Wilko Johnson "Love and Death and Rock 'n' Roll" a Play with Live Music by Jonathan Maitland

I was intrigued when a friend suggested going along to see “Wilko: Love and Death and Rock ‘n’ Roll” which was advertised as a “play with live music” (as opposed to the dreaded ‘musical’) about guitar legend Wilko Johnson and his influential pre-Punk raw R&B band Dr. Feelgood at the Southwark Playhouse Theatre. I checked it out online and the reviews were unanimously ecstatic – to win over passionate, die-hard fans of a band is something of an achievement but that’s exactly what writer Jonathan Maitland and his quite remarkable cast seemed to have pulled off. We went along to the sold out matinee performance on the very last day of the show’s run at the Playhouse, but don’t worry if you missed out because they announced that the play will be transferred to the West End with a well-deserved additional set of dates at the Leicester Square Theatre in July. Maitland, a well-known author, journalist and playwright has managed to distil pretty much all the essential ingredients of Wilko’s inspiring and quite remarkable story into the thoroughly entertaining two hour show. It starts off in the unique landscape of Canvey Island in Essex, reclaimed land in the Thames estuary that is mostly below sea level and dominated by a huge oil refinery and flood defence systems which were erected much too late to stop the fatal flooding in 1953. Canvey Island boy John Wikinson meets his beloved Canvey Island girl Irene and invites her to see his band that will be playing at the local venue the Monico that evening. It turns out that this band is actually a rag-tag ensemble of mates playing skiffle outside the Monico, busking their jug band sound to drunks and punters making their way home. 

The Labworth, Canvey Island - Photo by Retro Man Blog

Irene and Wilko become inseparable, they marry young, and her presence looms large across the whole arc of the story. Wilko is unable to afford his coveted Fender Telecaster guitar but Irene generously steps in and pays for it in full. So, hugely inspired by American Blues, R’n’B and Rock ‘n’ Roll, Wilko decides to form a proper band with three of his mates who all live within a stone’s throw of each other on Canvey. In thrall to the Mississippi Delta Blues, they name themselves Dr. Feelgood and decide on a stripped back raw sound and image far removed from the Prog and Glam Rock excesses of the early to mid-70’s, ditching most of the cover versions in their set in favour of Wilko-penned originals. Toying with the hard and rough reputation of Canvey Island, the band look mean and moody, and they play on the swampy backwater atmosphere that they name the Thames Delta. The charismatic Lee Collinson takes on the role of lead vocalist and is renamed Lee Brilleaux partly due to his hair looking like a Brillo pad but given a New Orleans style twist. John B. Sparks on bass becomes Sparko and drummer John Martin is christened The Big Figure and due to the proliferation of ‘Johns’, Wilkinson becomes Wilko Johnson. The casting of Johnson Willis is inspired (and not just because of his real name!) he has the look and captures, not only Wilko’s wide-eyed incredulous stare and vocal mannerisms, but his unique guitar style too. This guitar style was influenced by Wilko’s attempts to emulate his hero Mick Green from Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, he can’t quite manage it but ends up with his own choppy rhythm and lead all-in-one sound that will in turn go on to inspire countless guitarists. The stage is set with drums and amps and there is another really pleasant surprise when the cast hammer out some early Dr. Feelgood classics, they sound bloody amazing. David John on drums and Georgina Field on bass are a wicked rhythm section – and yes, it does seem a bit strange at first having Sparko played by a female actor, but she nails his “walking backwards and forward” style and any doubts are very quickly dispelled. 

The Monico, Canvey Island - Photo by Paul Slattery

The real revelation is Jon House as Lee Brilleaux, who has the physical presence and gruff vocal delivery down to a tee and proves himself to be a mean harmonica player too. The four of them could quite easily go out on tour as the UK’s premier Dr. Feelgood tribute act. The only thing missing is Johnson (the actor) doesn’t attempt Wilko’s uniquely wired skittering across the stage, moves and poses which is a bit of a shame. The script skips the fact that Dr. Feelgood were absolutely huge at one point, with a number one live album “Stupidity” in the charts and were a big influence on Punk Rock, both with New York’s CBGB’s crowd and on Joe Srummer, John Lydon and the early London Punk explosion. But I guess these are minor quibbles after all. The play does cover the somewhat unusual circumstances around the band’s break-up – of course there are the usual tensions between band mates constantly on tour, pretty normal for many a band and there's the frustration over Wilko’s diminishing songwriting prowess and the others lack of contributions. However, they do gloss over the differing drug and booze habits that did cause a divide between Wilko, who favoured speed and the solitude of his own room and the heavy drinking, hard partying of the others. But it’s a song called “Paradise” about Wilko’s somewhat blasé attitude to monogamy that finally causes an irreparable divide between Lee and Wilko who considers it his masterpiece. Despite his love for Irene, he professes his affection for another woman in the song’s lyrics and the band take exception to the morally dubious sentiments. Wilko leaves the band and the once tight frontman and his trusty guitar wielding sidekick were never to be reconciled. There are some touching scenes in the play where Wilko is visited by the ghost of Brilleaux, who very sadly died of cancer in 1994, and the pair reminisce on their times together and the chemistry they had. “You love the Stones but there’s a reason you don’t own any Mick Jagger or Keith Richards solo albums, it’s because they are shit, they need each other” Brilleaux tells Wilko, before twisting the knife a bit reminding him that they actually scored their biggest chart hit with “Milk and Alcohol”.  After Wilko had left Dr. Feelgood he formed Solid Senders and then also joins Ian Dury & The Blockheads but is hampered by his own perceived lack of musicality among the virtuosity of the rest of the line-up. He then forms the Wilko Johnson Band with drummer Dylan Howe and the Blockhead’s legendary bassist Norman Watt-Roy, who has actually appeared in the play on occasion. 

Down by the jetty, Canvey Island - Photo Retro Man Blog

Wilko’s beloved Irene (played by the excellent Georgina Fairbanks) passes away with cancer and this terrible disease is of course going to play a big role in the next part of the story. Before we get to that, I must mention that the play also touches on Wilko’s early career as a rebellious teacher, his love of Astronomy and English literature and his tendency to pepper his speech with quotes from Shakespeare and the poets. There’s also his appearance in Game of Thrones where he plays the mute executioner Sir Ilyn Payne, lucky for him as he didn’t have to learn any lines, just look mean. In 2013 Wilko is diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and given less than a year to live. He decides against chemotherapy, claiming that he feels alive and ready to enjoy what time he has left including a final farewell tour of the UK and a trip to his beloved Japan. Then another unexpected twist occurred when a photographer, who happened to be a doctor, was astounded that he was still careering around the stage when in reality he should have been at death’s door. The photographer referred him to a colleague for a second opinion and it turned out Wilko had been misdiagnosed and there was a chance that the supposedly inoperable tumour could be removed. The doctor warns Wilko of the dangers of the operation and that it would be a lengthy procedure, “I’m going to need a lunch break” he quips. Wilko agrees, the operation is a success and a 3kg tumour ‘the size of a watermelon’ is removed, meaning that he has to now come to terms with the fact that he will not be dying anytime in the near future after all. I was promoting a Retro Man Blog night at Wilko’s local The Railway in Southend-on-Sea in December 2013 with TV Smith from the Adverts and supporting were Eight Rounds Rapid who included Wilko’s son Simon on guitar. Wilko turned up and of course was mobbed by well-wishers all desperate to chat and with his usual self-effacing humour he claimed that the cancer diagnosis was a good career move, and he was now playing bigger venues than he had in years. It was this inspirational attitude that won him even more admirers and I’m sure that “Wilko: Love and Death and Rock ‘n’ Roll” will hopefully encourage many more people to check out the music of Dr. Feelgood and the remarkable story of Wilko Johnson, a truly inspirational musical icon.

Wilko and son Simon (Eight Rounds Rapid), Retro Man Blog Night, The Railway Southend, 2013 by Paul Hughes

You can see our Canvey Island location report, including photos of Dr. Feelgood on the Naughty Rhythms Tour in 1975 by photographer Paul Slattery, in our Retro Man Blog archive feature here. Thanks to Paul Slattery, Paul Hughes and Buddy Ascott. Photos of the play by Retro Man Blog. To book tickets for the Leicester Square Theatre in July please check out the box-office link here and for more information please visit the official Facebook page here.