Actor, comedian, musician and writer Keith Allen reflects on playing a Tolpuddle Martyr in Comrades, filming at Tyneham, performing a satirical opera at Lulworth Castle and building a natural swimming pool.
In a career that now spans six decades, actor, comedian, musician, TV presenter, author, rule breaker and all-round wild card Keith Allen has made quite a name for himself… and for all sorts of reasons.
There’s a string of stellar stage and screen credits from hit movies like The Others, Shallow Grave and Kingsman: The Golden Circle, to the two football anthems he co-wrote (World In Motion with New Order, and Vindaloo by Fat Les the short-lived band featuring Allen and carousing chums Alex James and Damien Hirst). Then there’s the reputation for, ahem, high living he acquired in the blizzard of tabloid headlines that accompanied Cool Britannia and all that in the 1990s – only a year ago since The Stage referred to him as ‘the troublemaker of Dean Street’.
These days, he’s as likely to be found in mainstream telly staples like Midsomer Murders and Death in Paradise, as he is in edgier small screen fare like Black Books, and The Pembrokeshire Murders, in which he played serial killer John Cooper. He’s also back on stage, earning strong notices for his turn as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol last year and for the darkly comic Rehab the Musical.
All things considered Allen says it’s a remarkably prescient moment to return Orwell’s cautionary tale to the spotlight.
‘We live in a world in which it’s in a lot of people’s interests to make the truth unobtainable or at least muddy the waters so that you don’t know what the truth is. That’s a theme that runs through 1984, so it’s very much the right time to bring it back.
‘I knew the book, but I never read it, so it’s very interesting for me to find out about O’Brien. I sense this man has got the same intelligence as Winston and he recognises his intelligence, which he sees as a danger. But, at the same time, it really rankles with O’Brien that he was never tortured into submission like Winston. O’Brien acquiesced, and that leaves a little bit of a hole in your soul.’
‘Well, this man isn’t victorious at the end of the play, he’s a result of the circumstances that he’s bought into. In fact, he’s a bit of tragic figure. But until he reveals himself, there are aspects of O’Brien that are actually quite charming. I think that makes him more chilling to be honest.’ I ask if he has come across people like that, professionally or socially.
‘Oh, I’ve encountered lots of O’Briens,’ he grins. ‘They’re sociopaths, with a fair degree of narcissism. And they’re ego-driven. Yes, I’ve met lots of people like that, especially in my world. I’ve got a few in mind to channel, but I’m not at liberty to share those… they’re still alive!’
Having spent so much time locking horns with the Establishment, would the younger Keith Allen have been cowed by O’Brien?
‘I’ll quote one of my old headmasters who said: “That boy will either win the Victoria Cross or he’ll end up in prison.” It was a view that was shared by many others. As there was no Victoria Cross on offer, I went the other route – to prison.’
As ever, Allen was rolling with the opportunities and in the late summer of 1985 found a muddy route into the mainstream that led to the derelict Purbeck village of Tyneham. It had been remodelled to stand in for Tolpuddle in Comrades, renowned film maker Bill Douglas’ epic drama about the Tolpuddle Martyrs.
‘Oh my God, yes, Comrades was a wonderful film,’ exclaims Allen, who was cast as James Hammett. ‘And Tyneham was an incredible location. I was breaking out of comedy to work in straight acting, and to work with Bill Douglas - it was an amazing time. It was quite a long shoot, a good two or three months, then we went to Australia to finish it off.’
During the shoot, he shared a house in the woods with fellow actor Phil Davis. who played another Tolpuddle Martyr, John Standfield. Allen also broke his leg!
‘Simon Relph, the producer, very unwisely organised a football game between the Army and the cast and crew.’ Tyneham sits within a Ministry of Defence firing range. ‘Those Army boys, they don’t hold back, and I broke my leg. Consequently, after that, I was shot from the waist up and had more close ups than anybody else!’
Allen is delighted to learn that some stills from Comrades have been included in the Dorset Pavilion at Venice Biennale, the prestigious international contemporary art exhibition held every two years.
‘Good Lord, I didn’t know that,' he exclaims. 'Maybe people will see that or read this and look out for Comrades because it’s a really great film. The production values are amazing, and Simon Relph is an incredible producer. He did fantastic job.’
Allen is just as happy to be reminded about his other professional foray into the Purbeck countryside. In 2012, in the grounds of Lulworth Castle at Camp Bestival, he premiered his satirical opera Will Cliff Be There? a sideswipe at the forthcoming London Olympics. Taking the sobriquet, ‘Fit Les’, Allen was accompanied by noted producer/musician Matt Eaton and former Happy Mondays’ chanteuse Rowetta. It was hilarious.
In the audience at Lulworth was fellow Fat Les member, Blur bassist Alex James, who grew up in Southbourne. He remains firm friends with Allen, although his former bandmate somewhat baulks at the suggestion that they might be neighbours.
‘Oh no, he lives in that part of the Cotswolds,’ he jokingly sneers. ‘I’m in Stroud, the other side of the tracks. We ain’t chocolate box Cotswolds!’
The tour of 1984 will keep Allen busy for eight weeks over the autumn, and he’s not got much booked in the diary beyond that. ‘I actually plan not to work,’ he admits. ‘I did two quite big shows for about six months last year and then said: “I’m not doing anything now, but I need a project.” So, I built a swimming pool. It’s all spring-fed and cleaned by plant life, so there’s no chemicals. I knew nothing about it when I started. I Googled it (natural swimming pools) then built the thing. My partner swims in it every day. I did it all from scratch,’ he says proudly. ‘I didn’t realise how much work it would be or how much it would cost, but it was a fascinating journey. And we really enjoy using it.
‘It’s one creation that I can live with a lot longer.’ ENDS
1984 plays Lighthouse Poole from October 7 - 12. Book online at lighthousepoole.co.uk or call the box office on 01202 280000
The Filming of Comrades
Released in 1986, Bill Douglas’ epic film Comrades tells the story of the six Dorset agricultural labourers from Tolpuddle who were transported to Australia in 1834 for swearing a secret oath to the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers with the aim of improving their working conditions. This was an early precursor for unions and workers’ rights, and the six men are remembered every July in the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival.
Keith Allen played James Hammett – the only Tolpuddle Martyr to return to their Dorset village after they were pardoned in 1836 – and as with the other actors who played working people in the film (among them Imelda Staunton, Phil Davis, and Robin Soans), was relatively unknown at the time. Elsewhere, Douglas cast the likes of Vanessa Redgrave, James Fox, Barbara Windsor, Michael Hordern, and Freddie Jones.
Douglas had the idea to film in Dorset after presenting My Way Home, the last of his famous trilogy of films about his early life, to Bridport Film Society. Once he came across the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, Douglas worked with producer James Relph to bring it to life. Modern Tolpuddle was deemed too busy to play itself in the film, so they got permission from the Army to film at Tyneham, which was evacuated in 1943 so the Army could use it to prepare for D-Day – it was never returned to its villagers. Walls were reconstructed on Tyneham’s derelict cottages and roofs re-thatched for the shoot.
Filming also took place on High West Street at Dorchester, and in the original Shire Hall courtroom where the Martyrs had been tried at the Dorchester Assizes in March 1834.
A production base at Bindon Abbey near Wool operated throughout the company’s stay in Dorset and, during the shoot, daily rushes were screened at The Rex cinema in Wareham.
The final sequence, filmed early in 1986 after the company had been to Australia, required a shot of the village covered in snow. According to the late Anwar Brett’s meticulously researched book Dorset in Film (2011, Dorset Books), producer Simon Relph was determined the shoot had to happen on a particular day, snow or not. In the event it snowed so heavily they couldn’t get to the location until lunchtime, but Douglas got his shot
