AS someone who has turned improvising into a comic art form, Steve Steen is facing up to a whole new challenge with his latest one-man show which arrives in Lancashire soon.
The thought of standing on a stage waiting for the audience to suggest things for him to be funny about holds no fear to the comedian who first appeared on our TV screens in the early 1980s when Channel 4 experimented with a new late-night comedy programme Whose Line Is It Anyway?
But in Notes From A Small Island, based on the best-seller by Bill Bryson, Steen has a script to stick to -- and a very informed audience to impress.
"Half the joy of doing this show is a bit like going to see your favourite band and you wait for them do your favourite song," he says. "A large number of the audience have read the book and everyone has their favourite bit of it."
With just a spotlight for company, Steen plays over 80 characters as he brings to life Bryson's tale of an amiable American's observations of a journey around the British Isles. The customs, habits and accents are all there.
"All the pictures that Bill Bryson conjures up in the book are brought to life on stage," says Steen. "What I try and do is very much an interpretation not an impersonation. There is such good material that you don't want to lose the feeling of the book.
"But," confesses the man who has appeared on TV comedy shows ranging from Blackadder to Have I Got News For You, "I can't remain tethered for that long. I do have to let go sometimes. When we were rehearsing the show I would ad lib and some of those ad libs have been incorporated into the show."
Notes from a Small Island is Steen's second one-man show based on the works of Bill Bryson.
"Bill came to see me in the show based on The Lost Continent and he was kind enough to say that he didn't realise his book was so funny until he'd seen the show," says Steen. "He is a lovely bloke and I'd love him to come and see the new show."
Notes From A Small Island has been selling out theatres all round the country and theatregoers and book lovers alike will have the chance to enjoy the show at Preston's Charter Theatre on Sunday 24 February and at Bolton's Octagon Theatre three days later on Wednesday 27.
"Originally I didn't want to tour beyond May," says Steen. "But we've got over 50 shows to do and we're already going in to June.
"I am hoping that the show will move into the West End. There has even been talk of taking it to Broadway and the signs are looking good.
Steen has spent his life on the comedy circuit and with Jim Sweeney was one of the pioneers of 'improv'.
"Critics always used to accuse us of having a script and of not making things up on the spot," he says. "We did a lot of shows abroad and what we would do to stop this would be to get a theatre critic to collect topics from the audience for us to make jokes or sketches about and get them to interpret them for us."
For Notes From A Small Island, Steen has had to learn over 8,300 lines of dialogue - far removed from his improvised shows.
"I was given some advice that if I forgot a line I should go for a walk round the stage. As it's a one-man show the audience will think it's a part of the act and it gives you time to think.
"It happened once that I did forget, so I went for a walk round and I still couldn't remember, I hadn't a clue what came next.
"Fortunately the director was in the audience and he shouted out 'I bought a postcard' which prompted me and I replied 'that's amazing sir, because so did I' and then carried on with the show.
Whether he'll need to improvise or not, theatregoers can be assured that Steve Steen is determined to give them an evening to remember -- and, as is likely, it moves into the West End, you can always say you saw it first.
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