Interview: Adrian Jackson & Sarah Woods on inspiration behind Coventry’s new musical THE RUFF TUFF CREAM PUFF ESTATE AGENCY

Photo credit: Joe Bailey

The Belgrade Theatre Coventry’s electrifying new musical, The Ruff Tuff Cream Puff Estate Agency, will run from 9–16 October, in co-production with Cardboard Citizens and Coventry UK City of Culture.

Director Adrian Jackson and book writer/lyricist Sarah Woods talk about the show ahead of its world premiere.

Tell us a bit about the story of Ruff Tuff.

AJ: The play tells the remarkable true story of a group of activists who set up an estate agency for squatters in the mid-1970s. They would drive around and find abandoned or boarded up properties, break into them, attach new padlocks and take the keys back to the ‘estate agency’. Homeless people would come in looking for somewhere to stay, and the estate agency would give them the keys to a property they had broken into. Believe it or not, over a two year period, about 3,000 people were housed.

Another notable part of the story is Frestiona, an idea inspired by the film Passport to Pimlico. When the Greater London Council was threatening to knock down three streets, including Freston Road where squats were located, a group of visionary playful activists held a local referendum, and the people voted to break away from the United Kingdom and form a new nation – Frestonia. They created passports, currency and had ministers and the like. Geoffrey Howe, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time expressed his support: “If you didn’t exist I would have to make you up.” 

We tell these two stories in the play, along with a third story about a punk girl band forming – all with amazing catchy reggae-inspired tunes by Boff Whalley, of Chumbawumba fame.

SW: The story of Ruff Tuff is about how, in all sorts of ways, we can make space for everyone in the world. Physical space, like ensuring everyone has a home – and space of other sorts too, in relationships and in the world.

What is your connection to and relationship with Heathcote Williams? How did that feed into the creation of Ruff Tuff?

AJ: I knew about Frestonia and had long wanted Heathcote Williams to write about it, since he had been one of the prime movers of this situationist activist park.

I managed to track him down (he was quite reclusive by this time) and went to have tea with him at his terraced house in Oxford. It was then that he told me about the Ruff Tuff Cream Puff Estate Agency.

He then wrote a wonderfully crazy description of the times (which he called a documentary play) and we workshopped that in London for a few days.

Eventually, I bought in my old collaborator, Sarah Woods, to reshape and develop the play. During a staging in 2017, I suggested to Heathcote that we should adapt it into a musical, and he loved the idea. Sadly, he died later that year. At his funeral, Boff Whalley read a beautiful eulogy, and that’s where our connection to Boff was born.

SW: Heathcote was one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. He was full of stories about Ruff Tuff and Frestonia, and the things they achieved. I learned a lot from talking to him about how change can be created through mischief and playfulness. That spirit is certainly at the heart of Ruff Tuff.

Adrian, where did the inspiration come from to tell the story of Ruff Tuff as a musical?

The original short play that Heathcote wrote had a lot of music in it – because this was the birth time of punk, a music of revolt. The Clash played in the Frestonia National Theatre - they lived in the squats in the area. A musical seemed a natural development.

How does it feel to be creating a new musical for City of Culture?

AJ: It is wonderful to be part of this great year in this warm and welcoming city. We have already worked at community level here earlier this year, making a Forum Theatre piece with 20 local homeless people; many of those participants will also be part of a community choir in Ruff Tuff. It is a real privilege to be working in the Belgrade, making an uplifting piece of theatre as we come out of the pandemic.

SW: It’s very exciting to be creating this musical as part of the City of Culture for three reasons. Firstly, we haven’t been able to make theatre for ages – so it feels incredible to be in a room with other people and being creative again. Secondly, having been born and brought up in the area, it’s always really special to come back to your roots with a show. And thirdly I think it’s a lovely piece of work – it’s a great story, funny and moving and uplifting – and with some banging tunes.

Sarah, tell us about your connections to Coventry and the Belgrade Theatre.

I was born in Coventry – my parents were both born and brought up in Coventry. We sometimes came to The Belgrade to see a show, often the pantomime. I wanted to be a playwright from the age of about 11 and so going to the theatre was really exciting for me. Once we had a meal in the Belgrade Theatre restaurant and I remember sitting holding the menu and thinking “I’ve pretty much made it”. 

When I was a teenager, I auditioned for The Belgrade Youth Theatre and got a part in The Bacchae, which was really exciting. I then had one of my first plays, Everywoman, staged by the Youth Theatre in the old Belgrade Studio, and got interviewed by The Coventry Evening Telegraph.

My early experiences at the Belgrade opened up the world of theatre to me – both in terms of learning from those around me and feeling like people were interested in what I had to say. Having a play on at the Belgrade Studio at the age of 16 gave me the confidence and inspiration to keep writing. It was my gateway into the world of the arts.

Adrian, you described Ruff Tuff as a story of “playful activism” – how do you think it relates to activism movements today? What can the activism of the 70s teach us now?

Where I am currently staying in Coventry, I walk through a street called Starley Road. I read about a similar struggle they went through in 1978, fighting the local council’s plan to demolish the street. They saved the houses and formed a housing co-op, which still exists today.

I think the Extinction Rebellion guys have shown how artistic and attention-grabbing stunts can really make the nation’s headlines – and their events are fun too. I think we may need reminding sometimes that protest is actually necessary if we want to make change.

What would you like audiences to take away from Ruff Tuff?

AJ: That another world actually Is possible. That activism in communities can be fun and can really make a difference. That anyone can be involved in building community. That the housing crisis is soluble.

SW: I want the audience to go away feeling like things are possible. We’ve been through 18 months of focusing on everything being impossible and frightening, and 18 months of feeling disconnected from our communities and our lives and even our families. This is a show about connection and the power of what we can achieve when we do things together. I also want people to go away singing the songs – which I have no doubt they will. I’ve been singing them 24/7 for months!

Please note this is a syndicated interview.

For more information on the show and to book tickets, please click here.