Unzipped!
I have always found it mildly absurd how characters start singing perfectly arranged songs in musicals as if they were spontaneous and realistic emotional expressions. How is it that Joseph's eleven brothers all come up with the same words?
Gyles Brandreth's musical, Zipp!, reveals how, in my understandably post-modernist, rationalist approach, I have missed the point of theatrical entertainment. Promising "100 musicals in 90 minutes or your money back!" his Pocket Musical Theatre Company whizzes the audience back to the future through the best and worst of the hits of the West End and Broadway with the comfort of the Bednob and Broomsticks bed and exhilaration of Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang. This description is a little over-embellished and surreal but all in the name of the musical spirit.
After the show, in the Aladdin's cave backstage (Gyles' dressing room), we sit drinking Earl Grey tea and munching chocolate chip biscuits. The scene is intimate and English, yet there is more than a hint of magic in the air. "There's nobody I'd rather be with in the world," Gyles declares. It's an exaggeration, but not entirely untrue.
I am still wondering how a former Oxford scholar, Union President, MP and political journalist could win such appreciation by dancing in fishnet tights and singing his heart out in such an astounding stage performance. Gyles, in his good-natured way, doesn't seem in the least disgruntled at the prospect of yet another standard question and answer session by some amateur outsider or probing investigator.
In the preface to his collected interviews, Brandreth admits his lifelong fascination with the famous, "For more than 40 years now, relentlessly, I have been pursuing brief encounters with the great and the good." Gyles' display is not for mere show; there is no need to impress. Meeting people is something he genuinely enjoys, and appreciates everyone for their attributes: "I am a fan of everybody."
Gyles' interest in my Oxford experience and journalistic activities is more than touching. Feeling valued, I begin to understand why his sometimes preposterous and startling behaviour from cross-dressing (on stage) to campaigning for gay rights does not induce devastating ridicule. He is charming.
The polarity between Gyles' conservative work (including his political activities) and media personality (television presenter, appearances on game shows and starring in pantomimes) is evident from his early performances. "As a child I did two sorts of singing, I was a choirboy for many years and... at the Pavilion On the Sands, Broadstairs, I was a summer seaside treat for three nights a week. I did what was known as eccentric singing and novelty dancing... it involved a lot of throwing of legs in random directions while occasionally standing on my head." I assure him that he must have been very talented. In fact, Gyles stands on his head in the current show.
Out of context, Gyles may sound eccentric. Yet there is no reason to doubt his sincerity or self-awareness. Those jumpers that awoke innocent TV AM viewers from slumber at the breakfast table, for example, were not a hideous fashion mistake but a branding technique. Most have been donated to charities or sold for good causes. "One was bought for £2,000 by the Duke of Westminster", Gyles proudly informs me, although we both doubt whether he wears it himself. The Victoria and Albert Museum even wanted to make a permanent display. Gyles is not ashamed of this phase but grateful to its lasting effect. However, he adds "as there are no jumpers in Zipp!, I am hoping that people on the Tube will start pointing at me and saying, 'You're the one who wears dresses in Zipp!, and move on from the jumpers."
Being a politician and a theatrical performer isn't so different as one might first imagine, where this isn't to diminish the nature of either. He notes nonchalantly, "Some people say that having been in a farce at Westminster, I'm now in one in the West End." Nevertheless, "There's a (real) similarity between some performers and some politicians: they want to seduce, they want to persuade, they want to win your admiration, your affection." Gyles has certainly done that.
Is there anything he hasn't accomplished or couldn't do? Gyles confesses that he is not financially minded but is fortunately nowhere near material or spiritual bankruptcy. His youthful sense of immortality drives his ambition and restlessness, "Each decade something new". At the moment, his life involves Zipp, writing a big non-fiction book and a new novel. One of his romantic mystery books, Who is Nick Saint? is now being filmed, and has a new theatre project next year. "It's all quite exciting," he enthuses. "But I'm staying out of politics for (at least) a few more years."
Gyles' criterion for everything he has done is 'fun'. "My approach is to do fun things, but to do them properly". Zipp!, which he describes as "a party", is possibly the epitome. "I am a contented bunny!" he chirrups. Hoppety hoppety hop...
20th Feb 2003