After training at the Bristol Old Vic, Gavin Richards worked at the Liverpool Everyman and then with radical playwright John McGrath, in 7:84. Joining the Ken Campbell Roadshow in the early 70s he got performance experience working outdoors, in pubs and clubs. A lucrative German tour gave him and a group of colleagues the financial security to set up Belt and Braces Roadshow Company, formed with Eugene Geasley, Marcel Steiner and Jeni Barnett. Their leftist political and musical roadshows were taken to trade union meetings, working-men’s clubs, colleges and schools as well as traditional theatres and arts centres. Richards was Artistic Director, writer and performer for this collective inspired by the work of Alan Dosser at the Everyman and Ken Campbell and John McGrath of 7:84 Theatre Company. With 7:84 Richards had also directed Arden/D’Arcy’s Ballygoimbeen Bequest and Adrian Mitchell’s Man Friday and worked with both Richard Eyre and Trevor Griffiths. Many B&B members had worked for one or more of those companies and over the course of its 12 years on the road some of its members went on to form other companies like Monstrous Regiment. John Fiske, B&B’s musical director and Paul Kessel formed their own company in Sweden, still working today. B&B also collaborated on joint productions with both 7:84 and Roland Muldoon’s CAST. Others involved in the early years included Shane Connoughton, Sylvester McCoy, Vari Sylvestre, Andy Andrews, Gillian Hanna, David Bradford, Derek Thompson, Jim Carter and Colm Meaney. As well as writing original scripts with the company, Richards directed and adapted other political plays, most famously Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist based on a translation by Gillian Hanna which ran in the West-End for two years after an extensive tour starring Alfred Molina. He also oversaw the Belt and Braces production of Steve’ Gooch’s version of Brecht’s The Mother directed by Paul Hellyer which helped to launch the career of Maggie Steed. In the 80s and 90s Richards was a successful television and film actor (again working with Trevor Griffiths on Central TV’s Oi For England and with Paula Milne on the BBC series Driving Ambition). Assisted by Paula Milne and other ex members of B&B Richards produced A Night For A Nuclear Free Europe for the Labour Party at Wembley Arena in 1984 at the height of the miner’s strike. In the 90’s he also worked with Jack Shepherd on Comic Cuts, Griff Rhys Jones onThe Alchemist and Richard Sparks on The Crimson Lizard. His work on BBC’s ‘Allo ‘Allo and EastEnders is something he would rather forget. More recently, with Tamara Henry, he formed a theatre company in New Zealand called Theatre South whose youth production for the child soldier’s charity War Child won several awards. His recent book of poetry entitled 200 Weeks was published by Muswell Press in North London in 2015.
Gavin Richards Biography / Wiki
Name
Gavin Richards
Also Know
Gender
Male
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
London, England
Date of Birth
1946-07-03
Age(as in 2022)
76
Deathday
Gavin Richards Acting Movies
Movie Name
Character
Release Date
Overview
The Miners’ Campaign Video Tapes: The Lie Machine
Presenter
1984-01-02
Part of BFI collection “The Miners’ Campaign Video Tapes.”…
The Accidental Death of an Anarchist
The Maniac
1983-01-01
During questioning by the police, a railway worker falls to his death from the multi-story police HQ. The government says it was an accident but there…
Crystal Gazing
Neil Holt
1982-09-15
Experimental drama set in London during the Thatcher administration involving four characters: Neil, a science-fiction illustrator, who is accidentall…
The Ken Campbell Roadshow
Self
1971-01-01
The Ken Campbell Roadshow brings entertainment to the streets and pubs of Kirkby New Town….
Oi for England
The Man
1982-04-17
During the Manchester, Moss Side riots of 1981 a struggling skinhead punk band try to secure their first gig….
The Triple Echo
Stan
1972-01-01
After her husband is captured during WWII, homesteader Alice is forced to maintain their land herself. One day, a wandering soldier named Barton stops…
Titus Andronicus
Lucius
1985-04-25
Having subdued the Goths, warrior Titus Andronicus returns to Rome to bury his sons, with Gothic Queen Tamora and her retinue as captives. The newly-d…
Savage Play
Kim
1995-01-01
During a rugby tour of Britain and Ireland in 1888, a young New Zealander searches for his father who he has never met. While there he falls in love w…
The Reporters
Des
1972-10-09
Two provincial newspaper reporters – one a young idealist starting out on his career, the other an embittered man who previously wrote for a failed na…
Kidnapped
Captain Hoseason
2005-02-27
15-year-old Davie Balfour is poised to receive a vast inheritance when he’s lured onto a cargo ship, knocked unconscious, and kidnapped by his malevol…
The Student Prince
Chief Superintendent
1998-11-22
The Queen’s youngest son is off to university, mainly because “I’m hopeless at anything else”. Barry, his new bodyguard, has no time for the royal fam…
Whoops Apocalypse
Donald
1986-05-06
When a small British owned island in the Caribbean is invaded and the world’s most dangerous terrorist kidnaps a member of the Royal family, the count…
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Doctor Loladze/Yussup/Doctor/Lawyer 1
1985-01-01
The hardships faced by a woman trying to survive a bloody civil war while caring for the abandoned child of the deposed former ruler….
The Locksmith
Max Parker
1997-09-25
When his estranged wife is brutally attacked by a burglar, a law-abiding locksmith unconvinced that the junkie charged for the crime is the real attac…
Being Human
Da Cunha
1994-05-06
One man must learn the meaning of courage across four lifetimes centuries apart….
Gavin Richards Directing Movies
Movie Name
Job
Release Date
Overview
The Accidental Death of an Anarchist
Director
1983-01-01
During questioning by the police, a railway worker falls to his death from the multi-story police HQ. The government says it was an accident but there…
Writing
Movie Name
Job
Release Date
Overview
The Accidental Death of an Anarchist
Writer
1983-01-01
During questioning by the police, a railway worker falls to his death from the multi-story police HQ. The government says it was an accident but there…