My mother Lesley Johnson is an award-winning Wirral playwright with several works under her belt penned under the name Lesley Clive; plays that were professionally produced and brought to life on the stage and local and national radio in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Sadly, she has no recall of her creative life – I’m afraid Alzheimer’s Disease casts this distressing spell. But her works were always present on the page and on old recordings waiting to resurface. But if not for David Selzer’s kind prompting, it’s unlikely I would’ve unearthed and digitally copied the original analogue cassette recordings and I’m incredibly grateful for this opportunity to introduce Lesley ‘s plays to a new audience.
My mother was born and bred on the Wirral and despite being a young mum with two fractious kids living in a crowded three-bedroom semi, she somehow found time and space to write. She didn’t have her own study in which to concentrate but worked on a desk in the parental bedroom and she lacked the networks people often forge at college that can help open doors – she didn’t pursue higher education until much later in life when she attended Ruskin College in Oxford for a time to study a particular historical Scots’ event (another fascinating tale to surface one day).
But Lesley did have a deep love of and huge appetite for plays, poetry and literature and a marvellous circle of encouraging friends. These included David and Sylvia Selzer, friends of my parents going way back to when David taught alongside my father way in the early 1970s. All were highly engaged with the creative, cultural life of the Wirral and Merseyside. And Lesley had tenacity in spades. She built her own network among the regional theatre groups and actors, writers and radio producers in Merseyside.
I was fairly oblivious to mum’s creative efforts in childhood and my early teenage years. I often heard the typewriter rattling and clattering and sometimes we’d be ushered out of the front room when the landline rang so she could have long, private conversations about current projects. But I didn’t pay much attention beyond being aware she was ‘writing.’
It’s only when going through her papers and belongings on her move into a nursing home that I realised the extent of her work. It’s a heartbreak that she is still alive but unable to elucidate on her writings – but the cache of official BBC reading scripts, recordings of radio productions and local newspaper cuttings paint a picture of a creative life well-lived ‘in the provinces.’
Lesley’s plays embraced historical dramas and contemporary life, all leavened with dashes of grit and humour. Her radio commissions also took on important Northwest events, such as the tragic sinking of the submarine HMS Thetis in Liverpool Bay, George Stephenson’s tenacious battle to build the first intercity railway from Liverpool to Manchester and the Liverpool policeman’s strike of 1919.
I only saw one play performed on stage myself, this was Any Way You Want Me about the recollections of an ageing rock’n’roll groupie; it was poignant, funny and rather rude, I recall.
The Daisy Chain also stands out in the memory because I recall the family excitement of its broadcast on Radio 4 back in 1979. It’s an evocative account of the thoughts of Catherine Howard, Henry VIII’s very young fifth wife, on the eve of her execution. It’s a moving story of thwarted passion, the fears and follies of youth and the sacrifices made on the altar of power.
The play was one of her prize-winners and was aired both on Radio Merseyside and Radio 4’s 30 Minute Theatre. Other plays like Back Step told stories of women trying to shake off the restricted roles placed on them by the society, class and poverty of a few decades back and all the stories are shot through with imaginatively biting and amusing lines that prevent them being mere tales of misery.
I have now published the broadcast audio recordings that are salvageable on YouTube as a testament to Lesley’s passions and her unique voice, not quite stilled but no longer that of a storyteller. Among the various casts are actors who were well-known at the time, such as June Barry, or who became recognisable names like Julie Waters. The hard work of all the actors and production teams on all the projects of this not that distant era deserve applause.
Below is the full list of Lesley’s works with clickable links to available plays on YouTube.
Radio Plays
Tie Up – BBC Radio 3 (1976)
The Daisy Chain – Radio Merseyside (1977) – winner of BBC Radio Northwest Playwright’s Competition 1977, Thirty Minute Theatre, BBC Radio 4 (1979 featuring June Barry)
Back Step – Thirty Minute Theatre, BBC Radio 4 June (1980)
Shadow Tick – Thirty Minute Theatre, BBC Radio (1980 featuring Julie Walters)
Wheelbrace – Radio Merseyside (1979)
Radio Drama Documentaries
Sea Of Trouble (story of H.M.S. Thetis) – Radio City (1979)
King Steam (4-part series, George Stephenson) – Radio City (1980)
Who Killed Julie (The Julia Wallace Case) – Radio City (1981)
Coppers Out! (Police Strike, 1919) – Radio City (1982)
Stage Plays
Eye – Liverpool Everyman Theatre (1972)
Can’t You See My Face Is Sad – Gateway Theatre Studio, Chester 1972). Prizewinner
Next of Kin – Gateway Theatre Studio, Chester (1973). Prizewinner
Dov – Gateway Theatre Studio, Chester (1973), Prizewinner
Tie Up – London Fringe Production, Playhouse Upstairs (1976)
Any Way You Want Me – King’s Head, London, Birmingham, Liverpool Everyman Theatre, Manchester, Buxton Festival (1981 featuring Linda Beckett) and Edinburgh Festival (1982)
Jam Side Down – Liverpool Playhouse (1983)
A Basket Of Stars – children’s play, Wirral Youth Theatre (1978)
By David Selzer