Writer, theatre producer, director and musician Huw Roberts has been working in the arts for almost thirty years. Huw entered the theatre world in 1994 as marketing manager for Venue Cymru, Llandudno. In this role, he promoted over 2,500 shows in London and Dublin including opera, ballet, musicals, gigs, drama, comedy and panto.
In 2002, Huw Roberts left the rat race to write his children’s adventure, ‘Kamakan The Vampire Slug’, winning the Undiscovered Authors Competition and a book deal. Huw produced ‘Kamakan’ live twice; as a storyteller recital and a full family show.
In 2013, Huw wrote and co-produced the one-man play “TALK!!”, for Bruce Jones (Coronation Street’s Les Battersby), a serious and funny look at the taboo of depression, and formed a production company to stage it.
Huw is currently working on his new novel, The Ballad of Gee de Bourke and his screenplay Knickers!!
Tell us a bit about your background, where did you grow up and how did your environment shape you?
I was born in Prestatyn, North Wales in 1964 and grew up in the seaside towns of Rhyl and Colwyn Bay. Born into a nice middle-class family, father had a chemist shop, mother somehow handled four kids. I went to a Catholic boys school (no idea why as I’m not a Catholic) and was taught by priests. They were mainly miserable and violent. I became a religious sceptic at a very early age. At sixteen years old I went to art college. I just wandered off into the world on my own.
I was lucky enough to have North Wales as my physical environment, so playing on the beach was something we did after school, jumping into rivers was something we did at weekends. Everywhere you go here is beautiful, so I have a great love of the area and find it hard to live inland for any period, where there’s no sea. I certainly couldn’t live anywhere flat.
My home life was happy and I grew up in a pleasant and supportive environment. I was very lucky. I knew it at the time and very much appreciate it now. If anything has shaped my outlook, it’s that I know I had a very fortunate entry into this world.
As a child where you more into books, film, TV or comics? What would you say were your formative influences?
All four. I was an avid reader from a young age; Enid Blyton, silly comedy books, Sven Hassel and Michael Moorcock all featured heavily as I grew up.
I loved comics, particularly The Beano, Whizzer & Chips, The Dandy etc. I was still reading them when my mates were reading Commando and other war comics. I still read them now. I adore the characters, illustrations and stupidity.
TV from the 60s and 70s in my formative years. My favourites were Batman with Adam West, The Banana Splits, The Double Deckers, Michael Bentine etc. Dick Dastardly is one of the greatest comic villains ever written.
Were you creative as a child and teenager?
Yep. I’ve always written and made up stories, drawn and painted for as long as I can remember. I used to write daft stories at school to make my mates laugh. It’s just always been there. When I found out that there were things called art colleges, there was no question of me not going. I negotiated all my ‘O’ Level choices so that I could do as much art as possible. I was rubbish at anything else other than English. I was so bad at chemistry, the teacher eventually told me to get out of his class and go do art. I was thrilled. I spent most of my time in the art room. When I went off to art college, it felt like home.
How did you first get into the arts?
Lord knows. My mum says that when I was six I wanted to be a writer and have a writing shed at the end of the garden. I’ve never really known a time when I wasn’t involved in some form of art. Going to art college was the best thing I ever did, but probably the least profitable too. I initially went to be an illustrator, but when I saw the quality of some of the other guy’s work I knew that I couldn’t really compete at that level, so I studied film and tv production instead, made loads of mad stuff, which suited me much better.
When did you begin to write/create?
The first book was a collaboration with my friends when we were fourteen. It detailed our exploits growing up. It was very rude and extremely silly. My mum caught me writing a passage about how I’d learnt to fart in the swimming baths and blew my trunks off. So, that was the end of that book.
So, always, is the answer. It’s just what I do. I’ve tried to work out where it comes from and what my motivation is. Why do I spend all these hours and years writing? I have yet to work out the answer to that, so I just get on and enjoy it.
What have been your main inspirations?
People mainly. I always been fascinated by people, even the ones I don’t like, sometimes especially them. I seem to absorb an awful lot from the world around me and the space I inhabit. So it comes from everywhere and the least expected places. That’s a horribly cliched line. But it’s true.
Names often inspire new characters or just a simple comment from someone can set a new idea off. So I try to meet many people of all different kinds as they kick off ideas for me.
Artistically, it’s anyone who has shown me new ways of doing things, things I hadn’t thought of. That can be anyone from Frank Zappa to Picasso, The Goons to Mervyn Peake. I love Jean Luc Godard as I didn’t realise that films could be made that way and I frequently thank him for that. Everything inspires if you are vigilant. That’s what art college is very good at teaching.
In 2002 you gave up marketing to write the children’s adventure, ‘Kamakan The Vampire Slug’ winning the Undiscovered Authors Competition and a book deal. Tell us a bit about that.
I was just sick of everything to be honest and just wanted to finish my book. I’d had lots of big, stressful jobs and just wanted out. I gave myself two years. I got a job on the till at the cable cars on Llandudno’s Great Orme and wrote my book ‘Kamakan the Vampire Slug’. It took a year and a half. Wasn’t an especially pretty time, but I finished the book, wrote ‘The End’ and eventually won the Undiscovered Authors competition and got published. It wasn’t the biggest deal ever, but it meant that I could get Kamakan out.
Above: This is the theme tune for the live adaptation of the children’s adventure ‘Kamakan The Vampire Slug’.
How did you conceive the world of Kamakan?
With Kamakan, I sat down on the floor one day and wrote the first line. The rest of its world followed.
Took weeks to settle on a name. I wanted a name that sounded hard and evil, but still had a rhythm to it. So, used the ‘K’, as it’s hard. ‘KA!’ Then the middle ‘a’ is the bridge to the next bit, which also starts with ‘K’. That’s how that happened. I must have written a hundred names before settling on it.
How did you go about adapting it – as a recital and then as a full show?
Man, that would take pages to answer. I’m writing a guide for writers to adapt their work for stage. It’s an amazing way of re-interpreting your book. Very, very, stressful and you have to give all the money to everyone else. But worth it.
I have many years in theatre marketing, but not producing. So I got a grant from the Arts Council of Wales and spent it mainly on an experienced director, a professional actor and marketing. A wise decision as it turned out. The rest I blagged.
I set co-production deals and ‘in association’ deals to work with people and make it affordable. It all worked and we had two very cool productions from it. One was a one-man recital with special effects and the second was a big family show with puppets and all sorts of stuff going on.
The key is to create partnerships. I will finish the guide to putting on a stage version of your book and let it loose on the internet. It’s a cool thing to do.
Above: Montage of the Kamakan opening night on 7th October 2009.
What’s your creative process?
I don’t know. There’s never really a not-creative process going on in some form and I can’t separate it. Sometimes little things trigger things and sometimes it comes through staring at a wall for hours. I haven’t any pictures on the walls in my flat. I find them a distraction. I don’t even listen to much music. I sit in a quiet room and stare at blank walls for a couple of hours at a time, just thinking away. Why would you need a picture distracting you?
How do you think you’ve evolved creatively?
I’ve got better at thinking quickly, absorbing my environment as I walk through it and then turning that into a thing. I’ve got really good at controlling ideas. Being able to hold a clear idea and manipulate it in front of you is a skill. It’s like branches of a tree and an idea can go so many ways. So I’ve got good at climbing trees quickly.
What are your views on social media?
A godsend for writers. Most of my writing years (and I’m not that old) were pre-digital, was a f***ing nightmare. Couldn’t get your work out. Now, I can have an idea and get it out in seconds, but so can a billion other people. Swings and roundabouts. It’s hard to be heard above the noise. Writers should get adept at social media, not just to promote their work, but to use it as a creative tool. That’s when it is at it’s best.
Which social network worked best for you?
I have Facebook for my personal stuff and I have a Twitter feed @huwmanchoo which I use as a piece of writing – The World’s Worst Writing Tips. It’s just taking the mickey out of the writing industry and writing in general. Someone has to do it. I don’t post any personal pieces on there and keep a fairly rigid format of lightly taking the piss and writing original tweets. I never share or retweet. I try to keep it tidy with original work.
You have to work out what you want social media to do for you and how you’re going to use it and why.
I give my characters Twitter accounts, email addresses, FB pages etc. and then talk to them. Find creative ways to using this medium we have at our fingertips.
Any tips on what to do and what not to do?
Don’t use flowery language or write like an angst-ridden teenager.
Take in everything around, even if it’s behind you.
You write songs and play guitar. How important is music to you?
Best thing I ever learnt to do I reckon. Learnt guitar at seventeen, listening to Bob Dylan and Neil Young and played ever since. Had so much fun making music over the years and just got in a heavy metal band as bassist.
I listen to less music nowadays, as I find it distracting if I’m trying to think. I’d rather play it than listen to it. Music’s everywhere, so when I’m at home I like silence too. I don’t need it everywhere I go. But I play a lot. I write a lot too and try and perform regularly.
Country music is probably the best story-telling medium.
You wrote and co-produced TALK!!, a one man play for Bruce Jones, otherwise known as Coronation Street’s Les Batterby. How did that come about?
He lives locally and I knew his manager. He grabbed me by the plums in Morrisons and asked if I’d like to write a play for Bruce about recovering from and dealing with depression. Was a hell of a thing. We staged it for two nights in Theatr Colwyn, Colwyn Bay. Very powerful experience. Took several months to research, workshop, write the script, rehearse etc. Was worth it. We’d like to tour it, but not really feasible, so we have it on the back burner until an opportunity comes long.
What was Bruce’s pedigree?
Can’t speak highly enough of my experiences with him. He’s super hard-working and serious about learning. It was a 26 page monologue, so was a real test. He was a big part of the creative process and it was his creation in the first place. It’s a shame that people don’t quite get what a skilled and powerful actor he is.
Above: Actor Bruce Jones, Huw Roberts, the writer, Ryan Dior, the director and Steve Williams, the producer talk about his one man show TALK!!.
Tell us about your latest projects, Knickers!, and The Ballad of Gee De Bourke.
Knickers! is a film script I’m writing. It’s a gritty British comedy in the zone of The Full Monty and Rita, Sue and Bob Too. It’s funny so far, but I’ll leave it at that for now.
The Ballad of Gee de Bourke is the fictional autobiography of a woman approaching her 60th birthday. She’s looking back on her life and trying to draw a line from birth to the moment she starts to write. It’s much funnier and adventurous than that last sentence makes it sound.
How do you think things have changed in the last 30 years for anyone interested in getting involved in writing, theatre, the arts etc?
You now have instant access to an audience and can get your work out like never before. I find it completely liberating. Before, you had to photocopy your manuscript, send it off in the post and wait two months. Now you can use the internet in a millions ways. You might be a drop in the ocean, but at least you are in the ocean. There’s tools now to bypass the traditional publishing industry, trouble is, you have 300 million other people trying to do the same thing. Gotta be very noisy or extremely crafty to get heard.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Do whatever you can to be in the right place at the right time. Be confident. Network with writers and producers. Be better with your finances. Don’t get drunk and crash into roundabouts.
What struggles have you overcome as a writer?
All of them I think. I’ve made many big life choices to continue to be a writer. I have given up countless sensible opportunities to continue my track. It’s caused ridiculous financial hardship over the years. Then there’s all the punishing self-doubt, the countless rejection and thousands of hours of brain-churning and bashing away at a keyboard. Wouldn’t change a minute of it.
What criticisms have helped you grow as a writer?
Probably from myself, comparing myself to other writers, wanting to improve my craft and be smarter with my imagination. Not really had any bad reviews yet. I’m sure they’re waiting in the wings though.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Write loads and loads and find your voice. Don’t try to be like any other author. Learn the craft. Be a writer all the time, make it your philosophy and your way of interpreting the world. You are the master manipulator of people’s minds and hearts, understand that responsibility. Drink whiskey, not lattes.
Where do you see publishing going in the future?
After a decade or so of the digital publishing revolution, it seems to be settling down a bit. People like printed books. They like vinyl too. It’s not going away. Folk will continue to get ripped off by dodgy online publishers. All media seems to be converging, so multi-platform stuff is the way it is already going. Writers will still be poor, publishers will still struggle and people will still want a good story, just like its been forever. The landscape has broadened and there are new things for writers to explore and I think we should all embrace this.
What are you working on at the minute? Do you have any upcoming projects?
Just finished the first novel and am procrastinating madly about sending it out. As ever, there are several projects in varying states of completion. The book is the main priority, but I have a hip hop story collaboration going on with Kamakan. Mostly, I’m playing bass in a metal band. Oops!
Is there anything unique about yourself that you would like your readers to know?
Strange things seem to happen to me and they are rarely sensible.
Is there anything else you would like to add that I haven’t included?
No thanks mate. It’s been a very thoughtful and enjoyable process. I wish I could write more, but best not.
How can readers discover more about you and your work?
Go to www.about.me/huwman and there’s some more info there or www.kamakan.co.uk so see the website for the book and show. Or just YouTube ‘Kamakan The Vampire Slug’ to see a clip of the show.
Any upcoming projects?
I’m writing scripts for magic acts with a very talented magician friend of mine. He writes and creates magic tricks and shows for some leading magicians. So that is fun and really interesting. Hopefully that’ll lead to some cool places.
Author bio: James Gent is a freelance writer; passionate about pop culture, books & book people, and social media. He has contributed to several published anthologies including 1001 TV Series You Must Watch Before You Die, penned the group biography for the official Monty Python website, and is currently editing Me And The Starman, a tribute to David Bowie, to be published by Watching Books later this year. Follow James on Twitter, LinkedIn and WordPress.