Has Adam Larter bitten off more than he can chew? Emma McAlpine speaks to the stand-up about his ambitious comedy production of Hook.
It started off as a joke email, but now Adam Larter has found himself directing a 30-strong cast of comedians in a reinterpretation of Steven Spielberg’s 1991 cult film classic Hook. To say he's got a tough job on his hands would be an understatement. "It turns out that Hook was a really huge production with some really difficult scenes in it,” Larter tells me. "One in particular involves a massive pirate ship and a cast of about 400 people. And we had to work out how to make Peter fly. Trying to organise 10 comics to turn up for one night is stressful enough, but trying to organise 30 with full time jobs, lines to rehearse, costumes and a budget of nothing...well, you can see why people don't do this on a regular basis."
A lot of the cast members are regulars from Larter's alternative club night Weirdos. Karl Schultz, who plays comedy character Matthew Kelly, came up with the idea in the run up to the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe. “We were getting bored of just doing stand-up at the club,” explains Larter. “Even the weird stuff can become quite formulaic and we weren't excited about it anymore. Karl sent out an email joking that we should do a production of Hook after Edinburgh, so I booked us a room at the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. Then everyone started to take it a bit more seriously.”
The part of Peter Pan will be played by brilliant newcomer John Kearns, one of the only straight roles in the production. “Everyone else has taken the brief to make their characters as ridiculous and cartoon-like as possible,” he says. “But John is this sensible man surrounded by anarchy. He hasn’t learnt all his lines yet he won’t mind me admitting, and looks like he's on the edge of a breakdown at every moment.”
Other roles include character comic Holly Burn as Tinkerbell (pictured), Matt Highton as Rufio, Ben Target as the narrator, Darren Maskell as Smee, various pirates, lost boys, a crocodile, and of course, Karl Schultz as Hook. Or should we say, Karl Schultz as Matthew Kelly, as Hook. “Karl only said 'let's do Hook' so he could be Hook,” says Larter. “I get a lot of emails from Karl saying ‘we should do this’, which basically means ‘I want to do it and I would like you to do the admin’”.
After several warm-up shows, the finished production of Hook will take to the main BGWMC stage for a three day run later this month, with all the proceeds donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital. So has it progressed from a chaotic shambles to a well-oiled machine? “It’s still ramshackle,” laughs Larter. “Early rehearsals were really dreadful – I was at the back crying – but we’re getting to the stage now where everything's ready. We just need to get John to learn his lines and control Holly Burn! There are loads of jokes, interactive media bits, stupid props and songs. I’d say the scale is West End production but the look and feel of it is more like a kid's nativity play.”
The Weirdos ethos will very much be in force for Hook. Larter is encouraging audience members to come dressed up, as pirates or lost boys, and in true festive panto spirit, “join in and shout stuff” should they feel like it. Music played in the break will be from 1991, as will the show’s film trailers, including Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and Drop Dread Fred. “The strength of Weirdos is that we can give people an unusual night, not just in the performance, but the whole evening," he says.
So comedy fans, have your face paints and cutlasses at the ready. Neverland is coming to London and it's stranger than you could possibly imagine.
The cast:
John Kearns - Peter Pan
“I'm very proud of being cast as an overweight, neurotic, middle-aged man who doesn't know he can fly. I haven't learnt my lines.”
Ben Target - 'The Narrator'
“This man has absolutely no interest in Peter Pan or his tedious voyage of redemption and cannot wait to get back home to his origami collection.”
Karl Schultz - Hook
“Hook, a baroque flounce, is played by Matthew Kelly, a benign outré, who is played by me. It’s a bit of a wet dream to be honest."
Holly Burn - Tinkerbell
“Having never seen the film Hook, the only reason I am in Hook this Christmas is because my career has got to the stage now where I need to prove to people that I can be taken seriously as an actor in my own right rather than just simply a 'comedian'. YES I can do funny. But YES I can do tiny fairy in love with a man/boy. I will do my hair differently too I think.”
Matthew Highton - Rufio
“When I heard we were doing Hook I knew I had to be Rufio because he is the ultimate bad ass; a super fly all-round mega pimp with a heart of gold. Red and black are also my favourite colours so I was kind of born to play this part.”
Darren Maskell - Smee
“My character of Smee was played by London-born Cockney actor Bob Hoskins. Adam Larter cast me in the role because I am a London-born Cockney comic so even if I just read out the lines, I would draw similar comparisons to how Smee was portrayed in the film.”
Images: Isabelle Adam
Hook is at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club from Monday 17th-Wednesday 19th December, at 8:20pm (Doors 7:45pm).
Tickets
Add an event
Review: The Company You Keep
Robert Redford, an iconic face of Western cinema whose influence for decades has weighe...