Ken Campbell

Infobox actor
name = Ken Campbell

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caption =
birthname = Kenneth Victor Campbell
birthdate = birth date|1941|12|10
birthplace = Ilford, Essex
deathdate = Death date and age|2008|08|31|1941|12|10
deathplace = Epping Forest, Essex
yearsactive = 1961—2008
spouse = Prunella Gee
website = http://www.tentringer.co.uk/

Kenneth Victor Campbell (December 10 1941 - August 31 2008) was an English writer, actor, director and comedian known for his work in experimental theatre. [cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2008/sep/01/theatre.comedy|title=Improv king Ken Campbell dies|last=Hanman|first=Natalie|date=2008-09-01|work=The Guardian|accessdate=2008-09-01] He has been called "a one-man dynamo of British theatre." [http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/27806554.html]

The Guardian in a posthumous tribute judged him to be "one of the most original and unclassifiable talents in the British theatre of the past half-century . . . a genius at producing shows on a shoestring and honing the improvisational capabilities of the actors who were brave enough to work with him." [http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2008/sep/01/obituary.ken.campbell?gusrc=rss&feed=stage]

Among those who early in their careers passed through his portals, some of whom expressed their gratitude at his funeral in Epping Forest [http://www.woodlandburialparks.co.uk/epping/index.html] in September 2008, were Jim Broadbent, Bob Hoskins, Chris Langham, Bill Nighy, David Rappaport, John Sessions, Sylvester McCoy, Keith Allen, and the award-winning ventriloquist Nina Conti. [http://madammiaow.blogspot.com/2008/09/ken-campbell-rip.html retrieved 9 Sep 2008]

The artistic director of the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse said, "He was the door through which many hundreds of kindred souls entered a madder, braver, brighter, funnier and more complex universe." [http://www.everymanplayhouse.com/news/full-story.asp?Article_ID=546]

Campbell achieved notoriety in the 1970s for his nine-hour adaptation of the science-fiction trilogy" Illuminatus!" and his 22-hour play "The Warp". The Guinness Book of Records listed the latter as the longest play in the world; the British acid house band The KLF, biggest-selling singles act in the world for 1991 and later notorious for burning a million pounds, had its origin in the former. [http://www.compulink.co.uk/~shutters/warp.htm] [http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/long182.html] Bush, J., KLF biography, "Allmusic" ( [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:2tkku3y5anok~T1 link] )]

The Independent said that, "In the 1990s, through a series of sprawling monologues packed with arcane information and freakish speculations on the nature of reality, he became something approaching a grand old man of the fringe, though without ever discarding his inner enfant terrible." [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ken-campbell-actor-writer-and-director-famed-for-his-epic-plays-and-oneman-shows-917169.html] The London Times labeled Campbell a one-man whirlwind of comic and surreal performance. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4655952.ece]

Early life & career

Campbell was born in Ilford, Essex, the son of Elsie (née Handley) and Anthony Colin Campbell, who was a telegrapher. [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/29/Ken-Campbell.html Ken Campbell Biography (1941-) ] ] He staged his first performances in the bathroom of his childhood home: “I was three years old and helped by my invisible friend, Peter Jelp, I put on shows for the characters in the linoleum.” [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2663891/Ken-Campbell.html]

He was educated at Chigwell School and then studied drama at RADA before joining Colchester Repertory theatre as an understudy to Warren Mitchell. He soon began writing and directing his own productions, including working with director Lindsay Anderson. After seeing the American Living Theatre at The Roundhouse in the early 1970s he was inspired to found The Ken Campbell Roadshow, a small theatre group that performed in unconventional venues such as pubs. Members included Bob Hoskins and Sylvester McCoy. Campbell appeared with his Roadshow team in the very first "Secret Policeman's Ball".

Theatre director & playwright

In 1976, he and Chris Langham formed the Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool in order to stage "Illuminatus", a nine-hour cycle of five plays by himself and Langham based on the cult trilogy of avowedly anarchist science fantasy novels of the same name by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. Starring Campbell and Langham themselves, the production featured Neil Cunningham, David Rappaport, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy and Campbell's future wife Prunella Gee. It later moved to the National Theatre, where it opened the new Cottesloe Theatre in 1977.

Sir Peter Hall, director of the National at the time, writes of Campbell in his "Diaries", "He is a total anarchist and impossible to pin down. He more or less said it was a crime to be serious." [Peter Hall," Diaries", 1983, p.284]

"The Warp", a dizzying trek through the nether reaches of gurudom and tireless post-sixties mind-expansion, opened at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts in January 1979. It was based on the real-life experiences of co-author Neil Oram. Its inordinate length, 22-hours, rendered the 9-hour" Illuminatus!" a mere bagatelle by comparison. ("The Warp" was revived in the 1990s in a production directed by Campbell's by then grown-up daughter Daisy.)

In May 1979, again at the ICA, the company presented the first stage version of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". One eye-popping aspect of the production was that for each set change the entire audience was wafted 1/2000th-of-an-inch above the floor aboard an industrial hovercraft. The cast cavorted on various ledges and platforms. The craft's carrying capacity meant that audiences were limited to a maximum of eighty each night. Langham was Arthur Dent, and narration of The Book was split between two usherettes. The problem of how to portray Zaphod Beeblebrox, the Betelgeusian blessed with three arms and two heads - not an issue in the original radio series - was assailed in typical Campbell fashion by simply (or not so simply) putting two actors inside one large costume.

Audience-carrying capacity was not a problem at London's vast Rainbow Theatre where Campbell mounted a yet more grandiose version of The Hitchhiker's Guide in July 1980. The venue had been renovated in the 1970s to take rock operas. Some reviewers, who in general did not greet the show favourably, labeled it a musical, since it now came with incidental music and audacious laser effects. It ran for over three hours and, despite attempts to shorten the script, was forced to close some four weeks early, losing in the process a lot of money.

For a year, 1980-1981, Campbell was artistic director the Liverpool Everyman Theatre. From 1984, he made repeated efforts to adapt for the stage "VALIS", the largely autobiographical cult science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick, but to the disappointment of fans, these efforts came to nothing.

Television, radio & film

On television he played Alf Garnett's neighbour in "In Sickness and in Health", and the irritating Roger in an episode of "Fawlty Towers" ("The Anniversary"). On radio he played Poodoo, a part written especially for him, in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Campbell's film work includes Derek Jarman's "The Tempest" (1979), Breaking Glass (1980), Chris Bernard's Letter to Brezhnev (1985) and Peter Greenaway's "A Zed and Two Noughts" (1985), and more recently in "Saving Grace" (2000) and "Creep" (2004).

Campbell unsuccessfully auditioned for the part of the Seventh Doctor in "Doctor Who" in 1987, being beaten to the role by his old protegé Sylvester McCoy. The script editor of "Doctor Who" at the time, Andrew Cartmel, later said in an interview that Campbell's interpretation was "too dark" to put on television.

Campbell was known in the UK as a commentator on both science and the paranormal, and presented the Channel 4 television shows "Reality On the Rocks", "Brainspotting" and "Six Experiments that Changed the World". He was keen on the writings of Charles Fort and often appeared at UnCon, the "Fortean Times" convention.

Later career & one-man shows

From the late eighties onwards Campbell wrote and performed a series of one-man shows. Part autobiography, part stand-up comedy, part philosophical exploration, part popular science lecture, Campbell's shows include "Recollections of a Furtive Nudist", "Pigspurt", "Jamais Vu", "Mystery Bruises" and "The History of Comedy Part One: Ventriloquism". He toured these shows worldwide, and several were published as scripts by Methuen.

Campbell was commissioned by the National's director Trevor Nunn to write "The History of Comedy Part One: Ventriloquism". The two had previously fallen out when Nunn had been director of the Royal Shakespeare Company: when Campbell had distributed a fake press release, stating that after the success of their production of "Nicholas Nickleby" they would be changing their name to the Royal "Dickens" Company, Nunn had brought in the police.

In 1999, Campbell starred with Warren Mitchell and John Fortune in "'Art'" in London's West End. In 2001 in his show "Wol Wantok" he proposed that Bislama, as spoken in the Republic of Vanuatu, should be adopted as a world language. Campbell translated "Macbeth" into Bislama for the show, as well popularising the Bislama for Prince Philip: "Nambawan Bigfala him blong Missus Queen" ("Number one big fellow him belong Mrs Queen").

In 2007 he appeared along with Alan Moore, Bill Drummond, Coldcut and Mixmaster Morris at the Royal Festival Hall in a memorial tribute show to the co-author of the Illuminatus! novels, Robert Anton Wilson. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81m4YcOzUgA]

Private life

Campbell married the actress Prunella Gee in 1978, and they had a daughter, Daisy. Though they later divorced, they remained close friends. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2663891/Ken-Campbell.html]

Bibliography

*1972 - "You see the thing is this: a one act comedy" (ISBN 0-237-74966-1)
*1972 - "Old King Cole" (ISBN 1-870259-12-2)
*1975 - "Skungpoomery" (ISBN 0-413-67520-3)
*1976 - "Jack Sheppard" (ISBN 0-333-19623-6)
*1991 - "Recollections of a Furtive Nudist" (ISBN 1-871503-03-5)
*1993 - "Pigspurt: Or Six Pigs from Happiness" (ISBN 0-413-68100-9)
*1995 - "The Bald Trilogy"' (ISBN 0-413-69080-6) - a volume collecting together "Furtive Nudist", "Pigspurt" and "Jamais Vu"
*1996 - "Violin time; or, the Lady from Montségur" (ISBN 0-413-70960-4)
*2000 - "Wol Wantok" (ISBN 1-84166-039-6) - a pidgin English version of Macbeth

References

External links

* [http://www.tentringer.co.uk Official website]
* [http://www.playbackarts.co.uk/meryfela/Campbell%20on%20Beadlian%20Library.mp3 Campbell on BBC Radio 3, on the Library of the Peculiar] & Jeremy Beadle
* [http://www.frogboy.freeuk.com/illuminatus.html 1977 "Fanatic" special issue for Campbell's stage version of "Illuminatus!" and "Fortean Times" coverage]
* [http://www.playbackarts.co.uk/meryfela/sftol.htm Jeff Merrifield on putting Illuminatus! on stage]
* [http://www.playbackarts.co.uk/meryfela/pidgmak.htm "Macbeth" in pidgin English, 1998]
* [http://www.cix.co.uk/~shutters/warp.htm Background to "The Warp" and full script]
* [http://www.cix.co.uk/~dfarmbrough/ken.htm Fan pages]
*

Interviews

* [http://www.theatrevoice.com/listen_now/player/?audioID=255 2004 recording of Campbell on the origins of Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool]
* [http://www.frogboy.freeuk.com/ken.html Interview with James Nye, 1991]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,,1667974,00.html "Guardian" interview, 2005]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1672140,00.html "Guardian" interview about Campbell's work in theatrical improvisation, 2005]

Obituaries

* [http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/theatre/2008/09/farewell_ken_campbell.html Michael Billington, "The Guardian", with tributes from friends and fans, 1 Sept 2008]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2008/sep/01/obituary.ken.campbell?gusrc=rss&feed=stage Michael Coveney, "The Guardian", 1 Sept 2008]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2663891/Ken-Campbell.html "The Daily Telegraph", 1 Sept 2008]
* [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/582b14ac-794f-11dd-9d0c-000077b07658.html Ian Shuttleworth, "The Financial Times", 3 Sept 2008]
* [http://www.chortle.co.uk/features/2008/09/01/7332/ken_campbell%3A_an_obituary Mark Borkowski, "Chortle", UK comedy website, 1 Sept 2008]
* [http://beescope.blogspot.com/2008/09/laef-emi-sado-blong-wokabaot.html "Thompson's Bank of Communicable Desire" - includes audio on origin of the pidgin "Macbeth" & the One-Minute "Warp"]
* [http://www.everymanplayhouse.com/news/full-story.asp?Article_ID=546 Gemma Bodinetz, artistic director of the Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse]
* [http://www.whatsonstage.com/index.php?pg=207&story=E8821220542175&title=Complicite%92s+McBurney+Remembers+Ken+Campbell "What's on Stage" tribute] from Simon McBurney of Complicite
* [http://blogs.forteana.org/node/59 The Fortean Institute]
* [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ken-campbell-actor-writer-and-director-famed-for-his-epic-plays-and-oneman-shows-917169.html "The Independent", 3 Sept 2008]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4655952.ece "The Times", 1 Sept 2008]
* [http://www.liverpoolconfidential.com/index.asp?Sessionx=IpqiNwEiNwfrJaqiNwF6IHqi&realname=Ken_Campbell,_legend,_dies_at_66 Liverpool Confidential]
* [http://www.oblomovka.com/wp/2008/09/01/ken-campbell-is-dead/ Oblomovka] Danny O'Brien
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7593589.stm BBC News]

Persondata
NAME = Campbell, Ken
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Campbell, Kenneth Victor
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Actor
DATE OF BIRTH = 1941-12-10
PLACE OF BIRTH = Ilford, Essex
DATE OF DEATH = 2008-08-31
PLACE OF DEATH = Epping Forest, Essex, England, UK