Tag Archives: Micky Flanagan

Why Micky Flanagan isn’t joking

008A few weeks ago I was thumbing through a copy of “The Metro” Newspaper when I came across an interview with comedian Micky Flanagan.  Flanagan’s comedy may not be to everybody’s taste but one of his answers resonated with me that morning.

(Interviewer) What lessons has your career in showbiz taught you?

(Flanagan) Just the same lessons I’ve learned in every other job I’ve done – try to surround yourself with decent, honest people, work as hard as you can and keep asking yourself: ‘Do you really want to do this and can you do it well?’ It’s a serious business and you have to take it seriously. What’s presented is a lot of fun but behind the scenes it’s a difficult job, which takes a lot of hard work to get right.

How right you are Micky.

What’s presented is a lot of fun but behind the scenes it’s a difficult job, which takes a lot of hard work to get right.

Okay, I’m not a top comedian, promoting a book or an arena tour but I, like Mr Flanagan and many other people out there, care about what I do.

Picture 001If a school were to book me what they’d see is the storytelling session.  It would be polished, entertaining, it might even enhance their curriculum.  What they wouldn’t see is the time put into writing the material and refining its delivery, time spent sourcing the props and costume and ensuring the session was of a high standard.  What they wouldn’t see is 3 years of training, 12 years of working with young people and a life devoted to ensuring the session was of a high standard.  They wouldn’t see it but I hope they would expect it.

Imagine my disappointment therefore when I found the following job advert…

“We are looking for performers who can entertain children aged 3 upwards…  No previous experience required …”

…it went on…

“Also wanted members to join our Theatre In Education team, various performances in primary and secondary schools.”

Did I misread a lazily written advert?  No experience required to work in Primary and Secondary Schools?!

John Kirk is a storyteller and drama facilitator specialising in drama workshops and theatre for young people.Perhaps I’m being unfair but I believe in the value, power and legacy of high quality storytelling.  It should be an immense privilege to share any kind of story with a young person particularly, as is so often the case, if your presentation is that young person’s first experience of live performance.  Too often young people are under estimated and “fobbed off” by unscrupulous organisations trying to make a quick buck.  Of course in this instance I have no evidence that this is the case but the idea of sending somebody with no training or experience to take up a position is scandalous.   What is the impact of a poor experience on the children, the school and other creative practitioners?  If a school is burned by poor delivery they may not be prepared to take a similar risk again.

The other disturbing aspect of my discovery was how little the group who’d posted the ad charged bookers for their work.  I’d like to think schools are wary of low prices.  In the past I have been prepared to negotiate with groups over my charges but have found little success in offering heavy discounts.  Unfortunately though in austere times, a flashy leaflet and a tantalising price tag mean that some will substitute Gucci for Primani.

You might say I’m talking about two separate issues: quality of delivery and value of delivery but there is a probable correlation: if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

Like Micky says, entertainment is a serious business; if a job’s worth doing it’s worth doing well and you should expect to pay a fair price.