A change of weather for Theatre Royal
Plus new book about a unique Medway character, documentary about a play by Medway writer screens in Chatham, charity marks tenth anniversary, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more
Theatre Royal have been linchpins of the Medway music scene for the past 15 years. As the band releases their sixth album, A Change of Weather, we talk to frontman Oliver Burgess to learn about the new record and how the band got their very Medway name. Further down, we speak to an author who has written a book on a unique Medway character, hear about a documentary on a play written by a Medway writer, a local charity marking ten years of activity, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more.
A change of weather for Theatre Royal
Theatre Royal was formed as a four-piece band in 2009, made up of Oliver Burgess and Robbie Wilkinson on vocals, guitar, and songwriting duties, alongside Brendan Esmonde on vocals and bass guitar and Jonathan Gibbs on vocals and drums. More recently, they added a fifth, with Christopher Kingman on vocals and saxophone.
“Some of us were friends since we were teenagers, and Chris was in a band with Robbie when they were about 14,” Oliver tells me. “Local indie teenage bands kind of thing.” Later they formed a band for a friend's wedding. “We played Rolling Stones, Beatles, David Bowie, stuff like that, and it was just quite fun.”
The addition of Chris came about after he was invited to play sax on a few songs but they found that it worked, and he became a permanent group member. “We all get on pretty well. We like what Chris does and we never think things through very much.”
I ask if Theatre Royal plays a particular genre of music. “Oh, that's that question,” responds Oliver. He goes on to explain that as they all contribute to the songwriting, noting that “we don't really try to write for a particular genre, and wherever that song takes us is where we go.” He concedes that if you listen to the music, it isn’t necessarily diverse. “I guess people would often call us an indie band or a pop band, something like that.” Oliver goes on to explain that some songs are “poppier”, some “a bit more psychedelic”, and some “a bit garageier.”
Olver’s had another band with Robbie and John, The Long Weekend, which disbanded in 2009. “It was a band in their 20s: Fallouts, arguments and all that nonsense. We started something new.” Oliver started writing with Robbie, and “we wrote loads of songs quickly.”
Dave Wise of Urban Fox was making documentaries with either an artistic or political focus. “Me and Lupen Crook did one on Darnet, one of the forts. We canoed over and stayed the night.” They also made a documentary about the former Theatre Royal in Chatham. “There was talk of the theatre being saved for ages, and then who knows what was going on? No one knows exactly what went on. But it obviously fell into disrepair, after looking at some point like it might be restored.” Oliver, Billy Childish, Lupen Crook and Dave went into the Theatre Royal and discovered “it was a complete mess in there”. Billy performed a few poems on the stage, Oliver and Lupen Crook played songs, and Dave made a film called Final Curtain at the Theatre Royal.
“I know this is a rambling story,” says Oliver, about how the band got its name. “We were forming a new band, I think I said, ‘Why don't we call it the band Theatre Royal?’ So, something creative and good is coming out of the bad.” Their first album was called From Rubble Rises.
They are now releasing their sixth album. Oliver puts their longevity down to “their lack of success.” Whilst the previous band could be combustible, he finds his new bandmates all reasonable. “We really care about writing songs,” Oliver muses. They have enjoyed relative success with radio performances and gigs. “Good gigs, and we enjoy it. It adds a lot to our lives.”
The sixth album is entitled A Change of Weather. The album title is from one of the songs called Lives Entwined, “which is about my mum and dad actually.” They started writing the album around the time of covid, with Oliver and Robbie sending songs to each other where they would “record little things and send them back.” A number of things have happened in the band’s lives in the time since, “not all of them good.” Oliver explains that the album is about memory, loss and growing up, as well as looking to the future “and thinking what's happening?” The weather of the title serves as a metaphor for circumstance, emotions and mental health. “That lyric seemed to sum up a lot of the themes on the album.”
There was a long time between starting the sixth album and its eventual release. “We're usually pretty quick. It's got slower over time, but this took a long time.” They had recorded 15 demos at Jim Riley's Ranscombe Studios in Rochester when it was at the Royal Function Rooms. “We were the last band to record there. We recorded on the last day that the studio was there.” There was then a delay whilst Jim moved his studio to its new site. “We had more than an album's worth, but we needed to go back over it, add the proper vocals, add some guitars, overdub bits.” They knew that they didn’t want to work anywhere else “because we've always recorded with Jim. We like working with him and didn't want to go somewhere else when something shit happened to him.”
When they did make it back to the studio, not only had they written new material in the in-between time, Oliver had “forgotten what we recorded.” By the time they had finished with the old songs and the new songs, rather than the expected 12 songs, they had 20 to mix. “That just took time, really.” They were back in Jim’s by April of last year and had finished mixing the album by November.
They are releasing the new album through the Spinout Nuggets label, with album art by David Frankum after the poster art he does for Careful Now Promotions in Rainham inspired the band. “We've always loved his posters, and he was really accommodating.”
A Change of Weather is released on 30 May and can be pre-ordered via Bandcamp. Theatre Royal will play a sold out album launch on LV21 on 7 June. There is a waitlist for tickets if you’re feeling optimistic.
In brief
🫵 Arches Local is considering expanding its public art project to the Shipwrights Avenue estate in Chatham. As local stories inspire their artwork, they seek interesting tales from the area. If you have any stories to share, please contact jackson(at)archeslocal(dot)org(dot)uk.
🏥 Medway NHS Foundation Trust is seeking new public governors to help ensure that the voice of local people is heard within the hospital.
⚽ Gillingham Football Club will play Dover, Ebbsfleet, Isle of Sheppey United, and Chatham Town as part of their pre-season friendlies.
A life without hands
John Oliver lived and worked on the River Medway for a number of years. Following his passing in 2014, his friend and former partner Frances Beaumont wrote a book about him. Steven spoke with her via Zoom to find out more about the man.
Frances Beaumont’s memoir of John Oliver is her first book, having previously written only short stories and poetry. John was born in 1925 near Peterborough, with two short arms, no hands and a club foot. “There was no NHS, no social services. This was a really major catastrophe for the family,” says Frances, “to realise the difficulties a child like this was going to have in their life.”
John had a grandmother who helped him and his family when he was a small child. He was bright and learned to do everything with his feet early on. “He was writing, playing with cats and helping to feed the chickens.” John attended school until he was seven, but they felt he needed a special school, and they sent him away to “a horrible place, called a home for cripples and orphans.” He was there for seven years without ever seeing his family or hearing from them. “That was a major difficulty in his life,” Frances notes.
John ran away from school and managed to earn a living before training as an artist at Northampton Art School, where his qualification enabled him to also teach art. He also developed a love for sailing. “He loved boats. He learned to sail barges, Thames barges. He had lots and lots of adventures.” He would move around town on a three-wheel trike which he cycled all over England. “He was a terrific cyclist. The only time I ever heard of him getting help was up Chatham Hill, where he would grab on the back of a bus to get a tow.”
A friend brought John to Medway. They were involved with Crescent Shipping, and John learnt to sail on tugs. John liked Rochester, where he could sail small boats, and eventually got his own tug, becoming a ferryman for Rochester Cruising Club, where he worked for many years taking people to and from Rochester Pier out to the yachts. “That was a regular job for him, especially busy at weekends.”
John also made money towing with his tugboat, and “he could turn his foot, as it were, to all sorts of jobs.” John, in his time, had worked in horticulture, worked on farms, and was a chef at a pub in Port Isaac, Cornwall. “That's John Oliver. He was well known on the river. Anybody who worked on the river knew him.” This included the police, who he would help “fish bodies out of the river.”
Frances met John after he helped her to find a berth for her yacht, “and I thought, my god, this bloke's amazing.” Frances met him first in a pub with her brother. John was “a very good raconteur and storyteller.” He would “roll a fag under the table with his toes,” and they became close friends and had a relationship for a while. “Unfortunately, he didn't want children, and I did. This is often a breaking point in the relationship, and I moved away, but it was really sad to do that.”
John passed away in 2014 at Medway Maritime Hospital. This writer has memories of John from living in the Intra area, but other than polite pleasantries, they never spoke, something he now regrets. Frances returned to Kent, and they remained close for the last 20 years of John’s life. “He's a very important person in my life, and I just thought his story needed to be told.” Frances is grateful to everyone who spoke to her about John for the book and local artist Margaret Loxton, who illustrated the cover. “John encouraged her to become an art and illustrator. She was working as a nurse, and he encouraged her to go back to her art.”
You can order the book from Frances, where you will also receive a bookmark to accompany the book. Frances will be giving a talk about John and the book at Rochester Library in 2026. To learn more, you can also join Frances’ newsletter here.
Documentary screening closes out Rippling Out events
Shadow Garden is a play about the Bogujevci family, 15 members of whom were massacred in their garden in Kosovo. Sarah Hehir wrote the play with surviving members of the family who witnessed the deaths. They were medically evacuated to Manchester in 1999, “which is an interesting and dramatic enough story in its own right,” says Sarah, keen to write stories about people whose voices aren't as often heard.
“Families involved in war was something that interested me,” she says. The children went on to give evidence at a war crimes tribunal, which led to convictions. Whilst some of the survivors still live in Manchester, the oldest, Saranda is now a member of parliament in Kosovo. Whilst in Manchester, Sarah taught Kosovan refugees in 1999, and when she met Saranda, they talked about putting on the play. “The main reason was that the family wanted to keep telling the story. As difficult as it was, they felt it was important.”
The family have done art exhibitions, which they’ve taken to Belgrade in Serbia, which is all the more remarkable given that “it was the Serbian police reserve unit that had murdered their family.” The family embraced telling their story in a new medium and worked with Sarah to develop the play. It was produced in Gjilan in Kosovo and then toured around Kosovo in 2023/24 as part of the Kosovo Theatre Showcase, which showcases theatre from Kosovo to journalists worldwide. “It was really interesting because it was in Albanian. I wrote it in English, and my Albanian is quite poor. So for the rehearsal process, we had a fantastic translator, and to be honest, me and the Polish director learned a little bit of Albanian.”
The final event of the Medway River Lit Rippling Out events will a screening of a short documentary about the play followed by a discussion and Q&A with Sarah. She still harbours ambitions to bring the play to the UK, “but we talked to (Medway River Lit organisers) Sam and Barry about doing a creative documentary that would give a feeling of what the play was but also would embrace the fact we were using film.”
The Making of the Shadow Garden and Q&A will take place at Sun Pier House’s Creation Space tomorrow (Sat 24 May) at 7pm. The event is free, but booking is required.
Second Chance marks tenth anniversary
Note: In the interests of full disclosure, it should be noted that Steven is the Chair of Second Chance, and Ed is a trustee of the charity.
Second Chance Medway was established ten years ago by… checks notes… my mother, Penny Keevil. This week, the charity celebrated its 10th anniversary, alongside a relaunch, having consolidated its operations under one roof at its Community Centre in Brompton.
The space hosts a community café alongside Second Chance’s Food Aid project, Medway’s Community Supermarket, which provides subsidised groceries to the charity’s clients. This ensures they have fresh fruits, vegetables, core items, and delicious treats. The charity also provides crisis support to Medway residents facing insecure housing and acts as referral support for those under 25 who need individual grants.
Cllr Vince Maple, leader of Medway Council, attended the relaunch and shared his thoughts on the consolidation of the charity: “Bringing together Second Chance's different operations does a couple of things. Of course, it reduces costs. Running one building rather than two is sensible. This facility and the space being used here is really positive, and I'd say a great move forward for the organisation.”
Having a presence in Brompton’s Melville Court will make support available directly to MHS residents in the complex whilst also being on several bus routes, allowing people across Medway to access the support provided during the cost of living crisis. “I wish, of course, that Second Chance didn't have to exist,” says Vince, “but they do, and there is a need, and it's my job as council leader to try and reduce the need of the community to need organisations like Second Chance.”
Vince inevitably highlights the work being done by the government to raise the National Living Wage and the positive impact that it will have on Medway. He’s also eager to recognise the “award-winning team” at the council, who are part of increased efforts to ensure access to better information, giving residents advice and guidance around budgeting and cost of living planning.
Whilst there is still a need, the charity will continue working to ensure that its new centre will allow multiple organisations to work together for the betterment of Medway, working in collaboration, not competition. Vince finishes by noting, “Second Chance’s approach of trying to stop people slipping into extreme need, trying to stop people making that downward spiral, I think it's inspiring.”
Events this week
🥘 24 - 26 May - Chatham Maritime Food and Drink Festival // Local food and drink, with entertainment and dragon boat racing on the Sunday. Free.
🌊 Sat 24 May - The Strand Grand Opening and Big Splash // Launch and celebration of activities available in the park and lido this year, where you can also meet Mojo, Child-Friendly Medway’s terrifying mascot. The Strand, Gillingham. Free.
🎻 Sat 24 May - City of Rochester Symphony Orchestra // Performances of work from Strauss, Brahms, and Weber. Central Theatre, Chatham. Tickets from £15.
🦇 Mon 26 May - Little Bat Alternative Bazaar // Market of alternative, gothic, steampunk, and fantasy items. Masonic Hall, Rochester. £1 entry.
More Authority
As the football season ends, we asked our Gills columnist Ben Hopkins to look back at the highs, lows, and middles of a rollercoaster season at Priestfield.
Over on our Kent Current sister title, we looked at the early signs of what a Kent run by Reform will look like, and it feels like the county is in for an interesting few years.
Footnotes
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