accolade of ‘Best Actor’ at the Buxton Fringe where it was also nominated for Best Production and Best New Writing.
Although Machin, who formerly studied drama in Manchester and lived in the city for six years, describes himself as an actor at heart he has a number of writing credits to his name.
The performer who studied in Manchester believes that writing and then acting the performance helped form the play.
“When we were making Winston on the Run we did some scratch performance along the way, where I would read specific sections of the piece to a guinea pig audience,” he continued.
“This was extremely helpful and we discovered a lot about the writing through saying the words out loud. And we did find that some things in performance just didn’t work and the only way to find out was through performance.”
The solo show comes to The Met in Bury on October 3 and Machin admits to being intimidated by performing on his own.
“It is very daunting, not only doing a one-person show but also doing it about such a well-known and revered figure,” Machin added.
“I am touring with our stage manager Matt who is brilliant and manages to keep me sane as we go from city to city. But most of all it is a pleasure to be able to tell this incredible story every night to a new audience.”
Picture courtesy of Fol Espoir, with thanks.
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