 and you're very welcome back and that was the sound of the nitty-gritty dirt fan and I don't sing twice it's all right penned by the great Bob Dylan joining me on the line now as promised I've got Tony Macaulay and he's going to be talking about the additions for his the musical of his autobiography all grown up Tony you're very welcome then he thanks for taking time out tonight thank you Gina it's good to speak to you again yes it's it's been it's been about a year or nearly I think it was last April uh just when you were launching uh Kill the Devil yes indeed we spoke back then and uh a lot of this happened since then um we just launched the book in Ireland at that stage uh but then we went on to launch the book in uh New York we went to New York Irish Center I had a big launch there and in Pennsylvania and then we and then we went and launched the book in Africa which was probably the most exciting of all certainly new experience for me and um and so we launched the book in Kampala a couple of Uganda but probably most importantly of all we launched the book in Kigali the capital of Rwanda where the the book is set and for those who may you don't know it's it's a it's a novel it's a love story set in post genocide at Rwanda and um I co I co-wrote it with uh Rwandan screenwriter called Juven Savimana so we launched it in July in um Kigali public library and uh it was amazing to see it on the shelves in the bookshops in in Kigali and um you know they accepted a copy into the genocide archive in the government of Rwanda and uh and we also had a wonderful time at the launch um you know Juven's mom and some of his family members came along uh to the launch it was quite it was quite an evening as you could imagine and we actually reviewed the book on our monthly book club just shortly after that as well and uh the the two ladies that uh reviewed it with me all loved it so uh it's been a big success and I'm sure you're you're delighted Tony oh we were thrilled with the reviews and you know Juven watched that as well he uh he caught up with that in Rwanda and he was delighted um but uh that your book club enjoyed the book so much and um and then the other exciting thing that happened was um we got uh Roger Jean Seguinva who's a a young Rwandan actor to narrate the audiobook and Roger he has a very fascinating story himself Roger was it would be what you call a genocide baby he was born during the genocide in 1994 and his mother basically escaped with Roger on on her back and he escaped and they became refugees ending up in uh Norfolk in England um so he grew up in England but he has become an actor and uh you know Roger's been in a number of movies and he's kind of a growing reputation and um as you can imagine Jean in reading the book was quite emotional for him his father was killed during the genocide um you know just after he was born um so Roger he did a very powerful moving performance in fact it's been nominated for what's known as an Audi which is like the audiobook version of the Oscars um so we're really excited about that and Roger's about the star in the they're doing a uh Apple TV or doing a remake of you know the old uh monkey python movie time bandits well it's coming back in 2024 as a big budget TV show and Roger's going to be one of the time bandits he already recorded it you know you know before he he recorded kill the devil so we think he's going to be a big star in 2024 and we're delighted that we got him to to narrate the audiobook as well it's amazing just how one thing can can lead to another and uh your career just takes off then after that that's right it's amazing and um all those connections are uh are fantastic um I'm hoping to return to Rwanda in 2024 this year is the it's the 30th anniversary of the genocide and one of the reconciliation organizations that I work with there um is having a number of special events later this year so I'm looking forward to you know to returning and just to see more of the incredible work that's happened there in terms of reconciliation that as you know inspired kill the devil in the first place and when we talked before I know that you're very involved with uh reconciliation and peace in many areas in the world and you were talking about how growing up in the shankel in belfast influenced you that you could have either gone with the troubles or you could have gone the other way and um the kill the devil wasn't your first book because you told me the last time that you've done many autobiographies paper boy and bread boy and uh then all growed up they're all um out of our great of you growing up in belfast and two of those have already been made into musicals tony but now the third one is about to be made into musical as well all growed up so that's that's very exciting I'm sure too it is very exciting I mean honestly I never expected when I wrote these books that they would be adopted into musical theatre I never occurred to me that that would happen but it's one of it's been one of those exciting wonderful things that ever happened to me just to see how they've taken my memoirs so paper boy I'm you're 12 years old 1975 going up at the top of the shankel road delivering the belfast telegraph during the troubles it's sort of that era of um glam rock in the bay city rollers and and sort of glee creating 1970s and belfast on the stage they did that and then the sequel is called bread boy where I get my second job as a bread boy delivering bread on the the ormo mini shop around the estates of the upper shankel and it's really at 1970s so it's the era of disco and saturday night fever and grace and star wars all of that so um so two years ago they they recreated bread boy for the stage and I have to say it was it was just remarkable and I mean the main thing is they were hit shows you know it was sellout sellout shows at the lyric theater in belfast and um you know from the very first performance of paper boy to the very final performance of bread boy I still pinch myself and can't quite believe this has happened you know and I see my my life and my family and my school friends you know all recreated on the stage with such talented people you know it's produced by British music theater and um you know Duke special did the music for paper boy and bread boy and for all good up we have a new young Irish team we've got Sean O'Karrick is doing the music and Dean Johnson who actually co-directed paper boy and bread boy is actually writing the the musical this time so um I'm really excited about it and can't wait to see what they do so it all grew up um I turn 18 and go to university and think I've all grown up although not really and that's what that's what this next that's what this next one's all about and whenever you hand over your your autobiography to the creative team do you have much input into what they do with it or do you just leave it to them yeah well I have found this too you know there's also been in the in the works is sort of a screen version of paper boy for a number of years and it's a similar process and what I have found is you know the the the musical writers and and those screenwriters they I have found them very respectful you know and they want it to be authentic and you know to make it work as a musical sometimes there's certain things they'll leave out and you know they can't include everything and there's certain things that they will maybe um develop a little bit more and they might even add a little bit in that's a little bit more fiction than the reality um but for me the important thing is uh is that it remains authentic you know is it authentic to the time and the place and the people and uh even if it didn't happen exactly that way could it have happened that way and to me that's a bit of a that's a sort of a bit of test of authenticity but I have found the team that have worked on the musicals really very you know very respectful of that and they do involve me um you know I've helped maybe you know maybe writing little things doing a little bit of work on the dialogue they involve me in the auditions just to sort of observe and if I notice someone who has the energy of a young Tony or or someone who I think would be good playing my mother or my grandma or something like that they do listen to what they do listen to what I have to say and the the British musical youth theater I suppose we have our own youth theater companies here in the northwest but uh is it based in Belfast or is it is it sort of a UK organization it's it's London based but they you know they do auditions and productions all over um all over the UK and Ireland that the auditions are in every year they have auditions in Dublin and Belfast and and and then the productions would be there's usually a production Northern Ireland and then that the productions in different parts of the UK Scotland London you know different parts of England as well and so yeah so BYMT they've been going for I think around 20 years now and what's exciting about what they do is they commission new musicals so um you know they just don't do a production of you know a well-known existing but it's not just like a West Side Story or an Oliver that kind of thing so they actually um they commission brand new writing so they try to draw out talent in terms of creating new musical theatre and um and they basically match young people up with you know professionals who have experience for example you know our team um for all growth up have experience you know in Dublin and London in the west end and that you know that they're industry professionals really so they match the young people up with experienced professionals and they do get the experience of creating something to a professional step you know to professional standard and to be performed in a you know in a mainstream professional theatre so that's that's sort of the process and it's quite intensive they work together if it's through weeks on a residential so it's a very intensive process um but what's really interesting about it I've seen this happen over the years you know as I've you know gone to rehearsals and see you know what's the process develop the young people not only do they learn their craft if you like whether they're dancers or singers or actors but they um they make friends for life and you can also see their their maturity because of the confidence they develop um over the over the process um I remember that one of the boys that they auditioned for bread boy he ended up playing young Tony there were two Tony's in bread boy there was like a 14 year old version of me and then a 17 year old version of me but the boy he got the part of me as 14 year old had actually never performed um on a on a big stage before so it's interesting when we do those auditions we're looking for experience and talent but also looking for raw talent as well so really it's really open to anyone uh whether they've you know maybe they've been in a lot of musicals or theatre productions at school or maybe it's just something they'd love to try for the first time so that's wonderful that you don't you don't have to have experience uh you know as you say maybe somebody said I'd love to try that and if if someone can just look and see the potential that's the main thing but the the age group that you're looking for uh Tony uh just from the little blog that Rachel sent me it said 11 to 21 year olds that's right so 11 to 21 year olds that's the age group we're looking for and I mean the the main characters if you like and in all good up will be young students so they'll be you know sort of 17 18 19 that sort of age group but obviously there are other characters there are younger characters as well um in terms of my family they're older characters so some people will take on the roles of of you know adults in in the in the musical as well but that's that's the yeah it's it's the 11 to 21 year olds that we're looking for um for the production and then it's going to be staged in the lyric then later on in the summer um is that right that's right so we'll run up the lyric theatre um as part of their summer 2024 program um so will be an opportunity for you for you know for the the the team of the on the young cast to you know produce something to a professional level and to you know hopefully again a big audience and and you know one of Belfast's premier theatres um and it's been interesting you know some of the some of the young people who have come through uh BYMT over the years people like Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith they actually started and they they went to BYMT when they were kids um so it has it has either there's some very talented people have come through that process when they were in their in their teenage years and how can people now who are listening to be here in the northwest there's auditions in Belfast and in Dublin and I have the dates somewhere um um here they're in Dublin on the 27th of uh January in the Liffey Trust studio yes and then in Belfast yes so that's the 27th of January and the 28th in the lyric in Belfast and in the Don Cairn on the 11th of February so there's three there's three uh dates there for the auditions and how can people say if they're listening tonight and they they think they would like to get involved is there a website that they can go to or uh somewhere that they can actually contact yes yes so the the website is britishusemusictheatre.org if you go on to britishusemusictheatre.org and go to the auditions page and it lists all the auditions and you know you can go you can scroll down that and you can choose you know say the Dublin audition or the Belfast lyric theatre audition or the uh or the 11th of February edition in the in the Don Cairn in north Belfast so you can just look through the website and there's also a telephone number um uh it's 020 8563 7725 that's a uh UK number uh so it'd be plus four four two zero eight five six three seven seven two five fantastic and uh did I read somewhere to go in the in the in the information that uh you can also be asked to be considered for other productions if you're not successful in this one that they might have you on file then for other ones that they may be producing later on yes so they they have they have various um opportunities for young people so maybe if there's someone who's maybe not quite ready for this they have some summer skills you know as well so there there'd be a number of summer schools they may be offered a place on or there may be another you know there may be another production somewhere else you know um in somewhere else that maybe they you know a particular performer is more uh suitable for you know I know I know in the past there have been some some of their productions in the UK have been very dance orientated and for some of those you know if those are really right someone is a very obviously right talented dancer they might they may be offered a place on one of those as well um but obviously in terms of the Irish auditions I'm really interested in in the Irish talent for all grew up as well amazing and uh I hope it all goes well for you and uh I said it must be very exciting just to see see your story your autobiography on stage and people dancing and singing and telling it so uh every good wish with it and I hope it all goes well with the auditions and with the show later this year Tony that's lovely thank you very much Jean appreciate that not at all take care okay take care bye bye bye bye bye that was Tony McCauley talking about the auditions for one of his autobiography books all grow up and in case you missed the dates there the auditions are in Dublin on Saturday the 27th uh from 10 to 1 and 2 to 5 in the Liffey Trust Studios in Belfast on Sunday the 28th of January from 10 to 1 and from 2 to 5 at the Lyric Theatre and in Belfast again on Sunday the 11th of February from 1 to 4 at the Don Cairn and the time here on Highland it is almost 20 to 9 we've still two tracks to play from our featured artist Maureen tonight and here she is with Police Dog Blues