After a 6 year hiatus, Sunday for Sammy came back with a bang. The event is a variety concert to honour the memory of the late Sammy Johnson (Spender and Auf Wiedersehen Pet) and to raise money for creative kids in the North East. The concert was held at Newcastle's Utilita Arena and was packed out for the glitterati of North East talent including Sting, Tim, Lewis and Matty Healy, Christopher Fairbank, Jill and Chelsea Halfpenny, Lewis Capaldi, Lindisfarne's Ray Laidlaw, Steph McGovern, Stephen Tompkinson, Brenda Blethyn, Rosie Ramsey, Dave Johns and many others.
I was once again privileged to perform and provide video graphics for the event.
Giz a Job sketch
This comedy sketch featured Phillippa Wilson, Brenda Blethyn, Rosie Ramsey, the boxer Glenn McCrory, Stephen Tompkinson, Steph McGovern, Jeff Brown, and Dave Johns reprising his character Daniel Blake. I was asked to provide a job centre backdrop and and to animate the words 'I, Daniel Blake' on screen as Dave Johns mimed spray painting it on.
I used a combination of Adobe Firefly, Photoshop and After Effects to achieve the effect. The logo was designed in photoshop then 'aged up' in Firefly to look like it was part of a run-down job centre. The brick wall was created in Firefly and extended in Photoshop. The writing and paint drips were created as separate elements in Firefly and everything was composited in After Effects.
The result was a great moment of audience recognition when Dave Johns as Daniel Blake held up his can of spray paint to produce his famous tag from the film.
Angel of the North / Devil of the North
This sequence was a comedy monologue written by me about the creation of the Angel of the North which would then segue way into the song 'The Devil of The North' written by Rod Clements of Lindisfarne and performed by Billy Mitchell. I was asked to think about and design the transition between the two pieces. I suggested a backdrop of the Angel appearing at dawn - when I was on dressed as a Lindisfarne monk - which would then morph into a version of the Angel with horns and wings on fire against a hell scape sky when Billy came on with his entourage of devils.
All elements were created in Adobe firefly and blended and composited together in Premiere pro. The fiery wings were feather-masked and played on a loop while the 'Devil of the North' song played.
The result was a spectacular piece of theatre combining my video with real flames, dramatic lighting and makeup, and powerful performances.
Massive thanks to Ray Laidlaw for commissioning both my performance and design skillsets for this event, and to the technical crew Michael Bailey, Eugene O'Connor and director Chris Cowey for pulling my video together into the final show.
Below is a speeded version of the Angel/Devil transitions.
Below is the monologue performed in the Angel segment. The piece was originally written to celebrate the Angels' 10th Birthday, and was serendipitously performed on the anniversary of its reveal.
BG (Before Gormley) by Scott Tyrrell
In the beginning there was nothing but a lonely hill
high up north in the land of Gateshead.
And the great God Gormley did ascend northwards
to look upon the hill and did say,
high up north in the land of Gateshead.
And the great God Gormley did ascend northwards
to look upon the hill and did say,
“You know, I think it needs something.”
And the people of the North did boo Gormley,
And the people of the North did boo Gormley,
and did say, “What de yee knaa? You’re a bloody southerner.”
And Gormley did admire the pluck of these Northerners
and did say “I shall make an Angel
to look after the proud people of the North.
It shall celebrate their industrial past
and embrace their brave new future!”
And the people did cry
“Go and make your poncy, arty-farty sculptures somewhere else.”
But Gormley was not swayed by their cries
and did descend southwards to scribble in his notebook.
Then did return to the North with his
And Gormley did admire the pluck of these Northerners
and did say “I shall make an Angel
to look after the proud people of the North.
It shall celebrate their industrial past
and embrace their brave new future!”
And the people did cry
“Go and make your poncy, arty-farty sculptures somewhere else.”
But Gormley was not swayed by their cries
and did descend southwards to scribble in his notebook.
Then did return to the North with his
favourite scribble and did say to the people
“What do you think of that?”
And they did say
“Rubbish.”
And Gormley did say
“No, it’ll look much better when it’s big and far away.”
And the people did say “So will you.”
So Gormley did cry “touché!” then blew a raspberry
and descended into Hartlepool.
And he did ask the big men of Hartlepool
to look upon his scribble
“What do you think of that?”
And they did say
“Rubbish.”
And Gormley did say
“No, it’ll look much better when it’s big and far away.”
And the people did say “So will you.”
So Gormley did cry “touché!” then blew a raspberry
and descended into Hartlepool.
And he did ask the big men of Hartlepool
to look upon his scribble
and could they build it but like really big.
And the big men did say “Aye, it’ll look ‘ellish, that like.”
But then they did ask him for money
and then things they did get awkward.
So Gormley journeyed to Camelot
and did ask the King of Camelot to give him one million pounds.
And the King of Camelot did agree
provided Gormley buy three scratch cards and a lucky dip.
And so Gormley did return to Hartlepool,
(having won only a tenner)
and gave the big men their one million pounds
and they did say ‘Cushty.’
And the big men did say “Aye, it’ll look ‘ellish, that like.”
But then they did ask him for money
and then things they did get awkward.
So Gormley journeyed to Camelot
and did ask the King of Camelot to give him one million pounds.
And the King of Camelot did agree
provided Gormley buy three scratch cards and a lucky dip.
And so Gormley did return to Hartlepool,
(having won only a tenner)
and gave the big men their one million pounds
and they did say ‘Cushty.’
And they did start work immediately.
They did toil and weld and hammer
and lift and screw and chisel and pummel and buff
with steel and copper and sweat
and biceps you could crack walnuts with.
And then one day they did call Gormley
and did say “Aye, it’s done, like.”
And Gormley looked upon the angel and did say
“We’re going to need a bigger van.”
And so they did hire a whole fleet of vans
That did slowly ascend up the mythical highway
known as the A1 brackets M.
And as the fleet slowly approached the lonely hill in Gateshead, the Northerners gathered in silence.
Slowly the angel’s body was lowered into the ground,
anchored by tons of steel and concrete.
And there it stood, twenty meters tall
looking out upon its valley to the distant hills.
And then they did ring the bell for lunch
and the men did have chips in a stottie.
And then another bell rang
and finally an Angel got its wings -
Forty five metres long embracing its new parents,
the people of the North.
And the people did look upon the face of the Angel -
a featureless face embracing every emotion
their imaginations could plaster on it
and did say, “Aye. Gan on then. You can stay.
But your dad’s still a ponce.”
Trusts like Sunday for Sammy are crucial for giving talented young people a lift up the ladder - especially in very working class areas of the North East where opportunities to get into showbusiness are scarce. Find out more about Sunday for Sammy here: sundayforsammy.org